Even a cursory glance at popular advertising now will reveal a new tenor to our times. With economic worries so topical (Note: When Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers are gloomy you just know it is serious.) the tone of advertising changes.

In the past week I”ve seen a new Loblaws ad featuring Galen Weston Jr.  comparing two shopping baskets filled with groceries. The brand name cart—filled with all the goodies people love—costs much more than the quality no-name products Loblaws retails. The pace of change is quick; only a few short weeks ago Galen was shilling mini Salmon Wellingtons as the perfect nibble for festive parties and drop-in holiday guests.

Boston Pizza is advertising an “under $10″ menu so happy diners can still eat out, but without straining the bank or their nerves.

Hamburger Helper—long a staple of the budget-conscious shopper—spreads the word that a family of four can eat supper for under $10 including beef and milk.

What to look for next?

Look for kitchen appliance manufacturers to promote slow cookers and casserole dishes. Websites for foodies will go heavy on stews and recipes that stretch every grocery dollar.

The new workplace will be about lunchrooms and kitchens as office-tower denizens start to brown-bag it during the week. Restaurants that (formerly) catered to the lunch crowd are well advised to announce lunch deals, buffet options and “mom” style foods such as mac & cheese, meatloaf and soup and sandwich specials.

Home decor—you’ll see this in weekend newspapers and decorating publications—will be less flash and less cash with an emphasis on discreet home electronics and a homey, less grand and formal lifestyle presentation.

Opulence is out for 2009; look for people to put the dog out, but not on.

The auto industry? Only he knows for sure.

After repeated tries yesterday and earlier this morning, I was finally able to register my phone number….

Blogs, links, jumps, sidebars, comments and emails. Spend enough time on the Internet and you will come across hundreds of thousands of each one.

This one lead me to this.

Then I saw this and I encourage you to read it. It is important, it is Canadian, and it is good. I am even going to encourage you to forward the link to people you know.

Then I read this.

No matter what happens over the next few weeks the spirit of these discussions will not go away. Even the requirement that foreign journalists will need to apply for access to Tiananmen Square 24 hours in advance if they want to interview, broadcast or film in the plaza won’t turn this story off. (Intrepid journalists will, I believe, find people to interview, film, record and photograph at other venues. I’ve visited Tiananmen Square and it isn’t the only venue in Beijing where one can reasonably expect to find citizens milling about. It is, after all, a big city.)

It is just not possible, you see, to shut the Internet down. Nor can true public conversation be silenced. Shouts might become whispers but never silence.

One benefit of a career in public relations and communications (and there are many benefits) is getting to know and work with journalists from across the globe.

I understand journalists to be people who are driven to explain, interpret, uncover and even expose the stories and events that make up life.

That is why I know that this news will not be well received.

As we draw closer to the start of the Beijing Olympics savvy media dwellers will start to tally the number of Beijing-Olympics-focused articles, features, editorials, op-ed pieces, essays, rants, opinions, diatribes, thoughts and so forth spreading through all forms of media.

Topics will be all over the map, of course, but look for some tried-and-true pieces that are already part of the public conversation.

Tibet will appear here and there, with all manner of references to the mechanisms put in place by the Chinese government to stifle any possible suggestion of even a whisper of discord. These stories will dovetail with references to “protest pens” and increased border security measures to make sure no one smuggles a “Free Tibet” lapel pin into China. If (and this is a big if) an athlete stands to accept a medal and–gasp–whips out a protest lapel pin the world media will take loud notice.

Look for a few heartwarming notes about athletes away from home, forging new friendships in the Olympic Village, and adjusting to training conditions in Beijing. Blogs home to hometown newspapers are a nice touch, but a cozy blogpost home to the neighbourhood might be difficult to see and hear amid the media clutter of the Olympics.

The pollution in Beijing will be given a great deal of coverage. I visited Beijing in late 1999 and while there was, indeed, a 30 storey building across the broad avenue from my hotel I couldn’t see it 5 mornings out of 7. Back in those dark days daylight could not penetrate the morning smog (cheerfully called “fog” by private and state tour guides) and the city planners devised an ingenious solution for lighting the murky streets.

Streetlights about 4 feet tall interspersed with their regular counterparts serve to illuminate the day, like taller versions of garden or pool lighting found here at home, because light does not sink to street level. Pedestrians would be hopelessly lost without these lamp posts in miniature and I used them as dim beacons leading me back to my hotel. The air quality truly is terrible.

The old adage taught to children, “Stop, look and listen before you cross the street” is a handy guide for any visitor to Beijing where crossing even the quietest backstreet is an exercise in both courage and luck. Passenger cars are being reduced from the local trafficsape (a word I hope I just coined) using a “day on/day off” plan while old beaters that are deemed to be embarrassingly high on the pollution inducing scale are made to disappear. Reducing vehicular traffic is a clever move–look for media features about how citizens are coping without their cars–and will have the pleasant side effect of making crosswalks safer. (Urgent Footnote: When in Beijing always cross the street in a crowd. There is safety in pedestrian numbers.)

Deux soldats canadiens sont décédés hier en Afghanistan. Un caméraman est blessé et Patrice Roy a subi un violent choc nerveux. Cette nouvelle est tombée comme une onde de choc hier à Ottawa. Le téléphone a commencé à sonner… des « as-tu su pour Patrice? Son caméraman? » se sont bousculés à mes oreilles toute la soirée.

Lorsque les soldats de Val-Cartier ont quitté pour l’Afghanistan, on a tous pris une grande respiration en leur souhaitant la meilleure des chances. C’est avec tristesse que l’on apprends la mort de 3 d’entre eux. C’est avec la même tristesse que l’on a accueilli la nouvelle des 66 autres Canadiens morts au combat depuis le début de la mission.

Cependant, c’est fou ce que ça peut faire comme effet de savoir qu’un journaliste avec qui j’ai régulièrement eu la chance de rigoler et d’avoir des conversations plus sérieuses, était là. J’ai peine à m’imaginer ce que ses collègues ont pu ressentir, sans oublier sa famille. Ouf.

Alors voilà, ce type d’histoire ça fait réfléchir sur l’importance du rôle des journalistes dans des situations dangereuses. Ce matin j’écoutais attentivement Daniel Lessard à la radio de Radio-Canada qui disait que c’était important pour eux d’être là. Que c’est leur rôle d’aller au-delà des débats à la Chambre des communes, pour bien comprendre les enjeux.

Je n’ai jamais été journaliste. Et même après en avoir côtoyé plus d’un dans le lobby de la Chambre de communes, je pense que comme plusieurs, j’ai tenu pour acquis l’importance de leur rôle. Quel est le prix de l’information? Certainement important. Le prix de l’ignorance? Pire.

Patrice, merci.

Like all of my colleagues, I am revved up about the SHARP 1080pD82 Challenge. It’s a program we’ve launched for SHARP Electronics of Canada. Thousands have signed on in the hopes of winning a great tv by improving the environment.

This Aquos tv is manufactured in one of the world’s most sustainable plants. We’re sending a group of journalists over  to Japan this week to tour  the facility and take the opportunity to interview a number of SHARP Executives. The offer to travel on this trip came up, and like a fat kid on a smartie, I was all over it.

And greenhouse gases are all over it too. A round trip from Ottawa to Osaka produces over five tons of carbon emissions. Our team decided to purchase carbon offsets. It’s a simple step. By doing so, we’re investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. Though using and producing on one hand, we’re trying to reduce at the same time.

What a joy it was to be appreciated on a recent business trip to Toronto.

Instead of flying into Pearson, I opted to take Porter Air to the Toronto City Island Airport. From the moment I checked in at the counter in Ottawa, and through each encounter with a Porter Air employee, I was greeted with a smile along with a please and thank you. What a difference an airline makes!

The last time I traveled Ottawa to Toronto return on the other carrier, there was not one employee smile. And there wasn’t anything else either, full stop. Over the PA system came an announcement there would be no inflight service due to the short route. Over at Porter, everyone’s served a snack and the beverage cart rolls by at least once during the 45 minute flight.

I will definitely be a return customer. Now - if only they could offer Porter Points.

A well timed knock on my front door gave me a polite and truthful reason to say goodbye to the telemarketer who was interrupting my enjoyment of a Senators playoff game. But I hesitated. What if that knock was someone was trying to sell me yet something else? Perhaps I should have turned off the lights to give the illusion I wasn’t at home. Or run the shower, and wash my suspicions away. 

My hunches were right. It was someone peddling something else. I felt it my civic duty to answer the door though. But the id bearing university student wasn’t actually selling anything, except ideas. His first bright one- handing over a few free compact fluorescent bulbs (CFBs) from Project Porchlight.  By changing one regular light bulb per household for a compact fluorescent one, the average Ottawa resident will save $50 in energy costs on their hydro bill over the lifetime of the bulb. 200,000 bulbs replaced citywide will result in 100,000 fewer tonnes of greenhouse gases emitted. And replacing just one old fashioned lightbulb with one new cfb in every household across Canada is the equivalent of taking 66,000 cars of the road. Now, that’s change within reach!  And just like Saint Nick pulling presents from his sack, this canvasser surrendered even more goodies from his EnviroCentre backpack. It’s an effort to help citizens use less energy and decrease their water usage. In other words, reduce our carbon footprints. Even Queen Betty’s getting involved. 

The EnviroCentre off loaded two 2 low flow showers heads, a kitchen faucet aerator, two bathroom faucet  aerators and foam tubing for my hot water pipes. By lessening the load in his backpack, he helped me lessen my carbon emissions.