Dave Miscavige

I have to say I am so impressed by Mr. David Miscavige and the humanitarian work he does every day.

The Scientology religion is dedicated to helping others. Mr. Miscavige and the Sea Organization and Churches of Scientology and their staff are selfless in their dedication to doing something to improving society.

I know this can seem unreal in an age where everywhere you turn people are just in it for themselves, but there are some true humanitarians and humanitarian efforts and when they come on the scene people do support them. Just look at the impact Live8 had last summer.

Well, Scientology is one such movement. It's taken a bad rap on the Internet, but maybe that's because we step on some vested interests toes (how much income would Eli Lilly lose if the $1,000,000 they "donated" in SSRIs for the victims of the most recent disaster went unused because people had real and effective solutions they could use to rebuild their lives instead of pharma to forget about it).

Scientology Volunteer Ministers are down in shelters working 20-hour shifts to help the Katrina refugees, and they are in the streets of New Orleans looking for survivors, and helping in any way they can.

This is the kind of selfless action Mr. Miscavige inspires, and that's why I admire him, and others like him, who have not sold out to the materialism of the 21st Century.

Psychiatry is a Pseudoscience

Here's a great message from Citizens Commission on Human Rights president, Jan Eastgate, that puts the "Post Partum Depression" controversy in the right perspective and shows that psychiatric practice is based on pseudo-science.

For nearly 30 years I’ve worked with women who have been abused by psychiatry, including those diagnosed with “post partum depression” (PPD). I’ve documented horror stories of past “miracle cures” for PPD where psychosurgery mutilated their brains or electroshock wiped out their memory of the birth of their child. Today, mind-altering drugs are passed off as a solution for depression that can follow a traumatic labor. Brooke Shields suffered a grueling labor and was promised that the antidepressant she was prescribed was non-addictive and safe. She was lied to.

The Physicians Desk Reference lists these side effects: agitation, amnesia, confusion, mood swings, nightmares, insomnia, hallucinations, hostility, and psychosis. The FDA warns of suicidal thoughts. Withdrawal effects indicate addiction, a fact that ABC’s Primetime Live exposed last year was suppressed by drug manufacturers.

As for claims that PPD results from a “chemical imbalance” that mind-altering drugs can supposedly correct, the weight of medical opinion shows that there is no way to even determine a “normal balance,” let alone how to correct one. Just more lies.

None of this diminishes the fact that new moms can go through hell and can become desperate. Women may experience drastic drops in hormone levels after the birth of a child that can deliver a major shock to their body. Iron deficiency may also be a problem. But they need medical, not psychiatric help.

There are many alternatives but psychiatrists, defending a more than $14 billion a year psychiatric drug industry, would prefer women didn’t know about them. That’s information worth warning others about—and something about which Tom Cruise has thankfully raised the alarm bell.

Newsies Take to The Net

From E-Marketer

Loyal newspaper readers in the US are increasingly turning to the Internet for news, shopping research and information.
Yesterday, Yahoo! released the results of its "Newspaper Loyalist" study, which indicates that 72% of people who regularly read the newspaper go online daily, and 50% go online each day specifically for timely news and information.
Faulkner Focus conducted an ethnographic study of 22 adults, ages 18 to 49, in New York and San Francisco who read the newspaper at least three times per week. Deemed "newspaper loyalists," these people were interviewed while reading their newspaper and accessing the Internet at home, in the park or during their commute to work. The qualitative findings were then elaborated on and quantified with research from Ipsos-Insight based on an online panel of 1,182 participants from six major cities in the US.
While newspaper loyalists are avid Net users, only 42% read a daily newspaper. Yahoo! notes that with the choice and personalization of media today, the consumer is in total control. One person who participated in the study noted, "I kind of like holding the paper, and I like reading the paper. But I definitely use the Internet for more in-depth things."
Yahoo! found that the relationship between print and online for newspaper loyalists is something online retailers and marketers will want to note. Over one-half of newspaper loyalists say they go online to research a product mentioned in a newspaper circular. In fact, over 50% say they have been conducting shopping research online and buying offline for the past three years.
Addressing the idea of simultaneous media usage, BIGresearch recently reportied that over 63% of US consumers simultaneously watch TV while they are online, and nearly 60% listen to the radio while they are online.
The Yahoo! study adds to the BIGresearch findings by revealing that not only do consumers use different media at the same time, they also use different types of media in conjunction with others. Today's media is best served to its audience with an understanding of how one outlet can complement another, rather than how they should compete.

Value of the #1 position in marketing

The paid music download industry again illustrates the advantage of getting out of the gate early to establish that #1 position.

According to a new NPD Group study Apple still dominates the US market with a dominating 70% of sales in the paid music downloading industry. Napster follows Apple with 11%. MusicMatch, RealNetwork and Wal-Mart, all currently have 6%. Wal-Mart, one of the newest players, has captured an acceptable share of the market with their discounted $0.88 downloads ($0.10 less than the others) and their well known brand name.

Stay tuned (pun intended) to see if a discount player can erode Apples #1 position.

Consumer use of Internet Research

Consumers are using the Internet for research before they buy and it is big bucks.
The Dieringer Research Group reports in a multi-channel consumer behavior study that American consumers spent $1.00 online for every $1.70 they spent offline after conducting online research.

In total, $181 billion in offline and $106 billion in purchases were made after consumers had conducted online research.

In addition, the percentage of offline purchases influenced by online research has grown faster than online purchases. Consumer online sales rose by 14% from 2003 to 2004, while Internet-influenced offline sales increased 31% in the same period.

Used car buyers are using the Internet

According to a J.D. Power study, more used car buyers are using the Internet. In fact they are using the Internet even more than newspaper cliassified ads. More than 50% of used car buyers use the Net to help search--up 7% from 2003. Some 85% said it influenced their pricing.

$50 Billion In Advertising Wasted

Hard to believe or is it? The Advertising Research Foundation recent review of media studies found that a cool $50 billion of advertising has been wasted. Sort of gives shotgun marketing a whole new meaning. This represents slightly less than 20% of the $266 billion spent on advertising. The two biggest causes of wasted advertising budgets was wrong message and wrong timing. The conclusion--test before you run ads. A better idea would be to do proper market research in the beginning which might just find that no one even wanted the product to start with. Anyway, back to the media buying starting gate.