bookofjoe

BehindTheMedspeak: 'Tonsillectomy has little clinical benefit'

Conclusion of the latest study of this always controversial subject.

This week's British Medical Journal contains the results of a study performed in the Netherlands of 300 children with chronic throat infections.

They were randomly sorted into two groups: one had their tonsils and adenoids removed within six weeks, the other did not.

After an average follow-up period of 22 months, those who had the surgery had about the same incidence of subsequent throat infections as those who didn't.

The doctors also noted that 6% of those who had the operation had complications, including two who had to undergo additional surgery to deal with bleeding.

Decision Maker: 'Make the right choice'

"Decision Maker helps you with making hard decisions you simply do not have the time to be bothered with. It just lets you sit back and say, 'Ya know what, I don't care!' and watch as the computer decides what you need to do. Don't get bogged down thinking about things. It's time you just let it go."

The I Ching is SO over.

[via redferret.net]

Cameron Diaz sells out

It's supposed to be a secret, but the secret's out, big-time, as of today.

Cameron received a huge chunk of change to appear in a series of ads for a chain of English language schools in Japan.

She's not the only big star who does ads that aren't supposed to be seen or known of in the U.S.

Japander.com has a whole slew of them, all nicely alphabetized by performer so you can find out what your favorite rock star

or actress uses when in Japan.

Not that they've ever been in Japan except to film their ads and collect their checks.

So great.

Erin White lifted the rock in yesterday's Wall Street Journal.

Jennifer Aniston for Heineken? You betcha.

Brian Dubin, a senior vice president at William Morris Agency in New York, estimates that a single overseas ad campaign can pay a top star $1 million to $5 million.

Jennifer Aniston's publicist, Stephen Huvane, contacted about his employer's beer ads, said, "These questions are very intrusive into Jennifer's business life and not really information that anyone is entitled to. The Internet is a bit of a monster when it comes to unauthorized images."

That's the understatement of this still-young century.

Some stars get very upset by their unmasking, and threaten to sue if their ads are shown online.

Among them: Leonardo DiCaprio and Meg Ryan.

In those cases, Japander.com's founder, a Canadian named Al Soiseth, simply publishes the cease and desist letter on his site.

Here's the Wall Street Journal article.
__________________________

Found in Translation?

Stars Who Make Ads Overseas Recoil at Internet Exposure; Mr. DiCaprio Fights Back

Jennifer Aniston won't be getting rave reviews for one of her recent TV roles, as a pitchman for Heineken beer in many countries outside the U.S.

In fact, many of her American fans won't even see the ad, since the "Friends" star has taken steps to curb its circulation - even restricting the Dutch brewer from releasing publicity images of its own commercial, or posting it on the Internet.

Still, Ms. Aniston's Heineken NV ad has surreptitiously ended up on fan Web sites and other clever crevices of the Internet.

"I don't think [some stars] completely appreciate how networked and connected certainly most young people are," says Leslie Meredith, marketing director for Heineken U.K.

One of Hollywood's secrets is ending.

For years, big-name actors who would never agree to do commercial work in America moonlighted abroad, a la Bill Murray's character in the movie "Lost in Translation."

They figured folks back home would never know.

Yet in today's ever-more connected world - where technology-savvy types can zap ads to the Internet, and brands and campaigns tend to move globally - nothing stays discreet very long.

One Web site, called Japander.com, for example, is a virtual outing site for Hollywood stars appearing in Japanese commercials over the years.

Though some stars try to impose a host of restrictions to keep their overseas ad oeuvre beneath the radar, their wishes are hard to enforce.

"The days when you could do a campaign in Japan and it would be contained as a secret in the U.S. are long gone. There's much more awareness today," says Brian Dubin, senior vice president at William Morris Agency in New York.

Lately, European commercial breaks have been full of American celebrities.

In addition to Ms. Aniston (who also appears in a credit-card campaign in the United Kingdom from British bank Barclays PLC), Sarah Jessica Parker has been selling Lux shower gel, a Unilever brand, across Europe, "Goodfellas" star Ray Liotta has hawked Heineken in the U.K., and singer Christina Aguilera has advertised Virgin Mobile cellphone service in the U.K.

During the past decade, the percentage of ads world-wide featuring celebrities has roughly doubled to about 17%, estimates Hamish Pringle, a veteran of the U.K. ad industry and author of "Celebrity Sells," a book about celebrities in advertising.

"There's a growing sophistication by the stars and their agents who realize that celebrity endorsements ... are just another set of revenue streams," he says.

Indeed, with fame ever-fleeting, some actors view the ads as a chance to maximize their earnings.

"Most talent agents and celebrities have a giant clock ticking over their heads with the bells chiming 'How much can I get and for how long?' " says Alejandro M. Lopez, president of Beacon Communications, a joint venture in Tokyo between Publicis Groupe SA and Japanese ad giant Dentsu.

Mr. Dubin at William Morris estimates that a single overseas ad campaign can pay a top star $1 million to $5 million.

So what does that do to a celebrity's marquee value back home?

Fortuitously enough, the conventional wisdom that ads are credibility killers may be fading.

Appearing in far-flung campaigns actually may help a star sell more movie tickets and albums world-wide.

"What we learned, as more stars did commercials overseas, is that there's a direct relationship between the population of a foreign country seeing them on TV, becoming more familiar with them, and therefore seeing their movies more frequently," says Karen Sellars, head of celebrity endorsements for the Los Angeles office of International Creative Management.

In the U.S., even A-list stars are dropping their guard.

Ms. Parker agreed to headline Gap Inc.'s new ad blitz at the height of her fame with the finale of "Sex and the City."

Catherine Zeta-Jones can be seen on American TV, in print ads and in store displays, promoting cellphone service from Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile.

To the chagrin of many fans, Bob Dylan appeared in a Victoria's Secret commercial for Limited Brands Inc.

Even so, the reduced stigma hasn't stopped some celebrities from being tight-lipped about their work.

Asked to comment about Ms. Aniston's beer and credit-card campaigns, Stephen Huvane, the actress's publicist, wrote in an e-mail: "These questions are very intrusive into Jennifer's business life and not really information that anyone is entitled to."

In a separate e-mail, he wrote: "The Internet is a bit of a monster when it comes to unauthorized images."

Heineken and Publicis, whose New York office created the ad, both say they didn't release the images, which show Ms. Aniston shopping for beer, on the Internet.

More likely, a fan could have hooked up a digital camcorder to a TV and posted the spot online, ad industry executives say.

Or a staffer at one of the companies involved in the ad could have taken a copy and posted it online without being traced, they add.

For fans, finding such ads has become something of an online sport.

Japander.com was founded several years ago by a Canadian named Al Soiseth.

Armed with easily available technology - a TV, a VCR, a digital camcorder, a digital-recording device and a computer - Mr. Soiseth has archived dozens of celebrity ads.

Visitors to the site can watch George Clooney promote Toyota cars (2001), Harrison Ford sell Kirin beer (mid 1990s), Madonna hawk a rice beverage (1995) and Brad Pitt, who is married to Ms. Aniston, shill blue jeans (late 1990s).

Visitors won't find Meg Ryan and Leonardo DiCaprio, however.

Mr. Soiseth has received stern letters from their lawyers.

"Your actions constitute, among other offenses, a wrongful use and misappropriation of our client's name in violation of his federal and state common law and statutory rights," reads a copy of the letter Mr. Soiseth says is from Mr. DiCaprio's lawyers.

He removed the ads from the site and linked to the abrasive letter as a substitute amusement.

Ken Sunshine, Mr. DiCaprio's publicist, says "they should not have ever put that material up on any site, and we were right to do that."

To keep the cash coming, stars inevitably will have to make concessions to the new digital reality. When Ms. Aguilera agreed to do a commercial for Virgin Mobile, she stipulated that the ad could air only in the U.K.

But she agreed to let Virgin put the spot on a Web site when "Virgin insisted," says Barbara Charone, Ms. Aguilera's U.K. publicist.

Grand Prix Winner: Designtope Restroom of the 21st Century

Kohei Odaka created it: it's called "Black Cube."

The restroom is a narrow space made of charcoal.

The only source of light is a luminescent toilet seat.

Kohei explained why he used charcoal for the walls: "The special qualities of the charcoal, which dehumidifies, deodorizes, and emits negative ions, soothe the body, and the reduction of visual information to a bare minimum sharpens the senses and creates a pleasurable sense of tension."

Sounds good to me.

I'll take one.

Over a thousand entries were received for the competition,

sponsored by Toto Ltd., the stylish Japanese bathroom fixture company.

Memo to file: don't let William Hurt use this bathroom. You know how he gets when it's quiet and dark and there's water around....

[via reluct.com]

BehindTheMedspeak: One more reason flying can make you sick

This morning's USA Today brings the not-so-cheery news that the water in airplanes is contaminated with fecal bacteria.

About one in eight U.S. passenger planes were found to be infected with coliform bacteria.

So - bring your own, and don't bother washing your hands in the lavatory: you might as well wash them in the toilet bowl.

Just one more reason flying is not only unpleasant, but potentially hazardous to passengers.

As it is, we've had to accept decreased fresh air flow in the cabin as airlines cut corners to save every penny to avert bankruptcy.

Providing fresh air to the cabin costs extra, so it's been cut back.

Here's the disturbing USA Today story, by Elizabeth Weise.
_________________________

Tests point to bacteria in water on airplanes

The next time you fly, you might want to ask for bottled water. And bring along some hand wipes while you're at it.

Random tests of drinking water from 158 U.S. passenger planes found that about one in eight were contaminated with bacteria from human waste, the Environmental Protection Agency reported Monday.

Tanks on aircraft provide water for both lavatory sinks and galleys and to make coffee and tea.

They are typically topped off each time a plane lands, which means each airport is a potential source of contamination, either via its own water supply or from contaminated nozzles on the hoses used to fill the tanks.

The tanks are flushed and disinfected regularly.

The EPA suggests that people with compromised immune systems - such as cancer and transplant patients and people with HIV - stick to canned or bottled water when flying and avoid washing their hands or brushing their teeth in plane lavatories.

Water quality on airplanes is a unique problem, says Tom Skinner of the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

"Because planes travel the globe over the course of a day, a plane can take on water at 10 sites, including sites outside the United States."

The agency found that 20 of the water tanks tested were infected with coliform bacteria, and two also tested positive for E. coli bacteria.

Coliform bacteria indicate that the water has been contaminated with fecal material.

E. coli is also associated with human waste.

"We take fecal contamination seriously. It can have an acute gastrointestinal impact," says Ben Grumbles of EPA's Office of Water.

Although the forms of coliform and E. coli found in the tanks don't usually make people sick, they are indicators that other organisms might be present that could pose a danger to public health.

Symptoms of such water-borne illness include diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.

But the public shouldn't overreact, says Phyllis Kozarsky, chief of travel health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We have not had reports of water-borne outbreaks on planes. People have not become ill, and we have no reports of illness," she says.

The samples were collected in August and September from a wide range of aircraft types and carriers.

The agency also tested for residual chlorine to determine whether the water systems had been disinfected.

The tests provide a statistically valid profile of aircraft water quality in the USA, the EPA says.

The agency says the data are preliminary, and it is undertaking a more thorough testing program to understand the full scope of the problem.

"We're pursuing what may be violations of our regulations and reviewing whether we need to strengthen our guidelines to carriers," Skinner says.

"We've notified the airline industry of our findings, and we're actively pursing additional ways to clean the water."

The Air Transport Association, the trade organization of the major U.S. airlines, disputed the findings.

The organization said that testing by the Food and Drug Administration as well as its own tests found that "airlines' drinking water was free of contaminants that might pose health risks," according to a press release.

"People have to use common sense and not have greater expectations than they should have. ... An airplane is not their home," the CDC's Kozarsky says.

But even home water might not be a good comparison.

Although the 13% failure rate in airplane water might seem high, the EPA's Grumbles says 10% of the U.S. population gets water from sources that do not meet federal water quality standards.

Globe-Trotter Luggage - By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen

Made by hand of vulcanized fiberboard over an ash frame, these suitcases are essentially unchanged since the company was founded in England in 1897.

Queen Elizabeth used them on her honeymoon; Diana, Princess of Wales, carried her hats in them; the Duke of Edinburgh uses them exclusively.

They're lightweight, boxy, and expensive - $365 to $1,460 - and so aggressvely nondescript they're favored not only by nobility, but also by a sizable number of world-class designers and stylists.

[via Guy Trebay and the New York Times]

Madden NFL Football

It's so real, NFL players are addicted to it.

Former Dolphins running back Ricky Williams said, "You all probably don't realize how realistic Madden is. We can actually practice reads, defenses and offensive plays just by playing the game."

Michael Lewis, starting strong safety for the Philadelphia Eagles, said, "I use the videogame as a little scouting report. I don't know how Madden knows how good guys are, but he's got it down."

Madden NFL has sold more than 39 million copies since 1989, for a total of more than $1 billion.

More than five million copies were sold last year alone.

Electronic Arts, the games manufacturer, spends $5 million to $10 million each year to upgrade the game.

"The way we approach it is we're the 33rd NFL team," says Jeremy Strauser, the game's supervising producer.

So accurate is the game, it shows Atlanta Falcons' quarterback Michael Vick's panther tattoo and the tape that Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss wears on his elbows - but only when playing on artificial turf, just as in real life.

Television has come to mimic some aspects of the game's appearance, in particular the "skycam" shots taken from directly above the playing field.

ESPN even uses the actual Madden NFL football software to illustrate key points during its broadcasts.

Madden himself likes to tell the story of how, several years ago, he was at a hotel before a game conducting interviews with Eagles players the night before a game when a linebacker walked into the room and immediately headed for the door.

"No, no - not that Madden, " the linebacker said. "I wanted the game."

[via Kevin J. Delaney and the Wall Street Journal]

Everywhere light

Designed by Ora-Ito (he of the Petal chair featured here yesterday) for Artemide.

The tongs-shaped light clamps on to a tabletop, shelf, mirror, or anything it can grasp.

[via reluct.com]