I’m not exactly sure about the merits of organic chocolate (strictly speaking organic merely implies the presence of carbon … sigh), but I thought this packaging was really cute and eye catching, along with the branding name “Fat Pig.”  Yeah, it’s offensive, but it also brings to mind that this chocolate is small indulgence in this weigh concious world — you know, if I’m going to have chocolate, then I’m going to have chocolate in all its creamy, sweet, and fatty glory.  I also like how the chocolates are in four little squares so the bar can be easily shared, although the messaging doesn’t encourage sharing.

Tokyopop, a publisher of manga in the US, has widgets available to post on MySpace, FaceBook, blogs, and many other webpages.  I decided to try it out to see how it works.

Here’s the URL if you want to try it out yourself too:
http://www.tokyopop.com/life/features/1091471.html

This picture shows some of the webservices the widgets can be posted to:

This picture shows one of the widgets on my external blog:

I use Google’s Blogger service.  Posting the widget was very easy.  I clicked on the “grab it!” button, selected Blogger, and then entered my login information (probably not the safest thing to do — they could be phishing).  If you don’t want to give login info or if the webservice you use is not available, then they also provide a little script to cut-and-paste into the source code of your webpage.

Obviously these widgets are meant to be viral since you can post them to another page from where ever you encounter the widget.   Also, who knows what else this widget is doing.  I imagine it also takes tracking information.  Personally, I don’t find the widgets Tokyopop has available to be anything that I would want to put on my page, except for maybe the manga preview widget.  If they had a widget that showed their schedule of manga releases, then that is something I would definitely post because that would be useful to me and my readers.  I will leave this widget on my page for a couple of weeks.  Hopefully, I won’t get any backlash from folks out there who hate Tokyopop.

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, here is an interesting article that summarizes the results of a study about the attitudes men and women, in general, have towards shopping. 

Marketing
‘Men Buy, Women Shop’: The Sexes Have Different Priorities When Walking Down the Aisles
When it comes to shopping, women are from Nordstrom’s and men are from Sears. Women are happy to meander through sprawling clothing and accessory collections or detour through the shoe department. For men, shopping is a mission. They are out to buy a targeted item and flee the store as quickly as possible, according to a new study by Wharton’s Jay H. Baker Retail Initiative and the Verde Group, a Toronto consulting firm. The study’s findings have implications for retailers that are looking for ways to tailor their goods and services to specific segments of the shopping population.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1848.cfm

While reading this article, I had a few internal chuckles thinking about the shopping trips my husband and I have.  There are times when I want to do to the mall just to get out, walk around, and look at stuff.  When my husband comes along it’s usually because there’s a meal and a movie involved.  As soon was we park and get out of the car, like clock-work, my husband asks, “What are we here for?” and I will tell him something generic like “I need a pair of professional looking shoes.”  This illicits a long sigh and then my husband turns into a cranky five year old and after 2 or 3 stores we have to leave and do something he wants to do before I go evil on him.  The funny thing is that my husband shops too, but he only has interest in stuff that he wants.  He will spend forever in a store looking at every single box before making a purchase decision.  Sometimes we will go to multiple stores or the same store over and over again until he can make up his mind.  In these situations it’s me who becomes the cranky 5-yr old.  Also, I do exhibit the “must complete mission” behavior when I know what it is I want.  Usually, I don’t bother taking my husband on these shopping missions, because I can’t stand being bogged down by his indecision.