Grown-up infomercials

Grown-up infomercials

“Infomercials have grown up. They are now a legitimate mainstream medium,” says Alan Middleton, professor of marketing at York University, in the Oct. 2 The Globe and Mail. Selling CSBs this way “is a bold move. I quite like this.” He was referring to the latest infomercials about Canada Savings Bonds being promoted by the federal government.

Drinking the image

“People in Canada drink the image. They don’t drink the beer,” said Alan Middleton, a long-time advertising executive and marketing professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business, says the Oct. 2 The Toronto Star in the business section

MBA applications up

Dezso Horvath, dean of York’s Schulich School of Business, says there’s a 40 to 50 per cent increase in Canadian applications (for the master of business administration program) and a 100 per cent increase in international applications, according to an Oct. 2 The Toronto Star article. Average scores on the Graduate Management Admission Test, or GMAT, are 10 to 15 points higher than in the past. Schulich runs Canada’s largest MBA program, admitting 411 full-time students last year.

It’s not OK to bully

The Hamilton Spectator says in a Sept. 24 article that work by Canadian researchers Wendy Craig and Debra Pepler (LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution, York University) shows a child is bullied on the playground every seven minutes and in the classroom every 25 minutes.