Everyone has a story

The fire alarm startled me from a semi-deep sleep over Can Selfishness Save the Environment? on one of the library couches. Between Mina and I, we decided that it would probably be a good idea to leave the building.

Once outside, we were passively mobbed by the "Everyone Has a Story" campaign, which today has real people attached to it. It has been going on at school for over a week now, and from a marketing perspective, it has been a pretty effective campaign so far, as far as I can see.

It began with extensive postering. Good, professionally printed posters , and not those cheap ones that you make up late at night and max out your copy card photocopying in the library. Each poster had a picture of a smiling student with a tag line like "I couldn't have done it without him..." or "After 21 years of marriage...", followed by the adress of a website: everyonehasastory.ca.

Sounds inspirational, motivational. It's true, everyone does have a story, and I'm sure that more than a few of us would really love to share it, whatever it is. It certainly got my attention. When the matching pamphlets appeared everywhere, I noticed that there seemed to be an unusually high number of people carrying them around, so I'm guessing that it got their attention too.

Our fire evacuation took us outside, right into the middle of the campaign set up in the Convomall, which now includes large billboards, free hot chocolate and spokespeople. All this expensive advertising? Jesus of course.

I question the validity of any faith that must be promoted by its members in the same way that you would sell a movie or a car.

Then again, maybe he's only ever been a commodity.

This is not the only potentially inflamatory thing on my mind today.