What Has The Recession Brought?

Here are a few things I have seen more of recently since the recession really set in. You be the judge of whether there is a causal relationship between the economy and these events.

Here is the list:

• Brands battling it out mono y mono style (ie: KFC Grilled Chicken Vs. El Pollo Loco)
• Brands I work for going on Oprah
• Swine flu
• Long hours at the office
• Horsepower
• Old shoes
• Twitter blowing up
• Bad haircuts
• Thai food
• Refrigerated bananas
• Obscene emoticons (obscenicons)
  
• Free gas
• Sun burns
• Pyramid schemes
  

So what do you think? Which ones are coincidence and which ones are direct results of the recession? What has changed in your world because of the economic funk?

"Meet the Volkswagens" Facebook App

Meet the Volkswagens is a new Facebook app developed by Crispin+Porter and VW which purports to match users with the right car model based on data from their Facebook profiles. After you install the application, it churns through information like your date of birth, photos, likes, and educational history. It then spits out two matches.

It probably doesn't match perfectly for everyone, but for my tastes it was dead-on. Because I am "fashionable and cargo-conscious" (it would have also been correct in saying that I enjoy "driving fast and hugging corners") it chose for me either a 4-door GTI or a Tiguan. I wouldn't mind having either car and have heavily considered both in the past...especially if I could get that Tiguan in a diesel.

This move may not work for every brand, but for V-Dub customers, this seems like a very relevant app. Ad Freak (5/5/09)