I am a sucker for good advertising. Those people on Madison Avenue are quite aware of this allure and do it on purpose. For people like me. Every holiday season Publix puts out these touching, cute, and funny commercials to promote their supermarket and send well wishes to the community. They generally feature these salt/pepper shakers as animated characters, amongst a family setting. It is sweet. On Tuesday I saw them at the store. I was poked fun of for falling for the marketing gimmick. But c'mon they are cute. If you saw the commercial you would agree. I am generally good about not acting on these marketing game impulses. This time of year is baaaad though. Each night I walk from my car and get the mail from the box at the end of the drive. These days it is packed with catalogs. Places I have never heard of. But who cares? Glossy covers, pretty pics and lots of fun things to purchase. Generally I am an advertisers worst nightmare though, I love the pictures and the cute, but the buck stops there. I flip, point, fold down pages and plan. But never follow through. It is the advertising of it and the product placement.Putting it in front of me is an excellent technique. Again marketing genius. Especially for donations, this week I have donated to St. Jude's at the shoe store and the Greyhound Rescue at the pet store. Ask me when I am paying, with my hand on the cash, and I am yours. Place those magazines in my mail and I will look through every catalog. It is relaxing and lets me "shop" without leaving my comfy couch. I can multi-task, catch up on TV and flip. Perhaps one day with more expendable cash, the turned down pages will be accessed with the Visa. For now, I plan on the salt and pepper shakers for Turkey Day '07. No comments. I also need to find accetable presents for office assistants and the hair dresser. I will keep my eye out, as long as the catalogs keep coming.