Jordan-isms

Here I am in Jordan, working on a healthy lifestyles campaign. According to our most recent study, married women exercise the least when compared to married men, young women, and young men. Two-thirds of married women said they had not exercised at all. It's been interesting to see those research results in real life. Every day when I go to the gym, I comb the facilities for another woman. I have yet to see another woman working out at the gym. I got so concerned that today I finally asked the man at the desk, “This gym is for girls, right?” I was worried that all this time I had neglected to notice a sign saying “MEN ONLY.” Apparently, I had no need to be flustered. The gym serves both sexes, it's just that one is conspicuously missing.

Meanwhile, at the office, we're working on our anti-smoking mass media campaign. We're sitting around the table discussing the pre-testing results and which logo would best convey the following ideas: “It's against the law to smoke in public places” and “Second-hand smoke is harmful to the health of those around you.” Mid conversation, our media team grab their cigarettes, put them in their mouths, and start to light up. Hmmm... guess the campaign isn't quite having the effect we'd like it to have. Well, “slowly, slowly” as they say here.