I don’t know whether these radio spots were in the works prior to these recent events, but for the sake of the agency that developed them, I hope they were.  Given the concerns people are likely to have around bus safety, those spots are doing more harm than good. I don’t even recall if they mentioned safety, but I do remember my first thought in response to “Why aren’t you riding Greyhound?”, and I suspect most people’s reaction would be similar – “I don’t want to get stabbed or decapitated!”

Greyhound should be running a series of damage control ads much like Maple Leaf has been doing since the Listeriosis outbreak and reassuring people that its safe to take the bus -  not reminding people why they’re not.

• Jim Cramer’s Stay Mad Life
• Total Money Makeover – Financial Fitness
• Many of Seth Godin’s books (Permission Marketing, Unleashing the Idea Virus, All Marketers are Liars)

Then I also came across an article in USA Today which indicated that a recent survey of CEOs found that being bald is a business advantage.

“The CEOs felt that baldness conveyed leadership presence. Steve Carley, the bald CEO of restaurant chain El Pollo Loco, told the newspaper that his baldness is “a point of pride and a personal branding advantage. … It encourages approachability.”

Apparently bald men are also a bigger slice of the general population, with The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery estimating that 50% of Caucasian men older than 45 and 60% older than 60 have clinical balding.

Regardless of this plausible link between baldness and conveyed leadership/approachability, not to mention some very real brand benefits, I don’t think I’ll be shaving my head any time soon. For those of you who are already balding and considering ways of covering it up, just shave the rest of it off. There’s never been a better time to go bald!