Just for the Fun of it

Every so often I get a link to something called The Fun Theory. It's a project developed, apparently, by the European advertisers for Volkswagen, although the videos have nothing to do with cars.
The campaign is about using fun as a motivation to get people to do things they normally don't like to do. Here's the first video, which appeared in a music list serve I'm on:




There have been two other videos since. In one, a trash can has been rigged up with a sound speaker to give the impression that whatever is thrown inside is falling miles before it hits the bottom of the can. And the latest one has a scoreboard that turns glass recycling into a game. (Apparently, the Swedes don't get compensated for recycling glass--just like here.)
It's worth mentioning that this is a contest with a 2,500 euro prize. If you go to the site, you can look at all the videos, plus other submissions, which include singing bathroom hand dryers and light switches, to name a couple.
So VW, when are you going to start a fun project here? Because I gotta tell you, we Americans are in serious need of some fun. All the celebrity gossip and judging of our neighbors is beginning to wear thin. And there's only so much Jon & Kate and American Idol and Runway you can absorb before the thought hits you: This is just second-hand fun. I'm just sitting at a distance, judging someone else's fun. I want to play on the funny stairs! I want to drop stuff in the whistling garbage can! I want to win 2,500 euros!
According to the statistics kept by the contest organizers (Yes. They kept statistics of how many people walked up the piano stairs, versus the obesity-friendly escalator), we can change human avoidance of unpopular chores by adding a little fun into the mix. More people used the "fun" machines in all three of the videos, according to the site.
So I have a bigger proposition for Volkswagen: Can we also get large corporations to behave differently by adding fun? After all, corporations are considered people by the law.
So let's see...
You know what's fun? Dominoes!




What if we used a domino reward for, say, corporate morality and health care? Each domino could represent a person who's life was saved by the public option, then whichever insurance CEO's company lost the most money could knock...Uh, wait a minute.
How about this? Each domino represents $500 saved by small businesses and taxpayers for health care reform. Then when it was knocked over, it would reveal a valentine heart and message, "Thank you, insurance industry, for the sacrifice you made for your country."

Know what else is fun? Houses of cards.




What if we tied a house of cards reward to the mortgage industry? These mortgage guys hate the idea of Washington regulation, don't they? So OK, hire this card stacking guy to build replicas of the hated government symbols, the Capitol, White House, etc. Knocking them over can be the consolation prize for the reforms that disallow some past business abuses. No hard feelings, guys.

OK. One more. Mandalas.






You know the go-go financial whizzes we've been reading about? The Masters of the Universe? The ones who like to bet everything on risky derivatives? They should each be required by law to do one of the ceremonies illustrated above each year. Just sit there, staying out of the marketplace, concentrating on the sand and the god of compassion. And they should have robes and bells and headgear, too.
If it didn't help their chi, at least they'd be in a place where they couldn't hurt us for four days. Problem solved.