Advertising Laughter and Smiles
October 19, 2009 – Ha Ha Helen, Candid Camera Style at the Grocery Store!
It’s all about the At-E-2’d! I finally got out of my ‘pity me’ funk and made an intention, this morning to ‘turn it around!’ I started by taking a positive step and placed an Ad out on Facebook for my book: “Life is a Song in the key of love or Growing Up With the Embarrassment of Prejudice”
I headed out to my chiropractor appointment. There were a group of 5 women, waiting in the lobby area, when I was done with my appointment. I went over, whispered that I did laughter wellness, and since it was a doctor’s office, did they want to do the QUIET laugh with me? They smiled and I demonstrated the ‘Quiet’ laugh. They agreed, while laughing and smiling, that it had wonderful muscle toning impact and the one lady started to laugh so hard, she was shaking – but quietly, of course! I left them with smiles and laughter.
Once I got in my car, my cell phone rang. It was a woman I had talked to from a local church. She said ‘the church committee’ had given her permission to book me for a laughter wellness even the week before Valentine’s Day! I was thrilled, my mood was turning around along with my intention to let go of the blues. The funny part was, Kelly told me the group couldn’t pronounce my last name; so every time they mentioned me during the discussion as HA HA HELEN, they would start to laugh. She said it kept happening and they kept laughing! I said, Wow! I’m not even there and you’re starting the program without me! They were going to be able to pay me, adequately, for my services, so I was very grateful!
After lunch at my favorite Thai restaurant, Thai Palace, I decided to do my ‘little bit’ of grocery shopping at the Super Sized, High End, GIANT Food Stores in Camp Hill, PA. Because? It has my LAFOLOT – Laughter Wellness advertisement on 25% of their Grocery Cart ADs. Not cheap, but I got a BIG AD with my face on it, for ½ price!
So, I made sure I got one of the carts with my AD and photo facing OUTWARD towards the customers, as I pushed the cart around. The AD is on the BACK of the ‘child safety’ seat – so people can see it coming towards them. These carts are LONG and DEEP, so it was funny to see my few items way down in the bottom of the cart.
I went over to get eggs. There was a woman there with a toddler in the child safety seat of her cart. I heard the little boy say: ‘EGGS! EGGS! with his entire body shaking with excitement! His mom said: ‘Oh, no, we don’t need any eggs, today.’ I had to turn around and say to her: ‘Gosh! He’s REALLY excited about eggs, isn’t he? That’s great!’ She smiled and agreed.
I started to do a sort of: CANDID CAMERA deal where I would approach people and say: “GEE! ISN’T IT INTERESTING HOW MY FACE MATCHES THE FACE ON THIS AD?’
First person approach, a handsome, older gentleman in a 3 piece suit; he laughed, smiled and wished me a great day!
Next person, an employee stocking shelves: She responded with a wink, smile and a’ thumbs up’!
Next… a young, male employee stocking the shelves; I joked with him that I had such a BIG cart because I was shopping for a handsome guy with money, and I needed space for him in the cart!
I turned the corner and saw a customer checking out items on a shelf. When I ‘did my thing’ with the irony of the likeness, she stopped, did a double-take, looked at me and said: IT’S YOU! IT’S YOU, ISN’T IT! SHE LAUGHED OUT LOUD! I gave her one of my smiley face, positive statement bookmarks. She asked about what I did, I explained it and we parted, smiling and laughing.
I then approached another woman coming up the aisle. She got a BIG laugh and SMILE out of it! She said: ‘You have to go do that to my husband, he’s in the aisle by the eggs.’ I said: ‘No problem, I’m just in here having fun!’ She said: ‘My husband has been in a down mood lately. He has had several surgeries and he’s been depressed. He hasn’t been smiling and he’s been grumpy. I said: ‘OK – show me where he is.’ So – I followed her and she stayed back, farther down the aisle after she pointed him out.
I pretended I was casually shopping and looking till I got to him and ‘did my thing’. He SMILED right away! I gave him one of my smiley face bookmarks that reads: LIVE LIFE! LAUGH OFTEN! He took it and laughed and smiled. I said: ‘I hear you’ve been having a rough time of it so I wanted to come over and cheer you up!’ He said: ‘You’ve been talking to my wife, haven’t you?’ *smile I said: ‘Yes, but I’m a certified laughter leader and I like to get people healthy with laughter and smiles. Keep smiling and laughing and you‘ll heal faster!’ He thanked me, and as I started to walk away, his wife said: ‘Oh Miss, what is that you’re talking about?’ ha ha ha she was still playing the scam – ha ha ha She said: ‘Did you get him to smile?’ I said: ‘YES! He was smiling as I approached.’
I got to approach many more folks as I finished walking through the store with my AD. I went up to the in-house Citizens’ Bank and joked: ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to rob you, I can’t, my photo is on the carts!’ The tellers asked me what I did, I explained it to them and gave them a card. I told them their corporate office should hire me to do a laughter wellness program for the employees. I left after the manager and I exchanged cards. I told him I’d refer his bank and he promised to refer me to his corporate office!
On my way out, I was lucky enough to get a Checkout Clerk from the Philippines! Since I like to learn how to say hello, goodbye, thank you in many language; she taught me: Hello = KA-MUS-TA and the response is: MA-BU-TEE. Thank you is: SA-LAM-AT Another language to add to my list! She asked what I did and I explained laughter wellness to her. I told her I could now share a Philippine version of the ALOHA laugh by using: KA-MUS-TA-HA HA HA HA HA HA She thought that was great!
So, as I’ve told myself over and over again; to get out of a funk, go out and mingle with people and make their days, it always turns mine around!
Ha Ha Helen out and about
Live Life! Laugh Often!
www.lafolot.com
Tags: Ha Ha Helen, Harrisburg, lafolot, Laughter, Wellness
