The product is Scotch Magic Tape, 0.75 inches by ONE THOUSAND inches.

The written reviews are…Well, I can summarize by saying that there are enough to make one side versus another. Yes, I’m going to ignore that this was Sarah Palin debate—one side shooing away the question asked for another one. Two people commented on tape! That’s enough for me.

There are also video reviews. I know, swoon, right? New style of tape, new medium of communication.

If you’ve read this post this far, go all the way and put the five video reviews up as background while you’re working. I started intending to watch just one, make sure it was something I should mention here. But I ended up finding them mesmerizing. The similarities and differences in review styles; the pitches, sales and voices; the settings.

Is a second person videoing, or is each reviewer sitting by herself or himself? Was it the money the site offers for some reviews, or was it the individual’s actual passion for office supplies? Will they feel a compulsion to tape something, for real, immediately after turning off the camera?

I’m caught in some old-timey web, sticky as our friend, 3M’s Scotch tape. Watching videos about tape from people all over the country, in 2008, is like sending something by courier, which I just started doing with one client, while I get back to e-mail and the next project. It’s both old-fashioned and luxuriously modern.

I watched with my own roll of tape on my desk; there’s now a fingerprint smudging the end section, from when I reached over to see if it really was as sticky as the reviewers were saying. Did I really believe that it would stick to anything—except wood, and some metals, and water; no, no, switching videos, it will even stick to water—with little trouble?

I’m not making fun. There’s a lot to giggle about, sure, but I myself am writing a blog about office supplies. When you live in a paper house, you shouldn’t chuck holly berries. Unless your house is fully fortified by Satin Finish GiftWrap Tape. Happy Holidays.