I'm a fan of the "
Condescending
Corporate Brand Page" on facebook. The other day
this
one about Pearl Harbor came up and caused some discussion in our
house. Emotions have been exploited and used to manipulate consumers
for a long time now. Tragedies were the last sacred ground. That line
is now crossed on a daily basis. Is it worse than exploiting other
emotions? To me gaining publicity and profit from suffering is wrong,
but then again corporations turn suffering to profit every day with
sweat shops. Perhaps this is just more in our face, and people are
shockingly receptive to it.
Two years ago Eddie Bauer used Hendri's death for publicity.
Realistically isn't that just what they pay athletes for; taking risk
for publicity? Strange that saying so is taboo, even in the outdoor
industry this is almost always sugar coated. It's tough to articulate,
but I do believe some things are sacred and should be left to us and
not used for publicity and profit. Death, misery and tragedy are some
of those things. Maybe because when we experience them we don't want to
see them trivialized. Unfortunately that's exactly what happens when
these situations are used for publicity, and doing so has become the
status-quo in the corporate world. What a shame that the pursuit of
profit excuses morals and condones the exploitation of these very
things that make us human.
On a positive note it is nice to see that for some businesses it's
enough to advertise simply "we have something worth buying" and
they are still alive and healthy. Let's support them this holiday
season.
