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World View Marketing news and other sick stuff | Issue #19 Said Gao Fugui, a 45-year-old businessman in Beijing: "My daughter, who's 16, wants to go to the U.S., but for me there's no pointI have basically the same life here." As he spoke, he was loading domestic beer and imported wine into his new SUV with silhouettes of skiers on the outside and fake leopard seat covers inside. Beijing now has 80 McDonald's, more than two dozen Starbucks, and at least one T.G.I. Fridays. In China, Coca Cola is called Ke Kou Ke Le, which translates as "really tasty really fun." (New York Times, 2/25/02) * * * * * Lawrence and Sally Wieringa of California have two new ideas for the port-o-potty: make it round and wrap it with ads. Their patented "Promo-Can" has billboard-style ads inside and out. So far the invention has attracted interest from Coca-Cola, Nike, Evian, and Philip Morris. (Creativity, Sept. 2001) * * * * * In Boston area high schools, teachers show more popular Hollywood movies in class than ever before. History teacher James Philip played Inspector Gadget for his students at Brighton High School as part of a lesson on future technology, arguing that the film "lends itself to conversations about, What is possible and how real is this? How much has science progressed so we can repair people?" At Charlestown High, students have seen, among other movies, Love and Basketball, Mission: Impossible 2, and Finding Forrester. In some cases the films were rewards, but Michael Fung, Charlestowns headmaster, admits that some were used to fill time in classes when most of the students were out on field trips, leaving only a few kids behind: "Unless you get a substitute, you end up using movies to babysit kids, basically." (Boston Globe, 6/4/01) * * * * * The New York Times, 12/3/01: "Electronic wish lists, or personal gift registries, have become as much a part of the holiday season as, well, letters to Santa. Hundreds of thousands of these lists are created in anticipation of the holidays, and on Amazon alone there are more than five million wish lists." New York Times, 11/19/01: "[C]onsumer reluctance has hindered the growth of online gift registries and wish lists . . . Even though many online retailers offer such registries, just 7 percent of online buyers have taken the time to register [a]nd only 8 percent of Internet shoppers have bought a gift from an online registry." (Daniel Radosh, Media Moment 39) * * * * * In a genuine attempt to spread the word of God, Westminster John Knox Press has published The Gospel According to the Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of the Worlds Most Animated Family. And thousands of churches teach Bible study using episodes from The Beverly Hillbillies, I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, and The Brady Bunch. Says Stephen Skelton of the Entertainment Ministry, "Jesus used parables to teach lessons. These are just prime-time parables, as I call them." (The New York Times Magazine, 8/12/01) * * * * * The family business has a new twist. According to Active Parenting Publishers, more than three million parents have attended training sessions to make their families more like mini-corporations. Participants learn how to run family "board meetings" complete with printed agendas, mission statements, and rotating chairmanships. For instance, every week the Dufours, a Dallas family, review each family members to-do list, and the children, ages 13 and 5, receive their allowances, which are docked for any unfinished chores. Says Douglas MacIntyre, a family-meeting consultant in Rochester, New York, "Kids are consumers of parenting" and meetings are a good way to learn "how the consumer is receiving the product." (Wall Street Journal, 8/10/01) * * * * * To boost standardized test scores, two middle schools in Florida now offer cash incentives to students with high scores. Says Parrott Middle School principal Marvin Gordon, "I dont consider it bribery. This is reality . . . If you are an achiever in your job, you get a bonus." Although Governor Jeb Bush has criticized the program, one of his policies has been cited as the cause. Under Bush, state funds to schools are tied to standardized test scores. Neither of the Brooksville schools qualified for state funds last year. (Christian Science Monitor, 5/31/01) * * * * * The Kroger grocery-store chain opened a new store in an unusual placeRoom 158 at Scott County High in Georgetown, Kentucky. The store, which is managed and staffed by the students, sells candy, soda, snacks, school supplies, and health and beauty aids. Principal Betty Hughes considers the store a boon for "experiential education." Kroger has six other school stores in Kentucky. (The Lexington Herald Leader, 12/12/01) * * * * * While viewing a film screened by a cigarette advertising agency in Pakistan, 13 children and one woman fell into a well and died. The victims were among 24 children and two women watching the film while perched atop the well. (Dawn.com, 12/5/01) * * * * * During the war in Afghanistan, the food rations and cluster bombs dropped by U.S. planes were roughly the same size and color (bright yellow). To prevent any misunderstanding among Afghanis on the ground, the military broadcast radio messages explaining the difference between the two: "Attention, noble Afghan people. As you know, the coalition countries have been air dropping daily humanitarian rations for you. The food ration is enclosed in yellow plastic bags. They come in the shape of rectangular or long squares . . . In areas away from where the food has been dropped, cluster bombs will also be dropped. The color of these bombs is also yellow. All bombs will explode when they hit the ground, but in some special circumstances some of the bombs will not explode." (The Independent [U.K.], 10/30/01) * * * * * In July 2001, Philip Morris sent a report to the Czech Republic suggesting that the country could save well over $1 million in healthcare and pension costs due to smoking because people who smoke die early. Philip Morris was trying to preempt a competing report from the Czech Health Ministry that suggested that smoking was costing the country money. A few days after Philip Morris report was made public, the corporation issued an apology, saying, "All of us at Philip Morris, no matter where we work, are extremely sorry." During the same week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Philip Morris produced a commercial in the Czech Republic that hailed Kraft, a Philip-Morris subsidiary, for sending macaroni and cheese and other food to Kosovar refugees. But Kraft had donated $125,000-worth of food, while Philip Morris spent at least $1 million shooting the commercial. The company built a fake refugee camp in the Czech Republic and filled it with 350 extras specially selected for their olive complexions. For these and other reasons, Philip Morris later announced that it was changing its name. In the future, Philip Morris will be known as Altria. (AP, 7/17/01; The Guardian, 7/27/01; Wall Street Journal, 7/24/01) * * * * * A public elementary school in one of New Jerseys poorest districts sold the naming rights to its gym for $100,000. The ShopRite of Brooklawn Gymnasium will open next fall. (AP, 11/16/01) * * * * * In a recent episode of Disneys kiddie cartoon series The Proud Family, Penny Proud downloads music from the Internet and pays dearly for it. Her wanton ways cause a musician to receive a smaller royalty check than usual, which prompts him to call the police, who surround Pennys house and threaten to arrest her. Her parents then take her computer away, and she learns that her downloading habit has put the local music store out of business. The plot fits neatly with Disneys current involvement in drafting legislation making it illegal to sell or distribute any digital device that doesnt "utilize certified security technologies" approved by the U.S. Commerce Department. (Wired.com, 10/24/01) * * * * * As part of its "psychological operations," U.S. military planes
dropped leaflets for the people of Afghanistan. One leaflet includes a
photo purported to be Osama bin Laden with a haircut, a clean shave, and
a Western-style business suit. "Osama bin Laden the murderer and
coward has abandoned you," reads the flyer, which urges Afghanis
to "Give yourself up and do not die needlessly." Another U.S.
leaflet pictures bin Laden with a turban and beard; it reads "[He]
laughs at you because you dont know he has sent you to your death."
Critics of the U.S. militarys tactics are concerned that such blatant
lying will only feed anti-American sentiment in the Middle East. Many
Arabs believe, for example, that the U.S. faked the videotape in which
bin Laden talked about planning the September 11 attacks. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld was asked at a press briefing if people might see the
leaflet photo as proof that America doctors or fabricates things. "That
is a possibilitythat people will say something thats not true,"
Rumsfeld replied. "Theres nothing much we can do about it.
We live in the world, we get up in the morning, we go about and do our
business as best we can." (AP, 1/3/02) * * * * * After investigating an anonymous tip that Philadelph-ia schools had installed unlicensed software on computers used by students, teachers, and administrators, Microsoft threatened to sue the entire public school system for piracy. In a similar case in 1996, the Los Angeles school board settled with Microsoft and the Business Software Alliance out of court, paying a $300,000 fine and agreeing to set aside $3 million to replace copied materials, plus $1.5 million to create an internal anti-piracy team. Philadelphias schools, which on Microsofts orders have begun an inventory of every single piece of computer software in the system, have an estimated budget deficit of $200 million. (Salon, 7/10/01) * * * * * Navegar, a Miami-based gun manufacturer, has advertised that its assault weapons have "excellent resistance to fingerprints" and that the guns threaded barrels make it easy to attach silencers. In a lawsuit seeking damages from Navegar, victims of a mass shooting involving a Navegar gun tried to prove that the company had purposefully targeted potential criminals. The California Supreme Court ruled 5-1 in favor of the gun maker. (AmericanNewspeak. org, 8/13/01) * * * * * According to a tentative contract with Disney World, workers who walk around the park dressed as Mickey, Minnie, or Goofy will be able to wear their own undergarments instead of Disney-issued tights, jock straps, and other underclothes. Under the old rules, employees has to turn in the clothing each night and pick up a new set the next day. Several workers said that they got lice and scabies after wearing other peoples undergarments that had not been properly cleaned. (New York Times, 6/8/01) * * * * * The U.S. Army is working with Hollywood directors and screenwriters to brainstorm about possible terrorist targets in the U.S. and to develop solutions to those threats. The consultants include Die Hard screenwriter Steven E. De Souza, Delta Force One director Joseph Zito, MacGyver writer David Engelbach, and Grease director Randal Kleiser. (Variety, 10/8/01)* * * * * Sgt. Chris T. Phillips, a North Carolina highway patrolman, ordered nachos from a Taco Bell drive-through while on duty and found himself holding a chip from which dangled a strand of phlegm. Incidents of fast-food workers spitting into cops meals and beverages have been on the rise recently, prompting some police officers to avoid such restaurants. (Wall Street Journal, 5/23/01) * * * * * Coca-Cola has implemented a plan to discourage restaurant customers from drinking tap water. According to a Coca-Cola web page for restauranteurs, water "contributes to a dull dining experience" for customers. Says Coke: "Many customers choose tap water not because they enjoy it, but because it is what they always have drunk in the past." To solve the problem, Coke is working with restaurant chains to train crews to sell "alternative choices" to waternamely "soft drinks and non-carbonated beverages." For example, a program with Olive Garden called H2ONo helps wait staffs learn how to turn requests for water into requests for Coke beverages. Another Coca-Cola/Olive Garden program called "Just Say No to H2O" offers employees incentives for reducing the amount of tap water customers drink. Coca-Cola isnt opposed to all tap water, howeveronly non-Coca-Cola tap water. Among the "alternative beverages" Coca-Cola pushes is its own bottled tap water, Dasani. Note: After the link to Coca-Colas "Tap Water Success Stories" was discovered by websurfers and posted widely on the internet, Coca-Cola removed the page. Stay Free! saved a copy, however, and posted it on our website right here. See also: New York Times, 8/20/01. * * * * * The bar that inspired the TV sitcom Cheers, the Bull & Finch Pub, was a continual disappointment to Boston tourists. With no wide island bar, no pool table, no jukebox, andworst of allno Norm and Sam, the old Pub bore scant resemblance to the bar on TV. So the Bull & Finch owner figured out a way to please customers: He remade the pub, modeling it after the Cheers set. (Washington Post, 8/24/01) * * * * * A couple bought this million-dollar house in Greenwich, Conn., but decided to tear it down to build a new, bigger house. According to a member of the wrecking crew, the couple said that the bedrooms and closets were too small. (New York Times Magazine, 4/29/01) |