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Bono launched (PRODUCT)RED in early 2006 as a way for consumers to make a contribution to the AIDS crisis in Africa by picking RED products rather then standard ones. For example, Apple has an iPod(RED), Motorola has a RAZR(RED) and Amex has an Amex(RED). In it’s first year the campaign was heavily criticised for what some estimated to be a massive outlay on advertising for a relatively meagre return of $18 million for the Global Fund. I think the economic issues don’t quite add up to the big hullabaloo that ensued, but the cultural impact of the RED campaign is what is starting to worry me.
Take a look at this Dell(RED) advertisement that aired during the recent Superbowl before reading on.
My awesome wife got me Ozonomics by Andrew Charlton for my birthday and I found it quite interesting. Charlton takes a look at Australia’s economic history to determine who/what is responsible for the boom times we are currently experiencing. Along the way he explains some economics, makes you laugh and blows away the myths being propagated by the Liberal Party. At only 200 pages it’s a bit short for my liking, though it did make a quick and easy read. The content may not be mindblowing for those in the know, but it is handy to inform people like me who need some of these ‘hard facts’ for when relatives and friends trot out the old furphy about how bad interests were under Labor. With an election looming bursting these myths is more important then ever, Howard and Costello have done a tremendous marketing job so that most of the electorate (even those voting Labor) still have more faith in the Liberals running the economy. It’s a bit scary to think how well the propaganda has worked, especially when contrasted against the history presented in Ozonomics.
The second half of the book is certainly the most interesting, as Charlton outlines some of Australia’s political history. The politics, lies and deceitfulness over Liberal economic rhetoric is astounding. Whether it’s debt, interest rates or the budget surplus, the Libs consistently outplayed Labor by misrepresenting economic policy and Australia’s economic position. It’s imperative anyone interested in Australian politics, or is planning to have a meaningful vote this election, reads up on this stuff. If we don’t know our history we are bound to repeat it.
Now for some good quotes:
Scrolling back through the breaking-news archive of the last few days reveals that the dollar has been on a veritable rollercoaster ride…but all these urgent stories, on closer inspection, are utterly insignificant…But fortunately, non-economists take no notice because they don’t know enough about financial markets to make any sense of this information, and economists know enough to realise there is no sense in it…Economic information like this isn’t informative.
For the past few days I’ve been adding my 2c to a Green La Girl post on religion and social activism. Comments are closed now but it’s an interesting read. I’m thinking about blogging about the God-motive more in depth at some point.
I just got an e-mail from the Advertising Standards Bureau - I complained to them about Hippo and GPO ads - informing me that as the GPO advertisement is no longer running they will not be pursuing my complaint.
Now regardless of what you thought of the ad or what you thought of my complaint, the comments on that post linked to above show at least some people disagree with my calls for “censorship”, this is another example of the danger and ill-suitability of industry self-regulation. Why does it matter whether an ad is still running or not? Surely an ad, if found offensive, should result in some sort of disciplinary action against the advertiser. I’m being unfairly penalised just because I saw an ad towards the end of it’s cycle, in fact I’m being penalised for the ASB slow decision making process as I reported the ad while it was still viewable by the general public.
I haven’t got round to watching Live Earth yet, but I did listen to bits of it on the radio on Saturday. But found some of these quotes from a Washington Post article quite amusing:
“If you want to save the planet, I want you to start jumping up and down!” Thus Madonna revealed her plan to combat global warming.
Matt Bellamy of the band Muse mocked the event as “private jets for climate change.
From what I’ve heard it seems to have been a pretty effective event, the organisers say it’s “raised awareness” and it should encourage people to debate the issues and change behaviour. But it’s still very easy to knock these big rock star events - so I may as well add my bit of venting (all of this is hastily typed on the train home so excuse any inaccuracies) - I’ll just post two points for now.
My awesome wife got me 
