Filed under: America, Attitude & Aptitude, Corporate Evil, Culture, Death, Social Divide
A few weeks ago I wrote about everything I thought was wrong in America.
For such an amazing country, it’s mind-blowing to me that there is resistance to dealing with the issues undermining it.
Worse, there’s resistance to even talking about the issues undermining it.
In the post, I highlighted one issue in particular.
Gun control.
Despite the mountains of evidence, the NRA continues to ignore the damage and dangers of gun ownership.
They fight aggressively against any challenge to it.
Any.
They use ‘government control’ as their reasoning behind their obstinance.
That if they give in to this, what else will the government want to take away.
It’s a fucking stupid argument made worse by the fact I received this in my letterbox recently.
Admittedly it was addressed to the person who used to own our house.
A cop.
But that doesn’t take away the fact an organization felt it was necessary to send out a pamphlet about how to deal with school violence – specifically violence that goes ‘beyond the active shooter’.
I don’t know about you, but this makes me ill.
School should be a place of safety.
I know that’s unrealistic, but there’s a massive difference between worrying about bullying and worrying about being shot.
And yet the NRA choose to ignore their role in this situation.
Preferring to blame the shooter rather than acknowledge any role the guns play in allowing people to kill on a mass scale.
The fact this pamphlet had to be sent out at all should be enough for America to realise the gun laws in their country need a major overhaul.
Sadly it won’t be.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Corporate Evil, Culture, Marketing
As many know, America is the most obese nation on earth.
When you know this, I guess it’s less of a surprise when they say anyone who spends 2 weeks in America will put on approx 8 pounds in weight.
I could talk about the many, many reasons that contribute to this situation – from poverty to profit to, as I read recently, that the biggest fear for anyone who has guests is running out of food … hence they overcook by significant amounts.
Anyway, this is all an excuse to show you this picture …
As you can see, it’s a mountain of onion rings.
If you look carefully behind them, you’ll see the look of shock on my sons face.
Now you may think that is an optical illusion, but it’s not … it really was that big.
But here’s the amazing thing.
That wasn’t a portion of onion rings … that was a half portion.
HALF!!!
Seriously!!!
Apart from the fact if you ate that amount there isn’t enough toothpaste in the World to stop your breath smelling of onion for 19 years, that was the starter.
The bloody starter.
Now I like onion.
I bloody love onion.
But even I couldn’t eat more than a few strands and so there was an enormous amount left which – I presume – was then thrown away.
A while ago – 3+ years to be exact – I wrote about the insane portion control of the Hard Rock Cafe in NYC.
What made it worse was they were running a campaign at the time about stopping hunger.
Well given that obesity is a cause of so many illnesses in America – illnesses that have a huge, detrimental affect on the economy – I can’t work out why the government don’t mandate portion sizes at restaurants. Yes, I know for many people, they take what they don’t eat back home … but how much of that is actually eaten versus kept in the fridge for a few days and then thrown out.
The irony here is that fast food restaurants – the ones who often get the most abuse – are way, way, way better than more ‘formal’ restaurants.
Part of that is because they don’t want lawsuits against them … part of that is that they know their audience so well that they know how much they actually eat and part of that is that they have a huge number of stores, so they don’t have to win on quantity but simply offering the convenience of giving people what they want when they want it.
But these big ‘restaurants’ aren’t like that and that’s why I feel they are particularly guilty of creating food wastage.
For me, it is one of the worst things in society.
We have people hungry and we have people getting ill because of obesity.
It wouldn’t take much to actually start helping to reduce this, but sadly America has been sold the belief that quantity always trumps quality and until that attitude starts changing, then the allegedly most powerful country on Earth, will continue to act in a way that seems weak.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Corporate Evil, Devious Strategy, Marketing, Marketing Fail
My whole family are connected to the law.
Not the bullshit, sharp-suit, high-charging wankers we hear so much about these days, but the guys fighting for genuine justice.
My father in particular hated what the legal industry had become … from being a discipline that fought for justice to one that now tries to keep problems going so they can keep charging exorbitant fees.
So what has that got to do with the picture of these Gummy Pandas.
Well, I saw these in a local Starbucks and I just thought how mad this was allowed to exist.
We all know it’s a take on Gummy Bears.
We all know they’re trying to steal business from Gummy Bears.
We all know they’re trying to make people think they’re getting Gummy Bears.
OK, so it’s a bloody sweet that you don’t really pay much attention to … but if this was a person, it would be identity theft and yet companies continue to pay huge amounts to law firms to protect their hard work when anyone can set up what is basically a duplicate brand by simply changing a letter or – in the case of Uncle Martian – not even putting in that effort.
Anyway, the real reason I’m writing this is because I wanted an excuse to link to my favorite ever Amazon reviews for [Sugar Free] Gummy Bears and I assure you, it’s way, waaaaay, waaaaaaaaay more enjoyable than this post.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Australia, Comment, Corporate Evil, Customer Service, Marketing Fail
So as any poor, regular reader on here knows, I’ve been getting emails from APAC Insider magazine saying that Cynic was in the running for a Business Excellence Award in Australia.
Now while this is flattering, you’ll also know that Cynic legally closed their doors in 2010 so APAC Insider are basically a bunch of con-merchants.
Well, now I have unequivocal proof of it because – as I suspected we would – we won.
Yep, Cynic – a company that has not been in legal existence for SEVEN YEARS – has won a Business Excellence Award.
Now they may claim our excellence is in the fact we sold the company, but frankly, this would have been more believable if they’d not left a 7 year gap before bestowing us with their award.
But that’s all by-the-by because I know what you want to know what we won.
Is it a massive trophy?
Is it a huge cheque?
Is it a staring role at a lavish ceremony?
No, it’s this …
That’s right, our ‘prize’ is the chance to get a discount to advertise in their magazine.
A magazine that gives out prizes to companies that don’t exist anymore.
A magazine no one has heard of.
Oh hang on, they also give you a ‘digital certificate’ that you can put on your website. Oh that’s alright then … I mean, who wouldn’t want to advertise a bullshit magazine’s award on their website that basically say’s We’re a bunch of gullible fools.
I hate this company … I hate what they are trying to do to small business.
Sure, the small companies might have some blame to share if they do it, but as I wrote a while ago, when you’re just starting out, you are so desperate to feel you are moving forwards, you tend to grasp onto anything that feels like a positive step.
That’s what those fucks at APAC Insider magazine are exploiting and managing to get away with it.
But there is some good news because last week I received an email from them expressing their interest in being nominated for the International Magazine Publishers ‘Promotion of the Year’, so maybe they’ll be learning their lesson more quickly than we all hoped.
And I’ll be there applauding them when they get their moment in the spotlight.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Corporate Evil, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Devious Strategy, Innovation, Marketing, Marketing Fail
When I was younger I loved pocket knives, especially swiss army knives.
Not because I was a mugger – though I am from Nottingham – but because I found the way all the different elements came together in one small package, fascinating.
While I have grown up since those days [as have Swiss Army Knives, judging by this monster] I still find my eyes drawn to them when I see them, which is why this caught my attention.
But then, I looked a bit closer and saw it was a special edition.
And then I looked closer still and saw it had a picture of something that looked like a bloody Nespresso pod on its blade.
There’s a simple reason for that, because the image is supposed to be of a Nespresso pod, because this knife is made from recycled poncey coffee pod packaging.
I have to be honest, I didn’t know what to make of this.
Without doubt, one part of me thought it was bloody awesome, and yet another part of me hated it because by pointing out the specific material they recycled to make their product, I felt it was some sort of ‘official’ alliance and suddenly it was less about helping the earth and more about exploiting it.
Of course I knew I could be wrong – as I usually am – however when I looked into it, I found this descriptor on the Victorinox website:
“Two Swiss innovators, one directional collector’s piece. Meet the Pioneer Nespresso Livanto: a Swiss Army Knife with sustainability at the heart of its design blueprint. The second limited edition from this unique collaboration between Victorinox and Nespresso, it fuses a solid eco conscience and heritage with intricate engineering. This utility piece features scales crafted from 24 recycled coffee capsules in a striking bronze hue. It’s where green living meets coffee culture and intrepid adventure.”
… and in an instant, Victorinox and Nespresso left a horrible taste in my mouth, even worse than their coffee but – thankfully for them – not as bad as their ads.