Blog on the Corner

As we all know, this upcoming summer will be the greatly anticipated London 2012 Summer Olympics.  After experiencing first hand the euphoria that the olympics brought to Vancouver in 2010, I can just imagine the excitement that is surrounding London.  In an marketing perspective, the olympics are a gold mine for sponsorships.  Companies such as Nike, Adidas and Puma have obviously invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the olympics as sport is there specialization.   However, have you ever wondered how the increase in demand for products affects the workers during the pre olympic rush.  Obviously, these three companies expect to move millions worth in merchandise through the span of the games, and in order to meet the demands, production must be at critical mass.  A recent report documented illegal work hours, inhuman wages, sexual assault and physical violence in multiple factories contracted by Nike, Adidas and Puma.  Clearly these companies value the bottom line more than they value social sustainability.  However, we as consumers still choose to purchase there products.

According to The Natural Steps Frameworks (TNSF), firms should build human capital not exploit it.  These companies are in direct violation of The Natural Steps Framework however do we as consumers really care.  Perhaps a few of us do honestly care about social sustainability and will boycott these firms, however the majority of consumers will turn a blind eye to the situation.  This concept is similar to the perceptual defense concept of attention from Comm 362.  On the bright side, people are talking about the issue and actively trying to hold these companies responsible

A concept straight out of James Bond, Mercedes has created their version of the “invisible” car.  Now I say “invisible,” but really the car has LED panel attached to one side and a camera mounted on the other.  The camera takes the video and displays it on the screen, making the car appear invisible.

The video, which went viral over the last couple of days, is Mercedes attempt to advertise their new F-Cell vehicle (hydrogen fuel cell), which they are deeming as a zero emission vehicle, “invisible to the environment”.  Although some vehicles may be low in emissions, the production process can create a mass majority of total life cycle emissionss.  I guarantee that Mercedes, a division of german car manufacturer Daimler AG, is far from sustainable and that the companies overall production is definitely not  “invisible to the environment”.  This campaign is just another attempt for a big car manufacturer to jump on the sustainability wagon, hoping that it drives overall sales as well as improves the companies image.  Well Daimler, this consumer is not convinced.  I am not saying that it is bad to promote fuel cell technologies, I just think that if your company is harming the environment more than it is helping it, you shouldn’t be allowed to position on sustainability.

Here is one of my comments on Felix’s blog