Hailing from sewing rooms to social media venues, people are ready to go against the tide to have their voices heard.

Sometimes we just have to stand up and let our voices be heard. Inspired by these exposés on genetically modified foods and the ongoing cost of foreign conflicts, we take a look back at past stories about bucking convention and taking a stand. Are you with us?

Our children will inherit a world profoundly changed by the combination of technology and humanity that is social media. They’ll take for granted that their voices can be heard and that a social movement can be launched from their laptop. They’ll take for granted that they are connected and interconnected with hundreds of millions of people at any given moment. And they’ll take for granted that a black man is or was President of the United States.

What’s most profound is that these represent parts of a greater whole. They represent a shift in power from centralized institutions and organizations to the People they represent. It is the evolution of democracy by way of technology, and we are all better for it.

Guest Post: Max Gladwell on 10 Ways To Change The World Through Social Media

Josie Jeffery is the author of Seedbombs: Going Wild with Flowers and widely considered the go-to authority on seed bombing in Brighton & Hove. She says seed bombs originated in ancient Japan and were revived halfway through the 20th century by philosopher and microbiologist Masanobu Fukuoka as a way of introducing revitalizing plants to tired soil that had been exhausted through over use. The little muddy grenades were then adopted by the New York Green Guerrillas who used them to begin transforming run down areas with bright flowers and greenery.

Flowers Of War: Seed Bombing Gets Political

I suppose you can’t blame the corporations for trying to muscle in on the action. They wouldn’t be very successful companies if they didn’t. But a look at some of the latest marketing campaigns leaves me scratching my head. Corporate efforts at co-opting this movement are often clumsy at best. I wonder if they’re as off-putting to others as they are to me.

Marketing Authenticity: 7 Corporations Riding On The Coattails Of A Movement

The Ditty Bops are on a mission to prove that the music industry doesn’t have to ride roughshod over the environment, and since they believe none of the major labels fit that bill they’re doing it independently. Setting up an award-winning sustainable nonprofit, cycling across America to promote their work, producing album sleeves from personally sourced eco-friendly materials – they’re grounded, principled and apparently unstoppable…

Radical Sustainability, Ordinary People and the Pedal-A-Watt Powered Blogathon

The reality is that we haven’t been paying the real price of goods for decades. Whether it’s our own government that has been manipulating the price of our products through trade agreements and tariffs, or the Chinese government subsidizing their labor costs to dominate the world’s production market, it’s all coming back to us. We’re starting to pay for it: prices are going up, jobs have been lost, the environment is at risk, and fashion is once again on the center stage of politics simply by what we choose or don’t choose to wear and how we acquire goods.

From Flash Sales to Philanthropy, it’s the Politics of Fashion

Post recession, one has only to look at the number of DIY sites that have become popular and the micro trend of sewing and knitting groups to know that a cultural shift is happening. Within the confines of craft, there now lies an inherent rebelliousness that you usually only see in punk, indie music or street culture. Women working with their hands to teach others (or even alone in their own homes) are leading a movement against being branded, and taking how they dress themselves as a form of protest.

The Post Recession Fashion Industry: Sewing Circle Rebellion

I put two more coats of stark-white paint on the door to brighten things up. As I looked around the complex afterwards, I realized that most other doors seem to be painted off-white. I smiled to myself, and gave thanks to the universe for small victories and minor insurrections.

Seeing Red (when the Homeowners Association wants to see White)

The post From The Vault: We Must Protest appeared first on EcoSalon.

How many offensive ad campaigns could companies create this year? Plenty.

Many businesses are realizing that consumers are looking for brands that care, brands that engage in dialogue, and brands that understand current trends. These companies are adapting to these new sensibilities and their businesses are thriving. Other companies have launched sexist ad campaigns, derided green actions, squelched customer’s comments and complaints, and mounted a merciless attack on local businesses, and consumers have spoken out.

Green is popular. Therefore, shaming green initiatives shows you are not only clueless, but part of the problem.

Despite the rising popularity (and wide media coverage) of bike sharing programs in cities and the number of cities looking to institute more bike lanes and encourage bicycle commuting, GM decided to run an ad campaign designed to make bicyclists feel ashamed of biking. The campaign, run in college magazines and aimed at current students and recent grads, shows a guy riding his bike and covering his face as a girl rides by in her (presumably GM) car. The tag line reads: Stop pedaling…start driving, and shows a picture of a smaller car, and a … truck.

There was an immediate outcry. Bicycling organizations, students and even professors condemned the ad and everything it stood for. GM backpedaled so fast that it immediately yanked the ads and began apologizing via Facebook and through every other type of social media it could find. The company responded to many of the negative comments and apologized.

Why do companies never tire of spitting on women and girls to sell stuff?

Dr. Pepper was tired of selling diet soda only to women. Who really wants to appeal to the demographic that makes over 80 percent of household buying decisions anyway? So they decided the way to appeal to men was to make a point of excluding women. On their Facebook page they even encouraged male-only users (it is off-limits to women) to play games where they shoot high heels, unicorns and rainbows.

Surprising no one but Dr. Pepper, the campaign didn’t appeal to most men (which is somewhat reassuring) and since it went out of its way to alienate women, no one was left to buy it.

Some companies still think it’s a good idea to sell items by sexualizing girls or promoting sexist stereotypes (or both at the same time). Abercrombie and Fitch has been a repeat offender, and this past year, family-oriented retailers Kmart and JCPenney joined the club. JCPenney quickly took this t-shirt out of inventory after being flooded with complaints, and a Kmart located in Australia took these thongs off the shelves for the same reason. The thongs are made by Kmart’s inhouse brand, Girl Xpress and the perception was that they were marketing them toward young girls. Kmart denied it, but wouldn’t state the customer age range Girl Xpress was targeting.

To be honest, it’s hard to tell what the point of this campaign was supposed to be, but whatever it was, everyone quickly lost sight of it. One blogger complained on Chapstick’s Facebook page about the use of this tacky, unattractive picture of a woman’s derriere in tight jeans. The company promptly deleted her comment (an irony many have pointed out considering the company’s invitation to be heard on their page). Ditto the negative comments that came after it. However, comments like, “after looking at this pic i know right where i wanna hide my chapstick,” were not deleted by the company.

Soon it was a battle to see who was faster, the commenters or the censors. Everyone forgot about the ad that sparked the war in the first place and directed their fury at the company who tried to control the conversation. That is something you just don’t do in social media and Chapstick came out of what could have been a minor embarrassment looking like an exceedingly foolish, 800-pound gorilla.

When you are Goliath, recruiting bystanders to pound David into dust makes you look like an even bigger bully.

It’s not enough that Amazon undercuts the prices of most local bookstores, but now they are encouraging consumers to go into local businesses, scan items and compare the price with the same item on Amazon. Since in many instances, Amazon doesn’t charge sales tax, the savings can be significant, causing many shoppers to not buy the item at the local business and buy the item online.

When promoting this new price check app, Amazon offered customers $5 for each item they bought using it (up to a total of $15). Forbes calls it the future of business, but in the face of Small Business Saturday and all the evidence that communities need to patronize and support local businesses to help local economies, Amazon’s campaign is as brazen as it is mercenary and cold-hearted.

Sometimes when you do everything right, it still goes wrong because your consumers can’t be bothered to read the label.

Coca-Cola thought it would be such a terrific holiday-cause marketing campaign to support polar bears, a species in dire need of help as well as animals that have been prominently featured in nostalgic Coke holiday ads in years past. They designed an eye-catching white can and prepared to watch awareness and profits grow. What happened? No one bothered to read the label, so Diet Coke (which is sold in a silver can) drinkers bought the white regular Coke by accident and then screamed about it.

Of course it is serious when diabetics or others with dietary restrictions consume something they shouldn’t due to a purchasing mistake, but many companies have very slight label differences that distinguish their products, but no one goes after them with the viciousness that Coke faced for simply offering the same drink in a special issue white can instead of a red one.

Many see this as a failed campaign by Coke, but did they really do anything wrong? Faced with an ugly public backlash, they have halted the manufacture of the white cans and are introducing a red polar bear can for the rest of the campaign. Now people can go back to not paying attention to what they buy again.

SEE ALSO:

2011 In Review: The 10 Stories That Defined Shelter in 2011

2011 in Review: How Small Spaces Trumped McMansions

images: bitzcelt, BikePortland, YouTube, Huffington Post, lovelyish.com, The Real Time Report, iTunes, the rocketeer (via Flickr cc)

The post The Most Offensive Ad Campaigns of 2011 appeared first on EcoSalon.

“Real Americans Buy American.” Growing up in the Motor City in the 1970s, that ubiquitous message, proudly displayed on the rear bumpers of so many Mustangs, Caddies and Pontiacs led this young man to wonder what the problem was. If the red, white and blue declarative were true, why would the Detroit Free Press be running what seemed to be a serialized front-page obituary for our town and our industry? Why would that big black number in The News’ headline have so many zeros after it? (How many people were laid off yesterday?) As near as I could tell, there were plenty of Americans around, and if they did what those bumper stickers told me they do, why was Detroit blight central rather than the boomtown my parents grew up in?

Eventually I learned the truth: Real Americans don’t buy American. Real Americans buy what they want.

This bitter truth periodically hits Detroit hard, and each time one has to wonder if the American auto industry’s hubris has led to its final death knell. I watched firsthand the slow motion response of the Big Three to real world energy and design challenges and the resulting economic devastation of the mid- and late-70s, and again in the late-80s and early-90s (when my parents lost their home and the family’s electrical supply business). Today, watching from my safe haven of California, I read stories of urban dystopia and (literally) scorched earth, the only hope being an unusually creative, industrious and determined population.

But once again, and like always it seems, there’s a blip in the flatline. Could there be life?

As Detroit’s North American International Auto Show enters its 23rd year as an international event, the city’s hometown industry isn’t looking so bad. Last year, reports Business Insider , saw Ford get back its number-two U.S. automaker slot after having lost that position to decelerating Toyota, while the top three fastest-growing brands were from General Motors. “Even Chrysler — a company once left for dead — gained U.S. market share and closed the gap with Honda, despite having a dearth of new models versus its well-stocked Japanese competitors.” (Tangentially, Business Insider, probably a good idea to can the “Pearl Harbor in reverse” rhetoric. It’s a bad week for kill-the-enemy hyperbole.)

Here’s more good news from the Wall Street Journal: Ford announced that it’s going to hire 7,000 workers and is expected to report that 2010 was one of the most profitable years in its 100-plus-year history. Meanwhile, GM says it had a strong end to the year, finishing with more than $20 billion in liquidity and that it expects to hire more U.S. workers if annual sales meet their expected forecasts. As for offerings, reports the Journal, the “40 new vehicles that will be unveiled represent an increase from 27 new models that debuted at the 2010 edition of the show… Chrysler will show off 13 models in addition to the 300 that have been completely redesigned or significantly overhauled. GM will show the Sonic and a compact Buick. Ford will feature a compact minivan based on the European C-Max model, as well as a battery-powered version of its Focus.”

Could the Big Three be getting it? Are they finally giving Americans what they want? Consider that this better-than-okay news is emerging from a horrifying industry free fall that began in 2008 and featured the bankruptcy reorganizations of GM and Chrysler in 2009. “Last year’s show had a funereal feel—spartan displays, sparse attendance, few of the lights, loud music and theatrical unveilings that had become the show’s trademark,” reports the WSJ. So keep in mind from where this upbeat news is coming from. When there’s nowhere to go but up, you won’t be penalized for thinking that any movement is good movement.

It also remains to be seen if this upswing is the result of a slow but sure economic surge that has buyers beginning to make those big purchases they put off for so long. Whether or not new offerings and reconfigured corporate structures will have the impact everyone hopes for won’t be determined in the immediate future. But one thing’s for certain; the old adage is true: “when the nation catches a cold, Detroit gets pneumonia.” The thing is, for the infirm, pneumonia can be fatal. And for Detroit, that adage isn’t funny anymore.

Image: country_boy_shane

The post Making It In Motown: Give the People What They Want appeared first on EcoSalon.

If the already perfect storm of baffling high-tech driving distractions weren’t enough, GM’s OnStar adds Facebook to your mix of thought options to consider while changing lanes.

Though still in an experimental stage, the “hands-free” (safety first, right?) social media access system could be available to some subscribers as early as the end of the month. (OnStar subscriptions start at $199 a year.) Using it, a driver could update his or her Facebook status simply by speaking out loud (i.e., Scott Adelson is driving). Users will also be able to listen to Facebook newsfeeds and messages read to them in a friendly, let’s say sultry, OnStar voice: Hello Scott”¦ Bambi wants to be your friend. (Ahem. I digress”¦)

But wait, there’s more! The Bluetooth-based system will also read text messages and let a driver reply using one of four pre-set replies with a simple touch of a steering-wheel button. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to create your own reply. Maybe something like “Crashing my car, not LMAO!”

GM (OnStar) has been engaged in a losing battle with Big Three rival Ford Motor Co. (Sync), for the hearts and mind of the younger tech-savvy set. According to the The Detroit News, GM has recently announced a partnership with Google to link smart phones to OnStar so subscribers can search for directions by voice and download maps. The company has also introduced a new “OnStar mobile app” that allows drivers to remotely unlock doors, start the ignition, check tire pressure and fuel economy, and more.

Meanwhile, Ford’s Sync system is moving ahead with its own plans, says the Detroit Free Press. The next generation of Sync, will also allow users to read and reply to text messages. And while Sync won’t hook up with Facebook, later this year it’ll start to plug into Twitter, Pandora and Stitcher.

Ironically, to me at least, OnStar was originally developed for safety. And though it doesn’t take a Ph.D. in Psychology to figure out that this stuff will cause problems behind the wheel, I’m going to quote one anyway. Driver distraction expert David Strayer, Ph.D., writing for Car Talk: “…these systems neglect the cognitive sources of distraction. Over a decade of research has documented that interacting with systems like this can divert attention from driving and result in substantial impairments. Simply put, you cannot pay attention to two different things at the same time.  If you are updating the status of your Facebook account, you are not paying attention to the road.” He adds, “The driver next to you may be updating their Facebook account and their reactions will be about as bad as if they were drunk.”

Nice, huh? Well, so much for technology making our world a safer place. Can’t wait to see this update: “Facebook Username; Just hit a tree.”

Image: Open Box

The post “Update Facebook Status”: Use Your Blinker, Genius! appeared first on EcoSalon.

Momentum seems to be mounting toward what may be a sea change in the automobile market – and hopefully the beginning of a fundamental downshift in what we do to the air every time we hit the road. In just the last two weeks, we told you about the Nissan Leaf selling out pre-orders, the Mercedes and BMW jumping into the e-market in the not-too-distant future, new electric highways and other infrastructure plans, and how the announcement of an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty on the Chevy Volt is making this whole e-car business finally begin to seem real. Adding to this, yesterday’s latest show-us-the-money puzzle piece in the emerging picture: the 2011 Chevy Volt will start at $41,000.

The Volt is an electric vehicle that can drive 40 miles on batteries before a gasoline engine kicks in to extend its range another 300 miles. The $41K price tag, announced by GM yesterday at the Plug-In 2010 conference in San Jose, CA, includes a $720 destination fee. A $7,500 federal tax credit brings the net purchase price down to $33,500.

As reported by CNET, GM hopes to sell 10,000 cars in the first year and 30,000 more in 2012. The base model will have a number of features, including Bluetooth connectivity, a navigation screen, and five years of GM’s OnStar service. Four premium options are also available, including leather seats and steering wheel, rear camera and parking sensors, polished wheels, and one of three premium paints. If you want to throw down big, the fully loaded Volt will set you back $44,600, or $37,100 after the tax credit. (Some states may also offer credits on top of the Federal deal. California will rebate $5,000 for the Nissan’s all-electric Leaf, but that won’t apply to the Volt.)

The Leaf, by the way, is also due out this year and has an anticipated MSRP of $33,000. While the list price of the Bolt is higher, GM also unveiled a three-year $350-a-month lease, with a $2,500 down payment. Says GreenCarReports, “That’s only a dollar higher than the lease for the 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car, despite the Volt’s much higher purchase price.” GM says it’s doing this based on its strong belief in the car’s residual value.

The first Volts will arrive at Chevrolet dealers in November, first in California, followed by the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut area, then Washington, D.C., followed by Michigan, and finally Texas.

The post A Fair Charge? Chevy Volt to Start at $41K appeared first on EcoSalon.

I enjoyed going to annual auto shows when I was a kid, checking out the concept cars, getting that special “glimpse of the future.” But there was always this hollow undercurrent as I’d realize just how far away the future really was. It went something like, “Awesome – but it’ll never see the light of day. It’s just too crazy, sexy, cool to ever become real.” I had that same feeling when I saw the first electric car prototypes, my cynicism compounded by the knowledge that Big Oil and the Big Three would be dragging their feet Big Time. I wondered: “What’s it going to take to put Detroit’s back against the wall on this stuff?”

So there was something special about reading late last week that GM had released details on the warranty for the Chevy Volt, its electric-vehicle entry that’s due out in November. Indeed, in recent months there have been ongoing and accelerating signs that the next (first real?) phase of the electric-car era is about to become reality. Right here at EcoSalon, in fact, we’ve written about the Volt’s progress toward hitting the road, Nissan selling out pre-orders for the Leaf, and other car makers jumping into the electric game with both feet.

But this warranty news hits a particular nerve, striking me as something especially real – the sales details/fine print behind these things somehow gives the sense that all systems are go; they’re guaranteed now, ok to buy, ok to drive, ok to use like you would any other product. Maybe it’s that I’m “Old School Detroit,” but where I come from, warranties are a big deal, and this one means that a mass-produced electric GM vehicle is no longer an experiment. (Though, of course, it remains to be seen how the public will take to the $35,000ish car, which still faces some challenges on the electric highways, byways and general infrastructure front.)

The details of the warranty sound an awful lot like warranties for “regular” cars. In fact, they’re a little better: the Volt’s LG Chem lithium-manganese battery will be guaranteed for up to eight years or 100,000 miles, and is transferable to future owners. As reported in the New York Times: “The warranty will cover all 161 battery components – as well as other electric-drive components – and the battery’s liquid thermal management system, which heats or cools the battery while charging in a variety of weather conditions.”

The rest of the warranty looks like this: 100,000 mile/five-year transferable Engine Limited Warranty (for the Range Extender); 100,000 mile/five-year 24/7 Roadside Assistance Program; 100,000 mile/five-year 24/7 Courtesy Transportation Program; 36,000 mile/three-year no-deductible bumper-to-bumper transferable warranty; and 100,000 mile/six-year corrosion protection.

Nissan has yet to announce its coverage plans for the Leaf but, says Autoblog, the automaker is now reaching out to prospective customers (including some of those who made deposits to reserve the right to purchase the all-electric vehicle) to find out what they’re looking for in such a warranty.

The post Making It Real: GM Announces Warranty for Chevy Volt appeared first on EcoSalon.

When historians look back on the fall of the American Empire, the Hummer may well serve as the symbol of cultural excess that brought down the once great nation. The Romans got gout and fell over from guzzling wine in lead pots; we bellied up to the gas pumps sucking down the sweet oily nectar that would flow forever.

If ever there was an apologue for the gilded anything-goes Clinton era, it is the Hummer. Hell, the car’s name itself calls to mind images of stripper-laden rap videos, $1,000 bottles of Cristal, cigars and teenage fantasies involving interns, corridors of power and sullied dresses.

Seemingly created for a real-time-action movie starring the Terminator himself, the Hummer was originally a military vehicle made famous in Desert Storm where some 20,000 of the vehicles helped display American might, showing the world once and for all, we make the rules when it comes to fighting wars in the Middle East.

Those days – and the Hummer marque – are long gone. GM announced that a deal to sell the brand to a Chinese manufacturer collapsed and it would begin to wind down the division unless another magical suitor has $150 million to burn. Ironically, the primary reason the Chinese government wouldn’t approve the deal was due to environmental concerns.

And the greenies rejoiced!

(Although, please keep in mind, 3,000 American jobs will be affected. As Bruce Springsteen said about his hometown, “Foreman says the jobs are going boys and they ain’t coming back.”)

In some ways, the Hummer already feels like a relic from another era. A vehicular charade from a time when play-acting weekend solider was a rich man’s hobby, and 5,363 American troops hadn’t lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Even Arnold Schwarzenegger himself bailed on the brand in 2006, and only 9,000 were sold in 2009. GM kept scaling them down, but the “efficient” H3 and its 15-mpg never captured the collective “love it or leave it” imagination like the original H1, and remaindered Hummers have been collecting cobwebs at dealerships ever since.

Does this mean Americans have become more responsible in their car-buying ways?

Well, Ford announced January SUV sales were up 8%. Alas.

The end of Hummer is a business decision, nothing else. But as far as symbolism goes, it’s a good day for common automotive sense.

There isn’t a lot to be said for the Hummer and one suspects it will die a quiet death, a lot quieter than the sounds of Earth being chewed-up by a pointless egotistical six-figure S.U.V. that should have been buried in the desert long ago, anyway.

In the end, there’s only one thing to be said about the Hummer.

Hasta la vista, baby.

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