No Logo: The backlash against the brands

Short video of Naomi Klein talking about her book "No Logo" (2000) - a look behind the shiny world of perfectly sculpted brands and the documentation of the first backlashes againt major corporations.

A warning to all companies who are not currently considering their impact on the world and society.

The rhetoric of corporate social responsibility outweighs the reality

"The rhetoric of corporate social responsibility outweighs the reality" Guardian.com

Found this article from the guardian on the development aspects of CSR. Its interesting to get another opinion on how CSR is still only seen as a marketing ploy.

One quote from the guardian was:

"At the moment, CSR-driven schemes are simply not proportionate to the value these companies extract from Africa and Asia.!

Maybe we do need that goverment legislation to help support this!!

The Story of Stuff

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

You may have seen this one.

Fantasticly simple illustration of how things get from raw materials to the high street and the destruction this system causes. Its also a great insight into stakeholder involvements.

The "Story of Bottled Water" (below) is another one in the series (there's more on the website) that is a great example of "manufactured demand".

The Century of the Self

(starts a little abruptly...think it was recorded off TV!)

Okay...this is not exactly about CSR but I was reminded about it after our conversations about consumerism on Friday.

This is a very highly acclaimed, if not widely enough known, 4-part documentary by Adam Curtis about how "the masses" have been pacified, minipulated and controlled by capitalist corporate culture.

The first episode tells the story of Edward Bernays, a cousin of Freud, who is widely recognised as the inventer of PR. Bernays was fascinated with minipulating the mind and took a lot of inspiration from the Propoganda used by the Nazis in the Second World War.

The story of making smoking acceptable for women (around 12:00) fascinates me.

All four episodes are a must see - especially when dealing with the retail industry.

We are Earthlings...

"Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil," Plato

A friend posted this on Facebook last night and I ended up watching the whole thing. Its a little slow paced(and a tad New-Age/American for my liking) but I highly recommend it.

The section on Fashion(particularly around that of the leather industry in India) begins just after 46:00. The whole documentary however, in all it unpleasantness, illustrates just how ignorant we are - and want to be - about the impact our actions have.

German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, is famous for his writings on the acceptance of inconvenient truths in society:

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

If you take the example of cigarettes, this can be seen to be quite true. First people laughed at the idea that smoking could cause cancer etc. When hard evidence started to emerge society rejected the information and continued to smoke. Only recently have we come to terms with the truth.

I think we're in stage 2 with regards to animals, meat and the ecological/health impact our eating/clothing habits are making.

World Vegan Week '10 starts monday...just sayin' ;)

First Tragedy, Then Farce

"First Tragedy, Then Farce" by fantastic contemporary philosopher Slavoy Zizek.

An important, if slightly grueling, introduction to the ethics of CSR.

Hello World

CSR at GSA is a online collection of research into "Corporate Social Responsibility", especially in fashion retail industry, carried out by students of Design Innovation at the Glasgow School of Art.