Georg Müller from Hessen, Germany is a cool, modern guy. He has high school, can read and write, trained kick boxing, knows all about high-tech devices - and wants to be a farmer. To dispel stereotypes about his dream job, the young man has made a promotional film, “Farmer is what you make of it” ( Bauer ist, was du draus machst ) , that has him brought 10,000 euros and glory and honor at the first “agricultural Oscars”, awards within the framework of the International Green week in Berlin.
The Christmas business is booming. Many consumers want clothing, toys, computers, and flowers that were produced under decent working conditions and are ready to grab for it even deeper into their pockets. Child labor, wages below the subsistence level, unhealthy working conditions and unregulated, excessive working hours: These grievances have millions of workers in the garment, especially in Asian, African and Latin American low-wage countries. The developmental organization in Austria, Südwind (southwind) makes regular attention to these inhumane working conditions and let created a representative study from the Ethical Consumer market research firm Nielsen based on 1000 telephone interviews. The results are available now.
Let see the Barbie graphicks first:
- span Chinese production company, internal Chinese transport 1,90 €
- wages factory workers 0,40 €
- Margin trading, profit shareholders, transport, promotion 14,00 €
- customs duty 0,40 €
- material costs 1,30 €
- final price in the trade 18,00 €
Who earned on Barbie-business?
For Osocio this is off topic but it is so remarkable that I want to share it with you. It is a media project from the tech brand Motorola based on the theme “The Future of Abundance”.
Remarkable because of it’s length. 13 minutes in total. But above all it isn’t about the brand itself. It is a vision on our future.
What’s going to emerge next when social media comes to an end? Key persons who lead the cultural context in Japan got together at the “Social Lab 0.0” to achieve an ambitious objective of finding out what’s beyond social and seeking a rich future. The social network can become vicious or at other times, become an innocent baby. What kind of future will it let us see?
Is abundance really our outlook? Hard to imagine.
The new technologies we face now will evolve into something else. Is social media an intermediate stop?
I saw these videos two weeks ago for the first time and since then I’m confused. More questions than answers. But above all a very important question:
“What does abundance mean to us these days?”
Off topic? It isn’t advertising.
It is about advertising. And consumerism.
A change of 100% you recognize the scene. It’s the hell called IKEA. But it isn’t an indictment against the Swedish brand. It’s more.
Pagina 23 (Page 23) is a stunning short film from young creatives Jeroen Houben, Tim Arts and Stefan van den Boogaard. This is their first effort which immediately resulted in the juryprize and audience award at the 48 Hour Film Project in Utrecht (Netherlands), and nominations in other categories.
Advertisements usually display unruffled domestic happiness. But, as we will see in Page 23, this world looks too good to be true. Behind the beaming smile of fashion models loom adultery and the stifling daily routine.
With the advent of new technology our lives should have become progressively simpler, happier and more connected. But is that what is really happening? Seems that with the myriad gadgets we invent to enable us to stay connected, the more disconnected we become.
We might be attending a stimulating lecture, enjoying a night out with friends, yet our hands are tapping in text.
We might be spending time at the park, watching our toddlers in the playground, but our fingers and our mind are distracted with ‘important’ matters.
We could be sitting in a restaurant, soft music in the background, enjoying dinner with our spouse, yet each of us is glued to our respective phones.
I’m not sure about this. I’m online 12 hours a day mostly and I know it is not always a pleasure for those I live and work with.
Ohr Naava, Women’s Torah Center in New York, ask the world to disconnect your smartphone on October 2 even if only for one hour.
We had the successful example of Earth Day, the day many people in the world turned the lights off for one hour.
In most cases I like to decide what to do myself. And I tried to disconnect one day a week. That didn’t work.
Maybe the day to disconnect isn’t a bad idea at all.
Although I don’t have any economic skills, this is on my mind for a long time. And I was surprised to find this video.
A great reflection about what we are doing with our world.
It is about our overheated lifestyle and needs. It is about crossing the limits. About debt and more debt.
It is the economic bubble which is about to burst.
And between the lines it is about inequality, prosperity and poverty.
The video is from Richard Heinberg, accompanying his book The End of Growth. He don’t give a solution, he give an analysis about our current situation with some historic perspective.
Humanity has reached a fundamental turning point in its economic history. The expansionary trajectory of industrial civilization is colliding with non-negotiable natural limits.
I’m not a fan of the used animation, I’m not a fan either of the, North American style, enormous amount of words. But I’m impressed about explaining our problem in 6:30. Simple and clear.
And a great timing, with the economic recession at the front door.
If there’s any news where an overdose is a good thing to report, this might be it, as consumer rights activists worldwide are being challenged to participate in a global ‘overdose’ on homeopathic pills, in order to raise public awareness that the remedies are in fact worthless.
The ’10:23 Challenge‘, a worldwide event this February 5th at 10:23am, is a follow-up to the protest staged by the 10:23 Campaign in the UK, which saw almost 400 demonstrators take to the streets across UK to voice their concern at the sales of the pills in leading pharmacy ‘Boots’, and the support for such ‘remedies’ on the NHS.
With over 60 cities all over the world already confirmed, the global overdose is also the prelude to the demonstration in Manchester on February 6th, with over 300 protesters participating the largest ever single demonstration against homeopathy.
The 10:23 Campaign is an international movement headed by the Merseyside Skeptics Society, which aims to raise awareness of homeopathy, a multi-million pound industry based on a long-discredited 18th century ritual, selling remedies to the public which have no scientific basis and no credible evidence for their efficacy beyond the placebo effect. You can find out more about the campaign at www.1023.org.uk/ or become a fan on Facebook.
This new site takes an unusual but increasingly common approach to good causes – commerce. The Girl Store allows you to buy the items girls in India need to be able to access education, and thus avoid an early marriage. The online shop was recently complemented by the opening of a pop-up shop in New York. It’s an interesting, controversial and simplistic approach which I am sure would not be popular among NGO’s here in the UK. I also wonder whether the commercial model really touches our natural altruism, or subverts it? What do you think?
With Christmas just around the corner, are you excited by the prospect of getting an iPad from someone you love? Are you planning to surprise the family by finally upgrading to high-definition TV?
Everyone wants the latest technology to take advantage of the amazing world of evolving media that are out there. But our hunger for cheap, quickly obsolescent electronics, has many hidden costs to the environment and human health. To make people more aware of e-waste, Greenpeace recently released its latest installment in the Story of Stuff Project, “The Story of Electronics”:
It’s long, but completely worth it! There’s a longer, and interactive, version at the Story of Stuff site.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC, sexual violence is a community-wide problem. Rape, in the DRC has been used as a weapon of war and sadly continues to increase even after. According to the peacebuilding NGO Search for Common Ground or SFCG, it is estimated that there…
In the movie Hot Tub Time Machine, John Cusack goes “back to the future” and discovers that his friend Lou has become incredibly wealthy due to a little search-engine-that-could that he aptly named “Lougle.” It’s a fun example of how an individual’s name can become a familiar household term…
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Osocio is dedicated to social advertising and non-profit campaigns. It’s the place where marketing and activism collide. Formerly known as the Houtlust Blog, Osocio is the central online hub for advertisers, ad agencies, grassroots, activists, social entrepreneurs, and good Samaritans from around the globe.
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