Canadian Democracy: Lessons Learned
On Budget 2012, Conservative MP David Wilkes said: “if Cabinet and the Prime Minister send the vote to the Whip … (and he/she says) this is how you will vote on the budget, this is how you will vote on the budget. There is no argument.”
(via infotechiahhh)
Arctic Trending
The Arctic is trending but not in a manner that many might expect. Sure, environmental scientists have tracked the receding ice pack for decades now, and the Arctic has found its way into the political and media limelight. However, marketers have adopted the ‘Arctic’ for products far removed from issues concerning the Far North. Indeed, the Arctic has been appropriated for a range of merchandise from water to lighting fixtures and comics.
At first I thought little of the reconceptualization of ‘Arctic’ as a descriptive outside th traditional milieu. When the British-based indie rock band, the Arctic Monkeys entered the music scene in 2002 they were early adopters of the Internet as a marketing tool. The mismatched wording was a catchy means of grabbing public attention when anonymity was likely in the abyss of web-based information and entertainment. Needless to say neither the band members nor their music are relevant to Arctic issues. But their branding choice may have peaked the curiosity of potential fans at a time when the Arctic was capturing the public imagination.
Branding is an invaluable tool for a successful marketing strategy, designed to win the hearts and minds of potential customers. In the highly competitive market of bottled water some purveyors have recognized the perceived value of including the prefix ‘Arctic’ to connect with the emotions of the target audience. It communicates purity of product and suggests that the consumer will enjoy a cold and refreshing beverage. Indeed the Arctic is popularly understood as a cold and pristine environment. Two companies have clearly identified the opportunity to advance sales for an otherwise undifferentiated product. As the book “Bottled & Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water,” authored by Peter H. Gleick points out, Arctic Spring bottled water comes from Florida, while Arctic Falls comes from New Jersey.
Similarly, product design is no exception to delivering the expectation of desire. Symbolic of glistening norther light, British lighting designers Joanna Bibby and Harriet Maxwell McDonald created the Arctic Pear Chandelier. I must admit I’m rather fond of the 3 Tier Arctic Pear, and as the name suggests it delivers the expectation of a luminous glow.
Until this point my mind was able to grasp the rationalization of usurping the word ‘Arctic’ for reasons of product placement. But I was really bewildered by the name of a new cartoon released this month at Mipcom, the annual entertainment content exhibition. Reportedly a Chinese studio has just released a cartoon called Arctic Fox about a snowbound womanizer. To this I take exception. The product is so new that I found mention of it only in Canada’s National Post so it’s possibly too early to pass judgment. But based on this brief description, it appears to appeal to a consumers baser instincts, potentially reinforcing stereotypes which are erroneous and do great disfavor to the region and possibly its indigenous peoples.
I doubt few will take notice of this act of irreverance. And it’s still questionable s to whether or not this cartoon will gain market placement, but allowing this to go by without questioning the usurpation of ‘Arctic’ to depict salacious behavior is a grave mistake.
Imaginative marketing is conditionally forgivable — most consumers are at least mildly aware that branding is part of the seller/consumer relationship. But to blindly accept the misappropriation of the word ‘Arctic’ without notice is simply a rejection of ethics. It is reckless of us, as consumers, to not hold accountable ourselves and the companies whose products we consume.
Aqqaluk Lynge, Address to the Ministerial Summit of Arctic Oceans, 28 May 2008.
Researchers are well aware of the fleeting nature of web-based information — you find the jewel fully expecting to find it the following day, but when looking for it the next go-round it’s fallen into the abyss. (Silly not to save it to the desktop!). Anyhow, this has happened more times than I’d like to admit, particularly with documents from the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), the Pan-Arctic organization representing the interests of Inuit.
During my research for a recent conference paper on the Arctic and the EU, a 2008 speech by Aqqulak Lynge, now Chair of the ICC, was deeply buried in the organizations records. So to preserve it for myself and others involved in similar research, or for those simply interested in how parallel cultures view the Arctic debate, Lynge’s speech to which I refer, is now readily available in this blog.
Lynge’s speech, as well as others originating from other ICC leaders, provide a thought provoking view of a people whose land, culture and means of self-government has been affected, often adversely, by Western colonizers and missionaries. While today Inuit are moving toward broader recognition as a sovereign people with the right to internal autonomy, it requires ongoing political engagement on their part. “Sovereignty” notes Lynge, “is an interesting term. It means different things to different people, and to different countries.” Inuit consider themselves loyal citizens of their respective nations (Canada, Greenland, Russia and the US), but also as a united sovereign people. Sovereignty is linked to issues of self-determination, rights which are recognized in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Indeed, the Arctic debate is clearly an Inuit issue.
Solar energy leasing company Sungevity hits the road with Popsicle.
Solar energy companies have taken the creative route to take the ‘scare’ out of alternative energy source. Sungevity is touring the North Eastern US to promote the benefits solar energy in the face of rising energy costs. Earlier this month the company took over the entire advertising space on the Amtrak’s Acela train which travels the Northeastern corridor between NYC, Boston and Washington DC. Read more at http://tinyurl.com/3m7fju5
Iced Kafe
Taking advantage of the melting ice to unearth oil and gas that will fuel yet further melting is a grotesque irony. But the race into the Arctic is inevitable in a world that prizes mineral wealth but takes the natural world for granted. Until resistance to transformative action on climate change and environmental degradation thaws, the true value of the Arctic will run through our hands like meltwater.” Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/3nnfhu2
(Source: Guardian)
