32: bad press? broken promises? beastly plight?

Surely by now you are well aware of the epic mess that BP has made in the ocean. It's devastating and beyond infuriating. I read this comment on an online news article, and I feel the need to share it with as many people as possible. Paul says: "I don't understand how this has been allowed to continue for so long without criminal charges. If I started to pour mass amounts of oil into my local river and lake, I'd be charged for sure. Poor animals." This point is exactly what Bruce Monger, my oceanography professor from Fall '09, keeps trying to instill in us.

Bruce runs a website/blog called It's My Ocean. I'm just going to copy and paste his post on the concept of ocean ownership, because he explains it so well:

This site is devoted to promoting a realization within ordinary people that they, as individuals, own all of the ocean and its content. The hope is that when people feel a personal sense of ownership they will feel empowered to insist that no one be allowed to mess it up.

The analogy I give to the students in my oceanography class at Cornell is that lots of people in the world who read about an oil spill in the ocean will often react the same way they would react to reading an article in a newspaper about someone else’s house being broken into. They have some momentary level of sympathy for the poor guy who had his house broken into and then they move on the next page without much more thought. However, if their own house was broken into, they would be much more upset and they would scream for law enforcement to find the criminal and they absolutely would not rest until the criminal paid for the damages they caused. Well… the ocean is YOUR ocean! And when you read about an oil spill you should see it as someone spilling oil into YOUR ocean and react just as if they dumped a bunch of oil inside your house! The ocean is not owned by the oil industry. The ocean is not owned by the fishing industry. YOU own the ocean! You have a right to say, “Stop taking all of MY fish out of MY ocean!” You have a right to say, “Get your crummy oil out of MY ocean!" You have a right to say, "I am sick and tired of others coming into MY ocean and messing it up!”

The ocean is not somebody else’s property. You-Own-The-Ocean – Plain and Simple!"

Yes, both BP and the government are getting a ton of flack for the way they are/are not handling everything, and it's leading to some crazy, crazy responses, but we can't always use other people and entities as scapegoats. It's not just about what BP has and hasn't done. It's not just about what President Obama has and hasn't done. It's also about what we have and haven't done -- what we've allowed to happen with our habits and our purchasing power -- what we haven't protested or stood up for.

That said... yes, BP is still responsible for its actions and the outcomes of those actions, which, unfortunately, are proving to be but a drop in the bucket. Greenpeace UK, for one, has had enough, and is now working on an international "rebranding" effort for the company. Straight from their website: "BP's slick green logo doesn't suit a company that wants to invest in tar sands, the dirtiest oil there currently is. We're inviting you to design them a new logo that's more suitable for their dirty business." Very scathing... and sadly, this resentment is not wholly unfounded. The entire gallery of entries can be found at their Flickr page.


I think it's safe to say that Greenpeace is running an interesting little concept, but frustration alone won't change things. People may be more aware of the BP brouhaha, but we still have a very long way to go.

10: kumon sux!!#$@!!%!!!!!

Kumon. You know you're Asian if you see these five letters and shudder.

Kumon is every Asian kid's personal hell. Protocol demands that if you're not already spending your Saturday morning in Chinese School, you must go to this little building often located in an Asian shopping center and do math worksheets. By yourself. To, you know, understand stuff better, or to get a head start on studying for the math portion of the SAT, or to drill "3 + 2 x 4 = 11, not 20" into your head.

Fortunately, I've never been sent(enced) to Kumon, though my sister played that hapless role at the ripe old age of 12, perhaps 13. (I imagine that, had I been propositioned to go, another sort of personal hell would've been in the making... Ha, just kidding. Maybe.)

Anyway, that was roughly 1995. Now, it's 2009, and Kumon has received a bit of a makeover since then...

Then:


Now:

The new trademark is kind of cute, huh? It's pretty simple, with the sky blue and a clever little face embedded in the name... Significantly more streamlined than the old logo with the awkward, clashing royal blue-and-white color combination, and the creepy dot pattern that kind of reminds me of a disease (no pictures to illustrate my meaning, but you could always do an image search for "measles"). Apparently, Kumon's new logo is referred to as the "thinking face" and represents that of both children and adults. The sky-blue color is supposed to represent human intellect, integrity and earnestness. Erm, okay. (via Wikipedia)

Kumon, your logo may be more modern and way less passé than before, but the "o" ain't doing NOTHIN' for you... especially when said "thinking face" looks more like an "I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a dull spoon than be here, at Kumon, on this Saturday morning" face. Or maybe it's just a "meh" face. Yes, I think that's it. Meh. I mean, come on. Nothing says "WARNING, WARNING, AVOID AT ALL COSTS" like an unamused expression on a chubby face! Seriously.

So, I guess, on second thought, maybe Kumon hasn't really been that made-over... Maybe the logo is completely accurate and appropriate, after all.

All right, I'm not entirely serious about all the Kumon hate. Personally, if I had gone to Kumon, I probably would have liked it. I actually sort of have a thing for algebra and calculus...

four: always coca-cola...

A funny little image has been making its way across the Internet...


I think it's safe to say that the Coca-Cola Co. (Atlanta-based, represent!) knows exactly what it's all about.

And yet. What's better, marketing innovation or reliability, stability and permanence?

Edit: There is a rebuttal from Brand New, which happens to be one of my favorite sources to read up on branding and corporate identity strategies... Evidently this little Coke vs. Pepsi graphic is inaccurate (of course it is -- it only exists to make a point, after all). For a more complete story, you should know that Coke has indeed had changes in its logo. Granted, they are minor adjustments, but to be fair, you should know that they exist all the same.

(via Swiss Miss & Brand New)