Comments on: Carrotmob: The New Anti-Boycott?

By: mildweed

mildweed — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:48:30 +0000

Kansas City is doing the next Carrotmob event: http://carrotmobkc.com

By: Sophie

Sophie — Thu, 15 May 2008 05:25:20 +0000

Just FYI, a vast majority of the Carrotmobbers were buying food to donate to the food bank.

The store used that 22% to redo their lighting and refrigerators/freezers.

The carrotmobbers hopefully weren’t going out to buy inessential items like designer bags or anything. They were just buying food (much of which was given to the needy). I don’t know. It sounds like win win win to me…

By: Tabby

Tabby — Sat, 10 May 2008 22:38:49 +0000

I’m totally anti-consumerism, too, but there are just some things you can’t avoid consuming. Take a toothbrush. Even if you use the same toothbrush for a year or more, eventually it’s going to crap out & you’ll have to get a new one. Maybe it will be a free one (if you get it from your dentist, or steal it from the hospital), but it’s still a consumer good that takes resources to make. Food is another great example. We all need food. Even if we grow good food ourselves & shop only locally, we are still putting our dollars at work for what we do buy. Why not put those dollars at work incentivizing companies to improve their ecological footprints, thus bettering the state of the world?

I think this is a fabulous idea for buying things we would buy anyway. I look forward to taking part (perhaps even organizing) the first Carrotmob in Austin, TX. =)

Rock on!

By: Ty

Ty — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:17:49 +0000

I’d have to agree with Willie on this one. By buying up all the products you increase demand which increases production which means more resource use. Granted on the small scale such as this one store it may not have that much effect but if it expands then your just increasing consumerism and consumption.

By: jessejenkins

jessejenkins — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:02:27 +0000

Uli, PlugInPartners.org is working on that idea for the auto industry, collecting “soft commitments” for bulk fleet purchases and individual purchases of plug-in hybrid cars. Check out http://www.PlugInPartners.org.

By: uli nagel

uli nagel — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:49:59 +0000

This is fantastic. Now could we do the same thing, say, for the US automakers? Send them the names and commitments of so many people (100.000 - to start with), saying we will buy a car that will run say on 100m/g for up to $18.000 (something like that) as soon as it comes out. Your idea is so right on - the consumer IS king after all! If you like the idea, and want to work on it together, go to my blog on thesunnyway.com.

By: kodama

kodama — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:27:05 +0000

i’m with willie on this. this is just symbol rearranging to make people feel good about doing something harmful — buying shit. hell, at least exxon is upfront about their hate of all things good, but this sort of thing seems even more damaging to any progress in ecological mvoements. it’s a magic trick, sleight of hand. look where the magician doesn’t want you to.

By: willie

willie — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:28:37 +0000

I don’t like it. Perhaps this is because I don’t understand it. i don’t have speakers on this computer so i didn’t watch the video. maybe the video wil clear things up for me. I did read carrotmob’s executive summary and their plan of action seems to go like this: let an industry know that whichever company therein comes up with the best environmental inovation will be rewarded with a shopping spree and the carrotmob-endorsed claim of being the greenest company in said industry. I don’t see any explanation of what will be considered legitimate environmental practices. how are we sure that carrotmob is not celebrating greenwashing and token projects?

my biggest issue here is that carrotmob is encouraging consumerism. climate change is a consequence of capitalism. capitalism thrives on consumerism.

give me a good old-fashioned boycott.

willie

By: Josh Lynch

Josh Lynch — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:39:13 +0000

It’s videos. I love the videos. I think you can do anything with them. They’re so juicy and terrific. Get a decent concept and put it on some film. Seriously, I think this carrotmob business is spicy good. The catch is that we are in this mess because of our intense thirst to consume more than we need. So, we’re never going to buy our way out of the problem. But, if anyone were going to give it a real shot, it’s these carrotmobbers. Maybe at the next mob the shoppers can go on a shopping binge at the business, but then all not shop for the next full day to make up for it. That way, the business wins, the planet wins, but the concept of reducing shopaholism wins too. I like the win win win. Anyway, good times.

By: jessejenkins

jessejenkins — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:49:06 +0000

This is bloody brilliant! You guys based in San Fran? I’m on my way to move to Berkley in June. Would love to connect over beers about this concept and where it’s heading. Rock on,

Jesse Jenkins