If the Occupy movement really wants to make progress on economic inequality and social injustice then they should move out of Wall Street, and its equivalent, and engage locally. Shopping locally owned businesses, like your local newsagency, green grocer, butcher, baker and chemist will deliver more of a message here in Australia especially … where Coles and Woolworths control somewhere between 55% and 75% of grocery relates sales. Watch this video from the Hungry Beast team.
Newsagents should seize every opportunity possible to propose a shop local message.
Our local Radio station began a “Shop Local” campaign last March and offered locally owned business extremely reasonable advertising rates for short and
frequent radio ads which they rotate during the days of the week and over all time slots for 6 months. My customers started mentioning that they had heard the ads right away, so I re-signed in October for another 6 months, same rate offered.
I personlly would like to see the names of the business entities above the doors of each busness. For example when Iwas Xmas shopping I went to BFC for an outdor item which they didn’t have, and then to Ray’s Outdoors. When I asked there and said I’ve been to BFC already, the sales clerk said “Oh we’re all the same business, if they don’t have it, we won’t either”. People in general Do Not Know how many shops are owned by all the same entities, and if they did I think a lot of shopping habits would change among those who care.
Of course it would help if we had a government who liked small business, but big business and the insurance industry pretty much runs our lives these days
It’s good the yeah ‘h’. Our in-store radio station promotes this regularly too.
I shop at my local butcher because his product is much better than the offering from any of the supermarkets. You pay a bit more, but it’s worth it.
You can’t rely on ideology or legislation to save your bacon in the retail game.
Give the consumer a reason to choose you because your product is better or your service is exemplary.
I believe the occupy movement has more to do with the outrageous pay and bonuses of CEO’s that once were paid on a multiple of about 10 times the average wage and now has skyrocketed to truly obscene levels whilst the average workers job security and wage has comparatively stagnated or gone backwards.
Mark, considering that Occupy was a Soros funded op/psyop I’d hardly promote it as being worthwhile.
One youtuber has now had his account disabled, on youtube, that viably showed actors playing the part of miscreants.
It’s a big step forward, believing in these causes… it’s another to promote them as legitimate sources of raucous rebellion, for a proper end game solution.
Everything is not as it seems.
Some people have more money than brains…
I loved seeing the Occupy protesters using their iphones, drinking their starbucks coffee, wearing their Nike clothing and then complaining about the rich getting richer. It goes to show you do not need to try too hard to influence people into thinking a certain way, look at Kevin07 campaign and the rise of get up.
Luke the Occupy movement was about people like you and me and the divide between everyman and the 1% super rich who were protected through the last financial crisis and probably the next one.
Mark, I think the most important part of Occupy is your statement, “super rich who were protected”. People who are running companies, or running them into the ground (see US bailouts), but were still making millions for themselves and seemingly were protected in doing so. Imagine getting a $10mil bonus for sending a company broke? And the $10mil was tax payers money!
I think one of the reasons Wall Street was the initial focus is Wall Street had a scheme where they profited by sending companies broke, not something many people would consider morally above board!
I understand concept of occupy, it is a little like that thing we used to call communism that has fallen on it’s bum. The very same people that are protesting Mark are those that are supporting the 1% by continuing to spend their money with them. I do not see any of them throwing away their material goods and never spending money with the mutlinationals, they still use Visa cards and shop at supermarkets and wear their brand clothing.
Luke, you have missed the point of Occupy. They are NOT against rich people. They are against people who get rich via corruption or other unethical means, like executives of companies taking the bailout cash for their own bonuses. Or Wall Street traders who deliberately give people bad advice because it will make themselves more money in commissions.
Spot on Jim. The ABC had several excellent reports on the make up of the Occupy movement and how middle class it was.
I have seen nothing in these protest that suggest these are middle class people or that they are only against corrupt officials. They keep stating they are against the 1% of people that have 99% of the wealth nothing about corruption. I agree to disagree
Luke,
Are you suggesting that there is something wrong with protesting against a system that inherantly allows wealth to be so heavily concentrated and unevenly distributed?
And on the rise of Get-Up, the movement is a collection of causes that people democratically choose to support. You seem to infer that Get-Up used some kind of disingenuous marketing to get support when in actual fact they first seek support which in turn determines the direction of campaigns.
The Occupy link in the post provides useful background on the 99% as does: http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_are_the_99%25
Luke, I will agree with you on one thing, the ability of Occupy to coherently convey their message is a failure. Most people, like yourself, seem to think they are against ‘rich people’ when this was never the intention of the movement. Most movements that have real success can be summed up in a couple of words, like “Remove Gaddafi”, but Occupy fails on this front.
What a waste of space the Occupy movemnet was.
Go get a real job and stop handing out drugs and cigarettes you loosers.