Anarchy in the GM

From: thereheis99@hotmail.com (Rev. Crawford)
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Date: Thu, Jan 31, 2002

As an ex-General Motors serf, this made me laff 'til my pants filled
up. Sure, 70 grand won't buy that much propaganda, but it's the
*princple* of the thing...

(http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4343971,00.html)

Chumbawamba's tune turns the tables on US car giant

David Rowan
Sunday January 27, 2002
The Observer

It is the world's biggest car-maker, boasting a turnover of Pound120
billion last year. Sales of Vauxhall and Pontiac cars have propelled
General Motors to the top of the auto industry.

So when executives heard a song called 'Pass it Along', they
immediately wanted to use it as the sort of 'youthful and hip' tune
that perfectly suited the image their new adverts sought to reinforce.

But what they didn't know was that the British band in question -
Chumbawamba - were lifelong anarchists opposed to big corporations
like GM.

The band was embroiled in controversy in 1998 when member Danbert
Nobacon poured a bucket of water over Deputy Prime Minister John
Prescott at the Brit Awards.

GM thought nothing more after handing over a cheque for $70,000 to the
band for the use of the song. But behind the scenes, Chumbawamba were
negotiating with anti-corporate activists to see if they would take
the fee and put it to use. The band contacted CorpWatch, a US campaign
group aimed at 'holding corporations accountable', to see if it would
'put the money to good anti-capitalist use if we accepted the ad'.

CorpWatch had no trouble in agreeing. Chumbawamba vocalist Alice
Nutter then sent an email 'in solidarity' to IndyMedia, a radical
global network, to enquire if it would accept half of the money.
'We're offering this money to you because the work you do and
information you supply is invaluable,' she wrote.

After much anguished internal debate, IndyMedia also agreed to accept.
As a result, the two leading campaign groups are now spending GM's
money to mount an aggressive information and environmental campaign -
against GM.

'We're planning on using some of the money to document some of the
social and environmental impacts of General Motors itself,' Joshua
Karliner, executive director of CorpWatch, told The Observer .

'It's known for resisting the kinds of change in production that would
assist in reducing climate change, and for helping debunk the science
of global warming. If the company knew how its fee was being used, I'd
imagine it would make executives squirm in their big comfortable
leather chairs.'

The company last night said it was unaware of the work it was
financing. Dayna Hart, publicist for Pontiac at GM, said: 'I didn't
know that. I did know [the band] had quite a political background in
England. That's very interesting.'

Perhaps GM should have seen the problem coming. Chumbawamba have a
history of using advertising revenue to fund activist causes. They
accepted a Renault commercial in Italy only after Italian pirate radio
stations said they would use the money. The band also gave Ford's
money for a South African ad to local anti-capitalists.

As guitarist Boff explained on the band's website: 'We pass the moral
buck, let someone else justify the decision, and in turn know that
some people will vilify us for it. We'd discovered through all the
years of having no money just how powerful it can be if it's in the
right hands.'

Some corporations, however, are apparently too risky for the band.
'When Nike offered us just short of a million dollars to use
"Tubthumping" as the music for their World Cup ad in '98, we had to
say no,' Nutter said.

The band also turned down Pound500,000 from General Electric to use
'Tubthumping', its biggest hit, to advertise an X-ray machine, after
discovering that GE also makes engines for military aircraft.

IndyMedia said it would use some of the money for 'corporate-jamming
actions', publicising the flaws of firms such as GM. At CorpWatch, the
money is powering an internet campaign against GM and corporate
globalisation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Rev. Ivan Stang" <stang@subgenius.com>

Rev. Lemuel Atom <slaac@yahoo.com> wrote:
> kconvery@ioma.com (The Bishop) wrote...
> > Too bad more bands don't have the ethical compass. Think what U2's
> > money could buy.
>
> Hopefully, it would be enough to purchase a TV network, newspaper, or
> chain of radio stations, as even large amounts of money can't really
> do much more than fund a grassroots campaign. (Not that that's a BAD
> thing...)
>
> The point here being that you can show up on the doorstep of a TV
> network with a suitcase full of cash and a commercial you wish to air,
> but it won't get aired if the TV network doesn't like it, or feels
> that it may offend their corporate advertisers. Witness the Adbusters
> attempt to air their anticonsumption commercials that met with stiff
> resistance from almost everybody they approached for just these
> reasons. In the end, they were stuck with running the spots only on
> CNN, and late at night at that.
>
> So unless you can demonstrate to whatever media conglomerate you're
> dealing with that you will be able to provide a stream of advertising
> revenue equal to or greater than of, say, GM or Anheuser-Busch or
> CryptoNazis for a Thought-Free America, you can pretty much forget
> about seeing your message in any big medium. Ya gots to have lots and
> lots of money to buy yourself some free speech in this country, bub.
>
>
> RLA

Well, when Reynolds Tobacco offers us $59.69 for worldwide exclusive
rights to the One True Dobbshead, man, we'll say, we'll say, "FUCK you
man, we're gonna TAKE your fucking DeathKultuur Amerikkka Money, and
you can use "Bob" to make yourself look COOL again for a month, but,
but, we're gonna spend it ALL on FROP!! So THERE! MAN!!"

That'll show 'em. That'll teach THEM!!

Charlie Manson, dude, he's the only one that didn't sell out, yet.

--
4th Stangian Orthodox MegaFisTemple Lodge of the Wrath of Dobbs Yeti,
Resurrected
P.O. Box 181417, Cleveland, OH 44118 (fax 216-320-9528)
A subsidiary of:
The SubGenius Foundation, Inc. / P.O. Box 140306, Dallas, TX 75214
SubSITE: http://www.subgenius.com PRABOB

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Original file name: Anarchy in the GM.txt - converted on Friday, 20 September 2002, 16:07