“Εκτρέφει η τεχνολογία έναν ψηφιακό ολοκληρωτισμό; ”

 

Ο κόσμος μας εξαρτάται όλο και περισσότερο από την τεχνολογία, ένα δίκοπο μαχαίρι, που μπορεί, επίσης και συγχρόνως, να υπονομεύσει τη δημοκρατία διαστρεβλώνοντας τις πληροφορίες, προωθώντας ψευδείς ειδήσεις και διευκολύνοντας την πολιτική χειραγώγηση.

Το σημείωμά μου σήμερα στο slpress, για όσους θέλουν να συναντηθούν μαζί του, ειναι ΕΔΩ.  

Edelman Trust Barometer 2022: Government and Media in a distrust spiral and a dangerous tango

 The media business model has become dependent on generating partisan outrage, while the political model has become dependent on exploiting it. Whatever short-term benefits either institution derives, it is a long-term catastrophe for society. Distrust is now society’s default emotion, with nearly 60 percent inclined to distrust, according to the latest Edelman survey. Government-media distrust spiral : The two institutions people rely on for truth are doing a dangerous tango of short-term mutual advantage, with exaggeration and division to gain clicks and votes. Read more HERE.

There Is No Such Thing as a Green Product ?

Authors Trevor Zink and Roland Geyer  suggest that here is no such thing as a “green” product. The corporate sustainability gospel—that green companies sell green products, and green products have some absolute and well-defined environmental attributes—evaporates on closer inspection. According to the authors the environmental benefits of green products are not that they somehow fix the environment or have zero impact, but rather that their environmental impacts are less than those of similar products. Products can have an impact on the environment during one or more stages of their life cycles, which are production, use, and end of life. A natural step is therefore to tally up the environmental impacts of similar products throughout their life cycles and compare the results. Read more at SSIR here .

Monsanto: Strong Ties, Strong Media and the challenge of editorial integrity and independence

According to Huffpost , the media and partnerships division of the venerable magazine Scientific American hosted a panel Thursday at the National Press Club featuring journalists and scientists. The event, cosponsored by a group called GMO Answers, focuses on whether science is “explained fairly in the media.” What might be less apparent is that GMO Answers requires some explanation itself: The group is a project of agricultural biotech firms meant to buttress the industry’s reputation.

GMO Answers, which was launched in the summer of 2013 to help improve the impression of genetically modified foods in the U.S., is a project of PR giant Ketchum. Funding for the effort comes from agricultural biotech companies, including Monsanto and Syngenta.
Monsanto, which sells seeds that have been genetically altered so crops can survive the company’s glyphosate weedkiller, was facing pressure in many states to label foods containing GMOs, or genetically modified organisms. GMO Answers was created as a website where people could have questions answered by supposedly “independent” scientists.
The New York Times reported in 2013 that GMO Answers would embrace a more “transparent” approach in addressing critics, who accuse big agricultural companies of “purposely hiding information.” Around the same time, Politico reported that Monsanto shook up its internal PR shop and began a “charm offensive,” visiting newsrooms across Washington.

Τhe relationship between a politician’s salary and the effectiveness of the government they are running

 With all the scandal surrounding the salaries of MPs and the misuse of government coffers, particularly in Greece, this type of data are very revealing.

Designed by Ryan Bowman at http://www.shakeupmedia.com/, this interactive graphical tool displays the relationship between a politician’s salary and the effectiveness of the government they are running. This effectiveness is represented by a so-called Good Governance Metric, calculated by taking The Democracy Index (DCI) published by The Economist, the UN’s Human Development Index (HDI) and the Perception of Corruption Index (PCI) by NGO Transparency International.

The larger the angle from the dot representing the country to the thick yellow line, the worse the governance.  Some of the countries positioning may surprise you, others surely won’t.  Obviously this is not an exact science, but nonetheless, it’s an interesting and effective way to present such data. Data from this analysis have been used in my top in popularity article  in Greek, that appeared in BHMA newspaper on 20/02/2010. You can see the full article here. You can interact with the data in the above picture  here. 

Brandkarma: an open reputation system for brands

Brandkarma is a new, open reputation system for brands designed to amplify ratings and suggestions to drive positive change.
Brandkarma looks at brands in a new light. How good are their Products, how well do they treat People, and how well do they look after the Planet?
For a brand to have good karma it needs to score well on all three Ps. It's a simple approach to sustainability that everyone can engage with.
Brandkarma is open, democratic and transparent and we're aiming to be a positive influence on brands. Besides rating them, users can make suggestions to improve a brand's Product, People or Planet karma.
Interesting enough to see in the top 3 position in relevant rankings up to now one of our favorite, nice , brands : Patagonia. See more about Brandkarma here.

What Brands are Doing to Our Brains?

Brands activating our left angular gyrus, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex  or left orbitofrontal gyrus, ie systems  in our brain that are associated with the extraction of meaning, conceptual organization,  reward, etc could be  common topics in the  daily agenda of branding managers of  high-value brands in our  times.

Neurosciences have entered in a close engagement with marketing in search of the Holly Gray of Branding: finding  and controlling  our Buy  Button in the deep of our vast brain ocean with billions of connections.

But where are the ethical boundaries of such initiatives like  Neuromarketing and Brain Branding? Paradoxically, and contrary to what is believed by naïve observers and writers , in the last  decades the more the brands were growing  and flourishing the less  is the level of  human happiness and human satisfaction, in steady decline in the western world (see Easterlin Paradox).  We are not all aware but we are  living in the era of Branded…  Unhappiness, as I had analyzed in my  book Nice Capitalism. As Tim Kasser’s  (The High Price of Materialism) research shows, those who place a higher value on acquiring material goods  and brands, aren’t as happy as their less materialistic counterparts. He further provides evidence that such a behavior leads to low satisfaction, personality disorders and even antisocial behavior. And are the brands today that,

through advertising, are imposing our Value System  and Lifestyle.  But what is even more worrying is that brands , through overstimulation, invasion and manipulative techniques, could lead  individuals to  the dark sphere of depression. Depression will be the second larger killer after heart disease by 2020 and a contributor to coronary disease. Almost 15% of the population suffers severe depression  in the western world (more than 20 million Americans). Further on, it appears now  more and more in  the youth and not only in those around 40 years old. The mechanism that describes the secret path to depression in  our branded world is described in detailed in my book and is graphically presented in the illustration above (click to enlarge). As a scientist  with a long experience in marketing, I strongly believe that branding  should exist for the mutual  good of the individual and the business. And that good, ultimately, is to improve human satisfaction and human happiness and well – being. Those brands that are investing in the exploration of the ocean of  our brain connections should  return back to their true  and legal mission. In the opposite case the society has to  re - evaluate  their license to operate. What’s your opinion? Do you share the view that branding should have certain moral boundaries? Let’s start the discussion. 

CSR :Top five trends of Q2/2011

“ With the maturing of CSR (and some will say, the ‘commercialization” of CSR), the conversation is revolving more and more around the deeper integration of sustainability into business value, strategy, culture and the intersection of CSR with core business lines” says Adine Mees of CBSR. See the full story here.

Who gets your vote for the 2010 "CSR / Business for Society" Person of the Year?

Which CSR / Business in Society Person had the biggest impact on you and the world, in 2010? Is it going to be an inspired Business Leader, Philosopher, Philanthropist, Academic, Researcher, Author, Journalist, Policy Maker or someone else? Vote now. Simply leave a comment and tell us who and why this person should be.

Top Ten CSR Reports of 2010, according to Blogs

CSR Reports… almost impossible to compare or rank them, despite numerous CSR Report competitions each year. However, some reports did come out on top of the pack , according to expert sources . See here The Top Ten CSR Reports of 2010, according to the CSR Reporting blog.

“Opportunistic Philanthropy” is the Clear Choice of Entrepreneurs ?

(27/11/2010) The Fidelity^® Charitable Gift Fund ("Gift Fund") and Ernst & Young, recently released Entrepreneurs & Philanthropy: Investing in the Future, a comprehensive study which examines how entrepreneurs apply their personal passion for giving to their corporate philanthropy.

The survey of nearly 150 CEOs and founders, reveals that nine in 10 (89 percent) entrepreneurs donate money, both personally and through their companies, to support charitable causes, while 70 percent also donate their time. The majority (61 percent) of respondents believe that being an entrepreneur makes them more inclined to give to charity. Whether corporate or personal, entrepreneurs view "giving back" as an opportunity rather than an obligation.Read the executive summary here.

Corporate social responsibility still makes good business sense

With the recession in full swing and no reprieve in sight, one might expect interest in corporate social responsibility to wane, or perhaps even die a natural death.

Not so, according to Craig Smith, INSEAD Chaired Professor of Ethics and Social Responsibility. He believes that corporate responsibility has never been more prominent on the corporate agenda, according to a recent report by INSEAD Knowledge.

The financial crisis and its effects on the global economy have made it clear, he says, that the stability of our global market system depends on responsible behaviour, sustainable business models and proactive management of business impacts on society, as well as regulatory frameworks.

A CSR Toolbox for European Companies

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is of crucial importance for competitiveness in Europe, says the latest European Competitiveness Report published by the European Commission. The annual report analyses productivity and competitiveness issues in the EU. In that context the so called CSR Toolbox was launched. CSR Europe's Toolbox includes information, ideas and advice designed to help companies and their stakeholders address socio-economic and environmental challenges and integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) into mainstream business practice. The Toolbox is based on the first results of the CSR Laboratories, cross-sectoral business-stakeholder cooperation projects under the umbrella of the European Alliance for CSR. (Photo:Günter Verheugen, Vice-President of the European Commission )

What's Wrong with Drug Marketing Communications ?

Prescription drugs have brought many benefits for many people, but their marketing is mired in controversy. Weak government regulation and inadequate industry codes mean that drug companies are using irresponsible marketing to push their pills on doctors, the public and patients. Consumer International's (CI) Marketing Overdose Campaign is all about highlighting the unethical and irresponsible marketing practices of drug companies around the world. Get the latest updates from this blog.According to CI the winner of the Marketing Overdose Award for rampant promotion for 2008 goes to...Eli Lilly. According to CI "the company has run foul of marketing regulations in the promotion of it's erectile dysfunction(ED) drug Cialis on a number of occasions".With sales of over $1.1 billion, Cialis is one of Lilly's biggest sellers and the company only for 2007 spent $152 million on marketing communications and promotion.The company , according to CI, has been "officially censured by British and Australian authorities no less than three times in the past few years"

Ethics: Business and Society

Costas is starting a series of lectures in the Athens University of Economics and Business, MBA International Program, on Business and Society- Restoring Confidence in the Corporation. For details of his presentation click here.

In today’s environment it is a widespread belief amongst corporate thinkers that shareholder value is growing increasingly irrelevant as governments and society take a larger role in shaping business and industry , Costas said on the occasion.

The university has a very active role and a range of activities in the field, including the participation in the United Nations Global Compact initiative, and strongly supports the view that ethics and corporate responsibility are the greatest management challenges facing today’s and tomorrow’s business leaders.