The diminishing of authentic passion through corporate marketing

"Empowering People" were the words that flashed across the screen as I turned on my Acer Netbook.  If empowering people really was their priority, they wouldn't sell the computers at a price where only a small part of the world's population can afford them (mostly people who are already "empowered") and they wouldn't be a client of infamous sweatshop computer assembly factory Foxconn in the republic of China who is in the business of disempowering people.  I guess they wouldn't sell much if they told the truth in their marketing slogans, "Empowering Profit", "Disempowering the 99% in order to empower the 1%" or, even more accurate, "we don't care who we empower or exploit as long as we make a profit and the more the better".

Although I definitely feel passionate about how corporations have no consciencsous and are ruling the world and need to be stopped as well as how there needs to be a major shift in priorities of the world's political and economic system, my main point in this entry is to focus on one small evil (among the many) that corporations commmit by using these tag lines that don't reflect what they are really after.  When they claim that they are "empowering people" not because they are, but because they think that will sell more computers, it can eventually make that phrase cliche.  People see the phrase "empowering People" over and over again, don't see anyone empowered, and just keep using their computer. Meanwhile, there are efforts around the world where organizations and everyday people decide they want to empower others like this one appers to be or this one (whom I actually have experience with and can vouch for).  These orgs and efforts that honestly put people as a priority over profit, could just speak openly about what they do and maybe even use that phrase of "empowering people" and others would fall in love with their cause.  But the phrase has already been cheapened and people who would be impressed and even support their efforts are hesitant because "empowering people" is now associated with a company logo with a multi-million dollar annual advertising budget.

I used the phrase empowering people as an example.  I don't think it's reached the clicheness that other company logos have and I think there's still hope that it could actually be truly associated with people who are truly empowering people as opposed to backward priority corporations like Acer.  One thing Acer could do to earn the right to use that phrase would be to put people as a higher priority than profit.  They could give away free computers to people who need them, pay a living wage to the people who make them, provide safe and sustainable work places, not expect that any of their employees have a better life than any other, and make this phrase "empowering people" visible to all people as opposed to just the ones that might be able to buy more of their product.  I like to think I'm not affected by their fiendish almost subliminal attempt to make me think that I'm somehow contributing to a worthy cause, since I bought mine used.  I hope I'm right and I hope that this flash on the screen, doesn't subconsciencously satisfy that natural human desire in all of us to want to help others.