On Mon, Feb 18, 2002 at 12:53:05PM -0000, Robert Shiels said: > I too gave up Marathons as a protest, but I like them too much so gave in > eventually. I have started buying branded clothes (Caterpillar, Timberland, > Levi), in an attempt to reduce the large amount of crap I've worn in the > past to a small collection of good stuff that will last - I think it's > working.
Branded clothing is in no way guaranteed to be better than quality. My Vans fall apart very quickly and my Levis split at the crotch. It used to be that if a brand was famous it was because it was good. Now people buy shit because they think that brand penetration is quality. It's not. > Globalisation is here to stay, get used to it. No. Sorry to provoke a Godwins but if everybody had said "look, the Nazis are here to stay, get used to it". Gah. No. I'm not going into that. Rob Partington said : > But it's being changed to fit in with a more homogenised global ideal. > They're being changed because it's a whole lot easier dealing with one > brand name. I read a rationale somewhere about the SuperMop (I think) > that pointed out that having one brand over all of Europe meant they > could launch the product 6-9 months earlier and at about 50% of the > cost. > > Makes sense to me, both from their PoV and mine. I'm slightly conflicted here. I still think capitalism is the right way to go and compared to almost everyone here or anybody else I know I'd be considered right wing. [SIMON thinks for a while] Put it this way. One of the beauties of capitalism is that the consumer has a much say, if not more, than the vendor. Except we've forgotten that. We, as a general populace are the most ignorant, arrogant, pathetic bunch of losers I've ever had my misfortune to come across. Look at regioning of games and DVDs - it's bullshit. But we gobble it up and beg for more. If we stopped buying their shit they'd go bust. But we don't. Because we're fucking sheep. Sure it makes sense from their point of view. It makes them money. How's that any different from the slave trade or what Nestle did in Africa. If you have a problems with arming oppressive regimes then you have to wonder why you don't have a problem with buying sub standard products at artificially inflated prices just because it has a logo on it. If it's cheaper for them to homegenise the whole world then make it more expensive. Stop buying their shit. I'm not claiming I'm perfect and not eating a chocolate bar I hated anyway isn't exactly a hardship but they're my principles and I'm sticking to them. This is my button. -- : it's pretty hard to look miserable when you're spinning on your head
