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Chinese Ad Resellers On Anti-Google Hunger Strike

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the can't-google-a-sandwich dept.

itwbennett writes "About 200 employees from 7 Chinese ad reselling companies are protesting outside Google's offices in Shanghai in response to Google terminating their contracts, said Fan Meiyong, a representative for the group. 40 of those have gone on a hunger strike that will last until the group's grievances are resolved, Fan added. The ad resellers have said they have held talks with Google about the matter but they still don't know why the contracts were terminated. The group has even written an open letter to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, asking them for their intervention."

8 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Hunger Strike? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Man those chinese are desperate. This isn't a prison, Google isn't responsible for your personal well-being under any international treaty, convention, or agreement

    1. Re:Hunger Strike? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In china you can hire professional mourners for funerals, so I wonder if you can hire professional hunger strikers.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    2. Re:Hunger Strike? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Man those chinese are desperate. This isn't a prison, Google isn't responsible for your personal well-being under any international treaty, convention, or agreement.

      I dunno, but it sure appears weird from thousands of miles away. I know it's an off the wall theory, but could it actually be motivated by the government as a way to marginalize the idea of a hunger strike as a meaningful protest so that actual political dissidents who go on hunger strikes might be more easily brushed off?

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    3. Re:Hunger Strike? by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 5, Funny

      In china you can hire professional mourners for funerals, so I wonder if you can hire professional hunger strikers.

      Sure you can, but try to avoid the ones with the "Will Hunger Strike For Food" signs...

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
  2. Re:Pointless by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If Google violated a contract, take them to court. If not, then there is no room for complaint.

    Oh sure there is, the court of public opinion doesn't follow the same rules as a court of law.

    --
    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  3. initial thought by jnpcl · · Score: 4, Interesting

    (just a guess): the ad resellers were caught adding malware to the ads.

  4. Google "reselling" is over by Animats · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The "search engine optimization" community is waking up to the fact that Google "reselling" is over. The October 27th merger of "Google Places" into Google web search wasn't about "places". It was about "businesses". Google is pulling third-party revenue in-house. Google is squeezing out "made for AdWords" sites, "directories", and other intermediaries that are just forwarding clicks. Search for "London hotels" or "DVD player", and notice how far down you have to go to see an organic search result. If you want to advertise a product that's found by search, you now talk to Google directly.

    This will put a big dent in the "search engine optimization" industry. We'll see many junk sites going under, too.

    Bing, having copied Google in this within days, is doing roughly the same thing.

    The guys in China are getting hit by this, but they're just collateral damage of a major policy change.

  5. Re:Newsflash by Matheus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sure. Great point and quite interesting. The problem is that it doesn't apply here.

    Google did not employ these people. These were companies that Google stopped doing business with. As long as Google didn't have some long term binding contract that ceasing business violates they are not 'legally' responsible for the employees that these companies can no longer afford to pay because they don't have Google's business.

    This article doesn't go into detail but I believe, even in China, it is OK to cease employment if your company goes under which is exactly what is going to happen to these companies since their business model was so flawed as to depend on a sole customer anyway. Whether the "in China" factor means that there are more severe ramifications for the terrible CEOs that run these organizations is another matter.