What you say is true, a boycott does not have to be 100% effective to be successful. My only real point is that some of these corporations have become *so* huge that it's nearly impossible for an action to be noticed at all. Take your 8% drop in sales number, for example. If that were 8% of all of Sony, that is an incredible number. The Hollow Man is a Sony movie that is not doing so well, yet it has so far grossed over $61M according to Variety. The Patriot has grossed over $110M. Those are just two movies in one division of Sony.
Your point about the marketing of the boycott is right on the mark. It doesn't even really matter if the boycott has any material effect at all if the perception of damage is there.
No, they don't have every right. Isn't that what they whole Microsoft thing is about? Strongarming other companies into not allowing any other OS to be installed on equipement that Microsoft doesn't even make? I think that's called "blackballing".
MS: [Compaq | Dell | & al], you may not install [linux | netscape | &c]
Sony: [Mindspring | AT&T | AOL | &c] you may not allow access to [ Napster | hated site of today]
It's going to be harder and harder. With all the merger mania, any sort of boycott is becomming nigh on impossible. Let's take a look at Sony and what they own. Remember, you're not allowed to buy any of this stuff:
(This is from the Columbia Journalism Review):
Sony - Electronics and Communications
Products include:
compact disk players
mini disc players
Walkman
WEB TV
Digital Video Discs (DVD)
camcorders
televisions
radios
video cassette recorder (VCR)
phones
Digital Satellite Systems (DSS)
Computers
digital imaging
CD-ROM
CD-ROM storage products
business communication systems
audio and video tapes
data storage
batteries
Wireless Telecommunications
JumboTron
Sony - Movies & Theaters
Columbia Tri-Star
Columbia Pictures
Tri-Star Pictures
Jim Henson Productions (partial interest)
Mandalay Entertainment (partial interest)
Phoenix Pictures (partial interest)
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Columbia-Tri Star Home Video
Theaters
Sony/Lowes Theaters
Sony - IMAX Theater
Magic Johnson Theaters
Loews - Star Theaters
Metreon
Sony - Merchandise & Finance
Merchandise
Sony Signatures - (entertainment related clothes and merchandise)
Insurance and Financing
Sony Life Insurance Company
Sony Finance International
Sony - Games & Interactive
Games
Sony Play Station - machine and games
Psygnosis Limited - video game developer
Interactive
Sony Online
TheStation@sony.com - online entertainment network
Jeopardy Online, Wheel of Fortune Online
Columbia - Tri-Star Interactive
Sony - Music
Labels
Sony Music
Legacy
Sony Music Nashville
Sony Wonder (children's music)
Sony Music Products (promotional music for business)
Sony Music Soundtrak
Tri-Star Music
WORK
Crave
57 Records
550 Music
Columbia Records
Epic Records
Epic Soundtrak
Shotput Records
Relatively Entertainment
RED Distribution
Relatively Records
Harmony Records
Sony Music International
Soho Square
Dance Pool
Mambo
Rubenstein
Squatt
Sony Classical
Arc of Light
Masterworks
Sony Broadway
SEON
Vivarte
Sony Music Publishing (copyright owners, joint venture with Michael Jackson)
Columbia House (50% venture with Time - Warner)
Music Choice (with Time - Warner, EMI, General Instrument - digital stereo
for cable TV)
Music Choice Europe
Sony - Television
Production & Distribution
Columbia -Tri Star Television (programming)
Columbia -Tri Star Television Distribution
Columbia -Tri Star Television International Television
The Game Show Network
International Television Ventures
Cinemax Latin America
E! - Latin America
HBO Ole
HBO Brasil
Mundo Ole
Warner Channel - Latin America
Showtime - Australia
Encore - Australia
TVI - Australia
Channel V - Asia
Cinemax Asia
HBO Asia
Beijing Television Arts Center
Viva 1 - Germany
Viva 2 - Germany
Carlton Productions (U.K.)
Golden Square Productions (U.K.)
Frensch Productions (Germany)
HBO Poland
Sony has licensing arrangements and interest in:
Kirch Group (Germany)
FORTA (Spain)
BSkyB (U.K.)
JSkyB (Japan)
Telemundo Group Inc. (formed venture with Apollo Management, Bastion Capital
Fund, and Liberty Media. Sony is managing partner of group and will oversee
programming and marketing.)
With heating oil prices expected to double or more this winter in New England, you might be better off sitting by the soft, warm glow of a Vax on a cold winter night. Maybe running Scicards or something.
Would I have to put in a raised floor?
The FTC was urged to investigate Toysmart.com by TRUSTe,
yet they still display both the TRUSTe and BBB Online buttons. So, again, we are left to wonder what is the worth of TRUSTe and BBB Online in the wake of this and Doubleclick and RealAudio &c &c &c. Does it mean anything at all? My guess is no. There there are two sentences which leave me puzzled:
But the company, which is 60 percent owned by Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N), placed an ad in the Wall Street Journal last month offering its customer lists and databases for sale.
and
and Disney opted to shut the company down rather than lose more money.
So, does that mean that Disney is directing that this database be sold? If Disney can dictate that the doors be closed, aren't they the ones in charge of this sale/offer to sell? And
``It's very honed information,'' he said. The size of Toysmart.com's customer database is not publicly known, but CEO David Lord said in a previous interview that the company had 260,000 customers.
The digital revolution is, indeed, quite important, but the question is "is it as important (significant impact) as these others?" What if you were to measure "importance" by taking away whatever it is and seeing if you could live your life effectively (which does NOT mean happily. Could you do without a computer? Probably although, in today's world it would be extremely difficult. Without a digital watch? Yes. Without the Diamond Vision behind the bleachers at Fenway Park? Maybe, maybe not. But, then see if you could do without running water. I doubt it. Bathing in Perrier might be fun, but it's not really a solution in the long run. Without electricity? No. There aren't enough trees left to burn for heating and cooking. (If you think things are smoggy now, imagine what it would be like to return to coal fired furnaces and stoves.) Could you do without small pox vaccine, polio vaccine, or even aspirin? Absolutely not. So yes, the digital revoution is profoundly important, but not as much as some of these other things.
Slashdot Mirror
72% of all statistics are made up.
You beat me to the post. But also, if you look at Bobby, you will see the list of sponsors. One of whom is ... ... ... IBM.
The MPAA and RIAA must be apoplectic.
What you say is true, a boycott does not have to be 100% effective to be successful. My only real point is that some of these corporations have become *so* huge that it's nearly impossible for an action to be noticed at all. Take your 8% drop in sales number, for example. If that were 8% of all of Sony, that is an incredible number. The Hollow Man is a Sony movie that is not doing so well, yet it has so far grossed over $61M according to Variety. The Patriot has grossed over $110M. Those are just two movies in one division of Sony.
Your point about the marketing of the boycott is right on the mark. It doesn't even really matter if the boycott has any material effect at all if the perception of damage is there.
No, they don't have every right. Isn't that what they whole Microsoft thing is about? Strongarming other companies into not allowing any other OS to be installed on equipement that Microsoft doesn't even make? I think that's called "blackballing".
MS: [Compaq | Dell | & al], you may not install [linux | netscape | &c]
Sony: [Mindspring | AT&T | AOL | &c] you may not allow access to [ Napster | hated site of today]
nope, can't do it.
Sony - Electronics and Communications
Products include:
compact disk players
mini disc players
Walkman
WEB TV
Digital Video Discs (DVD)
camcorders
televisions
radios
video cassette recorder (VCR)
phones
Digital Satellite Systems (DSS)
Computers
digital imaging
CD-ROM
CD-ROM storage products
business communication systems
audio and video tapes
data storage
batteries
Wireless Telecommunications
JumboTron
Sony - Movies & Theaters
Columbia Tri-Star
Columbia Pictures
Tri-Star Pictures
Jim Henson Productions (partial interest)
Mandalay Entertainment (partial interest)
Phoenix Pictures (partial interest)
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Columbia-Tri Star Home Video
Theaters
Sony/Lowes Theaters
Sony - IMAX Theater
Magic Johnson Theaters
Loews - Star Theaters
Sony - Merchandise & Finance
Merchandise
Sony Signatures - (entertainment related clothes and merchandise)
Insurance and Financing
Sony Life Insurance Company
Sony Finance International
Sony - Games & Interactive
Games
Sony Play Station - machine and games
Psygnosis Limited - video game developer
Interactive
Sony Online
TheStation@sony.com - online entertainment network
Jeopardy Online, Wheel of Fortune Online
Columbia - Tri-Star Interactive
Sony - Music
Labels
Sony Music
Legacy
Sony Music Nashville
Sony Wonder (children's music)
Sony Music Products (promotional music for business)
Sony Music Soundtrak
Tri-Star Music
WORK
Crave
57 Records
550 Music
Columbia Records
Epic Records
Epic Soundtrak
Shotput Records
Relatively Entertainment
RED Distribution
Relatively Records
Harmony Records
Sony Music International
Soho Square
Dance Pool
Mambo
Rubenstein
Squatt
Sony Classical
Arc of Light
Masterworks
Sony Broadway
SEON
Vivarte
Sony Music Publishing (copyright owners, joint venture with Michael Jackson)
Columbia House (50% venture with Time - Warner)
Music Choice (with Time - Warner, EMI, General Instrument - digital stereo for cable TV)
Music Choice Europe
Sony - Television
Production & Distribution
Columbia -Tri Star Television (programming)
Columbia -Tri Star Television Distribution
Columbia -Tri Star Television International Television
The Game Show Network
International Television Ventures
Cinemax Latin America
E! - Latin America
HBO Ole
HBO Brasil
Mundo Ole
Warner Channel - Latin America
Showtime - Australia
Encore - Australia
TVI - Australia
Channel V - Asia
Cinemax Asia
HBO Asia
Beijing Television Arts Center
Viva 1 - Germany
Viva 2 - Germany
Carlton Productions (U.K.)
Golden Square Productions (U.K.)
Frensch Productions (Germany)
HBO Poland
Sony has licensing arrangements and interest in:
Kirch Group (Germany)
FORTA (Spain)
BSkyB (U.K.)
JSkyB (Japan)
Telemundo Group Inc. (formed venture with Apollo Management, Bastion Capital Fund, and Liberty Media. Sony is managing partner of group and will oversee programming and marketing.)
With heating oil prices expected to double or more this winter in New England, you might be better off sitting by the soft, warm glow of a Vax on a cold winter night. Maybe running Scicards or something. Would I have to put in a raised floor?
Several sentences stick out here: yet they still display both the TRUSTe and BBB Online buttons. So, again, we are left to wonder what is the worth of TRUSTe and BBB Online in the wake of this and Doubleclick and RealAudio &c &c &c. Does it mean anything at all? My guess is no. There there are two sentences which leave me puzzled: and So, does that mean that Disney is directing that this database be sold? If Disney can dictate that the doors be closed, aren't they the ones in charge of this sale/offer to sell? And Hmmm... Glad I never bought anything there.
The digital revolution is, indeed, quite important, but the question is "is it as important (significant impact) as these others?" What if you were to measure "importance" by taking away whatever it is and seeing if you could live your life effectively (which does NOT mean happily. Could you do without a computer? Probably although, in today's world it would be extremely difficult. Without a digital watch? Yes. Without the Diamond Vision behind the bleachers at Fenway Park? Maybe, maybe not. But, then see if you could do without running water. I doubt it. Bathing in Perrier might be fun, but it's not really a solution in the long run. Without electricity? No. There aren't enough trees left to burn for heating and cooking. (If you think things are smoggy now, imagine what it would be like to return to coal fired furnaces and stoves.) Could you do without small pox vaccine, polio vaccine, or even aspirin? Absolutely not. So yes, the digital revoution is profoundly important, but not as much as some of these other things.