Honda's Power of Dreams
We're pleased to announce that Honda is sponsoring three special sections of Boing Boing, called "The Power of Dreams." They feature posts about safety, the environment, and innovation. (Links go to Honda sponsored sections.)
Nice -- which category does the previous story go into?
Ummm....I feel kind of icky.
Hmmm.
Ditto, #2.
Hrm, last week I noticed the new banners on the side of the page and was wondering if I had somehow missed an importaint memo about the new sections.
I'm not sure how I feel about this...
hmmm... welcome to america....
no subversion category?
I always forget that I have the adblocking plug in on firefox. Apparently boingboing isn't ad free... I never knew.
"I'll give you a TKO from Tokyo!" -- Piston Honda
http://tinyurl.com/2uz46v
You'd think the universe would just dump a shitload of money into the writers' and editors' laps for being generally awesome.
Damned commercial... commercials.
At least there doesn't seem to be any "exclusive" content in those categories. That would make Baby FSM weep meatballs.
"I'll give you a TKO from Tokyo!" -- Piston Honda
That wasn't meant to be a statement for or against the sponsored pages. Who am I to demand of something I view for free that they not try and make money somehow?
Hey, I love that you cats are getting paid to do BB - if you are getting paid :), cos I love to spend time here, but, well, yeah, icky. And honda+environment in particular is well, icky^2.
Please excuse me if I also continue to use adblock-plus.
WTF? Honda, fossil fuel burners par excellence sponsoring the environment? Just cause they build one car that is a bit less polluting, hardly makes it a green company. Global warming and oil wars anyone? Wht mks t grn s 'hp' plcs lk BB wh r wllng t pddl thr prpgnd.
Sms BB r rthr sly pmpd t. Crfl r y wn't hv mch f rpttn t sll sn.
Vry dsppntng, 'll mk sr my dblck s wrkng nxt tm rtrn, lss ftn mst lkly.
Um. These aren't actually *new* sections. I mean, some items have been tagged with sections ever since the redesign, or soon after, like this:
http://www.boingboing.net/maker/
http://www.boingboing.net/civlib/
Assuming that the long-term existence of these URLs isn't actually dependent on the sponsorship, *I* have no objection to what basically amounts to the addition of an alternate navigation scheme with category specific URLs. It's just white-hat SEO, and if they get some extra advertising revenue as well, so much the better.
Rock on.
I get tired of these lame commercial interests claiming the "power of dreams". I teach seminars on the use dreaming in personal spirituality and I resent the shallowness surrounding that sacred (to me) subject. Plus...I feel icky.
Nxt wk, nw sctn Cry spnsrd by R nd TS.
To quote the immortal Ice-T, "Don't hate the playa, hate the game."
Ds Hnd rsrv th rght t dt r rfs ntrs n ts sctns? r, wrs n my pnn, ds t mn th wrtrs wll slf-cnsr? 'm srry, bt fnd t hrd t xpct n ntry bt hw th S tmtv fl stndrds cmpr t ths f thr cntrs whn cr cmpny hs sch hghly vsbl plcmnt n th st.
OMG ads on the internets
WTF world, why
Honda gave Boing Boing no guidelines. Boing Boing's editors have not corresponded with Honda about the campaign.
Honda asked Boing Boing's ad sales partner (Federated Media) to ask Boing Boing's editors (Cory, David, Xeni, and me) to tag posts that fit the categories of "safety," "innovation," and "environment."
You probably would have been better off not telling us, but thanks for the honesty.
There wouldn't be any game if there weren't playas.
Because of the reason #14 promoted, I also feel that "icky" is the best way to describe the incongruity of a corporation based on sales of internal combustion engines supporting a section on "environment" on a major site.
Explicitly, there's nothing wrong with it. Implicitly, there's a whole slew of potential problems.
Also: "The Power of Dreams"?
Fuck that with a handgun.
The approach could have been better, but thanks for telling us. Still, even if there is no hideous underhanded conspiracy, isn't this just a bit tacky? I mean....ugh.
Of all the commercial sponsors out there, why, why did you pick one that makes a good product, is reasonable with its people, isn't particularily infamous for environmental rape and doesn't immediate elicit a knee-jerk vomit reflex?? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
Go Honda!
This isn't a big deal at all guys. Stop being so offended on the internet.
Don't forget that Honda made ASIMO
-Tommy
Yeah, Honda is by almost all accounts a great employer, their CAFE is well above average, they make a reliable product, and seem to be a halfway decent corporate citizen. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH BONGBONG U NO GOOD COTOMER SEVIS oh wait, wrong site.
... and Just How Exactly is accepting ad revenue from Honda at all comparable to the RIAA and TSA? Has BoingBoing had dozens of anti-Honda rants in the past? I don't recall those.
BB, you were going to get reamed no matter what. People hate being reminded that the internet isn't free.
#25:The quality of the product is not important. They are internal combustion engines and products derived from that technology.
Not being particularly infamous does not exclude their participation in promoting devices that degrade the environment.
Immediate knee-jerk responses are by definition irrational. I am not making an irrational argument.
It still holds that Honda promote technology that is currently at odds with the environment.
Anyway.
I have NO problem with BiongBoing making money. I saw the Honda ads earlier and I supported the attention that a new big name sponsor would garner. Egads, with all the work that they've done for the anti-DRM movement and for general nuttiness in general, I salute them. And, to an extent, I find that the explicit disclosure of the sponsored sections forthright. However, these sponsored sections, in my mind and IMHO, start to converge with the content I value. This troubles me.
BoingBoing 0wnz0red by H0nda, 0H N0ES! This clearly marks the beginning of end times! Blackwater called, they want piece of yr action too! To tag posts that fit the categories of "security," "freedom," and "profiteering."
Ugh. It's not about money. It's about trust. Damn it. It's not that hard to understand why this might upset some people. Put a goddamn "Honda makes the best engines in the world!" slogan on the corner of every post, and I'd feel a little better about this. At least it doesn't seem that the line between content and content moderation could potentially be compromised.
I'm not saying that the content is compromised, it's the ambiguous *perception* of this potential that bothers me.
I might be overreacting, and I apologize.
Honda was making little four bangers for years before any North American maker pretended to care about mileage or pollution. Their motorcycles alone saved whole oceans of spilled oil compared to Harley Leakysons.
In an ideal world, do no evil. In this one, do the least evil.
@ #14 -- your loss.
@ #16 -- Huh? Anyway, as all dreams are aspirational, what's wrong with Honda aspiring to be better than it is?
@ #17 -- yep, a straw man from the devil's advocate.
As others have noted, there are much worse companies out there than Honda, for heaven's sake. Further, the only content change this could possibly have created is use of three specific tags -- which are general enough they (or some synonym) surely would have already been a part of Boing Boing. Do you honestly think that any of these editors would be persuaded to change their content solely for the benefit of an advertiser? Furthermore, the ads mean more living for the editors, and therefore, more Boing Boing! This is such a ridiculous thing to get upset about.
I couldn't tell they were sponsored, the company i work for blocks ads/spyware/malware sites at the firewall.
32, rthr sprs rgmnts - th jstfctn bng crprt mny = mr bngbng = grt. Hry! Wh crs bt nythng ls s lng s y gt yr cnsmr ht.
r w nt t thnk tht nc hkd n th ddtnl dd rvn tht BB wn't strt t slf-cnsr? r cn w xpct swth f strs bt th ntrnl cmbstn ngn, glbl wrmng r wht Hnd ws p t n WW2?
Wht's wrng wth lkng bynd yr wn prsnl ntrsts t pnt t ptntl cnflcts f ntrst, r bltnt hypcrsy f cr cmpny spnsrng th nvrnmnt sctn. nd sfty, h, crs r n f th bggst kllrs t thr.
I find that content, in my innocent mind, is the domain of the editors and contributors, and that advertisement is explicitly separated from this. The conflation worries me. I don't expect any influence from Honda on the content of BB. I will continue to come here. I just think that the perception that this gives is not a positive one, and want to defend that position.
Or, in the words of my father whenever he's worried about some remote possibility of harm befalling me, "You know, I just worry."
I'm making too much of this. But I think I've got a few valid points.
@ #34
We're all consumers when we read the site. Might not be the best argument, but I don't think it is spurious to celebrate the fact that my favorite Boing Boing editors can make a living doing what i like seeing them do.
I see what you're saying, but I don't think any company, or any person, can say anything about "supporting the environment" without it being hypocritcal -- at least not with the super-broad definition of "the environment" that is en vogue. As far as self-censorship, I guess I see no problem with the concern, but in my judgment it is not a significant risk in this context.
About safety: why do we have to read the sponsorship to mean that Honda creates "safety" in its ideal form? I'm sure all Honda is worried about is making each car safer than the last. In this context, its an admirable aspiration and one that Honda, unlike some car companies, is entitled to.
Oof, it's a bit of a drag. I know I haven't been hanging around here long enough to give an opinion, but it seems "icky" to me too. I'm an old guy who grew up in the 60s and the internets (series of pipes) have been so refreshing these past few years. A medium where any average shmo can have his/her info published to the world for (almost) free.
But I've been able to get used to the corporate sponsorships of various institutions, you know, everything has to have some company name attached to it.
But BoingBoing... brought to you by HONDA! It's ugly. What's next Nike?
Honda's intent is obvious. But their marketing department must be drunk if they think people as savvy as BB readers will react positively to such a bald-faced attempt at linking Honda's brand to nice-sounding, cushy words. It's insulting.
When I see "Honda" and "environment" together, I think of Honda's recent attempts to block stricter greenhouse gas emissions in California. I think of Honda being sued by its buyers because the mileage rates on their new cars were so much lower than normal. And I think that while Honda makes one of the two cars in the US with mileage rates higher than 40mpg, that number is falling while Europeans have a choice of over 100 models > 40mpg, up from 80-some in the same time frame.
Hey guys, these guys at boing boing have been doing this for very, very long, and we have benefited immensely from their hard labor. Why not cash in for a bit of profit? I'm sure it's not any huge sum (I'm guessing under five figures), and this website doesn't pay for itself after all. Streaming video is very expensive.
It's easy to make accusations from behind your keyboards, but I'm sure most, if not all of you would do the same thing if you had the opportunity. Think about it.
- Tim
So is
"Honda's Power of Dreams"
above the
"Woman's dream of bomb results in oil rig evacuation"
story on purpose?
I don't have so much a problem with something on the site being sponsored; that's nothing new. You guys have expenses, especially with BBtv, and you deserve to profit from your labors. What gives me pause is that it's a sponsorship of something that doesn't add value to the site, just does something that's always really been there. Also, it asks us to associate Honda with those concepts that are pinned on posts that have nothing to do with Honda. Granted, a sponsorship of anything, from TV to magazines to the net, has an implicit approval and association on both sides of the bargain; the problem here is that whatever is being linked to in those tagged entries have no say about tacitly advertising for Honda with their work. It may even create conflicts with endorsements they have accepted.
While Mark's message is assuring, the couple of people who think self-censorship isn't an issue when accepting money from a corporation in the middle of an image campaign obviously haven't worked with, well, corporations in the middle of an image campaign. I have, and the pressure can be huge. And while BB isn't the BBC, a lot of people read it, and BB does have a history of looking at some touchy issues. I appreciate Mark's (et al's) forthrightness and hope they don't feel that pressure too badly.
@ #37:
BB had Nike ads up a couple of months ago, maybe as much as a year. I sent off an email to the editors voicing some of the concerns that people have mentioned in this thread (perceived conflict of ideology, editorial independence) and never got a response. That said, it hasn't driven me away from BB. Take from that what you will.
Boing Boing should only have ads from non-profit hemp farmers
My comment ballooned into a letter.
http://orphanarmy.com/blingbling_2008-02-11/
Dear Boing Boing,
Yours is one of a few blogs I read with regularity. It’s filled with wonderful posts by a great group of writers, inventors, and tech geeks who have good hearts and great minds.
Today, when I went to the site to decompress and catch up on my wacky internet news, I ran into a disturbing post about special sections of Boing Boing sponsored by Honda’s “Power of Dreams” campaign.
As a reader, I find this level of advertising embarrassing. It’s worse than having a flood of subscription cards douse my joy each time I open a new issue of WIRED.
I can understand that you need advertising to help cover bandwidth costs and pay for your time but it can and should be done tastefully and with respect to your audience.
The IT ROOM was bad. You endorsed a blatant corporate ripoff of the IT CROWD. It was like Ben Cohen going to work as a huckster for Western Family Ice Cream.
I think this latest advertising venture is worse. You’re mixing your posts with specific advertisements, again from big business with deep pockets. Reading the comments on your site it appears that I’m not alone in worrying. Is money starting to control the show? Will this lead to intentional and unintentional poisoning of your content?
I think you’re all smart enough to avoid the obvious pitfall here and I hope you’ve had a good long discussion about your revenue streams and where to draw the line when an advertiser walks into the room with a sack of cash. Boing Boing is successful beyond imagining and has earned its success by steadily building respect and reputation.
For each of you, Boing Boing has brought great attention to your personal projects and has increased your value as speakers, consultants, artists, and journalists. I have some idea of what that must mean for your personal finances.
It seems to me that in the long run you would most benefit by maintaining good faith with your audience and keeping Boing Boing free from dubious advertisements.
All my best,
Pat Race
Dear Everyone who wants an Ad-Free BoingBoing:
Send Money.
@44: You persist in missing the point. No one is advocating an ad-free BoingBoing. The concern is about the nature of the advertising, the advertiser, and how the ad relationship can pressure the writers and commenters. Your comment is a straw man.
@#44 - I don't think anyone here has a problem with BB running ads. The argument is the type of ads and the "special sections" that they will be sponsoring.
"The Power of Dreams"? Eww.
I can understand the need for cash, but this is a bit annoying. And I'm really trying to imagine a BoingBoing "Safety" post... A steampunk helmet or something??
Whatever, carry on. The Internet isn't free.
P.S. If we're stuck with "The Power of Dreams" can we at least get some animated sparkles in the header?
#45, if they had better offers from better companies I'm sure they'd take them
Am I the only one who linked "The Power of Dreams" up with the old "The Power of Nightmares" series on the BBC about 3 years ago?
Dear Everyone who Wants an Ethical-Ad Laden BpingBoing:
Send Good Sponsors
Honda must compete in the US market. Like it or not, if they fail here in the US the company folds. And the US market drives their auto design. The >40mpg type cars sold in Europe will not sell here - the US market is too horsepower hungry.
They have the highest fleet mileage of any American auto vendor, outstanding reliability (read less cars in landfills, fewer junked parts, tires, and fewer repair bills for me).
We cannot now or in the very near future completely dispose of internal combustion engines. There is no feasible alternative infrastructure, and battery technology is not yet ready.
Oh yes, and if you don't like commercials or corporate sponsorship, God Bless You in All You Do, and i have two sticks you can rub together.
Until the day we can obtain a safe, reliable, electric car recharged by solar or wind power, if you have to have a personal automobile, consider this: all indy 500 engines for the last three years have been Honda engines - without a single engine failure. My v6 Accord - a nice big cushy luxury car - gets 30mpg hiway. And the mpg ratings for ALL vehicles have been lowered - the gov't changed the calculations to better reflect real world mpg estimates, not just Honda.
I support this company for their extreme high quality products, even if their marketing department might be a little tasteless.
http://orphanarmy.com/wp-content/sketches/dreams.gif
y clrly frgt tht mrk wrkd t wrd drng ts tchn-fntsst, lbrtrn phs.
Honestly, I want to see more articles in these areas anyway. I don't care if someone has to stick a "sponsored by" or an ad next to them so I can see them. It's better than not having the articles at all. Or having the site fold, if they can't pay their bills.
@52: jst hd Ls Frnk flshbck.
i wonder... will the cryptids be tagged in the environment section?
I demand to see the "sponsored by GOP" sections.
Oh wait, here it is...
Boing Boing GOP SECTION
LOL, I'm sure the GOP will pay handsomely.
BTW grousers - what are you driving?
oh and the "Dream" reference goes way way back with this company - the Honda 'Dream' was a groundbreaking motorcycle from the 1960's, probably the first successful Japanese cycle to be marketed in the US. And who doesn't like groundbreaking Japanese motorcycles!!!
Honda has always been a technology leader, and who here doesn't like technology.
I like technology. And computers.
Mmmm, tht's gd sllt.
Dear Everyone who Wants what THEY think is an Ethical-Ad Laden, earth friendly, solar/wind powered, recyclable, informed, perfumed BoingBoing:
Get your own website.
ANDL: what are you driving?
DALASY: I like this company. I wish I worked for this company. Their products have served me extremely well, are one of the highest quality products of any kind available today.
knw vryn nds t py th blls fr ll thr Jpns mnstr tys nd Cp tshrts nd rdclsly xpnsv gdgts. Bt, yh, nywy, f ws Bng Bng wrtr wh rlly crd bt th nvrnmnt nd lss cnsmptn drvn cltr wld try t blnc ll ths nw ds wth sm PS's lk stryfstff.cm.
Th cr ndstry nd th cmptr ndstry sm t b tw f th wrst n trms f "prcvd nd plnnd bslscnc." Th prblm s t s hrd t hv ds fr sd gds r ds fr nt byng stff y dn't rlly nd.
Bt yh, kcy nd nt srprsng nd cn't blm 'm. W'r dmd.
It's not being advertised on, it's the content and choice of company that's the problem. The way PR works (I know because I do it) is you take your negatives and claim the exact opposite.
Safety. Car accidents are the leading cause of death for 15-24 yr olds in America. This is an obscene choice of word. See how Danger fits better?
http://www.disastercenter.com/cdc/111riskd.html
Environment. This one is so damn obvious. In the 14 years to 2004, American CO2 emissions from transport rose 26.7%. Pollution definitely fits better.
http://climate.dot.gov/transemiss.html
Innovation. So Karl Benz got the first car up and running in 1885, and 123 years later the basic technology - burning petrol - is unchanged. The greenhouse effect was first discovered by Fourier in 1824, but we're still burning petrol to move around? I'd say No Innovation.
Make it stop. Just make it stop. The Ben and Jerry reference above is spot on.
I agree with #51, except I don´t drive an accord (and a V6 is never needed in Santiago, Chile).
Gas prices here are close to $6 a gallon, which means that most cars are NOT from the US. In this sense, you see very old Hondas making their way through traffic and passing all emission control tests (which are stringent because the mountains around the city give us a bad air circulation).
Public transit? Just Google "Transantiago" (AKA transfiasco, transdisaster).
I love BB, and I´m sure the editors will keep their independence (even if it means loosing the Honda sponsorship)
I'm in agreement with license farm upthread. Bandwith and creating content costs money, ad revenues make the site possible and profitable. But this is very hinky advertising to me. It's not the simple banner ad or even an pop-up, it's integrating content and advertisement in a way that blurs the line between the two. Right now the banner at the top mixing Honda and BB ("a directory of deviceful things"....ewww) is just plain off-putting.
I'm an adult and I read things with a critical eye even from trusted sources. I have to say though, this ad deal (with a Car company that does not offer domestic partner benefits for GLBT employees to boot) has really eroded my trust in BB as a source.
I had nothing to do with this campaign whatsoever—I didn't even know it was coming until I saw the ads on the site—but I have to say that I was happy to see Honda sponsoring BB. They have a long tradition of innovative, bullet-proof engineering. Plus they build robots. (Although what Japanese multi-corp doesn't?)
Because this isn't my neck of the woods I'll refrain from saying what I really want to say, but I'm surprised how, uh, disconnected from the outside world many people in this thread seem to be. I know it may seem like a blog is this mysterious black box which must contain all sorts of wheelings and dealings and long, labored editorial meetings, but mostly it's just people doing what they've been doing for years, which is to write about stuff they find interesting.
Really, of all the car companies to take umbrage at! I have a greater admiration for Honda than most, but they make a solid product. I grew up around the time when tuners were first getting Civics to run sub-10-second quarter-mile slips; that wouldn't have been possible without precision manufacturing from Honda.
And if you're up in armchairs about the fact they make internal combustion engines, you better be posting from a yurt in the middle of your communal farm, because even if you don't drive (like me!) you're still getting most of your goods delivered to the local store inside gas-puffing trucks. Respecting the work of a company that continues to find ways to wrangle more power out of less fuel doesn't preclude awareness of our environmental crisis as a whole.
I'll go back to my corner now. This was hard to type while shaking my fist at the screen.
Mark Etc,
I don't see why you BoingBoing types don't understand: You should provide free high-value content to your readers and never, ever take money from any advertiser that might be objectionable to any of your readers.
As you know, every single person who reads this blog works for free and survives on the scraps they find in the trash, so there is no reason that the BoingBoing editors should not be reduced to a subsistence life-style.
In the 21st century it is not enough to feed your readers eyeballs with juicy and nutrient-rich content, you must abstain from ever, ever exposing any readers eyeballs to anything even slightly objectionable.
It's the new, New Economy -- the one where we all starve to death but get to be so goddamn smug about it.
-- SCAM
Hear, hear, Joel.
Hear, hear, Joel.
And if it offends anyone, download Firefox and install Adblocker Plus.
Or leave.
So does this mean BB readers all get free Hondas? I'll take mine in black, thanks.
I use adblock+ and didn't know anything about this, and I'm sort of surprised more readers aren't using that too, actually. It's extremely effective and free (as in beer) (and as in boingboing, for that matter).
SimpleHuman @65 says, "creating content costs money".
But how much were they paid for creating that content?
This is what I think bothers people about being notified that <Faceless MegaCorp Inc> is "sponsoring" parts of a site that is the focus of an online community. People suddenly stop feeling like members of a community and start feeling like what they are, which is a commodity.
Personally, I have no problem with this. I see the nicely accumulated eyeballs of the community, which is made possible by the hard work of the editors and the deep pockets of their sponsors, as a pre-assembled audience that I get to polemicise at. That makes me some kind of second-order free-loader, assuming that my sporadic, relatively lengthy and often over-earnest polemics aren't a significant draw for readers. I get an audience and the site maintainers get nothing in return.
So, by reading this far, you've been exploited in all kinds of ways: by the eeeevil sponsors of BoingBoing and their cuddly team of crypto-corporate-shills, and by me. The fun part is that if you've read this far, I'm getting exploited right back. It's like a reputation economy, only without the reputation.
Lol - I swear I hadn't seen WHOKNEW's post when I posted mine. Eerie - we even punctuated it the same.
Guys, let's all just chill out and remember that for better or worse, Honda commissioned one of the most awesome ads of the decade:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB_1gPRCLCo
Joel:
I think I take some umbrage at the tone of your comments. People in this thread are questioning how this advertisement program is going to further blur the line between content and commerce.
The same kind of questions that BB has often asked of other sites and organizations.
I think it does make me question the agenda and tone of posts on this site more. The same way I'd be leary of my local newspaper reporting on organized labor issues while taking in huge ad revenues from Wal-Mart circulars.
One of the real unpleasant aspects of modern culture has been the acceptance of advertising, product placement and rampant schilling as simply a matter of course. Is there going to be a chilling effect on BB? Too soon to tell, but frankly it would not surprise me at this point.
@74: Well said.
yep
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/12/news/companies/gm/index.htm?cnn=yes
thnk tht snc nbdy knws hw mch th dtrs f Bng Bng mk frm th st, th rvn thy mk spcfclly frm Hnd s rrlvnt. Wht's rlvnt s tht thy'r pprntly wllng t cmprms th ln tht hs ntl nw sprtd crprt dvrtsng frm cntnt, nd Hnd s mrly symbl f tht.
Th rgmnt tht lngtm Bng Bng rdrs ght t strt sng dblck Pls rthr msss th pnt, s bnnr ds r nt th ss. ( thnk srly w'v ll md pc wth bnnr ds by nw nywy.) t's th rl f n dtr t blck dvrtsng frm crpng nt cntnt, nt brwsr xtnsn.
nd th d tht nly rdrs wh lv n yrts hv ny rght t cmpln s, srry Jl, lttl fcl. Bng Bng hs vry rght t pt th ntrsts f ts dvrtsrs hd f th ntrsts f ts rdrs f t chss t, bt tht dsn't, n ny cs, mn tht wll-ntntnd rdrs cn't cry fl. Snc whn s ltmt prsnl rlztn cndtn fr sttng n pnn?
LOL . . . just something more for the BB crowd to complain about. Forget about enjoying witty posts and learning about interesting sites, it seems a majority of BB readers come here to flex their internet muscles and complain, complain, complain. What evil corporation will sponsor BB next? Wal-mart?
#74 said:
I think the answer to that questioning is apparent if anyone actually looks at the content instead of dreaming up worst-case scenarios.f wb prjct lk Bng Bng cn't xst wtht sllng ts mg t th hghst crprt bddr, prhps Bng Bng s nt vbl prjct. ch bt f dvrtsng nd crprt nvlvmnt crrpts prjct bt mr, nd pst crtn pnt th prjct cn nd p dng mr hrm thn gd, mrly prvdng cnvnnt hp, dgy mg fr n stblshmnt mssg.
S ftn th " gt t gt pd" xcs s trttd t t jstfy qstnbl prctcs. "Ys, myb ths cmprmss r ntgrty, bt w d nd t mk mny - f thr's nthr wy w'r ll rs!" sms t b th gnrl sntmnt.
t's fls prms. Bng Bng dsn't nd t xst, t's dtrs dn't nd t gt pd fr wrkng n t, th bndwdth blls dn't nd t b pd. f Bng Bng s t trn grdlly nt PR rgn fr mnyd ntrsts, t wld prbbly b bttr f t jst ddn't xst t ll.
t lst thn thr's th pssblty fr mr prncpld nd ndpndntly fnnclly slvnt prjcts t tk p th Bng Bng trch, s t spk.
I love how hypocritical people can be.
Honda ruins the environment? What about that computer you're using? That didn't grow on a tree, it grew in a Chinese factory that spews pollutants 24x7. In contrast, Honda was the first manufacturer to meet the clean air act of 1970, and the first to introduce a gas/electric hybrid to the US market. The litigation concerning the lower than expected mileage was actually due to the way mileage estimates are calculated (it's all done on paper, not with actual testing) and as a result the EPA changed how estimates were calculated, lowering numbers for all hybrids.
Honda kills people? Anything going 60mph is a death trap. Honda was the first to put 4-wheel steering in a passenger vehicle, the first Japanese automaker to use airbags, and the first manufacturer to put an airbag on a motorcycle. Honda also recently built a huge new crash test facility where they can study collisions occurring from any angle, as well as human/vehicle collisions. Honda wants their name associated with safety because they actively try to make something inherently dangerous as safe as possible.
It's so easy for every dipshit with an internet connection to criticize everything that rubs them the wrong way. How many of you that don't hesitate to cast insults are actually doing more than just whining and complaining? Who here that has a problem with Honda is an automotive engineer? Who's got a viable alternative to internal combustion in the works? Who's figured out how to take a body from 60-0mph in less than a second and keep ligaments from bisecting vital organs? Anyone actually part of the solution, or are you all just blindly casting insults from the comfort of your home/apartment/office filled with organic fair-trade consumer bullshit.
I pollute, I waste, I endanger, and I appreciate the efforts of those companies that help me keep those things to a minimum.
I hope the sponsorship continues. I'd rather read articles on automotive innovation than more book promotions (now available in sanscrit!) and misinformation (TOR = anonymity = security?).
And just a note to #34, Honda wasn't even established until after WWII, so...wtf?
I find the corporation of certain keywords fairly Orwellian. I mean, this isn't just advertising, this is the hard-linking of concepts to brand. This kind of stuff used to take huge campaigns to establish.
Thanks, interweb!
Honda creates an entire line of highly unsafe, environmentally unsound products for which it attempts to shift responsiblity onto the consumer, just like some other wonderful corporate citizens. These are the good guys?
"an engineer who worked for General Motors Corp. and Nissan Corp. between 1971 and 1994. He has testified about the safety of roof designs and seat belts for GM, Ford, Nissan, Toyota and Mazda and Isuzu in addition to Honda."
I don't care for the ways some people use ATVs either, but trying to link Honda to big tobacco?
Just like to add my support for Honda here, an innovative company more than most in real and physical world that is always developing asnd advancing... It always amazes me when people complain bitterly about the smallest of principles without stopping to consider the bigger ones..... any company that sponsors positive development in our world gets my vote.
Th mnstrm md hs lng snc bn c-ptd by rthr bltnt crprt ntrsts. Ths sn't cnsprcy, ts smpl fct. S mch gs nrprtd r ndr-rprtd bcs t wn't sll d rvn. Wh wnts t rd bt txc chmcls n Fm trlrs whn w cn st p pdphl stng nd d hg nmbrs!
Tht's why ltrntv md bcm th mnstrm fr s mny. Trnng wy frm th "Ntwrk" styl nnsns nd fndng "wndrfl thngs" nln.
S t s tht th crp n f dvr-tnmnt nd crprt cptn s s dshrtnng. W wtchd nws trn nt ns n brdcst nd cbl. thnk t's vry vld t qstn nd b cncrn bt th trnd cntnng hr.
@ #82:
How can you blame Honda for "creating an unsafe" product when the people operating them are operating them in such an unsafe manner? Why were the parents allowing a 7 year old and an 11 year old ride an ATV like that? Most of those vehicles have warnings about the minimum age of the rider/operator. In some cases I believe there's actually laws regulating how old someone has to be to operate one of those things. It's like saying bananas are a dangerous product because someone might slip on a banana peel and break their leg.
I read magazines with tobacco advertisements.
gr wth wht thrs hv sd n tht ths wll hv chllng ffct n BngBng. t dsn't mttr f Hnd ddn't st ny dtrl gdlns r nt -- bcs Hnd pd thm, th dtrs wll fl, ncnscsly r thrws, blgtd t cnsr thmslvs whn Hnd's ntrsts r thrtnd. Wll w s strs syng crs rn't rlly tht bd fr th nvrnmnt? Will Teresa start disemvoweling anti-Honda comments now?t's hrd t sy wht frm ths nw nflnc wll tk, bt ths bth sm t b plsbl n ths nw clmt.
Ths s cmmnty -- nt jst bcs f th cmmntrs, bt ls bcs sm f s prvd thm wth ntrstng lnks nd cntnt. Wht wll hppn t sm f tht sr-sbmttd cntnt nw tht ths dl s n plc? mgn nythng tht cld b prcvd s hrtng Hnd wll fnd tslf tht mch clsr t th cttng rm flr. f tht hppns, th cmmnty wll sffr.
d fl lk cmmdty -- pr f ys wth wllt. nd tht's bd thng, bcs thght th dtrs hr hd mr rspct fr thr rdrs thn tht. Gss ws wrng.
Mrk, Jl, Xn, Cry -- cngrtltns, y'v ll jst bcm sllts. cngrtlt y n hldng t fr ths lng. Bt nw y r tntd n my ys.
Tainted. You know what you have to do. Just try not to get it all over the ceiling.
Ths sn't bt BngBng's nd fr fndng nd pychck.
t sn't bt whthr r nt Hnd s rlbl cmpny.
Th prblm hr s th cncpt. Th fct tht BngBng s wllng t cmprms ts rdrs' trst by ntrng nt cntrct s fll f bltnt prpgnd; smthng tht hs lwys bn ky ss fr BngBng t spk t gnst.
nd nstllng n d-blckr s lghbl cr, s gnrng prblm sldm mks t g wy.
K, cngrts wth th dl. Nw thr's n thng lwys wndrd - hw d y spll SLLT?
Wll, nthng wrng wth gd ld dgh, spps - nxt p wll b spnsrshps frm Mcrsft, MP nd th R?
"contract so full of blatant propaganda;"
Alleged. Expand. Demonstrate.
vn th ttl f ths pg s mkng m gg.
Hr's smthng pln t d, y'll my r my nt jn m, bt 'm nvr gn gng t sggst lnk wtht n xplct sttmnt tht t shldn't b sd n Hnd pg.
nd t ll th "jz, vryn pllts nd drvs cr" crwd, knw wht y'd b dng whn dcttrshp rlls rnd nxt. Rllng vr. Jst syn'.
Mark Etc,
How dare you SELL OUT?!? After all the money we've sent to you?1? After religiously reading your content, you stab us in the back by daring to engage in commerce!?
If you had to have a sponsor, why didn't you choose a sponsor that no one would complain about? Like Sunshine, Lollipops and Unicorns?
What?
Oh yeah -- too much sunshine can give you skin cancer, so that is out. And loli's will rot out your teeth and make you fat. So no lollipop sponsorship either. And Unicorns are clearly a gratuitously phallic tribute to thousands of years of male hegemony...
But I'm sure that there is someone, somewhere, who is 1) willing to give money to this site, and 2) incapable of offending any of your hypocritically hypersensitive morally vigilant readers!
-- SCAM
Tkn,
Lnkng kywrds lk >sfty, >nnvtn nd >nvrnmnt t Hnd; tht's prpgnd.
Hear, hear, err, wait -- LOL :)
But seriously, the sellout crowd is taking this way, way too far. If this is selling out, then I would have to go back to Joel's point -- only those in Yurts, or tipis, or igloos, for that matter, are not sellouts in this world. Somewhere in the supply chain of most of the things you depend on in your cushy modern life has something that is bad for the environment, safety as an ideal form, and communal living (what did I leave out . . . poetry?)
My dearest hope is the Cory and Mark and Xeni et al are able to get as many good laughs out of these baseless rants as they deserve -- along with the Honda money.
Nxt n ln: "Hlth", spnsrd by Phlp Mrrs?
Hw mch ds t cst t by "trth"?
Scry t thnk tht w cn nw st dllr mnt fr tht.
(Ths cmmnt spnsrd by Hnd)
Honda has a vested interest in safety,innovation and the environment. Especially with so many watching them. Call me back when you have video of the secret death camps.