10 Comments

My husband and I both worked at an international airport that loved touting its environmental policies. We watched as they replaced all the restroom paper towel dispensers with hand dryers because the "optics were good". Meanwhile, behind the curtain, they built a whole new power station (fueled by coal BTW) to feed the dryers and other public-facing "environmental initiatives".

Organizations and corporations with money can always afford to throw more money around to appear "virtuous", "sustainable", "inclusive" - whatever the buzzword of the day - and to win themselves more money.

Expand full comment

Agree and I already see signs that CEOs of large corporations want to limit access to this game-changing technology because they don't know how to govern it. I am dubious about Elon Musk's recent comments about AI on the back of his chaotic and cruel layoffs at Twitter. But as a small business owner, I am already thinking about a Plan B if and when ChatGPT is turned off.

Expand full comment

Good catch! I love it when fakery is outed. If only everyone would realize the monumental fakery of the money system though. That seems to get a pass with never any questioning at all. If it wasn't for the fraudulent money system, people wouldn't need "PR". And those minds could be used for building the new infrastructure of decentralization and sovereignty - or in other words, freedom.

Expand full comment

Ahhh, the good ol' quest for earned media! I so enjoy these stories of supposed professionals totally focused on the wrong stuff, while missing the potential for unintended consequences. Thanks for the entertainment to end the week, always glad when stuff like this backfires. Continuing to enjoy my Wranglers as my levi's are slowly but surely sent to the rag pile.

Expand full comment

Ba ba Boom. Please, I cannot see another clip of Game Show Dylan pretending to be a woman. I stopped by at my local corner bar in upstate NY just to ask if they've stopped serving Bud Lite and all of their others, Stella and etc. Resounding YES! Finally, men are getting offended. I hope the tonic water I ordered wasn't from an Anheuser Busch company. For your enlightenment, here's what happens to young women in Scandinavia when she finds out her boyfriend is an AGP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv3F-UDbr9k&t=1s

Expand full comment

Jen, it’s sad to think that if Levi’s current PR peoples were smart, they would have run your piece instead of a mealy mouthed, insincere pseudo apology. Many readers of The Cut and similar trade mags would have found the motivation to be innovative in spite of the tech not quite being there yet and the need to work within the realities of budgets illuminating.

Expand full comment

Your thoughts are a breath of fresh air, too bad the corporate window is shut. Maybe someone will take a walk (no pun intended since you already did, voluntarily or otherwise) and breath some reality.

Expand full comment

Three cheers from me for using the word "singular" correctly. (The rest of the post was good too.)

Expand full comment

If LEVI's move mires them in the uncanny valley, the justice would be poetic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

Expand full comment

Poetic justice = the sweeter twin of biblical justice?

Expand full comment