Posts Tagged ‘Pepsi Refresh’

Not quite Panama, but a plan.

February 6, 2011

So, I was engaged in a FB discussion with some friends over the cost of today’s Super Bowl ads (up to 3M for a 60 second spot). In-freaking-sane.  In our economic system, the market can charge what the market can bear.  Still, I think it is reckless corporate spending (Frito Lay alone is spending upwards of 9M USD for their ads), GM in particular springs to mind on this issue! (hi, we bailed you out…how about NOT reminding us of that.)

After some back and forth that has been brewing for some time, I’m going to live off the grid as much as possible. What does that mean? Not buying from boxes and chains where possible. If I do have to buy from a chain, then a local one that pays fair wages. My goal? To see if I can go to the next Super Bowl (or this time next year if a lock out occurs).

A few friends brought up good points: Yes, Frito Lay employs a  lot of people in the middle of the country. And, they use genetically modified food, keep prices artificially low for farmers and receive their food from industrial farms: all are bad for our economy, our bodies and our country moving forward. There is a reason junk food is cheaper here than in Asia and Europe: they tax it to death for recognizing that is poison to our bodies.  It doesn’t mean I don’t like Oreos: I do! I’ve realized that spending money on a good which is both toxic *and* the product of big business doesn’t serve anybody.

Can I do it? Who knows. I’ll be using what I have in the house and any replacements will be locally sourced. If there is not a local sourcing option: then from a local business, preferably a small one then a regional chain.  Will it cost more? Probably. But what are the benefits of one person doing this in a mid-sized New England community? Isn’t it better all the way around? I’m not doing this from a position of wealth but as a conscious decision to see how much frivolous spending is eliminated, how much I can return to the economy of my community and state.  It will be an interesting adventure. 

I simply can’t support companies that spend millions for short ads: donate that time to causes and say who sponsored the ad.  And it will be interesting to see if Fox/Pepsi discuss their new arrangement today….after all, Frito Lay was the #1 ad buyer in the Super Bowl this year.

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Posted in Popular Culture, Reflections, CSA, Cooking, Politics, Finances | Leave a Comment »

If you must. . .

February 2, 2011

So, on 1/8, I posted a blog about my thoughts on the Pepsi Refresh Challenge project. I stand behind every word of what I’ve written. (I’m sure those who monitor this blog might take offense, but quite frankly, I don’t care).  Here are some reasons why contests like Pepsi’s are bad:

1) They are technology dependent – this automatically favors individuals or organizations that are able to leverage technology through either the means of delivery through their organization OR because of socio-economic status.

3) Pepsi, or more specifically, it’s parent company Frito Lay, is using profits garnered from selling junk (hey, I like the junk, but it is JUNK to our bodies) to “do good” in various communities. Frito Lay made 845 million (USD) for the quarter ending 7/10.  The amount of money they are giving away per month pales in comparison to the long-term costs to the wider community and in proportion to the quarterly profits.

3) Forcing organizations into “popularity” contests benefits nobody. Allegations of magical cheating, IP re-routing, and on and on and on.  While conceptually, it is a good idea to allow people to select which ideas should be awarded grants, if Pepsi is committed to using some of its substantial profits to make a difference, the programs should be evaluated by professional grant management/event planning firms (there are plenty who specialize in work with non-profits) in conjunction with a popular vote.

A lot of what Pepsi is doing is too dependent on a critical mass: a program in Bismark, ND stands less of a chance of winning than a similar program in St. Louis, MO just due to population and the ability to “vote by region”.

Pepsi might bring back there challenge. If they do, I hope that those who opt to participate act like adults, win and loose with grace and vote for causes *they* believe in – not that they are pressured to vote for because that is a voting alliance. Then again, I wish Pepsi would just get rid of the project and force organizations to write grants and donate money based on the proportion of their profits to region.  After all, that would *really* be giving back to the Pepsi community.

But what do I know? I’m a Diet Coke girl!

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Posted in Finances, Popular Culture, Reflections | Leave a Comment »

Another week. . .

January 22, 2011

Ok, I *left* the Great Lakes reason for one thing: the weather. One too many winters of a few feet of snow and wind chills in the -20 range made me think “really? do civilized people live here by choice?” (I never changed my sports team alliances!) but the winters I can do without. . . . so I sanely lived in Colorado and now Boston instead.  In the past week, I braved 3 rush hour storms: a Nor’Easter, an ice storm and a “small” snow squall of 8 inches. Ok. One week? I mean, the past 5 years have had mild winters, we didn’t need it back in a week! :)

Lots and lots of snow piles!

Snow

Jan Nor'Easter #1

 

It’s been pretty mundane…reflecting on the death of Jake Wheeler: a long time beloved professor of Hollins University/College and how much of an impact he had on a small women’s college in the south. He taught you to think and in many ways, those of us who were privileged to know him still draw from his work, be it through shaping the focus of the school, being a professor or his general optimism even in the face of personal losses. UCLA might have had John Wooden, but they obviously had the second pick.

Seeing the news about Pepsi’s Challenge program and it’s problems does actually upset me. It was such a good idea that was ruined by the masses and the voting alliances, lying to other groups that you were voting for them and the inherent greed that brings out the nasty side of people.

And then, somewhere, the news of Rep. Giffords being moved to rehab lifted spirits for a few hours. Believe what you choose, or choose not to believe, but I think the healing thoughts of hundreds of millions of people had something to do with her recovery so far.

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Posted in Popular Culture, Health Care, Reflections, Politics, Weather | Leave a Comment »

Thanks!

January 16, 2011

The number of hits I’ve had is quite amusing. I wonder what I’ve done to make people all fluttery? Any way, back to reality - the place were people do things other than come up with conspiracy theories – Vandy always can make UT look bad even when UT wins. Any sport. I’ll give props to ESPN for putting the women’s game in prime time over the guys although the guys game was more exciting.  I hope that the other “Game Day on the Road” or whatever it’s called, has both the men’s and women’s teams telecast!

I sorta like watching old Law and Order episodes and seeing people “before” they became famous. . . or in out of typical roles.  And the “technology” cracks me up from the first few seasons. And the wickedly (for me) episode of SVU about something similar to Pepsi giving away money and it going awry.

Sorry those making sure I don’t say something offensive, you just wasted a few seconds of your life. Bummer for you.

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Posted in Popular Culture, Sports | Leave a Comment »

A bit to close to home?

January 15, 2011

So my blog about the Pepsi Refresh Project hit a nerve.  I posted about what Pandora’s Project was doing, and they, like other organizations are making alliances, swapping votes, calling out other organizations.

Apparently it hit too close to home (that speaking the truth): I was banned. And the best part? A friend told me. Yup, they didn’t have the guts to tell me!

If you play honestly, you might not win, but you tend not to fear those who speak the truth.

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Posted in Reflections | Leave a Comment »

Pepsi Refresh: A good idea ruined by the masses.

January 8, 2011

I used to belong to a group called Pandora’s Project. They are working for a 25K grant in the Pepsi Refresh Challenge.  I’m now over the top livid with their bashing of other organizations they are competing against. From www.pandys.org:

“We are setting out on month number three of the Pepsi Refresh Project grant contest and want this to be our last month. We need your help to get us there! It’s been amazing to see so many members voting for us and then going out to vote for other projects and spreading the word about ours! We’ve gotten as low as #24, just 14 places away from being in the money. We CAN do this! If everyone who logs into this board to access support this month takes the time to vote once a day, every day, there will be no stopping us.

If we win, we’ll want to give a BIG THANK YOU to everyone for supporting us, so we’ve decided that we’ll have a raffle if we do! We’ll be raffling off 1% of our earnings – $250 in the form of various prizes as well as Pandora’s Project products! Prizes will include:

  • A grand prize $200 Amazon gift card, Pandora’s Project tote and a whistle
  • 5 runner-up prizes of a $10 Amazon gift card, a Pandora’s Project tote and a whistle


How do I enter?

Entering is easy and you can do so up to ten times a day. To enter, simply vote for Pandy’s and our partners, leaving comments.

http://pep.si/pandorasalliance

Change: Since leaving comments is time consuming, it is fine to vote for all of our partners multiple time and then leave a message that states “3 votes from Pandora’s Project!”

Sample Comments:Pandora’s Project just left you a vote! Please support our all-volunteer organization as we help assault survivors by voting and texting 103598 to 73774.

3 votes from Pandora’s Project! Please vote for us so our all-volunteer organization can support survivors of sexual violence! 103598 to 73774.

Pandora’s Project just supported you with 5 real votes! Please vote back so our volunteer-run organization can help abuse survivors. 103598 to 73774.

3 votes from your partners at Pandora’s Project! Please help our all-volunteer organization support survivors of sexual violence all over the world. 103598

You can also enter by

  • posting to your FB page asking friends to vote
  • posting to Twitter asking followers to vote
  • emailing your friends and family members asking them to vote
  • passing out flyers (Coming Soon!) to classmates, friends, etc…or posting them in visible places on your campus or around town


Floater VotesIf you have more than 3 accounts, please consider using one account to as a floater voter and vote for one of the following projects that has been supporting us.

These folks support us with their votes. Please comment to them.

http://pep.si/pandorasfriends

Sample Comment:Pandora’s Project dropping off votes! Thanks for supporting our all-volunteer organization as we serve survivors of sexual violence. 103598

And here are some other projects that support us!

http://www.refreshev…hingvikingsband
http://www.refreshev…childrenbookdvd
http://www.refreshev…ingdisabledvets
http://www.refreshev…starzfoundation
http://www.refreshev…artsinnewbernnc
http://www.refreshev…/camplowcountry
http://www.refreshev…om/sunsetcinema
http://www.refreshev…ng.com/starcise
http://www.refreshev…/camplowcountry
http://www.refreshev…firerescuehouse
http://www.refreshev…starzfoundation
http://www.refreshev…/kaleidoscopetr
http://www.refreshev…g.com/soarstory

Possible Comments:

Pandora’s Project dropping off votes for our friends! Please support our all volunteer organization so we can reach more survivors of sexual violence! 103598

Real votes from Pandora’s Project! Thanks for your support of survivors of sexual violence, our all volunteer organization appreciates it!

Why should I vote?
Pandora’s Project is dedicated to providing survivors of sexual violence and their loved ones with low cost access to high quality support, information, and resources. If we win, we will be able to host approximately 50 survivors at free or low cost retreats. Furthermore, we’ll have a $5,000 budget for chats. This will allow us to host chats with seriously notable speakers (Judith Hermann, anyone? How about Aphrodite Mataskis? Maybe Francine Shapiro, developer of EMDR?) Perhaps more importantly, we’ll be able to take suggestions and host chats on more specific topics, like SI, EDs, BDSM (that’s a lot of acronyms) for smaller audiences, which is something that we’ve been reluctant to do thus far for budgetary reasons. This money will also allow us to put projects that we’ve had on the table into motion, too, because our retreat funding will be secure.

Many people will benefit from winning this money, but above all, this will allow us to reserve funds for programs that are in development and will bring survivors new and innovative resources. Although we are all in different stages in our healing, everyone here has been impacted by sexual violence. We all know the pain that it brings and the difference that support can make in the healing process. Please take the time to vote today and every day in January.

Jes

UPDATE – 1/6/2011
WOW!!!! We have a lot to be proud of with a ranking of 11! We’ve been voting like maniacs – I have personally voted around 15-20 times a day and even have a spreadsheet on graph paper with all of my accounts so I can be sure I’ve used each vote and left appropriate comments and I know others are voting just as feverishly. Whether you’ve cast one vote or 20 per day, THANK YOU! Just a few clicks can make a difference.

A few updates:

I want to warn people not to vote for these projects:

Progressive Slate – DO NOT VOTE!

Although the LGBT projects look great, this group, the Progressive Slate, is very strong and also politically oriented. They won’t return votes.

Please do try to float a few votes here and there. I know it is harder, but it is a very effective way for us to garner votes – sometimes one vote can equal 5 or even 10 in return. I’ll be updating our list regularly. If you see anyone I’m missing, please do let me know and I will add them in there.

Again, THANK YOU for voting. We’re in for a wild month, but we have a very good chance of success if we all work together. I’m super excited about our placement and hope you are too!

Jes”

Really? Using grant money to bribe people to vote? Telling them who not to vote for? For the record the “Progressive Slate” is not backed by a political party: just a group that has organized alliances and voting to get good projects money. They haven’t gone around attacking people calling their projects “fronts” or linking them to a political party.

Here is a hint: if you want people to vote for your organization, cause or your candidacy, tell them WHY not by slamming others. Either on your organization’s web page or on the Pepsi Refresh page. Find causes you support and vote for them. Vote from YOUR heart – not because somebody told you to: OR because somebody told you not to. For me? This month, I’m voting for LGBT causes. Why? Because the amount of bullying, shame and lack of equity in my community. I would have tossed a vote to Pandora’s Project. But not anymore. You lost my vote. Because you slammed others.

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Posted in Politics, Popular Culture, Reflections | 1 Comment »

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