Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Tickled Pink: Australian Wool Boycott and Celebs at is again

Celebrity based calls to action on green and animal welfare issues are becoming an increasingly popular method of garnering public support for a cause.

In recent months we have seen a concerted effort from New Zealand and Australia to prove that, for example, imports of lamb from these countries to the UK is actually less energy intensive than domestically produced lamb even after taking into account the energy used to transport the meat such huge distances due to their energy efficient production methods.

However, this new front appears to be based on questions about how these low production costs are driven? Is it purely economies of scale or are other costs being cut and ethical boundaries crossed? The homogeneity of wool products and often unclear labelling means it is not that clear how discerning wool buyers will know the original source of the wool that was used in the production of their newly purchased tank-top.

However, as other such boycotts have proved, these protests can have a significant short term effect on profits and a long term effect on reputation and should not be ignored. It will be interesting to see how the Australian Wool industry defends itself.

The celebrity launching the Australian wool boycott is none other than Pink.

The YouTube video provided at the weblink below is of the traditionally throat-slittingly shocking type but is worth watching. For this reason I have not provided a direct link.

Pink Launches Global Boycott of Australian Wool

The video is at the bottom of the article.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Go to today.ninemsn.com.au for a video where Pink admits she didn't do her research and was ill-informed and use by PETA.