What does this mean for the financial viability of the festival?
A few more details in this article,
The activists say they are going after sponsorship ties with the Ballet and Symphony Orchestra next.
Ok, I’m confused here. What is the endgame of these activists? That mining companies keep all their profits and never give money to the community?
Am I the only one not bothered by mining companies sponsoring sporting and culture stuff? At least the patrons of a Fringe show know who Woodside is.
I have a much bigger issue with companies sponsoring things like that water playground in Elizabeth Quay and the Naturescape in Kings Park. A survey of the population of my household shows 50% approval of both BHP and Rio Tinto, as these companies are associated with the children’s spaces just mentioned. I think that’s a bit insidious, actually. However, brand impression on the little ones so they grow up liking you is pretty normal marketing in the modern world.
Haha! Thats some robust polling you’ve conducted there, with some key qualitative insights from the participants i bet!! :)
It’s a bit like the no advertising and promotion on kids shows, why is that accepted, but playgrounds can be sponsored? When i heard about the water park my thoughts were similar to yours.
I don’t really know what the problem with mining companies sponsoring stuff is. But it is maybe more nuanced with fossil fuel companies.
If we go back to cigarettes, they were heavy advertisers and sponsors in our country a few decades ago. But it slowly turned as the community realised the significant impact on people’s health of their product. Gas is now on a similar trajectory to the cigarette industry.
Gases social capital is being undermined by the damage caused by the product and the communities increasing understanding and knowledge of these damages.
‘Damage’ includes for example, in peoples homes (gas stoves), local areas mined (local environment), up to global warming (methane leaks, and burned gas still releases carbon dioxide albeit a lot less than other fossil fuels).
This, like the cigarrette industry before, has put a time horizon on the product of ‘gas’ as socially acceptable in parts of public life it was easily accepted before.
By ‘time horizon’ i mean the industry is no longer sustainable in it’s current form and size over the long term. It will survive, not least because, like cigarettes, Australia is only one of their markets.
