<![CDATA[Consumerist: Protest]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/consumerist.com.png <![CDATA[Consumerist: Protest]]> http://consumerist.com/tag/protest http://consumerist.com/tag/protest <![CDATA[ Angry Young Sisters Protest High Gas Prices After Losing Their Cable ]]> The AP reports that Pyper and Sadie Vance, ages 7 and 9, are taking their cute little rage to the streets. The sisters' parents were forced to cancel their cable because they could no longer afford it due to high gasoline prices. The two fashioned some protest signs and hit the streets in downtown Salt Lake City. Details, inside...

The article says,

Cable TV was one of the family's budget-cutting casualties, leaving Sadie, 9, and her 7-year-old sister without their favorite cartoons and shows.

"Gas prices are too high," Sadie said. "I just decided to come and protest so they'd go down."

The girls marched through downtown Monday chanting and carrying signs made from old campaign signs.

"All of my mom's monny goes to the gas tank!" Pyper's sign read. Sadie carried a sign asking drivers to honk to lower gas prices - adding that her mom had to cut "cabel."

The girls got some waves and a few thumbs-up to show support.

"I think it's great," said Hamid Tayeb, who was walking past on his lunch break. "It's unfortunate that kids are doing it before we do."

Fight the power!

Angry kids protest gas prices after losing cable TV
[AP] (Thanks to Miryam!)

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Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:01:15 EDT Jay Slatkin http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5019583&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Video Backlash: The Flickr Users Are Revolting ]]> videokillled.jpg Flickr has added the ability to upload 90 second video clips! Cool, right? Apparently not. A group called "We Say NO to Videos On Flickr" has more than 25,000 members and appears to be going strong. These disgruntled users fear that video will cause the site to slow down and attract the dreaded "YouTube crowd."

Flickr, however, is standing firm. The videos will stay.

Here's our response to what we see as frequent feedback here in the forum (I've paraphrased the feedback in some instances):

"I don't want video on Flickr."
We're sorry, but video is here to stay. We'd love for everyone to give it a shot. If it's not to your taste, then you should change the default on autoplay. You can distinguish between video and photos by the white arrow bottom left.

"I think video should have it's own separate site."
Just as with our international launch last year and building language on top of our global community, we wanted to avoid siloing what is after all, just another format.

"...did none of the staff see this coming?"
Given our experience with the outrage in moving sets from the left-hand side of the page to the right a few years ago (and various adventures since then), we're very familiar with the passionate response of our members. We can't be afraid of that. We need to continue to improve, release new features and iterate.

Feedback and iteration are very much part of our process. We very much value the feedback that we receive after features launch. It gives us a chance to take something good and give it that extra polish.

This response doesn't seem to have calmed the outraged users. They're still tagging all of their photos "no video," threatening to move to another photosharing site (there's another one?), and signing petitions aplenty.

We suppose the real question is: Are they willing to put their memberships where thier mouths are and cancel their accounts in protest?

(Pssst, the headline is a joke. We love you, Flickr.)
flickrbacklash.jpg

We Say No To Videos On Flickr [Flickr]
(Photo:AngeloM)

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Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:59:47 EDT Meg Marco http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=378735&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Man To Run NYC Marathon Carrying Textbooks To Protest High Cost Of College Texts ]]> We know how much our readers hate expensive textbooks, so meet Andre Ditto, the 47 year-old vegan personal trainer who is going to run the NYC marathon carrying 30lbs of textbooks both to protest the high cost of college textbooks and as a promotion for ebook retailer CaféScribe.

In return, CaféScribe will be paying for Mr. Ditto's daughter's textbooks for a year. We've always considered running marathons to be insane behavior (even without carrying a backpack full of books) but Andre is confident that he can do it.

According to the press release that came sailing into our inbox, Andre will be carrying (among others) the world's heaviest textbook: Art History by Marilyn Stokstad. We have a degree in Art History. Good luck, Andre. You're going to need it to defeat Stokstad.

(Photo: Susannah Dambmann)

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Thu, 01 Nov 2007 12:32:18 EDT Meg Marco http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=317784&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Shopdropping? ]]> boymigrant.jpgOne NY group is holding workshops to teach "shopdropping," which they explain is "the opposite of shoplifting." Basically, they want you to print out their "improved" labels and place them in retail locations. The organization also provides PDFs of the labels they've made so you can cut out and tape them to the appropriate products with ease. An interesting idea, but we wonder if it makes any difference? Does printing out someone else's labels and affixing them to still another person's merchandise really mean anything? Does shopdropping have "biting back" potential, or is it just a waste of time?—MEGHANN MARCO

CultureJamming 101: ShopDropping [via Gothamist]
PeopleProducts123

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Wed, 14 Feb 2007 14:28:11 EST Meg Marco http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=236673&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Kmart T-Shirt Protest Continues; Kmart Pulls Shirt ]]> problemsolvedagain.jpgA "domestic violence" t-shirt that has been causing some uproar in Maine has sparked protest in Toledo, Ohio. From the awesomely named Toledo Blade:
    A T-shirt sold at Kmart stores that shows a boy pushing down a girl and calls the action "Problem Solved" drew more than 50 protesters to the sidewalk in front of the chain's Alexis Road store yesterday afternoon.
After initially refusing, Kmart has now agreed to pull the shirt.
    Spokesman Kim Freely said: "We've heard and respect the opinions of our customers and the item is no longer available at Kmart. And we have no plans to reorder it."

    She said Kmart had received a few complaints from other areas; the T-shirt was sold nationwide. But Toledo was the only city where she'd heard about a protest.

We suppose this proves that if all else fails, picketing can get it done.—MEGHANN MARCO

Demonstrators protest 'problem solved' T-shirts [Toledo Blade]

PREVIOUSLY: Kmart's "Domestic Violence" T-Shirt Irritates Shoppers

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Mon, 22 Jan 2007 14:09:28 EST Meg Marco http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=230489&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ HazMat Protesters Drop Mad Science ]]> Here's another version of the DRM protest involving hazmat suits and the San Fran Apple store. It's got less Talking Heads, more people speaking about (or, heads talking...) about why DRM is bad. If you don't know why it is, watch. If you do and would like to have your beliefs affirmed, watch. If you like sweaty geeks, watch. All we know is DRM prevented us from easily transmogrifying our sister into the next Grandmaster Flash, so now we're totally mad against it, even more than we were madly before.

"Anti-DRM Protest in San Francisco" [Ebb and Flow via BoingBoing]

Previously:
Sweaty Anti-iTunes Hazmat Geek Speaks!
Anti-iTunes DRM Demonstration Brings Out The Haz Mat Nerds

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Tue, 20 Jun 2006 23:56:37 EDT Ben Popken http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=182176&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Sweaty Anti-iTunes Hazmat Geek Speaks! ]]> defectivebydesign.jpgJohn Sullivan, one of the Haz Mat suit geeks n e nerds who stormed the nation's Apple Stores last Friday, wrote us in response to our recent post, calling our attention to a write-up he did of Defective Design's protest at Boston's Cambridge Side Galleria. The fuzz seemed pretty cool with the whole thing:

    The police approached us beforehand as we were gathering in the park across from the mall, distributing suits and signs. While the police were there in force, complete with paddy wagon, they were not confrontational. I explained what our plans were (it turned out they had already been informed down to fine details — Apple really had been busy) and even discussed the downsides of DRM. They offered to arrest some of us if we wanted, but we politely declined their offer.

John also has some words to the various idiots who think that it is 'whining' to believe that the "burn your mp3s to CDs, then rip again" is not only convenient but also is an adequate concession to consumer rights.

I hope we'll be addressing the substantive comments (like those that have been made here about the ability to burn CDs as a means to not be annoyed by the DRM) in our writings as this campaign goes on. For now, let me just urge people to read the iTunes Terms of Service and Terms of Sale closely (as Consumerist readers surely love to do). They will see that the burning ability is provided as a mere "accommodation" (Apple's words) and does not extend you any actual rights over your music. Since you are only licensing and not owning the music, any changes made by Apple to their terms could be applied retroactively. This means that all of that music you burned and imported to various places would suddenly be subject to the various new restrictions.

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Activists investigate DRM contamination in MA Apple store [Defective By Design]

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Tue, 13 Jun 2006 07:31:33 EDT consumerist.com http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=180265&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ UPDATE: Win $1000 ]]> We want you to have $1000 and will give you a prize for just trying to collect it.

Last Friday, we posted on how to win $1000 from your phone company by taking them to task over their illegal sale of your records to the government.

For the person who sends in the best photo evidence of them mailing their "You Owe Me $1000" letter to their telephone company, we offer your choice of:
1) The right to write one Consumerist post.
2) A Gawker T-shirt.
3) A packet of coupons from our weekend paper.

Today, we ourselves decided to put a stick in their eye and stick $1000 in our pocket. Here's the handy photo gallery showing what we did. (If there's no pictures below, hit refresh, our code is buggy...)


Here's how to enter (at one or more of the points below, you need to take a photograph of yourself doing the deed):
1) Print out this page.
2) Circle section 2707 and section 2702.
3) Take your latest telephone bill.
4) Scratch out the number following AMOUNT DUE, replacing it with that number minus one-thousand.
5) Place the modified bill and the printout from steps 1 and 2 inside the envelope provided, making sure the address shows through the plastic window.
6) Affix a stamp to the upper right hand corner. The post office will not deliver without proper postage.
7) Mail the letter.
8) Send your photos to tips@consumerist.com

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Mon, 22 May 2006 12:50:22 EDT popkin http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=175410&view=rss&microfeed=true