Archive for the ‘Corporate’ Category
Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 |
In all my years of existence, I cannot for the life of me remember TSTT - the evil empire - ever adjusting their landline rates. I’ll be the first to admit, however, that I could be wrong. So someone who has some time on their hands please visit your granny and dig up a TSTT Directory from about circa 1992, open it and check the rates. Then open the current directory and compare rates. I am pretty sure they will be about the same. This makes me wonder why after all this time has TSTT decided to introduce a flat rate for all customers instead of the “complex rate structure” we all now enjoy. TSTT rates ranges from 23¢ for an unlimited amount of time (for a call made within the same exchange) to about 69¢ per minute. Let me just state categorically that I’ve never believed that TSTT ever charged anyone 23¢ for an unlimited call. I’ve seen how my phone bill was affected by calls made within my own exchange and I think that’s a load of crap. But anyway, why now?
A study done my the Telecomunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago has determined that only people calling outside of their exchanges stand to benefit from the rate change as those who previously called within their own exchanges will see a 300% increase in the price of a 3-minute call. So whether or not the move by TSTT is motivated by their desire to saddle us with a bigger phone bill is unknown.
However, could it be that the reason for the rate change is that cable operator Flow is planning to roll out a new landline service soon? Is it that TSTT is shaking in its boots since they stand to lose the customers they’ve monopolized for donkey years now (I might add - the same way evils spawn bmobile dropped their rates before Digicel entered the scene)? Now that makes a lot of sense.
P.S. has anyone else realized that TSTT’s logo shares the same colours as TT $100 and $20 bills?
Posted in Corporate | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 |
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| Guardian 25/12/2006 |
I want you all to listen to this. Remember last Christmas Eve when Santa Manning came on TV and in his Christmas message to the nation he declared to us that he had a change of heart about the smelter in Chatham? Apparently is not so. The truth is that the Environmental Management Authority denied a certificate of Environmental Clearance not only for the Smelter but for the entire industrial estate in Chatham. But that’s not the story we were told, now was it?
We were led to believe that it was a gift from der Führer, that he after much thought and deliberation, decided that he would never subject the Chathamites to a smelter. Even long after that Christmas Eve message he stated that the Government may well have to reconsider its decision to move the smelter project from Chatham. How could the reconsider it if was entirely out of their control? Furthermore in the day after the address to the nation when speculation was rife about the reason for the change of heart, why didn’t those in power just tell the nation that the CEC was declined? In fact they never gave any reason at all. Does anyone else understand this?
Here’s a recording I made of Power 102 a few nights ago when Anil, Chris and Sprang were discussing these new developments along with some other smelter issues. By the way, did you know that the head of the Environmental Authority, Dr John Agard, is against the smelter, but presided over a board that approved the smelter in La Brea, yet didn’t resign in indignation? Who would have thought?
Tomorrow: The UNC Alliance
Posted in Corporate, Development, Environment, PNM, Politics | 2 Comments »
Monday, June 25th, 2007 |
I deleted 4 comments by mistake. I thought I was clicking “Publish”, but as it turns out I wasn’t. For some reason even though I asked for comment moderation notifications to be sent to my e-mail, they haven’t been. I’ll respond to those comments here.
To Jumbie in response to my Re: Teens think the darndest things post, who said that he was surprised that Keith Smith didn’t recognize the American flavour of the questions and referenced the four seasons question to support that, I agree with you. I think he should have been a little more alert than that.
To Anonymous who commented on my Going to see the Wiz post, I think I remember you saying something about your similar experiences. I’m sorry for deleting your message, please leave it again if you stop by again. I remember agreeing with you though.
To Crankyputz, who was commenting on my Put the blame on Me - Akon post. Yes he is a thug, lol. Too bad he doesn’t matter as much as he thinks.
To Nandini, who also commented on my Going to see the Wiz post, saying that although she had love for me she couldn’t side with me on what I was saying. She also said that I should have gone up to the first available clerk and asked him up front for what I wanted. Well Nandini, I have love for you too, but I couldn’t disagree with you more. First of all, I wanted to test my theory that the Wiz on Edward street has the worst service I’ve ever had in a private business, so that’s why I purposely did not as for service. Apparently I was right.
Secondly, when I entered there was no “free” attendant. The guy at the register was helping another customer, the guy at the door was at the phone, the guy at the computer didn’t even look up when I walked into the store. Despite that, here I am in your store with over $3,000 to spend and I have to beg for service too? Nah! If I were a white guy wearing a business suit and a Rolex, you think I would have waited that long? Unfortunately I was just a young black man in street clothes. And I am not just referring to race here, I am referring to the perception of who has money in T&T and who the sales clerk will go out of their way and serve. The young guy in the work clothes that I spoke about didn’t ask for service either, and he wasn’t even in there 5 minutes when the Reader asked him if he was getting through. And even while I was still asking the Reader about the prices, brother man sat down in a chair, relaxing and reclining no tail while he answered my questions. If you want to say that it was my fault that I did not ask for service up front, that’s one thing, but I didn’t make the Reader asked the guy in the work clothes before he asked me and I didn’t make him not have the courtesy to stand up and talk to me. Without a doubt, his actions are very indicative of the management’s respect for customer service. So not a single soul could have asked me something? I came into the store with money to spend and no cared to acknowledge me.
The thing is that there are scores of businesses in T&T that deal in computers and because of that the Wiz has to realize is that they are not doing me a favour, it’s the other way around. And I will not sit up and beg for attention. The Wiz is a business that depends on its customers, they don’t have the comfort of deciding who and who they will serve. But I as a consumer do have that choice. If you have some time, read the article Sanjiva gave, it speaks about how American businesses were able to compete against Japanese business by focusing on customer service. If you come to Trinidad anytime I want you to call b-Mobile or Digicel customer service and see how beautifully the CR reps speak to you. And it’s not because they are all pleasant creatures. It’s because they know they’re not the only kids in town. They know that they have to treat their customers like royalty for fear of losing them. You live in foreign right? And you know how it is in most American stores, they say hi to you when you walk into the store, they ask you if you need any help, they actually help you and then when you’re being cashed out, they ask you if you found everything ok. I’m not asking the clerks at the Wiz to shine my shoes, or bring me coffee or even tell me hi when I walk into dey bleddy store, but damn it, just ask me what I need so I can go along my merry way.
Also I have an update for this story. I was telling my cousin about this and the exact same thing happened to him at the Wiz. He is an IT teacher at a denominational school and last year he walked in there with the intention of buying 15 computers (yes, 15 computers) on his school’s behalf and he just stood there and waited and waited and when he realized that no one was taking him one he walked out. That to me is the consumer realizing their own power. I don’t know whose fault it was that day, but regardless of whose it was, The Wiz lost a ton of money that day. I’m sorry but I refuse to accept any blame for that whatsoever.
Posted in Corporate, Miscellaneous | 13 Comments »
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 |
The last time I ventured into The Wiz computers on Edward Street I was summarily ignored. All I wanted was 40′ of crossover cable and to go along my merry way, except the store attendants had no way of knowing that since none of them ever asked me what I needed. You would think that the sight of a lone man standing awkwardly in their store would have convinced a store clerk to ask me if i was being helped - maybe it would have encouraged him to let me know that he was going to be right with me. You might even be so adventurous to think that the two store clerks playing Doom on the PCs would have paused the game in favour of making a sale. However, I have to admit that from the time I walked in there, the clerks took a keen interest in ignoring me. I was dodged, sidestepped and my eye contact unsolicited.
Twenty minutes into the whole thing I began deliberately standing in the way. The way I saw it, a regular man has a maximum of one superpower. Either he was invisible or immaterial, but not both. I made my wager and stood in the way, and I was partially right.
No one asked me to get out of the way and no one asked me to step aside, but people did bump into me. I was glad for the discovery, but I still badly needed my crossover cable. Plus, after 35 minutes of standing in one spot, I was beginning to get restless. In addition to this, finding another store that sold crossover cable cut to my specifications meant walking over to Frederick street and hunting for one.
I resorted to flagging down a dreadlocked clerk, but he was busy helping a woman who came just 2 minutes ago so I had to wait 10 minutes. Eventually he came, said “Yeah meh boy?” and I was able to ask for my cable. Surprisingly in the world of The Wiz, measuring, cutting and crimping 40′ of cable takes almost half an hour. Being the Trini I was, I happily took the cable and left the store - feeling as I left that I had worked harder than the clerk to get. After an experience like that it’s hard not to feel demoralized as a consumer as well as a little ashamed of oneself for spending money at a store that ignores you till you sit up and beg.
You may think that I was a glutton for punishment if I told you that I went back to the Wiz yesterday for the first time since that last cable-hunting episode, and you’d be partially right. This time I was in the market for a printer - and not just any old printer, but a good colour laser printer. Anyone knows that a laser printer can leave a dent in your wallet, but I had done my research and I was prepared for it. Sometimes there is a little bit of insanity in Trinidad when it comes to pricing. Of course, looking around is the hard and fast rule when it comes to saving, but sometimes I’m not ready for what that brings. One place had the printer for $3000, another place in Trincity had it for $3,500 and an ad in the Sunday Guardian had the printer for $3,999. I don’t know about you, but I am human, and I wasn’t going to spend more money than I had to because of pride. And besides, denial about my previous experience was already starting to set in and somehow I remembered the store being busier, and the dreadlocked clerk a little more harried than I gave him credit for. In any case I wanted to test my theory that it was a one-off experience and I shouldn’t try to typify the store on the basis of that one experience - that would be stereotyping and stereotyping’s wrong. So off to see the Wiz.
I walk into the store and there is one middle-aged guy standing at the register while one clerk tries to ring him up. There is another clerk seated by a desk by the door talking on a phone. There is a third behind the counter looking hard at work on a computer, he is the only one who doesn’t look up when I come through the door. Best of all, the computers that were on display are no longer there so at least those can’t be used against me. So I stand and I wait and I wait. I decide that I’m going to give them ample time to redeem themselves, so while I I won’t try to flag anyone down, I was going to try to make eye contact with one of the clerks. So I wait and I wait. I’m standing close to the guy getting rung up because I figure that he’ll be soon on his way and I’ll be next in line. Not so. For some reason the retard at the register can’t seem to ring the man up. Soon after I come in, he (the customer) tells the man that he has someone waiting on him in the car, so I assume he’s been there for a while. But that doesn’t seem to help because I believe he’s still there standing at the counter with his items by the time I leave.
Next a couple comes in looking at the digital cameras, the guy who was on the computer actually attends to them and goes into the back to get a few printouts of camera specifications. Now that his concentration is broken, does he attend to me? Wrong again. He goes back to his computer. Another clerk comes out of the back room and glances at me, but decides to pick up a copy of the Express instead and sits behind the counter to catch up on his reading. So I stand there looking at the man, not because I ‘m trying to make eye contact, but because I’m in disbelief. Tow other guys emerge from the back room and announce to the clerk wrangling with the cash register that they were going for lunch. At this point I’ve been standing there for over a half hour and I wonder if this is some joke being played on me.
A few minutes later the clerk puts down his paper and picks up his cell phone and starts text-messaging. When he’s done with that, he gets up and starts wandering around the store. Yes. All the while yuh boy still stand up there. He reaches a stool by the door and sits there. Then another young would-be customer in work clothes comes into the store and starts looking around. Would you believe Mr. Reader asks him if he “getting through”? They proceed to have a mini conversation and then the guy leaves. Clerk resumes his spot on the stool. It’s been well over 45 minutes now and middle aged guy at the cash register is steupsing now as his items are still unbagged and spread out on the counter. Actually he has begun to look outside as if he’s thinking about leaving. I start thinking how nice it would be if I were a bandit who could rob this store on principle - but that would be wrong. Plus it would me silly to rob an establishment where the register hasn’t been functioning.
It’s been well over 45 minutes now and I have decided to leave. But hark! Mr. Reader makes eye contact with me and nods his head towards me (he doesn’t even have the courtesy to speak or even apologise for my wait). I think, “you know what, I’ll just go ahead and ask my questions”. But alas, Mr. Reader doesn’t know jack. Everything I ask him, he relays to Faizal (which turns out to be the name of the register-wrangler).
Me: You all have any all-in-one laser printers?
Him: Nah.
Me: So what about this one over here?
Him: Oh ho! Faizal, how much for this all-in-one here?
Faizal: $6,800
Me: (That’s way over my budget) What other laser printers allyuh have?
Him: Those there (points to a wall piled high with printers).
At this point, I figure if he doesn’t know the prices of the printers he’s not going to know specs. So I decide to take down model numbers and prices just in case. Every time I asked Mr. Reader the price of a printer, he called Faizal. What’s the price of this one? Faizal! And what about that one? Faizal! I began to think that Faizal was some ghost who was being summoned by Mr. Reader the clairvoyant. I wanted to to ask the clairvoyant if I could just talk to Faizal directly, but Faizal was just about to lose a sale and I didn’t want to bother him. To make things worse, Mr. Reader has the worst etiquette of any sales clerk I have ever met. He sits and reclines on a chair while I am talking to him and really doesn’t show an interest in helping me even after telling him I am in the market for a pricey laser printer.
After I take down four prices, I open the door and leave the store without saying thank you. Thanks for what? Here I am coming to spend money in your store and not a single person attends to me? No one notices me? Is it that I didn’t look like I had any money? Why is it that customer service in Trinidad has to be so poor? Needless to say, I was disgusted and disappointed with the experience and I will never again set foot in any branch of The Wiz Computers again.
P.S. - My friend Andy that he still has one up on me. He was ignored at a kiosk at Trincity Mall. How do you get ignored at a kiosk, you ask? I’m sure there are other methods, but this one is proven. Stand in line while one clerk helps the customer before you. The other clerk will sit so that she can’t see you. When the first clerk is done with the customer she will pick up her cell phone and begin talking leaving you unattended. Stand there and look blankly, but don’t make any sudden movements. Presto!
The pressure I was under previously has now subsided, so I am back full time. Those who have e-mailed me, please expect responses soon. You will notice that I was forced to enable comment moderation. Forgive me for that, I just had to do it after some recent episodes - there are some people who just don’t get it.
Posted in Corporate, Personal Story | 18 Comments »
Thursday, May 31st, 2007 |
Dear CNC3,
You and I really need to talk. I am becoming increasingly disillusioned when it comes to your newscasts. You all started out great and roped me in as a viewer during Trinidad and Tobago’s journey through the 2006 World Cup in Germany. I was really pleased by the quality of reports coming out of Germany especially as TV6, the rights holders of the broadcast in T&T, was doing a piss-poor job of covering the hoopla surrounding the Soca Warriors, which was the 2nd most important thing to me. When TV6 was contented with bringing us capsule reports from what I almost mistook for a drunk fan, you all dished out the money to send Roger Sant and a camera crew to Germany. I wanted to see it all, and Roger and his crew came pretty close to delivering it. That to me was an excellent decision and I haven’t looked at a TV6 newscast since.
I understand that you are still a young station, even though you do posses a crop of experienced journalist from current and former TV stations, as well as radio and the print media. I have learned to ignore it when Astil Renn (sp?) butchers the names of the people he’s reporting on. And while we’re on the topic, Astil Renn isn’t really a reporter is he? And if he is, he’s probably more of a print guy than a TV & Radio guy, right? Anyway, I’ve also forgiven you for letting Carla Foderingham go on to head the T&T film company - forgiven but not forgotten. I’ve even managed to ignore temporarily, the really terrible technical aspects of the CNC3 7pm news - the lost videos, the incorrect videos, the cringe-worthy pauses while master control tries to locate the correct video and the really bad CGI set.
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But what I’m really disappointed me last night was a report last night on the ANSA McAl conglomerate. I think it’s great that ANSA McAl wants to put out a book. The thought of a massive conglomerate putting out a book is the sort of thing that makes me feel all warm inside and it makes me remember the days when I used to curl up at nights with a good yarn. So hey, the ANSA McAl book, excellent. However, in the 3-minute-plus report, I think you all forgot to mention that CNC3 was owned my ANSA Mcal. In fact, I wonder if that bit of information was left out on purpose.
In introducing the Focus on Business segment, Francesca Hawkins mentioned ANSA McAl’s interests with included “manufacturing, finance, the beverage industry, insurance and banking”, but somehow didn’t mention ANSA McAl’s media interests. That’s a little interesting isn’t it?
Now, I know that ANSA McAl is a mammoth-sized company. I’m aware that Francesca’s list was just a brief overview, but it’s a very obvious omission. Isn’t the failure to mention the relationship between the two companies a conflict of interest? Even the mighty CNN does not report on AOL Time Warner without mentioning at the end that they are owned by the latter. So how does CNC3 air this entire Focus on Business segment and not say, “By the way, blah, blah, blah”. That’s a little shady if you ask me. When the teaser for the story is, “ANSA McAl: A Success Story”, I have to wonder was that segment news, or an advertisement? Did your reporters find the story, or were they directed to cover it? Should I have to wonder if it’s news or an ad? Is the business news self-promotion or a swipe at another competing company? Is trying to decide worth the hassle?
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| ANSA McAl’s Media and Communications Sector Page |
You see, little things like that make me distrust and subsequently rethink the source of my news. Silly little things like that make me very suspicious that what I’m looking at may not be news at all, but instead a broadcast for a captive and uninformed audience.
If you aired this segment after the news was concluded, I wouldn’t care one bit (and honestly, I probably wouldn’t watch either). But the decision to slide this “story” in between the weather report and the regional news is sly to say the least.You see it really is a precarious position when you oversee so much, and so far I can’t say that you are juggling it all too well. The late night news, especially for me, is something that is supposed to be honest and pure, and unfortunately, it is all too easy to taint it. A pinch of arsenic in a tank of water might as well be a pound. Either way, I’m going to avoid it. If you ask me, my perception is that CNC3 has tainted their newscast. I don’t know whether this is the first time if they’ve ever done this, or if it’s the first time I’ve ever seen or noticed, but I should let you know that that’s a bad, bad practice.
I can’t say whether or not I will ever watch again, but my eyes are opened know.
Mani
P.S. - I hear Sampson is back?
Posted in Corporate, Media | 7 Comments »
Friday, May 4th, 2007 |
Fox News breaks the News
Just when you thought this Danah Alleyne thing was about to disappear here comes this breaking news that came over the TV on the Fox News Channel no less. Apparently sponsor Verizon has ended its partnership with Akon over the simulated sex scene on stage at the Concert in Zen last month. They have even backed out of sponsorship for his and Gwen Stefani’s Sweet Escape Tour.
In a statement issued to the Fox News Channel, Verizon announced “This week the partnership ended. We have music services on our cellphone service and we were promoting him as one of the artists. The other part of the sponsorship was the Gwen Stefani tour, of which he was an opening act. We are no longer sponsoring the tour.”
Fox News shows stills, but not video of the act.Well this is huge news and it’s no wonder now that Universal Music was so busy sending YouTube Cease & Desist e-mails. I think Fox News referring to it as a simulated rape may be a stretch, but it’s Fox News so keep that in mind.
Whatever it is, it’s probably not the last we’re going to hear about this.
P.S. - I feel it’s important for me to say here that I never watch Fox News Channel. The guys on Power 102FM broke the news here.
Posted in Corporate, Entertainment, Media | 12 Comments »
Monday, April 9th, 2007 |
Lawyer and newspaper columnist Anand Ramlogan wrote the following piece in yesterday’s Sunday Guardian:
One Indian male to go
Could someone explain why Indian men are so scarce in advertisements? In a country where we’re hardly a minority, the conspicuous absence is glaring and shocking.
Is it that we have no purchasing power and companies can comfortably ignore us with impunity?
This is one of the sorest points with the Indo-Trinidadian community, and it is often used or misused to buttress perceptions of and discussions on discrimination, alienation and marginalisation.
I am sick and fed up of hearing people complain about how interracial or mixed couples are always portrayed by reference to a non-Indian man.
Women of all races (and yes, quite a lot of good-looking Indian ones too boot) are frequently shown as partners or spouses of African, mixed and white men, but it is as if it is a criminal offence to show them in a relationship with an Indian man.
Small wonder it is used as ammunition and evidence by those who believe in sinister conspiracy theories about this being part of the attempt to assimilate or “douglarise” us.
Indian men are relegated to the mandatory rum and roti advertisements or flour and oil. And, of course, the Clico ad about the rural rice farmer “who knows where to go for good financial advice.”
The pot-belly, lethargic stereotype from the countryside features a lot, but it’s bad advertising to show young good looking Indian guys in ads.
We don’t go to gyms or play any sports, and hence don’t look good enough to be associated with any product.
I was thrilled to see Denesh Ramdhin and Ramnaresh Sarwan featuring in a Digicel advertisement, with Chris Gayle on the cover of Air Caribbean’s magazine.
In fact, Digicel’s advertisements have been a breath of fresh air! Digicel seems to have discovered that we exist and have broken with tradition by using Indian men in its ads.
(Mind you, we are yet to feature in any of the ads with sexy girls whispering sweet nothings into the ears of their boyfriends—that might have been pushing it too far!)
No company has given us such prominence in ads before.Thank you, Digicel.
Compare Digicel to bmobile. Imagine the Cricket World Cup advertisement with our prince, Brian Lara, calling friends to play cricket with a youth on the beach does not contain a single Indian in it!
I wonder if bmobile would have ever dared to run such an ad with only Indians in it? If it did, I wonder how the non-Indian community would have felt.
Add this to the on-going bmobile soap opera with Margaret trying to use her hunky neighbour’s phone and all the other ads and you will see that we Indian men are simply not the “smart choice” when it comes to bmobile!
(And no, Spalk does not represent us, he is mixed). To make matters worse, the one Indian artiste bmobile sponsors (Raymond Ramnarine) has done his best to look like Shurwayne Winchester, cane rows and all, because he is in the midst of a grave identity crisis, or thinks he would get further with his crossover music if he dilutes his Indian-ness.
Sadly, he’s probably right.
When an Indian guy does feature in an ad, his role is peripheral and subsidiary. Even when it comes to little children, Indian boys are treated in a similar manner—never the centre of attention with the pretty girl.
I challenge readers to conduct their own informal survey. Even with children, the discrimination is the same: Indian girls, yes, Indian boys no, or, with a minor subsidiary role.
Scotiabank’s advertisement of its sponsorship of West Indies Kiddies cricket barely manages a token reference glimpse of an Indian boy.
Could Scotiabank have ever constructed this ad with a young Indian boy hitting a six and smashing the glass in the bank, only to be comforted by an Indian bank manager? I doubt it.
Only last week, the press published pictures of Nataki Dilchan, a clerk from the House of Representatives, and Joseph Dipnarine, whose daughter was murdered.
It reminded many that non-Indian women do, in fact, choose us as their life partners. No ethnic group has a monopoly on racially-mixed couples.
Why not have some balance and reflect our diverse racial groups?
For those without the capacity to walk around in our shoes and see how nasty it feels to be treated as though we have the plague by the advertising industry, I have composed this poem for you to sing:
If yuh mixed, yuh fixed
If yuh Afro, yuh good to go
If yuh Indian, yuh just not Caribbean.
I’m not a fan of Anand Ramlogan in any way, shape, form or fashion. I think he’s one of those people who looks at the world through jaundiced eyes and then complains that the whole world is yellow. Reading his columns from week to week, I think (in my own personal opinion), reveals a man who is willing to believe the worst about us. However, as with anyone, it’s impossible to be wrong 100% of the time and this may be one of those instances.
There really aren’t any Indian men in advertisements save for a few. Why is that? It’s something that’s really easy to ignore if you’re not looking for it, but broaching the subject makes it inescapably apparent.
I tried hard to think up some ads where Indian males were present, and all I could come up with were the Digicel ads and one Scotiabank ad with a some guys playing cricket. That’s about it. There are Indian women of course, but then again, there have always been Indian women. But why no Indian guys? Are there no handsome ones? Surely, if anything, there are light-skinned Indian men, and we know how advertisers just love the light-skinned people. So why not them?
What Mr. Ramlogan said here is particularly striking:
Compare Digicel to bmobile. Imagine the Cricket World Cup advertisement with our prince, Brian Lara, calling friends to play cricket with a youth on the beach does not contain a single Indian in it!
I wonder if bmobile would have ever dared to run such an ad with only Indians in it? If it did, I wonder how the non-Indian community would have felt.
Can you see that ever happening? A group of Indian men and women on a beach playing cricket? You and I both know that will never happen.
I think that if a visitor were to sit and watch an hour or so of Trinbagonian TV commercials, and maybe sift through a random selection of newspaper ads before going out into public, they’d be in for a big surprise. The discrepancy between what is fed to us and what is true is huge and it’s a little sad to see that.
Of course there could be other factors coming into play rather than just discrimination. It could be an unwillingness to participate, but I think that’s a stretch at best.
I’ve become tired of listening to conversations about “dem Indian and dem” or “dem Creole and dem” and ever since I began this blog, I’ve made it a point to call a spade a spade. There is just so much abject stupidity floating around these days and people are unwilling to be honest for fear of letting their race down. After all, what kind of Indian are you if you criticize Indians, or what kind of African are you if you criticize Africans? Surely that makes you a race traitor. And so when I began this blog, I wanted it to represent me and my beliefs as closely as possible. That having all been said, what do I think the reason is for this discrepancy? I think advertisers are pandering to stereotypes and prejudices. Somewhere along the way (or maybe it has always been so) the image of the Indo male became unpalatable to some and advertisers decided to ease our discomfort. And so to advertising agencies, Trinbagonian means “African” and, only coincidentally, light-skinned*. I really want this to be not true, but unfortunately, I don’t get to sit in board rooms and make decisions.
*Yes, the incessant light-skinned fare bothers me almost as much. Not that light-skinned people don’t exist in Trinidad and shouldn’t be represented as such, but dark-skinned people - especially dark-skinned women - do also exist.
Posted in Corporate, Media, Race, Social Issues | 17 Comments »
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 |
Yesterday it was announced that Alutrint has received their certificate of environmental clearance from the EMA. I have to admit it came as quite a shock to me as I imagine it did to a lot of other people. With so many other things going on, the smelters really haven’t entered my mind for a long while. Obviously the people to whom smelters are important haven’t put it out of their thoughts and probably thought it best to relay the news during this period when too much cricket has dulled our senses.
Whatever the reason for the timing, I can’t help but wonder if this means that we’re getting a smelter for sure or if someone or something is going to stop it.
Posted in Corporate, Development, Environment | No Comments »
Monday, February 26th, 2007 |
Bwee is not dead, it lives on in Caribbean Airlines. Too bad Tribe didn’t include a Caribbean Airlines section in its “Ole Time Someting…Come Back Again”. Picture it: “The Ghost of Bwee Past”. It has a nice ring to it. After all, Caribbean Airlines is overbooking post-Carnival travelers (how do you sell more tickets that you own?), they’re bumping them, mistreating them and not offering accommodation for the extra weeks they’ll have to spend in Trinidad. Some passengers were told they would have to pay extra to get a seat because there were “no guarantees their current tickets would be honoured”. Can you believe that?
If you’ve ever been an academic slacker you remember how it was the first few weeks of that new term. You swore that you are going to give this term your best shot. And so you draw up a study schedule, you sit in the first row and pay attention in class. You come home on evenings and do your homework religiously. However, in 2-3 weeks this new leaf you’ve turned over withers and dies. You’re back to square one.
Slacker, meet thy corporate mentor.
Maybe it dawned on the academic slacker that the reason they were failing had very little to do with study schedules or seating positions, it was them. And in the same way, it’s not a matter of a paint-job or a name-change, it’s the attitude of Caribbean Airlines on a whole that needs changing. They can’t continue to conduct business in the same blasé manner as they did in the old days all the while treating passengers with the same shameless disregard.
You and I know it, but do they know it yet?
Posted in Corporate | 14 Comments »
Thursday, February 15th, 2007 |
Looks like the good folks at Courts went shopping for an ad campaign and ended up stealing iPod’s instead.
Who am I to talk anyway, I stole my header. Plasma is $14,999? Oh lass!! I’d like to announce, I’m going to start taking up donations to buy myself that 42″ LG Plasma TV. (The purple Courts iPod TV). I’ll take whatever you can afford…..actually I think I need a scanner first.
Posted in Corporate, Media | 6 Comments »
