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Update: The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has a complete update on the story at their website, and is asking its members to vote if they should stop using Verizon phones. Please visit their site and offer your support. They did a fabulous job in keeping attention on Verizon's involvement in Don Blankenship's Labor Day rally. Also, see this comment by One Citizen on press coverage of Verizon's 'apology.'
A few days late and a thousand dollars short. That's how I'd describe the belated victory over Verizon Wireless. I mean, I appreciate the sentiment, Lowell, but really, this embarrassing episode for your company easily could have been avoided.
Rob lays out what happened (emphasis mine).
Verizon Wireless, which markets itself as environmentally friendly, clearly made a mistake affiliating its brand with this anti-"green" rally. But instead of heeding customer complaints by withdrawing its sponsorship, company officials first tried to play clueless about the overt political aspect of the event, and then stubbornly stayed the course for fear of angering the coal crowd.
Not only did they play clueless, but along the way they even managed to say a few offensive things about environmentalists, too.
Well, yesterday the CEO of Verizon Wireless, Mr. Lowell "Mea Culpa" McAdam, offered a public apology -- in the form of a letter to the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that organized around this issue.
In an effort to "set the record straight," McAdams explains that Verizon Wireless' sponsorship was not meant as an expression of support for the coal industry's political agenda. He insists that the company does not support mountaintop removal coal mining, nor does it oppose federal climate legislation. He goes on to clarify that Verizon Wireless "supports the goals of policy makers who are committed to reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment." McAdams then takes the opportunity to tout Verizon's corporate commitment to sustainability.
So there you have it: Verizon Wireless' belated apology for violating its stated environmental values, undermining its credibility as a "green" company, and breaking its trust with customers.
Kudos to each and everyone of you who contacted the company to voice your views and concerns about the situation. Looks like Verizon Wireless heard you...now.
There are many reasons why sponsoring Don Blankenship's Labor Day event was a bad idea for Verizon Wireless--environmental issues were the ones that got traction nationally.
Finally, a huge congratulations and major kudos to everyone who has been covered this story so effectively at West Virginia Blue.
For what it's worth, in the comments on one of their videos MBN estimated 10,000 to 20,000 in attendance. (There were never any lines for concessions or port-a-potties.) I'm yet to see a picture that looked like more than that. If there was really 50,000 or more people there the area by the stage would have been packed.
[N]ow environmental groups and bloggers are besieging the phone company because they say the Labor Day bash was designed to bash the climate legislation that Congress is considering.
Of course, some things will never change, Don Blankenship is still his own worse enemy. The most damning quote of the article is probably his own:
The Labor Day event, labeled a "rally" on its Web site, also features Fox News conservative host Sean Hannity and Don L. Blankenship, chief executive of coal giant Massey Energy, who says in a short video on the site that "We're going to have Hank Williams and a very good time, but we're also going to learn how environmental extremists and corporate America are both trying to destroy your job."
About two-thirds of the way down the event's Web home page -- after the karaoke competition promotion, detailed directions, and photos of the country music stars and Hannity -- the site invites people to "click here" to sign a petition opposing the Waxman-Markey climate bill adopted by the House in June.
Too bad the reporter didn't see the website before all those changes, but that's a minor issue. A big congratulations to Jeff Biggers for much-deserved recognition:
News of Verizon's role was carried a week ago in a Huffington Post item written by Jeff Biggers, grandson of a miner, historian of Appalachia and author of a forthcoming book on the "secret legacy" of the coal industry.
Biggers said Friday that he learned of the rally from a flier he received at least a couple of weeks earlier. Upon scanning the list of sponsors -- which includes more than 100 firms, most of them local -- he stopped short at Verizon's name because its image is very different from lead sponsor Massey's. (In its "green press kit," Verizon says that "environmental stewardship is ingrained in Verizon's heritage.") So Biggers blogged and e-mailed his posting to the company.
Verizon digs in
Now, if you didn't have reason enough to be pissed at Verizon, here's more.
But Verizon said it didn't intend to make a political statement initially, and that it didn't want to make one now by withdrawing its sponsorship and shunning the event.
If you have fall back on intent, that's a pretty lame excuse. It implies that Verizon recognizes it has made a political statement and just doesn't want to risk offending the political segment who is going to be attending. (Not that this is a legal matter, but thousands are in jail for negligent homicide. Also, Verizon Wireless is a huge company with the resources to figure these things out ahead of time.)
Now, here's the salt in the wounds...
Moreover, (Verizon Wireless spokesman Jim) Gerace said, bloggers got the Glenn Beck story wrong. "We never pulled ads," he said. "We had a commitment to Fox for a number of ads. They placed them. We satisfied that commitment, and the last time any ad of ours ran in that time slot was Aug. 11 -- about a week before bloggers attacked."
Say what?? The spokesman says, "... before bloggers attacked"?
When it comes to dissing liberal bloggers, it looks like Verizon Wireless is quite comfortable making political statements. Any verbal violence agitated from blogger's keyboard pales in comparison to the explosive rhetoric of Glenn Beck and the very real explosives blowing up Appalachian mountains each day.
This has to be the worst $1000 Verizon Wireless ever spent.
"Total mortality rates are higher in coal-mining areas compared to other areas of Appalachia and the nation," Hendryx said. "The incidence of mortality has been consistently higher in coal-mining areas for as long as Centers for Disease Control rates are available, back to 1979."
Total mortality data for West Virginia suggests there are 313 excess deaths every year from coal-mining pollution. source
Dear Friend,
Verizon Wireless responded to our campaign with utter contempt. It's time to turn up the heat!
Before we launched our campaign, CREDO Action reached out to Verizon Wireless to confirm its sponsorship of the pro-coal "Friends of America" rally. Becky Bond, our Political Director, then sent a cordial follow-up to give Verizon Wireless a heads-up that our campaign had launched. Verizon replied as follows:
"This is how our response is going over with the activists. Becky once lived in a tree for a while. At least now I know where the emails are coming from."
- James Gerace, VP of Corporate Communications at Verizon Wireless
You got that?
If you don't think that Verizon Wireless should support global warming deniers and practitioners of mountaintop removal mining, then Verizon Wireless thinks it's okay to dismiss your concerns because you must have "lived in a tree for a while."
If they're going to try to mock us for opposing right wing demagoguery, then we'll just have to make more noise.
Obama, he's a piece of sh - . I told him to suck on my machine gun...Hey Hillary [Clinton] you might want to ride one of these [machine guns] into the sunset, you worthless b - ch.
Apparently these are the values and sentiments Verizon Wireless feels comfortable associating itself with. You can violate the law, pillage the Earth and publicly insult Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the most vulgar way. Verizon Wireless is fine with that. But when we express common sense concerns about environmental stewardship, Verizon Wireless thinks we're tree-hugging nuts.
The most galling part of this response from Verizon Wireless is how Verizon's response conflicts with its rhetoric about the environment. Its website, proudly declares:
Verizon Wireless works every day to protect our environment and give our customers opportunities to do the same.
....
Environmental stewardship is ingrained in Verizon's heritage, and the company prides itself on having a positive influence on the environment in which it operates.
Give me a break!
If they're going to talk the talk about environmental stewardship, then they ought to walk the walk.
I asked Verizon officials for a response to all of this, and after being kicked around from office to office for a bit, I landed on the phone with Laura Merritt, a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman whose region includes West Virginia. Her response?
Basically, this was a decision at the local level to support the community. It did not involve the company's political positions at all.
In this particular situation, we are supporting the event because it's a local event. It wasn't an effort to take a position on any particular issue.
Another Verizon Wireless spokesperson, Jim Gerace, went a little farther. He said his company simply paid $1,000 for the right to be able to sell its products at the rally:
It's nothing more than that ... and the groups who are trying to make it more than that are misguided. I'm definitely bothered that people are trying to put us in the middle of an argument.
Ken Ward, Jr. also relates the responses of two coal industry executives involved with the Labor Day rally.
A Dead Zone
Verizon Wireless is yet to wake up from their dead zone of corporate irresponsibility. They have no idea how badly they misspent that $1,000. They want to make it sound like they're setting up a stand at a county fair.
There are more gaping holes in their explanation than the average horror movie plot:
(1) This isn't some local arts festival or veterans parade. Don Blankenship's Youtube invite to the event says, "We're going to have Hank Williams and have a good time but we're also going to learn how environmental extremists and corporate America are both trying to destroy your jobs."
(3) International figures Ted Nugent and Lord Monckton are both notorious for controversial views (to put it mildly). Nugent is the emcee, Monckton is one of prominently featured speakers.
(4) Event sponsor Gene Kitts doesn't portray Verizon Wireless as a mere vendor in the parking lot; he specifically thanks Verizon Wireless for endorsing the event's message: "Thank you Verizon Wireless for supporting the working people who actually pay the cell phone bills, even for clueless kids." (He may be give a sugar-coated version of the message in his tweet, but he's still tying Verizon Wireless to the message.)
(5) Roger Nicholson further politicizes the event in his response, ""[S]hrill cries from anti-mining extremists re Verizon support of FOA rally. Guess it pains em to see overwhelming backlash vs. their views."
The response by Verizon Wireless makes me all the more determined to get the message out about their sponsorship. On the one hand, they're pretending their sponsorship of an overtly political event has nothing to do with the events message. On the other hand, other events sponsors are going out of their way to tell us all it is a political event.
Roger Nicholson of Verizon Wireless should know we haven't put him "in the middle of an argument." Verizon Wireless signed up for itself. They are a huge company with huge resources. They should have known better than to sponsor this.
Act Now
Tell Verizon Wireless this is worst $1000 they've ever spent.
Update (by Clem): The Center for Biological Diversity, a Verizon customer, is also calling for Verizon Wireless to drop its sponsorship of Blankenship's Labor Day rally. Sign their petition here.
By Carnacki
We're not the only ones wondering why Verizon Wireless is co-sponsoring an anti-environment, anti-labor, anti-mountain rally with coal baron Don Blankenship.
Credo Action has launched a campaign to send a message to Verizon Wireless:
Why is Verizon Wireless co-sponsoring a pro-coal, anti-environment rally on Labor Day?
It's called the Friends of America Rally and over 25,000 people have already RSVPed to attend a political event to promote climate change denial and mountaintop removal mining.
Massey Energy, a dirty coal company and the most egregious violator of the Clean Water Act in history, is the moving force behind the event.
The rally features speeches by prominent global warming denier Lord Christopher Monckton and conservative pundit Sean Hannity. Ted Nugent will provide musical entertainment.
Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, issued his invitation to the rally via a video onYouTube. In it he says:
"Hello I'm Don Blankenship and I'd like to invite you to a Labor Day rally in West Virginia. We're going to have Hank Williams and have a good time but we're also going to learn how environmental extremists and corporate America are both trying to destroy your jobs."
We are not making this up. For more information read check out this blog post from our friends at The Nation.
Companies like Verizon Wireless may say they are not making a political statement when they participate in events like these. But it's never just about marketing. After all this is the same company that made a decision to block NARAL Pro-Choice America's text messages from its network. Verizon Wireless has choices. And once again, it's made a very poor one.
Tell Lowell McAdam, President and CEO of Verizon Wireless to issue a public apology and immediately withdraw all support from this extremist, anti-environmental rally.
Find out too if Verizon Wireless agrees with the event's emcee, Ted Nugent, who declared:
"Obama, he's a piece of shit. I told him to suck on my machine gun. Hey Hillary, You might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch" (said while waving a machine gun around."
As co-sponsor of the event, does Verizon Wireless support those kind of statements? And considering how popular Hillary Clinton was in the state in the 2008 campaign - she polled better than Sen. John McCain in the state - that's a lot of West Virginians who might not take kindly to Secretary of State Clinton being called a "worthless bitch" yet alone what Nugent said about Obama.
By co-sponsoring Blankenship's rally, Verizon Wireless is signaling not only is it anti-environment, it's anti-woman and anti-decency.
Do 87 million Verizon Wireless customers, stockholders, and its Public Policy Development and Corporate Responsibility department know that their company is a co-sponsor of next week's climate-change-denying union-busting pro-mountaintop removal rally organized by Massey Energy in Logan, West Virginia?
Contact Verizon Wireless and let them know you find their support of this rally unacceptable.
Bottom line: Verizon should withdraw their sponsorship of this bogus rally immediately; or, explain their support of mountaintop removal, climate change-denial and union-busting to its 87 million customers.
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