Mon 14 Jul 2008
Corporate Culture and A Greener Tomorrow
Posted by Matt under Media , Business , Television , EssaysNo Comments
So now we’ve built a culture that has survived the tech boom and moved into what could only be described as a Utopian Social Trend. People want people, not just machines, not just things, not just cool facades. The general sense I get looking at television, pop-culture, the news, and just the people around me is that people want community.
If you look at current trends in the online world, we see Second Life and MySpace as two of the largest examples of growth in online communities. Here people can gather online and interact. If they so choose they can even meet.
Sit down restaurants and cafes have begun popping up on every street corner from Minneapolis to Timbucktoo. In the last five years I’ve seen several community revitalization projects go up in the Twin Cities area. In each case, dining establishments have been the focal point of the development. Like the kitchen at your friends house party, these establishments are natural points of congregation for people to meet, talk, and socialize. They are also a strong indicator of both economic and social factors currently at play in the United States. People have more money to spend on eating out and are making a bigger point of doing so than ever before.
Further, the media has picked up on this trend as well. Television depicts peoples want for a larger world community in shows such as “Extreme Makeover: Home Addition”, and “the Biggest Loser”. Even Oprahs, “The Big Give” was a failed attempt in the same vein. These shows are an example of peoples need for community, a way to self identify by comparing oneself to others, and a hope to make the world a better place to live.
Even corporations have jumped on the bandwagon. NBC the other day did a whole weeks campaign on keeping things green. Shows such as The Office and 30 Rock depicted the studios efforts to influence peoples ways of thinking on the environment, as well as their own commitment to stewardship. Plus we get to see David Schwimmer dressed up as Greenzo in a power mad rampage to save the environment and a cameo by Al Gore…both are hilarious.
Companies such as Best Buy and Target often have volunteer days for their employees to spend the day cleaning up the community. They sponsor charity classic golf tournaments. They also sponsor community projects such as United Way and Urban Ventures. While it could be argued that these are just tax write offs or less than subtle attempt to win over community approval for their failings, without employees backing these programs and customers demanding these programs, none of it would ever have happened in the first place.
It’s this awareness of the larger world that really drives the economy today. Because people are influenced by the media, are better educated, and have greater social incentives to argue for social change, companies have to be more aware of their customers and employees wants and needs than ever before. Without a greater effort to meet these demands, companies risk failure at the hands of the community as a whole and are deemed socially ineffective.