Comments on: A New Jingu for a New Season

By: Garrett DeOrio

Garrett DeOrio — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 04:13:59 +0000

We are still talking about tat being sold in a convenience store, right? Not really worth much more effort than we've already expended on it. If you'd like to publicize it more aggressively, we've got your back. Beyond that, we shan't be spending our money there – we'll reach who we reach, but it's not like Mini-Stop is using child labor – all things in proportion.

By: christopheramanolangtree

christopheramanolangtree — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 22:51:01 +0000

I thought you wrote a post about Jingu which called for a boycott but the boycott was not the main subject of the post. If you're going to have a boycott you need a lot more support than what's in this blogg. I'm just offering advice to you on how to go about it and maybe get an effective result. Whilst I do think that stores need to make money I also think you have a point about what should be sold in the vicinity of Jingu. However, if its just the people who read this blog then it is an absurdity – you need more people to make it effective and that means more organisation. Otherwise it's futile.

By: Garrett DeOrio

Garrett DeOrio — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:29:21 +0000

Silly me, I thought I'd written a post calling for a boycott, talked about it with people, and so on. I also thought it was a boycott about the tat sold in a convenience store.

You seem to have been converted, though. For a guy who thought it absurd to boycott a store that was trying to make money, you now seem awfully keen on how we carry out a boycott. You want to take it over for us? We'll cheer for you as you picket.

By: christopheramanolangtree

christopheramanolangtree — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:27:08 +0000

Because you haven't said that you are attempting to do so. If you are you do need to say so – it makes you look more organised and also indicates that you have a chance of success and furthermore gets the message out. The committed will easily boycott but the uncommitted won't unless they see enough to make them jump on the bandwagon. The latter are the ones you want to make your boycott snowball. For a successful boycott, publicity is the key.

By: Garrett DeOrio

Garrett DeOrio — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 06:35:38 +0000

Why are you operating on the assumption that we are making no attempt to bring others in?

By: christopheramanolangtree

christopheramanolangtree — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:48:32 +0000

Yes but how many of you are going to boycott the store? Five, Ten, One? This is the absurdity, it won't have any impact. The store isn't even going to notice the difference. If you're going to boycott make it effective and make it have an impact. Make it a campaign and bring in others. The point about a boycott is you do it to change the situation – otherwise its meaningless. I happen to think you're onto something but you do need to do a bit more. How about picketting the store on match days?

By: Garrett DeOrio

Garrett DeOrio — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:13:54 +0000

Perhaps you're new to the idea of a boycott. The argument you raise in calling the boycott “absurd” is an argument in favor of, not against, a boycott. That a company is just doing what it thinks will make money is exactly why boycotts exist – if they work, the change the economics of the situation. If people refrained from boycotts just because the targets of those boycotts were trying to make money, the concept wouldn't exist. It'd be like the police not arresting a bank robber because he was only trying to get money and that is, after all, what bank robbers do.

Even if it comes down to just me, the boycott stands – that's the entire point of a boycott.

By: christopheramanolangtree

christopheramanolangtree — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:09:30 +0000

The irony is that I don't use the Mini Stop anyway as I don't travel to Jingu by that line. It was just the absurdity that amused me – Tigers tat sells (and I saw some particularly prize tat yesterday) and a chain has to stock what sells. I doubt your boycott will have much effect unless you can link in to the Swallows oendan and persuade them to join you (which might be a good idea as there do seem to be rather a lot of Tigers stores around Jingu). That would be a worthwhile campaign.

By: Garrett DeOrio

Garrett DeOrio — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:09:21 +0000

That’s not ironic (but that’s the pedant in me talking.)

Take a look at boycotts. That a company is doing what it thinks will make it money is not an argument against a boycott, but an argument in favor of a boycott. I think you’re right: our boycott will probably consist of us three and maybe one or two sympathizers and Mini-Stop will never even know it’s going on. It’s a stand on principle, though. That others may find that principle absurd is a given when the principle is baseball tat. Then again, if the boycott were to catch on, it would be in Mini-Stop’s interests to stock loads of Swallows gear and burn Giants, Tigers, and Dragons gear in effigy. That’s the whole point of a boycott – to change the economic incentives at play or, at the very least, to not contribute to the coffers of a company doing something to which you object.

Say a vegan decided not to go to Mini-Stop because they sold animal products. Would his boycott change the company’s practices? Nope. Would it make sense? Perfect sense.

The ouendan are rather pathetic. We will certainly try to convince other Swallows fans, but our ouendan are not yours, Yomiuri’s, or Chunichi’s, much less Hiroshima’s panoply. We have an ouendan who are there, but are loud, patterened cheerers more than cheerleaders. For that, I’ll tip my hat you folks in the yellow and black. (I won’t tip it for long, though – I know what happens when the Tigers lose and I can do without head injury.)

By: Garrett DeOrio

Garrett DeOrio — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 05:39:55 +0000

Mini-Stop does what it feels is best, as do we. You being a Hanshin fan, feel free to shop there. For us, the boycott stands.

That said, you're right, the Swallows could do much better in terms of marketing.