In 1942, the Liebmann Brewing Company of New York initiated an annual campaign, asking the drinkers of its major product, Rheingold Beer, to choose that year’s Miss Rheingold. Momentum built slowly, but by 1959, 22 million votes were cast, making it the second-biggest election in the United States. It differed from presidential elections of the time because there were no race-based poll taxes and nobody whatsoever was disenfranchised. Of course it was similar to many big-city elections in that you could vote as often as you wanted.
Nevertheless, it was an important event. The Beer History website quotes New York City resident John Corrado: “In the neighborhood there sure wasn't talk about the election for mayor or governor ... but when it came to the Miss Rheingold Contest, everybody was involved. The talk was all about it. Everybody talked about it ... and everybody voted.”
Miss Rheingold was inaugurated in 1964, and the beer likewise disappeared in 1976. But you now have a chance to participate in an equally thrilling election. However, here the candidates are chosen for their unattractiveness. Picked, in fact, for their capacity to do harm and trample on rights, on health and on the environment. I’m talking, of course, about the 2007 Corporate Hall of Shame.
The folks at Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact) have had some 30 years experience fighting corporate abuse and arrogance around the world, so they decided to make the public part of the fight. CAI has chose eight nominees for the hall of shame: Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, Ford, Halliburton, Kimberly-Clark, Merck, Nestlé and Wal-Mart. It kind of takes your breath away, doesn’t it? They’re all so qualified. Maybe overqualified. Much better than the Republican presidential lineup, although there’s certain to be some overlap.
And this is better than any primary election because 1) you can vote for up to three, and 2) there’s space for a comment below. True, there’s no paper receipt, but then you don’t have to prove who you are, either.
As Infact, these people took on Nestlé years ago and curtailed the company’s sale of infant formula in Africa, where it was doing widespread damage. So, yes, I would trust them with my vote.
And maybe CAI could also bring back Miss Rheingold sometime.
--Alec Dubro |
Monday, May 21, 2007 10:48 AM
