Notes on a Human Rights Museum Scandal

McDonald's got a credential in the article 10 epic marketing fails of 2012 on LinkedIn penned by freelance writer Michael Estrin.

It involved a twitter hashtag #McDStories.

It was supposed to garner good feelings about the farmers that McDonald's buys potatoes and beef from but was quickly hijacked by people with not so pleasant gastronomical stories related to eating at McDonald's to animal rights groups and activists lashing out at McDonald's business practices.

Most people proceed with good intentions but in the online world if there is ever any doubt about how something might be construed or interpreted, then you should stop right there.

What does this have to do with the human rights museum slated to open in a couple of years in Winnipeg?

It has to do with the Canadian Museum for Human Rghts posting communications job positions asking for seven years worth of experience and the fact that whoever was in charge of communications and/or management thought it was a good idea to source a garment producer in a country with a poor human rights record.

The country in question is Vietnam and the blowback got national coverage.

I think are you serious?

I don't have several years of communications experience and even I know that if you are constructing a human rights museum which in of itself is subjectively subject to controversy and interpretation that your choice of a vendor for swag is going to be put under a microscope.

Again, nobody was trying to be slave driver, but come on!

It will be a cloud over the museums head if they don't make a PR opportunity of ensuring that all the swag made for the museum is produced in an ethical and even environmentally responsible way regardless of public opinion because it is the smart thing to do.

Startup Winnipeg

I went to Startup Winnipeg Weekend which ran from Friday evening to Sunday evening.

After attending the first Startup Winnipeg, and getting reamed out by the judges, I was a little older and wiser about boiling down 54 frantic hours of work to vet and present an idea in five minutes to judges who are just as ferocious as the investors on Dragons Den.

The team I was on worked well together and I was on the business model side of things trying to make sure the presentation was top notch, and while we didn't make it into the top three, the app idea our team presented is still worth pursuing and who knows where it will go.

In some respects the educational and networking potential of Startup Winnipeg is more important to me then winning any of the top three prizes aside from bragging rights.

Oh, a couple of groups really did get reamed out this time still.

The next Startup Winnipeg might be happening in April.

Time to think of some new biz ideas!