How to use Google to put pressure on a company
Submitted on Thu, 10/12/2006 - 5:35pm
Disclaimer - The following article is reposted here because it is an issue with some relevance to the IWW. The views of the author do not necessarily agree with those of the IWW and vice versa. The IWW has not endorsed this campaign, and the inclusion of this article is intended to show workers how they can use the internet to fight back against the employing class.
If you live in Britain and you search Google this week for the website of the country's largest retailer, Tesco, you'll see the link to the company's website on top of the left side of the page. If you look over to the right side, you'll see the following text: "Child labour: The latest union news from around the world, updated 24/7".
Below that is a link to LabourStart. The ad appears because it was recently revealed that Tesco uses child labour in Bangladesh to make its cheap clothing line.
If you live anywhere in the world and search for the world's largest fruit company, Dole, you'll see on top of the right side of the Google results page this text: "Dole busts unions. Get the facts and tell the company what you think." Below is a link to our campaign in support of Dole banana workers.
Companies and governments hate when we do this. But because we pay Google to run these ads, there is little they can do about it. It means that every time people search for "Dole" or "Tesco" they may learn a little something that the companies didn't want them to know.
In the last seven days, we have displayed over 1,000,000 such ads on Google. These have been highly effective in increasing support for our campaigns, introducing new people to LabourStart, and embarrassing companies that need to be embarrassed.
But they cost money -- and we need your help. Please donate $25.00 today: