The people behind this fantastic competition have come up with some pretty impressive marketing and design ideas. A bright idea - they have chosen a light bulb as the logo for the contest (see left, fairly obviously).
The imagery suggests that -with the aid of le blogging - we are meant to go from …
Pre-blogging: Unenlightened; switched off; shrouded in darkness
Post-blogging: Lit up; gleaming; burning with Euro-passion
Anyway, I was more struck by their choice of bulb than anything else.
They have, extremely curiously, plumped for the old-fashioned, wasteful, indeed soon to be extinct - thanks to EU legislation - light bulb. The traditional 100 watt bulb will soon be completely banned, and journalists (in Britain, at least) have been busily trying to find evidence of a rush of consumers storming electrical shops to hoard the old-style bulbs.
The Daily Mail, not one to be left out, has been getting itself into a bit of a lather. No change there, but they’re not just guilty of kicking up an almighty fuss - no, they have also made a fantastic volte-face, as the Guardian has taken great glee in conveying.
A search of the Mail’s website reveals that from giving away free energy-saving light bulbs and publishing stories with headlines like “Inefficient lights could disappear from shops within a year“, they are now eager to give away the old style “inefficient” bulbs as freebies, and publish stories under headlines including:
(Photo: European Communities)
Typical EU meddling, or a sensible political approach to the environment? I personally think that this has to be the latter. The energy-saving bulbs are ultimately cheaper (because they last much longer), they’ll save people money on their electricity bills - and, they’re good for the planet. But that won’t stop an acre of newsprint and a whole lot more griping before the traditional bulbs are completely phased out.
You never know, the bulb to this post’s left might be the last refuge for these endangered objects. But it does seem like a bit of an own-goal to brand this brave new, state-of-the-art blogging competition with this antiquated and soon to be obsolete object that, to many, has become another symbol of unwanted European interference.
I guess it’s too late to pull the plug on the design? (Forgive me, that line was just an excuse for a pathetic pun. Maybe the whole post was, oh what can you do…)
- You can take a look at my main blog here: http://studentjournalist.wordpress.com
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Actually the old bulb would not be on the market if the European Commission did not protect it with 60% ‘anti-dumping’ duty on cheaper Chinese energy efficient fluorescent ones. For me the bulb is also a symbol of European hypocrisy: we will eventually ban it but before it we levy an extra duty on the consumer who would try to get rid of them.
I found the choice of this symbol highly ironic, too, so you do not have to find an excuse for it.
That was so entertaining to read
Well done.
Really nice layout and superb articles, absolutely nothing else we want :D.