Ged Carroll

Category: consumer behaviour | 消費者行為 | 소비자 행동

Consumer behaviour is central to my role as an account planner and about how I look at the world.

Being from an Irish household growing up in the North West of England, everything was alien. I felt that I was interloping observer who was eternally curious.

The same traits stand today, I just get paid for them. Consumer behaviour and its interactions with the environment and societal structures are fascinating to me.

The hive mind of Wikipedia defines it as

‘the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and all the activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services.’

It is considered to consist of how the consumer’s emotions, attitudes and preferences affect buying behaviour. Consumer behaviour emerged in the 1940–1950s as a distinct sub-discipline of marketing, but has become an interdisciplinary social science that blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology, anthropology, ethnography, marketing and economics (especially behavioural economics or nudge theory as its often known).

I tend to store a mix of third party insights and links to research papers here. If you were to read one thing on this blog about consumer behaviour, I would recommend this post I wrote on generations. This points out different ways that consumer behaviour can be misattributed, missed or misinterpreted.

Often the devil is in the context, which goes back to the wide ranging nature of this blog hinted at by the ‘renaissance’ in renaissance chambara. Back then I knew that I needed to have wide interests but hadn’t worked on defining the ‘why’ of having spread such a wide net in terms of subject matter.

  • Supply chain technology + more news

    Will supply chain technology facilitate problematic global supply chain management?

    Investors Are Piling Into Supply-Chain Technology – WSJ – Newly minted unicorns, or companies that exceed $1 billion valuations, in the logistics sector in 2021 include e-commerce fulfillment specialist ShipBob Inc., digital warehouse and distribution provider Stord Inc. and Flock Freight, a platform that matches shipper loads to trucks and is backed by a venture arm of Japan-based conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. Backers including big investment funds are pumping money into logistics technology at a rapid pace, driving up valuations for digital-focused ventures across freight, delivery and warehousing. The influx of cash is giving startups in a once-overlooked sector expanded access to capital to build out their businesses, particularly for the top companies that have already developed their core products, according to venture-capital executives who focus on logistics and supply chains. Supply-chain technology startups raised $24.3 billion in venture funding in the first three quarters of 2021, 58% more than the full-year total for 2020, according to analytics firm PitchBook Data Inc. Besides venture-capital firms, backers included global investment managers like Tiger Global Management LLC and Coatue Management LLC and the venture arms of large corporations such as shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S and Koch Industries Inc. And then you have Venture capitalists chase industrial tech start-ups as supply shocks widen | CNBC  – this reminds me of the B2B dot com frenzy around companies like GoIndustry, i2 Technologies and JDA Software / Blue Yonder.

    Supply chain technology underpins supply chain management (SCM). SCM as a term sprang out of management consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton in 1982. But the originals of supply chain technology go back much further. Railway companies were experimenting with barcode type readers with British Rail having a system that read the codes on trains passing at 100mph error free. This system was eventually shut down when British Rail was privatised. In the US they were using KarTrak in the late 1960s, but that was later abandoned. The codes were incorporated into the computer software used to schedule freight rail transport. Shipping containers sprung out of work done for the US military and were proved successful in Korea. The standards for the ‘intermodal’ container where hammered out from 1968 through 1972 covering everything from the containers themselves to safe handling. So you had a standard box and a method of tracking it, which is at the core of supply chain technology.

    Containers did a number of things:

    • It helped prevent ‘shrinkage’. Seiko no longer had to worry about shrinkage due to dockers kicking in the corner of a crate to steal a watch or ten and sell them down the pub.
    • It encouraged automation of docks and handling, reducing the amount of unskilled labour required
    • Simplified freight forwarding and handling through standardisation
    • Facilitated easier global supply chains. Goodyear would know how many tractor tyres it could fit in a 40 foot trailer and ship from Singapore. The ports of Singapore and Hong Kong managed to parlay their use of logistics management software to move containers faster, which proved to be a competitive advantage for a number of years, even after Hong Kong deindustrialised with the mainland opening up

    Once logistics management was in place, attention could be turned to sourcing, procurement and the integration of enterprise resource planning to provide an end-to-end picture through supply chain technology. The Japanese developed a lot of management practices designed to master supply chain management and these practices drove a wider demand for supply chain technology.

    Packet network infrastructure provided a way to connect systems from channel partners, intermediaries and third party suppliers with a company through a standard interface for supply chain technology to work. What is called EDI or electronic data interchange. The rise of the web made it even easier which is why you had a plethora of supply chain technology companies to simplified the process of EDI. They democratised supply chain technology.

    It also allowed retailers like Tesco to use supply chain technology to become vertically integrated from upstream suppliers and downstream customers.

    China

    Ex-President of China Merchants Bank Investigated for Suspected Corruption | Caixin Global – China Merchants Bank is huge. Londoners might be familiar with the brand from the extensive advertising CMB have done aimed at Chinese tourists every summer since the Olympics. Scandals are also changing marketing: Why Are Athletes Becoming Luxury Brands’ Ambassadors of Choice in China? – problem is due to show business stars reputation from being effeminate looking men to corruption, tax evasion and sex abuse scandals like their business titan peers

    互联网与中国后现代性呓语 

    Divergent views on China’s investment landscape | Financial Times – JPMorgan last month called China’s internet sector, once an engine of growth, “uninvestable”. Many big investors have headed for the exits. This week we revealed that Weijian Shan, the chair of PAG, a $50bn fund and one of Asia’s biggest investors, has diversified away from China.

    Consumer behaviour

    UK consumer confidence plunges to near-record low | Financial Times 

    Culture

    Terence Donovan captures the hedonism of Birmingham’s ’90s… – The Face 

    Design

    Google Tests Hidden Interfaces Which Remain Invisible Unless They’re Used / Digital Information World 

    Ethics

    The age taboo in workplaces means we miss out on talent | Financial Times – Research by two Harvard psychologists, Tessa Charlesworth and Mahzarin Banaji, suggests that negative stereotypes of ageing are actually more persistent than those about race and gender. Drawing on data from more than 4mn tests of conscious and unconscious bias, they have found that attitudes to sexual orientation, race and skin tone have improved during the past decade, compared to stubborn biases about age and disability, and increasing negativity about people who are overweight. Charlesworth and Banaji predict that anti-gay bias could reach “neutrality” in 20 years’ time, but that on current trends it will take 150 years for the same to happen to ageism. The raw reality is that older workers tend to be more expensive than younger ones, and are more vulnerable to cuts to middle management. But it may be a false economy to lower initial salary costs by hiring the young, if familiarity with procedures and teamwork are lost

    FMCG

    Investigating the Pink Tax: Evidence Against a Systematic Price Premium for Women in CPG by Sarah Moshary, Anna Tuchman, Natasha Bhatia :: SSRN – We find that women’s products are more expensive in some categories (e.g., deodorant) but less expensive in others (e.g., razors). Further, in an apples-to-apples comparison of women’s and men’s products with similar ingredients, the women’s variant is less expensive in three out of five categories. Our results call into question the need for and efficacy of recently proposed and enacted legislation mandating price parity across gendered products. – so there is actually a ‘blue tax’ rather than a pink tax

    Hong Kong

    The Black Box: My Experience in Hong Kong’s Prisons During the Pandemic Lockdown 

    Some Hong Kong women would rather die alone than date Hong Kong men — Quartz 

    Ideas

    On Collaboration — Tom Darlington

    British Historian Antony Beevor: “Putin Wants to Be Feared – Like Stalin and Hitler” – DER SPIEGEL – the liberal West is now facing a decline, and even possibly a collapse, in confidence in parliamentary democracy. The heroic resistance of Ukraine is perhaps the only hope that we will recognize in time the dangers of the general slide towards authoritarianism in an increasingly Manichaean world – that is to say, a new dualism of two power blocs confronting each other: one with a free and liberal stance, and one without.

    The cognitive dissonance of corporate life | Financial Times – employers’ efforts to drag people back into the office by offering them “perks” from free snacks to company swag. One particularly eager (and rich) organisation offered workers who were willing to trek back in the chance to win a Tesla. But Spiers, like me, isn’t biting. “I’ve come to think of these corporate toys and rewards as the work equivalent of the cheap prizes you win at a carnival after emptying your wallet to play the games,” she writes. “The difference is that the point of the carnival is to have fun and the prizes are incidental. In the workplace, this is just a laughably terrible trade-off. Who wants to give up the two hours a day they gain by not commuting for a free coffee mug? – interesting challenge that probably only a recession will right

    Digitally-Native Jobs, Self-Employment, and the Antiwork Movement 

    Indonesia

    Indonesia’s new law removes redtapes for foreign investors | DigiTimes – With abundant natural resources and young labor, Indonesia attracts – and needs – more foreign investment. The three largest foreign investors in Indonesia are Singapore, China (including Hong Kong), and Japan. Data provided by Indonesia’s Ministry of Investment (BKPM) showed that in the first three quarters of 2021, Singapore accounted for 32% of the total foreign investment, Hong Kong 13.8%, China 10%, and Japan 7.7%. – its also a great option for the move away from Chinese manufacturing

    Innovation

    Bosch snaps up Fraunhofer MEMS microspeaker spinout – eeNews Europe 

    Korea

    Young Rich Koreans Are Worth on Average W6.6 Billion – The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition)

    Luxury

    Kering: China’s lockdown takes much of the blame for Gucci’s crimped sales | Financial Times – I’d be more worried by how dependent they are on Chinese mainland sales

    Crypto crackdown stifles China’s ability to offshore cash | Financial Times – With the government applying more scrutiny to digital asset transactions, one of the oldest and most conventional methods to bypass capital controls is gaining popularity: the luxury collectible trade. While it’s difficult to bring suitcases filled with cash through customs, a Tang dynasty-era vase or a couple of Patek Philippe watches can easily pass as personal belongings. Rich buyers can purchase them in China and resell outside the country. Indeed, demand for designer time pieces is taking off, high-end watch sellers in China told the FT. One wealthy Chinese heir also told the FT about another existing loophole, in which Chinese developers building condo projects in Thailand or Malaysia market them at home, and accept renminbi. Once properties are purchased, they can be sold locally into currencies that can be more easily exchanged into dollars – this probably explains why auction houses Sotheby’s and Phillips have expanded their Hong Kong operations

    Media

    Netflix is not a tech company — Benedict Evans – back in 1992, just as the ‘Internet’ was starting to sound interesting, a company in the UK used technology to disrupt television. 

    Rupert Murdoch’s Sky realised that you could buy football rights for far more than anyone had ever thought of paying before, and you could make your money back by selling the games on subscription instead of pay-per-view or advertising, and you would be able to deliver that subscription using encrypted satellite channels. This was a big deal, both for Sky and for the UK Premiership league, and it was the beginning of something much bigger. 

    Sky used technology as a crowbar to build a new TV business. Everything about how it executed that technology had to be good, and by and large it was. The box was good, the UI was good, the truck-rolls were good, and the customer service and experience were good. Unlike American cable subscribers, Sky subscribers in the UK are generally pretty happy with the tech. The tech has to be good – but, it’s still all about the TV. If Sky had been showing reruns of MASH and I Love Lucy no-one would have signed up. Sky used tech as a crowbar, and the crowbar had to be good, but it’s actually a TV company. 

    I look at Netflix in very much the same way today. Netflix realised that you could spend far more money on far more hours of scripted drama than anyone had ever spent before, and you could (hopefully) make your money back by selling it on subscription directly to consumers instead of going through aggregators, using a new technology, broadband internet, that both gave you that access and made it possible for people to browse that vast selection of shows – and this: Ads are coming to Netflix: What do top media buyers and analysts think? – It’s plausible that Netflix will play a key role in driving the roll out of hybrid AVOD/SVOD around the world. Today, such models are mostly found in the U.S. and in Asia, but should Netflix add this on a global basis, it could be the next big thing. It’d force others to move beyond pure paid-for streaming models. I’ve long argued that it is unsustainable to expect customers to buy more than five SVOD services — so hybrid models are part of the solution as it eases the pressure on consumer wallets. 

    Ad agencies have persistently asked Netflix over the last few years to start running ads on the service. But they’ve been firmly against this until now. However, as Netflix management said on the investor call, what has changed is that this is a proven model that works: Hulu, HBO Max and Disney+ are doing it, so of course

    Online

    Go beyond the search box: Introducing multisearch – this Google redesign reminds me of much of the experience in search pioneered by you.com. Google needs to reinvent its search offering, early adopters are finding it much less useful then previously – Google search engine is not up to the mark, irrelevant ads and spam disappoint users. Here’s all you need to know / Digital Information World 

    Security

    France says Russian mercenaries staged ‘French atrocity’ in Mali | Mali | The Guardian 

    Singapore

    Singaporeans must benefit’: expats fleeing Hong Kong meet rising resentment | Financial Times – Chia is not alone in holding anti-expat beliefs. Over the past decade, perceptions that international employers have discriminated against locals have placed increasing pressure on the government to clamp down on immigration. While some anger has been directed towards manual labourers from elsewhere in Asia, Singaporeans are also frustrated by the significant proportion of westerners that make up the city’s elite workforce. After the recession triggered by the coronavirus pandemic refocused attention on employment and inequality in Singapore, the discontent has intensified. Experts warned that an influx of white-collar staff from Hong Kong risked deepening tensions, complicating Singapore’s bid to attract foreign money and talent. – Singapore’s answer to populism?

    Telecoms

    EETimes – CAN FD: Anything But Automotive Only – controller area networking. Uses connectors including RS232

    The military race for low Earth orbit satellites – and why China is behind | South China Morning Post – LEO satellite broadband projects going on in addition to Elon Musk’s StarLink – In Europe, Germany-based Airbus Defence and Space has teamed up with satellite internet firm OneWeb to provide services to the military. Canadian firm Telesat, partly funded by Ottawa, is eyeing the US Defence Department as a customer for its global LEO internet service, which is expected to start in 2024. Amazon’s Kuiper project also has been approved to launch 3,236 satellites but has been tight-lipped on its plans in the defence market. In China, LEO satellite internet is a fledgling industry working to connect remote parts of China and countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. GalaxySpace, a private start-up in a field of state-owned giants, launched China’s first LEO broadband constellation comprising six satellites in March. But state media reports have described them as commercial and made no reference to military services. Separate state-owned enterprises also launched test satellites for the Hongyun and Hongyan LEO broadband projects in 2018 but little has been said publicly about them since. Another state-owned company, China Satellite Network Group, aims to create a Chinese version of Starlink but was only formed last year

    Web of no web

    LVMH’s Arnault is wary of the metaverse “bubble”. Should luxury be? | Vogue Business 

  • Naked power politics + more things

    Naked power politics is a challenge to the post cold war consensus. Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, like Ethiopia’s invasion of Tigray are two examples of naked power politics in action. Russia’s naked power politics approach isn’t new and was something that the Financial Times and others had been talking about for at least a decade and certainly since the invasion of Crimea.

    In the case of Russia, uniting the west and drawing both Finland and Sweden into NATO shows that naked power politics can be counter-productive. Ethiopia seems to have fought itself to a stalemate after invading Tigray and then getting beaten back to Addis Ababa. Only close air support using drone from gulf states helped stave off a military collapse.

    But naked power politics is also playing out in the uneven relationship between China and the European Union; despite the EU’s market power.

    Even more so we can see naked power politics in China’s approach to Australia through trade.

    super putin

    China

    Alibaba’s vice president of technology says trip to US was just to see doctor – Global Times – apparently some people are comparing his leaving to the US as being like the plot of the film Argo. He is responsible for the machine learning technology Alibaba has provided to support Uighur surveillance in China

    Electric car start-up Faraday Future clips wings of founder Jia Yueting following fraud allegation probe | South China Morning Post – Jia Yueting will, however, continue to serve as Faraday Future’s ‘chief product and user ecosystem officer’, filing shows/ Faraday Future launched an internal probe last year after a short-selling research firm claimed the start-up misrepresented the number of pre-orders for its FF 91 luxury SUV following its merger with a SPAC – I am not terribly surprised it echoes the kind of overreach that happened with businesses like LeEco and Luckin Coffee

    Consumer behaviour

    Is Marcus Rashford working class? The answer depends on your age – New Statesman – “Younger people appear to identify membership of the upper class with power and social impact,” he said. “This reflects the social media which prioritises celebrity coverage by attention capital, rather than accent, schooling or parental occupation.” The findings also suggest that “class hierarchy is perceived by young people in the present tense, ie, the media and social media time that people have now: the more media time, the higher the class position,” Rojek added. “The historical relationship of class to ancestry may be waning. A ‘now perspective’, based in power, social impact and online recognisability, seems to be growing in importance.” This trend has been a long time in the making, he observed. “For many years, it has been evident to me that for most of my students ‘social media’ is ‘society’, ie, a source of belonging, community, identity and aspiration.” – this might be age related rather than cohort related

    Design

    From the archives: Newspaper ads from the 80s | From the Archives | richmond.com – the collection of two-colour adverts is tremendous. My personal favourite is the original Back To The Future cinema ad

    Staybl makes it easier for people with hand tremors to browse the web – fantastic bit of accessible design

    Economics

    Defense spending, again – by Noah Smith – Noahpinion 

    Energy

    After Ola, now 20 Jitendra EVs catch fire in India — Quartz India – this is important because India has one of the fastest growing energy markets in the world and likely to overtake China due to its younger population

    Panasonic bets on bigger electric vehicle battery to wean itself off Tesla | Financial Times

    Ethics

    Supply Chains Tainted by Forced Labor in China, Panel Told – The New York Times – or where are Tim Cook’s principles and fine talk about brand purpose…

    When Saying Gay Isn’t Good Enough | Adweek – The Walt Disney Company has been singled out by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for its opposition to Florida’s House Bill 1557, the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Recently signed into law, the measure prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade. The governor has vowed to revisit—and possibly rescind—Disney’s privileges and autonomy in the state. But even LGBTQ allies and activists haven’t been happy with how the entertainment giant has handled anti-LGBTQ legislation in Florida. – which brings the question of what is the role of brands in societal norming?

    Umpires, Not Kings | No Mercy / No Malice – Scott Galloway on the need for market regulation

    Gadgets

    Amazon’s Astro Robot Moved Into My House. It Was Crazy, Creepy and Fun. 

    Apple reaches an agreement with a Korean company for a periscope telephoto lens – Gizchina.com

    Ideas

    When Extreme Necessity is the Mother of Invention | What’s New Under The Sun 

    The Return of Conquest? Why the Future of Global Order Hinges on Ukraine interesting when paired with China views Russian invasion as a ‘strategic utility’, says ex-Australia PM | Financial Times

    Innovation

    Taiwan makes big push on pipeline of electronic experts | Financial Times

    Xi Focus: Xi orders building world-leading spacecraft launch site-Xinhua – “Xi noted that Wenchang is the launch site of China’s new-generation high thrust carrier rockets and the bridgehead of the country’s deep space exploration. The launch site should continue to eye the frontier of global space development and the major strategic needs of China’s space industry, and comprehensively improve its modern space launch capabilities, said Xi. China is scheduled to complete the construction of its space station this year. Tianzhou-4 and Tianzhou-5 cargo crafts, as well as Wentian and Mengtian lab modules will be launched from Wenchang. Xi said the launch site should make meticulous efforts to ensure the missions’ full success.”

    Intel Announces its 18A Node is Ahead of Schedule – ExtremeTech 

    TSMC announces launch dates for 3nm and 2nm chips 

    Japan

    Old Enough: Netflix show sparks global debate on parenting and child safety | Sora News – its interesting because it shows how much of a high trust society Japan is versus the rest of the world and how far we have moved away from the ‘latch key‘ generations in the west that allowed women to go out to work. Although my Mum was a homemaker, I was still expected to look after myself if she had to go out or was visiting a friend. As an only child I was very comfortable in this trust being put in me. It was also the same for many of my school friends. The show is unbelievably cute. Read the explanation of Japanese culture on children before watching the hyper judgemental TV segment below.

    Korea

    S.Korea to Launch Homegrown Spy Satellites | Chosen Ilbo – I am surprised that this hadn’t happened earlier

    Luxury

    The Death of Streetwear Culture is a Class Issue | High Sobriety – in its ‘80s and ‘90s heyday, by and large streetwear culture was driven by the kids from low-income neighborhoods in major American cities. The very term “streetwear” bears that notion—it’s a style born in the streets, in schoolyards, on handball and basketball courts, and on brownstone stoops. More often than not, streetwear heroes—athletes and rappers—came from the working class

    Breitlingselect – Test your new watch | Breitling GB – leasing comes to watches. While this was on the UK site, the prices were in US dollars. How long before we get into sub-prime luxury

    Who Are Korea’s 1%? – The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea – National/Politics > National – most of the wealth is from property

    Media

    Warner Bros. censors gay dialogue in Harry Potter movie for China release – CNN – the irony of this is that the Chinese internet is filled with homoerotic and even a lot of graphic homosexual content based around fan fiction from Sherlock to Harry Potter and even adaptions of Chinese literary classics where sword play takes on a vastly different meaning

    TikTok and Douyin’s Ad Revenues Will Cross $30 Billion This Year, Reach 5% of Total Digital Ad Market Share / Digital Information World 

    Marketing

    In honor of Ramadan, meals appear on Tesco billboards after sunset – To mark the month of Ramadan — when Muslims refrain from eating and drinking between dawn and dusk — British supermarket Tesco turned to dynamic billboards. During the day, screens show four hands and a large number of empty plates and platters. Once the sun sets, food appears on the plates, just as Muslims start breaking their fast with an iftar meal. – nice bit of work by BBH that takes advantage of dynamic digital out of home advertising technology

    Materials

    The great medicines migration: how China controls key drug supplies | Financial Times – huge strategic dependency that needs to be addressed

    Its basically a glass vase with a handle – Coperni’s Viral Glass Swipe Bag Will Be Available For Purchase

    Online

    TikTok under US government investigation on child sexual abuse material | Financial Times

    BeReal Isn’t Real and Makes Everyone Look Extremely Boring | Motherboard – BeReal seems to show the ennui of real life. Its also a social app made in Europe that actually has some traction. Axios has some good data on it here: Meet BeReal, Gen Z’s new favorite app 

    Retailing

    REWE’s unmanned mini-marts bring daily groceries to rural Germany – German retail giant REWE is launching a new concept: nahkauf BOX. Operating under REWE’s nahkauf brand of neighborhood stores, nahkauf BOX is an unmanned, standalone convenience store that’s open 24/7. – this is similar to China’s automated convenience stores, but interesting that its aimed at rural villages lacking stores. I could see this shaking up rural Ireland as well

    Security

    Pentagon to meet top arms makers to discuss stepping up aid to Ukraine | Financial Times – fascinating detail from this. Ukraine has already had four years production worth of Javelin missiles or about a third of the US stocks. They had sent a quarter of their stock of Stinger missiles or about five years worth of production. The challenge will be scaling component manufacture, supply chain and system assembly

    Russia’s Sandworm Hackers Attempted a Third Blackout in Ukraine | WIRED

    Russia is jamming GPS satellite signals in Ukraine, US Space Force says | Space

    Spy games: expulsion of diplomats shines light on Russian espionage | The Guardian

    American company under investigation for transferring tech to Huawei – Synopsys was supporting Huawei’s efforts in chip design through its EDA software

    Software

    Abridged: Keep product deep-dive – by Lillian Li

    With Nintendo closing 3DS and Wii U digital stores, where does that leave video game preservation? | GamesRadar+ – having used Nokia N900 devices after the Ovi store went down I can understand how limiting that this will be

    Thailand

    Un-pea-dictable: Veggie-based snack ad has multiple plot twists | Advertising | Campaign Asia – the different plot lines remind me a lot of the Tide Super Bowl ads from a number of years ago

    Web of no web

    Meta to let Horizon Worlds creators sell virtual items – The Verge – Horizon Worlds will take a 25 percent cut of any sale after app store fees – and there is the kicker Apple calls out Meta for hypocrisy over 47.5% cut of digital sales – 9to5Mac

    The Electronic Sheep Company was one of the startups that came and went during the last ‘metaverse boom’ or what was then called ‘virtual worlds’ back in the mid-2000s and early 2010s epitomised by Second Life.

  • Cockneycide

    I saw a LinkedIn post being shared about Cockneycide – the decline of speakers of London’s traditional working class English dialect. Or as it was put to me: Cockneycide describes conscious or unconscious acts that wilfully deny the existence of a cultural group. Disclaimer – I consider it to be an inappropriate use of the -cide suffix, but for the rest of the article I am going to let it stand.

    cockneycide

    The organisation behind the post on Cockneycide is Grow Social Capital (GSC). GSC is a social enterprise focused on social capital in society and how communities and individuals can increase it. They look at things like the role of record shops as third spaces within their communities.

    Are working class people racist?

    The train of thought that got to Cockneycide started with an initiative called Cockney Conversations Month designed to celebrate Cockney heritage and pride stumbled upon on anecdotal feedback that some people perceive ‘Cockney’ as being a racist identity.

    The media stereotype of a right wing racist in the UK is usually working class heritage and are often portrayed having a Cockney accent. The reality of race and working class culture is more complex as London’s history from the Battle of Cable Street onwards shows.

    National Trust Nazis

    Oswald Moseley wasn’t working class and neither is Nick Griffin. Secondly, London has its share of what a friend calls ‘National Trust Nazis’. People who look middle class in their Barbour jackets and ‘National Trust’ enamel badges who feel its perfectly acceptable to tell people of colour in West London to go back home from where they came from.

    The racist working class stereotype was seen by the group to reinforce discrimination and polarisation as even informing bad policy. One such policy that they consider to be bad is the Mayor of London’s Cultural Strategy which ignored accent bias as well as aspects of London’s indigenous culture. Apparently it doesn’t mention Cockney once.

    Systemic working class discrimination?

    As described Cockneycide is a microcosm of a wider pattern in the UK. GSC have done some research into identity and accent is bundled into this.

    The numbers suggest a decoupling from mainstream culture of working class communities, of which Cockneys could be considered to be one of many alongside Scouse or the different variations on the Midlands accent. There is a decline in across the UK in regional accents being mentioned in printed texts over the past five years. Cockney with a decline of 3% does comparatively well compared to Brummie with a 10% decline and 15% for Scouse.

    The factors causing this are likely to be multi-factorial in nature:

    • A century of mainstream media from the talkies, radio, television and voice services will all have an impact on language. Just in the same way that my childhood Irish accent was ‘run over’ by the Merseyside environs where I spent a good deal of my teenage years
    • Local population change. Within my lifetime accents have changed in areas were I lived. The small town of Neston on the Wirral used to have locals who spoke with a hint of the Midlands in their accent. Many were descended from miners who had moved up to the town during the 18th and early 19th centuries ago to mine coal seams. A former colleague from when I started work pointed out that the ‘nasal’ Cheshire accent of Ellesmere Port had changed in the space of a generation to a Liverpool accent
    • There aren’t featured in a positive light in the media, in London or Liverpool there aren’t news presenters with strong local accents. While we are seeing more people of colour represented in the media, there are challenges based on class.
    • A wider alienation of working class communities by elites. Part of this is down to the academisation of political thought focused on social justice over economics, rather than social justice and economics. Political parties and academics left working class and working poor communities behind way before these communities pivoted more towards reactionary politics

    Londoners or cockneys?

    I might be considered to be a Londoner. Like just under a third of Londoners, I am not British. The part of my childhood that I spend in the UK growing up was not in London, but I have had my home in London for about half my life now.

    The reality is that my identity is complicated and multi-layered. My passport says that I am Irish, my accent is Northern but it would take a discerning ear to place it back to the Merseyside of my teen years where my Irish accent was overwhelmed by the Liverpudlian accents around me. I had a sense of being part of an outside group in Merseyside living in an Irish household and spending the other part of my childhood with relatives on the ‘family’ farm that my cousin now looks after.

    I see my accent as something that happened to me like puberty rather than as part of my identity. My accent softened as I worked with colleagues from around the world and even spent time working in Asia.

    It has been made clear to me that certain opportunities weren’t available to me due to cultural fit – aka I didn’t sound right, which again emphasised the ‘otherness’ of a perceived working class background.

    Have I been in London long enough to be considered a Londoner, let alone a Cockney. Is my identity itself an aspect of Cockneycide?

    The new Cockney and Estuary English

    A good deal of indigenous Londoners that could have called themselves Cockneys were moved out beyond London in the post-war reconstruction period. There was also continual waves of immigration into London from my own people (the Irish), people from Commonwealth countries and Europe that continues to this day.

    As far back as 1995 we were seeing academic literature on the new Cockney and how the accent and identity attached to it evolved. As the population spread out from London, so did the accent, admittedly changing and becoming what David Rosewarne called ‘Estuary English’ in 1984:

    a variety of modified regional speech. It is a mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern English pronunciation and intonation. If one imagines a continuum with RP and London speech at either end, ‘Estuary English’ speakers are to be found grouped in the middle ground.

    David Rosewarne

    Rosewarne’s point about change and evolution is interesting. Is it an aspect of what GSC consider Cockneycide? As Brexit showed us, more reactionary politics tended to show up in populations who were concerned by the rate of change in their communities. It is also easy to see how Cockneycide could be seen as yet another anti-neo liberal fear of change.

    More information

    Original LinkedIn post

  • SORM + more things

    When Nokia Pulled Out of Russia, a Vast Surveillance System Remained – The New York Times – Nokia said this month that it would stop its sales in Russia and denounced the invasion of Ukraine. But the Finnish company didn’t mention what it was leaving behind: equipment and software connecting the government’s most powerful tool for digital surveillance to the nation’s largest telecommunications network. The tool was used to track supporters of the Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny. Investigators said it had intercepted the phone calls of a Kremlin foe who was later assassinated. Called the System for Operative Investigative Activities, or SORM, it is also most likely being employed at this moment as President Vladimir V. Putin culls and silences antiwar voices inside Russia. For more than five years, Nokia provided equipment and services to link SORM to Russia’s largest telecom service provider, MTS, according to company documents obtained by The New York Times. While Nokia does not make the tech that intercepts communications, the documents lay out how it worked with state-linked Russian companies to plan, streamline and troubleshoot the SORM system’s connection to the MTS network. Russia’s main intelligence service, the F.S.B., uses SORM to listen in on phone conversations, intercept emails and text messages, and track other internet communications. The documents, spanning 2008 to 2017, show in previously unreported detail that Nokia knew it was enabling a Russian surveillance system. The work was essential for Nokia to do business in Russia, where it had become a top supplier of equipment and services to various telecommunications customers to help their networks function. The business yielded hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue, even as Mr. Putin became more belligerent abroad and more controlling at home. – SORM has been around in one form or another for almost three decades. It mirrors the surveillance system used by Sweden and GCHQ in the UK. The latest version of SORM is SORM-3 that uses deep packet inspection infrastructure. SORM seems to be based on a mix of Russian made infrastructure and equipment by the likes of Israeli vendor Cellebrite.

    Business

    Big Four under growing pressure as Chinese developers delay audits | Financial Times 

    China

    Enemies of My Enemy – Foreign Affairs – fear of China is forming blocks by default

    Investor Redemptions from China Funds Hit Pandemic High | Institutional Investor

    Analysis: How Ukraine has been Nazifized in Chinese Information Space? | Doublethink Lab | Doublethink Lab

    Trial of Australian Journalist in China on States-Secrets Charges Ends Without Verdict – WSJ – Cheng Lei’s detention in August 2020 coincided with a sharp downturn in diplomatic relations between Beijing and Canberra – this is likely to be better for Australia’s incumbent prime minister Scott Morrison as is shows progressive realism doesn’t work. That’s not so good for Chinese interests in Australia

    Consumer behaviour

    We surveyed the UK’s young people on the impact of two… – The Face 

    Does Social Media Make Teens Unhappy? It May Depend on Their Age. – The New York Times

    “It’s pretty much a constant”: Women are more unhappy than men around the world

    Economics

    The Supply Chain Crisis Is About to Get a Lot Worse | WIRED

    Gender pay gap narrows as younger women now earn more than men in 22 major cities – The Washington Post – this might be also down to a decrease of men in higher education as well

    Ethics

    Hong Kong’s reality reveals the poverty of “progressive realism” 

    Finance

    Australian casino inquiry puts spotlight on Chinese money laundering | Financial Times

    Gadgets

    Not an April Fool: Dyson announces apocalyptic filter-headphone combo | Ars Technica – if you told me that this was bought in the SEG Plaza in Shenzhen and was a fake Dyson product I would believe you. I don’t know why Dyson went there. Usually its product development is well-gated which is why its electric Range Rover analogue got shelved prior to going into production

    Hong Kong

    A word of thanks to all of our people | Cathay 

    Foreign Secretary supports the withdrawal of serving UK judges from the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal – GOV.UK 

    The Times view on Hong Kong’s highest court: Denial of Justice | Comment | The Times – the bigger problem for China and Hong Kong isn’t the effect on the legal system but on western leaders now realising engagement is futile

    Used Car Prices: Tesla, Porsche Go for Bargains in Hong Kong as Expats Leave – Bloomberg – but there is a topsy turvy aspect to the cost of owning a car. The single biggest cost will be parking

    Innovation

    War got weird – by Noah Smith – Noahpinion 

    Legal

    StockX strikes back at Nike in NFT lawsuit | Reuters 

    Marketing

    Asian Influencers Might Outpace Their Western Counterparts, India and China Expected to Dominate / Digital Information World 

    Materials

    Australian refinery close to producing country’s first lithium hydroxide for batteries | Financial Times

    Online

    China Plans New Restrictions in Its Booming Live-Streaming Sector – WSJ 

    Security

    Three ways the European Union might ruin WhatsApp | Platformer

    Russian tech giant Yandex’s data harvesting raises security concerns | Financial Times

    US-China Tech Race: Spies and Lies (Part One) | Financial Times

    Abu Dhabi state funds were used to buy Israeli spyware group NSO | Financial Times 

    Taiwan

    Taiwan’s love motels are safe spaces for couples — Quartz India – Marco Hsiao, a private investigator, has frequented hundreds of love motels in an attempt to provide evidence of adultery for divorce cases—80% of his cases pertain to cheating spouses. He said the rooms are also used for drug deals, interviewing new workers entering the sex industry, and money-laundering meetings.

    Web of no web

    In Busan, A Smart City Built on Data Takes Shape  – The New York Times 

    Wireless

    Starlink helps Ukraine’s elite drone unit target and destroy Russian tanks | Ars Technica

    Goldie: “The ’90s had everything!” – The Face – his comments on smartphones are on the money

  • Chicano culture + more stuff

    Chicano culture

    Japan has had a small but vibrant Chicano culture scene for years. The Japanese have had a community on the west coast of the US for over a century and a love of the detailed sub-cultures of the US. Japan also influences cultures and consumers in Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong and even China. Add to that, the fact that Chicano culture is portrayed in shows that are streaming internationally like Mayans MC.

    In the west, this would be called cultural appropriation; but I don’t think that really captures what’s going on here.

    It is interesting that it is happening now, while Thailand is ruled by a military government; there is a sub-culture flourishing that probably looks rebellious and anti-authoritarian is very interesting.

    Korea

    Vice News did an episode on the families behind chaebols – Korean business empires called South Korea’s Untouchable Families. None of the content will be of any surprise to anyone who has read this blog or has an appreciation of modern Korean culture. The tale of how the chaebols where largely creations of the Korean government and in time managed to capture the country after the 1997 financial crisis is largely a matter of public record. The extra-legal nature of chaebols are the stuff of Korean dramas.

    The ‘chaebol negotiation rule’ of a three year sentence commuted to five years probation is also well known.

    What I found curious is how much emphasis they have put on Samsung, who have the most international reach and advertising spend. The Samsung semiconductor experience with workers suffering from cancer mirrors the experience of workers in fabrication facilities when they were based in Silicon Valley. So the risks involved in the chemicals and the need for protection would have been well known.

    Asianometry has also recently published a video on the Chaebols that takes a slightly different take on the rise of the companies, linking their rise with weak and financially challenged political parties.

    Japan – Tokyo Girl’s Collection

    I have written about Tokyo Girl’s Collection in the past. It is interesting to see that it was extended into the metaverse this year. The formula is still largely the same:

    • A large live event with entertainment
    • Models and dokusha-models. (These are chosen among actual readers of the magazines as “representatives”.  They are more attractive than average readers but not pretty enough to be actual models).
    • Online shopping and m-commerce of looks that the audience wouldn’t be able to buy locally if they live outside Tokyo

    Hong Kong deindustrialisation

    By the time I got to Hong Kong, the city’s industrial base had migrated north to the mainland. But I did get to see the massive packaging and printing factory that had been converted to the home furnishing shopping centre now called Horizon Plaza in Ap Lei Chau. As a child many of my clothes and toys had ‘Made in Hong Kong’ written on them.

    I got to see the massive buildings that used to have clothing factories in Fo Tan and the Sui Fai Factory Estate – a multi-storey building full of light industrial units. De-manufacturing encouraged the rent-seeking oligarchs that dominate Hong Kong today, for instance Li Ka shing started off manufacturing plastic flowers and other light industrial processes, but pivoted to rent seeking businesses property, telecoms and retailing.