Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Suffer the Little Children to Change the World With Online Petitions

What a brave new world we live in when children can affect social change through on line forums.

While not actually on the level of Twitter revolts such as the Arab Spring, to get a modern American toy maker like Hasbro to respond to the public with an online petition and update Easy Bake Ovens by making them less girly ranks as pure genius.
[PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Hasbro says it will soon reveal a gender-neutral Easy-Bake Oven after meeting with a New Jersey girl who started a campaign calling on the toy maker to make one that appeals to all kids.

McKenna Pope, 13, of Garfield, N.J., got more than 40,000 signatures on her online petition at Change.org and the support of celebrity chefs including Bobby Flay, who backed her call for Hasbro to make a gender-neutral oven and to include boys in the ads.

She was prompted to start the petition after shopping for an Easy-Bake as a Christmas present for her 4-year-old brother, Gavyn Boscio, and finding them only in purple and pink.

Hasbro invited McKenna and her family to its Pawtucket, R.I., headquarters to meet with its Easy-Bake team, and on Monday, they drove to Rhode Island from New Jersey. During the meeting, Hasbro executives showed off a prototype of their newest Easy-Bake: one that's black, silver and blue.]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/17/gender-neutral-easy-bake-oven_n_2318521.html

Also: http://americablog.com/2012/12/hasbro-gender-neutral-easy-bake-oven.html

Similarly, recent Darden restaurant group leaders noted a sales and social media hit after folks learned about corporate plans to provide heath care as mandated by the Affordable Care Act by reducing workers hours.

Bottom line remains corporations watch the bottom line and will change pernicious policies under public pressure.

And a little child did lead them.

What cause can I create a petition for, one in suppport of lower beer prices?  The Desperate Dan Appreciation Society?

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