#egypt: Hypocrite of the Year Award for vodafone's 'power to you' campaign

Great, vodafone for some time now full-bodied proclaims its "power to you" campaign slogan - and at the same time kills their clients' web access in egypt???
(more at What would vodafone do? Shut down the Internet!?).

There is no 'power to you' if you follow vodafone. This time it was 'power to Mu'! And the next time?

"We wanted to secure safety and lifes of our people." Did they ask their people? What would they have done? Shut down the net (as vodafone did) or support their fellow egyptians on the streets fighting for freedom - and some even for their lifes.

Amnesty International general secretary Salil Shetty, in an interview with Handelsblatt, said ...

'Vodaphone's willingness to close down its network is simply beyond belief.'

... the move by Vodafone Egypt 'not only betrayed those who buy and use its phones but reveals a shocking disregard for freedom of speech by one of the world's leading telecommunications companies.' ...

'Vodaphone has played directly into the hands of the Egyptian government and its forces of repression,' he charged.'

Global brands of the 21. century desperately need a global view on their clients, on societies, on eternal ethics and morale.

Brands desperately need to grow a spine - to follow their client's needs and wants - even more to anticipate them.

Brands cannot just follow any longer. Brands have to lead. Brands have to have a global consciousness. Brands have to live the individuality, independence, and impatience of their (potential) clients. Not that of dictators, short-term profitable regimes, and questionable ethics.

We live in disruptive times. The people of the 21. century do not need hypocrites to lead their way! If the brand hypocrites are not brave enough to live up to their slogans they should think twice about using them in the first place.

You know, dear vodafones, 'power to you' would have meant to support the people - not the regime. To support their quest for independence, freedom, and power to decide, power to choose. To fight with them for their rights. Not against them and their rights.

Talk is cheap, dear vodafones, and your communications seems to be the cheapest. So act up, vodafone! You still have a few days to decide which side are you on.

(You could have learned from Twitter, dear vodafones, when they fought for their users at American courts, because they understood that clients are humans, individuals, with individual and basic rights, not just faceless tariffs and contracts in your data centers.) - Update Feb, 1st, 08:45hrs > Google & Twitter leaping ahead of the vodafones of this world, see Addendum below.

Every brand trying to do business in this world (globally - and especially with the emerging countries) should finally understand that many countries will only flourish if they are free countries, people, individuals, and societies.

Brands and corporations will have to decide which side they are on: the future or the past! To do this businesses finally will have to grow a soul!

Addendum

17:17hrs > Twitter and Facebook, step up: Egypt protests raise bar on corporate responsibility, NYDailyNews, via rmack.
Can you imagine even vodafone learning from their Egyptian performance and join Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo at the Global Network Initiative?

22:16hrs > Ah, even better: "Vodafone was for years the Egyptian government's partner in building and maintaining the regime's official website and network infrastructure", raw story. Somebody had to do it - like Siemens and Nokia in Iran.
("Raw Story's requests for comment sent to Vodafone's corporate relations arm did not trigger a reply", ebd.)

Tweets must flow, by @biz and @amac.

Feb, 1st

00:32hrs > Voice to Tweet - A great move by Google fixing what vodafone crashed in #egypt.

08:45hrs > Twittern für die Opposition: Google fordert Ägyptens Präsident Mubarak heraus, handelsblatt.

22:04hrs > Egypt and the Complicated Ethics of the Telecommunications Industry, BSR.

Feb, 2nd

13:32hrs > Finally: Egypt gets its Internet back, cnet.

Feb, 3rd

18:03hrs > Doesn't get better: Vodafone: Texting Still Down in Egypt, Except for Government Propaganda, All Things Digital. Vodafone verteilte Pro-Mubarak-Propaganda, Spiegel.