Kellogg's Footbag promo dilemma

[Dr. Drew]

Call out to footbaggers--I’m in a moral dilemma! Last week I was super-psyched when a local organization in London contacted me requesting that I teach a group of 6-8 kids, 8-12 yrs. old, how to footbag. (Thanks guys for pointing them in my direction- a real honor to represent freestyle footbag in the UK, a game I’ve loved playing for 30 years now.) The communications unfolded with the week, and I pieced together the puzzle myself, as they were really not upfront with the actual cause--Kellogg’s! After researching on the net, I read all the Modified comments I could find on Kellogg’s marketing campaign using footbag in the past years. I also read both the pro-Kellogg’s information publicized by Kellogg’s itself, and also it’s political controversies-- the latest being last week.
A “lock out” in Memphis of some 600-800 predominantly Afro-American workers leaving them with immediate payroll and health benefits cut off because they voted against a having their hours scaled back, so that other part-timers could enter and subsequently reducing the financial responsibilities desired by Kellogg’s (health, family, and dental insurance/paid vacation, I believe). Workers rallied last week against the biggest multi-national cereal company in the world. Paradoxically , the “rehearsals” or footbag lessons are taking place in a typically African neighborhood, Hackney, east London and I imagine that there will be a good representation of African-English in the group seeing as how all my contacts seem also to be. Hypocrisy?
Added to the controversy is the actual products that Kellogg’s markets as “healthy foods,” if you can even still call them “foods,”--Pop Tarts, Frosted Flakes, Cheerios, Fruit Loops, Coco Puffs to name but a few, are some of the most typical American junk “foods.” They spell: diabetes, A.D.D., hypertension, cancer, immune system disorder, etc. All of these products use GMO ingredients and who knows what the effects of GMO will have on our health, our planet and on millions of families who’s husbands are committing suicide in India to get out of the vicious Mon Santo cycle! I grew up on those products in the United States and can say that the nutritional value would be about equivalent to cardboard topped off with sugar. Can we imagine the footbag burn out fueling your game on that junk food? Personally, I’ve been following healthy food lifestyle path for over 18 years going from vegetarian, to organic vegan, now organic and wild high-raw foods...as I said moral dilemma!
To add to it, these crap “Rio Balls or Footy bags”(maybe better used as pin cushions instead of footbags) you guys have repeatedly mentioned used by Kellogg’s should be arriving in time for the filming of the “performance.” I currently work as a bespoke men’s suit tailor in London; my first hand-stitching was learned from a traveling homeless dude, Mike Patterson, in Vermont, USA, some 17 years ago. He taught me how to sew 4-6-8-12-20-32 panel footbags. I still sew made-to-measure bags of the finest hand stitching quality. I’ve already told them that even the best footbaggers would look like crap playing with those bags--so they want to practice with my beginner bags, then film with theirs. Oh man! As I mentioned it has been a story that I have had to piece together myself over the last week, as they were never upfront and direct telling me something to the notion of:
“We want you to teach our kids footbag to promote Kellogg’s marketing of its “Rio Ball” for the up-coming Worlds football tournament.” (...using our cheep knock-off sweet-shop-labor hacky-sacks). Being totally transparent (surely someone will ask anyway) thinking this was some innocent local footbag initiative, I agreed to a very modest payment of £250 for two 3 hour lessons and one 8-10 hour day of filming. Now I’m aware of the multi-trillion-dollar behind it--with sales of some $10 million a day based in 160 countries around the world! Castings already happened a few days ago and first lesson is tomorrow. Should I go and teach? Drop the whole deal? Go feel it out? Footbaggers, I would kindly appreciate your advice.

[C-Fan]

In any business interaction, both sides are obliged to do their homework. If you signed a contract with them, you should honor it. If you don't like Kelloggs, their agenda, or the terms of the agreement, then you shouldn't have signed a contract. To back out at such a late stage would be poor form.

[Outsider]

Subvert their intended goals by deliberately being a terrible instructor and performer, especially making the kids look bad!

JUST KIDDING!

Subvert their intentions by concentrating on circle-hacky rather than freestyle performance, putting maximum emphasis on the students having a good time playing rather than giving the producers good footage for their advertising agenda. (When kids are having a hard time getting a hack, one strategy that helps is simply to tell everybody to take one step towards the center of the circle --- unskilled kids can get a rally more easily when they're standing very close together). Be difficult to work with to the producers, not the kids. Make demands, like only playing while music of your choosing is played (I won't kick without my tunes!) Demand breaks for meals and more breaks for water (athletes need food and hydration!)


As a last resort, call out sick -- tell them the GMO pop-tarts gave you terrible diarrhea. The script of Raiders of the Lost Ark was changed because Harrison Ford, shooting on location in Cairo, came down with terrible diarrhea and thus could't film any scene taking more than half a minute.

[boyle]

You're going to play hacky sacky in Hackney...that should be enough!

What Ken said is right on the money. It's too late to back out now and would be incredibly poor form and would make the company reconsider using footbag in their promotions anywhere in the world.