

Stephen Colbert makes Bing donate $100K for oil spill - awa
http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/210083.asp

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Legion
Maybe I'm missing something (very possible!), but I don't understand donations
for the oil cleanup. Every single donated penny that goes to fixing the spill
or its effects should come from BP's wallet instead.

I don't mean BP should be crucified, but they have the responsibility and they
certainly have the means.

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joegaudet
All I can think is... if ifs and buts were candy and nuts....

It'd be great IF bp were going to be held fully liable. From my understanding
there is a limited liability clause that is going to hold BP to some
unimaginably low number.

And of course, there will be a question of what cleanup means. Cleaning up the
coasts, cleaning up the animals, cleaning up the sub sea plumes? I am sure
some big oil lobbyists have already tempered the language of what ever
legislation is in place to hold BP accountable.

So charity is going to clearly have to step in a close the gap.

Bing, Bing, Bing!

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Legion
How can you tell if donations are going to help "close the gap", instead of
paying for things BP should be covering?

Is it clearly defined what BP is covering? If not, how do charities know that
the money they're putting into action is filling the gaps instead of just
reducing BP's checks?

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wjy
Maybe for some people, the point is to clean up the mess. To them, assignment
of blame is less important than aversion of disaster. I'm not sure if I
subscribe to that view myself, but I can certainly sympathize with it.

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Legion
I get that. I guess my point is that it doesn't seem like lack of money is the
problem that needs solving.

It's not about blame so much as the fact that with BP on the hook for the
bill, money isn't the thing that's in need.

You know what will be a million times better than sending clean-up money? When
the clean-up is done, book a vacation and go patronize the tourism spots that
are currently deserted.

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MikeCapone
I wonder how much it would have cost Microsoft to buy and ad on the show (an
ad that would probably have been a lot less effective...). This is probably
good business, and everybody wins.

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ugh
And they probably would have donated something either way. Just not so
publicly.

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brc
Call me old fashioned, I think it's brilliant marketing by Bing and Colbert,
but I'm not keen on running over effigys of people as entertainment. This guy
has a family, and while he may yet be found completely responsible for the
disaster, baying for his blood is not the response of an educated society. Ask
yourself, if he was your son, father or brother, would you be happy with this
treatment?

Leave the retributions for the courtroom. We are all partially responsible for
the oil spill with our demand for petroleum based products at the lowest price
possible.

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invisible
None of us are responsible for the oil spill. We did not choose or make
choices that caused the oil spill. We are accountable for the demand that
spurred BP's attempts with drilling, but not the spill itself.

I always find it fascinating that people uninvolved in the going-ons for
random markets are blamed for unwanted side effects. BP could have just raised
their prices, but they chose not to (therefore taking responsibility) and
failed. Shame on them.

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Tichy
I'd say we are all (or most of us) responsible in some way, for not bothering
to even question the practices of the oil companies (a ka "conveniently
looking away"). Granted, we can not personally solve all problems of the world
- that's why there are governments to do that job. But we elect those
governments.

It's not as if there was never any indication that oil drilling could threaten
the environment.

Who will give the permission to drill for oil in the artic, and why will the
permission be given?

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CWuestefeld
Agreed. Not only have we created the demand for the product, but in our
"government of the people, by the people, and for the people", we are all
(collectively at least) responsible for what our government does.

Moreover, as has been noted elsewhere in this thread, the buck does not stop
at BP. If you're going to be consistent in the way you assign blame, you've
got to follow the trail to the independent company that was actually operating
the drilling rig. If you're going to pass the responsibility away from the
consumer, through the gas station operator, and on to the refiner, it only
makes sense to take the next step to the driller.

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Mc_Big_G
_By the way, Bing is a great website for doing Internet searches. I know that
because I Googled it._

That's a great line.

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leif
Does anyone else feel like this is a painfully low amount of money?

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yurisagalov
Brilliant marketing on their part. I'm wondering though, why he avoided saying
Microsoft?

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joegaudet
I suspect MS is trying to keep Bing as a separate entity. Perhaps to avoid
feeling like the big monolith threatening to over compete.

Alternatively it might be just trying to make Bing feel like a new brand...
who knows.

If you look at bing.com the only overly obvious reference to MS is the MSN
link at the top left, and the microsoft copyright.

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ellism
At the end of every Bing TV add (at least on US Television), the spoken tag
line is "Bing, the decision engine from Microsoft" (combined with the
Microsoft logo in the corner), so I don't think the advertisers are shying
away from the affiliation.

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sliverstorm
They aren't trying to hide it, but it does seem they want the name to sort of
stand on it's own. For starters, they probably realize that vernacular allows
for you to 'google it' or 'bing it' or 'yahoo that', but not to 'microsoft
that'. If anything, 'microsofting' something probably involves putting it out
of business with predatory business tactics.

Alternatively, it could be a judgement call on MS's part based on their
knowledge of the Colbert audience.

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anguslong
Ok, Colbert (and smart MSFT product-placers) - I'll bite. Today is officially
"Bing for a Day" here. I just set my Chrome default engine to Bing for the
first time. Should be fun -- wondering if I'll miss the Goog in the next 24
hours.

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montooner
Does anyone else find it amusing that Bing's approached Colbert, whereas
Google seems to support Stewart pretty hard?

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strawberryshake
Only Colbert could get away with this! Genius.

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nader
Awesome episode :)

