New tactics in the war against SUVs that involve "Charter Revokation Notices" are starting to shake up GM dealerships around the country.
Apparently a new tactic has started among "taggers" (in this case people who
put bumper stickers with phrases such as 'I'm changing the environment - ask
me how' on SUVs, see http://www.changingtheclimate.com for examples) that is
shaking up SUV dealerships.
In the middle of the night, these taggers have taken to going into large
dealerships, tagging many SUVs at once. This provides them with a high
volume of success and a high cost to the dealership selling the SUVs. When
asked why, one tagger mentioned that he was doing it to "make SUVs look like
fur coats did after the animal rights groups started pouring out the red
paint."
Tagging has become almost a counter-culture among some activists after
recent votes in the Senate failed to initiate tougher standards on fuel
efficiency. What's different now, however, is that instead of just costing
dealerships money, the taggers have included a new strategy as well.
"You can go to adbusters.com and download these 'Charter Revocation Notices'
to fill out and put on the doors to the dealership. It really freaks the
identified.
Courts have the power to revoke corporate charters when a corporation
operating in a state is deemed to have betrayed public interest. While this
is a fairly rare practice in the United States, Adbusters has provided forms
online for people to download and use themselves. For more information on
revoking corporate charters and a downloadable form, go to
http://adbusters.org/campaigns/corporate/culturejam/charter and
http://adbusters.org/campaigns/corporate/rewritecode/innovation.html and
look under the "New York Attorney General" section.
Combined with the current write-in campaign organized by moveon.org
(http://www.moveon.org/saveGM) against the company, General Motors has been
receiving the brunt of this new war against SUVs.
"Some people do it with teams of like, six people. Me, well, I do it
myself. But one person or six people, all that matters to me is that
General Motors and all the other freaks know that the war is on, and that
SUVs are going to cost people more than just
The person questioned claimed to know people from Seattle to Florida who
tag, and says that they've begun employing this new technique as well. "We
hit every kind of SUV, but we figure since all the netfreaks wanna hit GM,
we might as well back 'em up."
General Motors declined to comment for this article. The names of those
interviewed were not included for anonymity. Information on ordering
bumperstickers or printing your own can be obtained at
http://www.changingtheclimate.com and http://www.makestickers.com/home.asp
(you can also do a Google search for other producers). Information on the
Corporate Charter Revocation forms can be obtained through adbusters at
http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/corporate - review the "Legal
Innovations" section as well as others for more details on strategies and
legal concepts; review "Charter Revocation Notice" for downloadable forms.
Information on moveon.org's GM campaign can be found at
http://www.moveon.org/saveGM and the pledge you sign automatically enrolls
you in a contest to win a hybrid car. The author is not responsible for the
results of those who use this information as a tactic or campaign.
"Hasta la victoria siempre"