Amazon
has been getting some really bad press lately. Workers are rallying over high
injury rates - more than double the national average according to The Center
For Investigative Reporting. The New York Times wrote a multiple page
cover story about Amazon's $15.40 wages and the company's effect on Baltimore. And then there's the fact that Amazon paid $0 in federal taxes this year, for the second year in a row. LOL. (Evans, 2019)
So
what is Amazon going to do? They could
improve working conditions for their employees.
But why bother when they can simply change the narrative?
Research
shows us that once we believe something to be true, we block out messages that
challenge those beliefs; and listen more closely to those that support
them. So just pointing out that Amazon
donated $250,000 to food banks in 2019, was enough to convince my students that
they didn't need to give up the convenience of Amazon even if Amazon's
practices conflict with their values.
You
can read their comments here...
Maybe Amazon did. Because on December 3, two days
after the story ran in the New York Times, Amazon announced their new
"Toys for Tots" holiday partnership featuring Robert Downey Jr. (Gazdik, 2019)
That
should certainly distract everyone.
At the
very least it will influence Google's algorithm so that when people search for
Amazon, the negative stories aren't the first to pop up.
And
that's the beauty of changing the narrative.
It's just so darn easy these days.
SiLive
(2019, Monday November 25) Amazon
Donates Dinners While Employees Protest Safety Issues. mediapost.com. Retrieved November 27, 2019, from
Kovach,
S. & Pagano, A. (2019, February 14) Amazon will pay $0 in federal taxes
this year - here's how the $793 billion company gets away with it. thebusinessinsider.com. retrieved December 11, 2019, from https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-not-paying-taxes-trump-bezos-2018-4
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