Cash Mobs and Carrots

Submitted by Eli Malinsky on January 17, 2012 - 11:58pm

Another example of social innovation in action. I read an article today (on paper - no link!!???) about "Cash Mobs," which have their roots in Flash Mobs... BUT, their goal is to convene people to shop together. No, it's not empty consumerism...it's about leveraging social media to direct consumer action in support of social change. Sort of a crowd-funding, market transformation, social media, do-gooder mash-up.

I first heard of the concept a few years back with Carrot Mob - which is an amazing organization that's been spearheading this innovation. You should check out their online video description... really an amazing way to wield consumer spending for positive social change.

From their site:

"Carrotmob gives you the power to make the world a better place by influencing how businesses operate. Instead of organizing boycotts, we offer to spend money as a group if a business agrees to make a socially responsible change. The crazy part is that it actually works! We've had over 175 campaigns all over the world and once we have enough people we'll do the same thing with big companies!"

Are there other examples of this "crowd-shopping for social good" that you've come across? Does this idea have the potential to scale against corporations/industry - not in terms of boycott, but in actually directing consumer spending?

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Carrotmob previous attemp

Submitted by Anonymous on February 1, 2012 - 6:17pm.

Myself and a group of friends pulled off the first Carrotmob in Toronto - at the same time i was researching the topic for graduate school. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/a-little-mob-money-can...

It was a great introduction to community organizing - but it required much more long term guidance and partnership between consumers and the specific business using the "buycott" than I had expected. With more than 300 on the carrotmob TO list, if anyone has ideas for how the next buycott could be organized - let us know.

Voting with your moula

Submitted by Barnabe Geis on January 18, 2012 - 6:14pm.

Another interesting parallel is the "move your money" movement in the U.S. and to a lesser extent maybe here in Canada. People are pulling their cash out of the "too big to fail" banks and stashing it with community banks and credit unions. As they say, money talks.