Green Corporate Interest Invades BRC… Sort of…
Burning Man Grows Up, an article at CNNMoney by Chris Taylor, tells of Green tech companies coming to the burn 2007 in a sort of “world’s fair” exposition context.
This, no doubt, will cause some waves. Here are some interesting quotes from the article:
America’s biggest counterculture jamboree is also a $10 million business. Now, Business 2.0 reports, it’s trying to leverage its brand — and save the planet — by (gasp!) inviting corporate participants.
So the organization decided that the companies that come this summer will have to play by Burning Man’s rules. The first letter inviting corporate participants was pulled off the website after only a few days; Harvey says it made the event sound too much like a trade fair. The revision stated explicitly that no marketing whatsoever would be allowed at the event.
Clean-tech companies can exhibit their technologies, but their products can’t display a logo. No marketing material will be allowed. Company reps can’t even demonstrate their wares in the pavilion; they have to turn them over to Burning Man, which will demonstrate the technologies in whatever artistic form it chooses.
Still, some attendees fear that the arrival of corporations - even without business cards - is the death knell for Burning Man. ‘I’m sure the corporations are thinking, OK, this year those are the terms,’ says one prominent Burning Man artist involved in building the Man itself. ‘But now the door’s open. In the end, the money wins.’
