Lyft just got in trouble with Burning Man. It seems that one of their quirky community of drivers (I’m more of an Uber guy myself) put their trademark pink moustache on a Mutant Vehicle.
Burning Man didn’t like it:
@jackiehesley @burningman Sorry about that! This photo was taken by a community member who brought her 'stache to the festival.
— Lyft (@lyft) September 12, 2014
Luckily, Lyft removed it quicker than you can say “Decommodification, LLC”
@jackiehesley @burningman We have removed the tweet now.
— Lyft (@lyft) September 12, 2014
Tweeter @earlyclues pointed out the hypocrisy of the Burnier-Than-Thou who ratted out Lyft to BMOrg, and yet is blatantly using a Burning Man image in their own Twitter page to promote themselves as a real estate agent.
https://twitter.com/earlyclues/status/510541723039432705
As always…where do you draw the line? It is hard for me to see that Lyft did anything harmful to the event, it’s not like they were using the image for TV spots or billboards. The other Burner, though, is clearly using imagery from Burning Man for self-promotion. It’s their profile, not a tweet. How come this is good, and Lyft was bad?
BMOrg say nothing about the Volkswagen commercial, though as far as I know Volkswagen themselves weren’t tweeting it. In 2013, they awarded art grants to Apple iPhone and Facebook Like pieces.
[Update 9/13/14 3:02pm]
The reason the moustache was on “Big Red”, the oversized Volkswagen Beetle art car, was for a pink party.
Way to go, Burnier-Than-Thous! “How dare someone add something pink for a pink party! They’ve ruined Burning Man forever!”
The Lyft ‘stache has been spotted elsewhere on the Playa too:
How is this commodifying Burning Man in any way? I think selling hotel rooms for $13,000 each is much worse than putting a stupid furry moustache on an art car.
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In terms of that last shot of our beloved brethren Space Cowboy Unimog, this was part of a string of pranks that go back 10 years between The Deep End/DISTRIKT and the Cowboys. We thought it would be fitting to “stache” the Mog for the Hoe Down this year so everyone knew they give rides. 😉 All in good fun. Not at all meant to commodify. Now, to figure out who switched up our “I” to a giant penis…?
Oh, I bet my life that was KC from EgoTrip since we were talking about that in camp the night before it happened. Guess that was payback for swapping their sign a few years back. Let the games beginn.
Why have we lost the differentiation between commercialization and commodification? I think we all know what a commodity is, like pork bellies. Commercial would be using the event to promote commercial interests, like the iPhone and the FB Like, even as parody. How about the 800-RV-RENTS on many of the RVs? Commodification would be treating the event as a fungible commodity to be bought and sold.
Ironically enough, it is the BOrg who are doing or condoning the commodification of the NV Burn. Here it is in a convenient package to be sold. No need to be creative or to contribute. Just buy your room and your place in a non-inclusive camp.
Like “Immediacy,” the BOrg is using Commodification as a catch-all principle to have whatever meaning that suits them. I wonder if a class-action tort lawsuit is not in the future. You cannot make rules and then apply them arbitrarily. As the NVBurn gets bigger, they will piss off more and more people with their arbitrary rule applications. How long until we see ambulance-chaser lawyer ads, “Have you been arbitrarily selected for threats from Commodification LLC?”
Of course there is very little evidence that the Tin Principles(TM) play any substantive role in the decisions of the BOrg. They do what they want, and only trot out the Principles when convenient. The Principles do placate the burners who want to believe, and need a framework for their denial of the facts.
What Volkswagen commercial? I must have missed that one. Got a link?
Look at the picture. What sort of car do you see?
Looks like the rat gets immunity.
rat = sucking up to BMOrg = selective enforcement of rules
This is not a sound basis for civil society.
Did Lyft get a cease-and-desist letter in the BRC mail?
If only images remarkably similar to Burning Man were used in a Taco Bell commercial….
or a Fiat commercial, or a Lexus commercial, or a Malcolm in the Middle episode, or a 2Pac song…
After a Org Director PAYS people to work at his camp? My Burn experience was so transformative in 2010, I’m just sick at heart to see how the Org is transforming…
Technically speaking; Jim Tanenbaum, co-founder of Caravancicle, is on the Board of Directors of The Burning Man Project. That is a different from BMorg. The Burning Man Project is Burning Man’s non-profit dedicated to spreading Burner principles and values worldwide.
http://www.burningmanproject.org/about/board-of-directors
http://burningman.com/whatisburningman/organization/board.html
It is NOT different from BMOrg. BMOrg is the “Organization” behind Burning Man. It is comprised of both for-profit and non-profit companies.
In March 2014, Burning Man’s owners announced that Black Rock City, LLC (the private, for-profit company that puts on the Nevada event) had been acquired by The Burning Man Project (a 501(c)3 charitable organization).
http://blog.burningman.com/2014/03/news/burning-man-transitions-to-non-profit-organization/
All the directors/founders of BRC are still directors of BMP.
They also created another private, for-profit corporation called Decommodification, LLC. Burning Man’s founders are directors of Decommodification, LLC, too. This company owns all the intellectual property and royalty rights to the event, and is paid royalties by BMOrg.
http://burners.me/2014/03/05/decommodification-incorporated/
Real estate holdings were transferred to another, private, for-profit corporation called Black Rock City Properties LLC.
http://burners.me/2014/08/27/how-much-for-that-ranch-in-the-desert/
Other entities in the group include
Gerlach Holdings LLC
Burners Without Borders (non-profit)
Black Rock Solar (non-profit)
Black Rock Arts Foundation (non-profit)
BRAF is being merged with BMP:
http://burners.me/2014/07/28/art-world-rocked-by-burning-mans-latest-move/
BWB and BRS seem to operate pretty independently of Burning Man, but they are still part of this group.
This is an incredibly complex corporate structure for a festival, in fact I’m pretty sure that there is nothing else like it in the world.
Right now, in the structure as it has been disclosed to the public in bits and pieces, The Burning Man Project is the top of the pyramid. The Directors of BMP run Burning Man, not executives of BRC or any of the other subsidiaries.
If you want to inform yourself further, here are the bylaws: http://www.burningmanproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BurningManProjectBylaws.pdf
We need a word to describe the Organization that makes decisions about Burning Man, even though there are various sub-components in that corporate web. The word used at this blog is BMORG – Burning Man ORGanization.
Thanks for posting links to Burning Man’s directors page; but it is corporate waffle and does not explain any of this information.
Awesome explanation comment, burnersxxx.
It is sad that Larry, and of his mates, might nominate, and might elect a venture capitalist towards the BMOrg Burning Man Project Board, in the place of a respected Burner of the awesome Burner community, but, independent voices, of the awesome Burner community, upon the Project Board, by appearances, are not desired.
The rationale of the Burning Man Project Board being of 17, or of 18, or of 19 people, is the 6 prior owners of the BRC LLC are, at present times, obtaining salary from their positions upon the Burning Man Project, Marian as Chief Executive Officer or President, Larry as Executive Director, and others. Smaller than one half of a board is permitted to be conflicted of this manner, The other 4 or 5 people upon the Project Board, beyond of the required 13, by appearances, are to be near to reliable votes of Larry and of his mates. If this is not true, perchance, why not nominate, and elect, an independent voice representing of the awesome Burner community?
Viewing the link towards the bylaws of the Burning Man Project, the BRC LLC for profit corporation, owned by the Burning Man Project, has a Board, with Board members elected by one person from the Board of the Project, should not the others upon the Board of the Project vote in objection. This person, and his mates, of this control, have near to total control of the BRC LLC, Burning Man, and, of importance, through these people, the budget, and ledger, of Burning Man. Is this person Larry, or, perchance, is this person, his mate, Harley?
Viewing the link towards the bylaws of the Project, I do not comprehend of much, but, I am as ill in the stomach, as when I viewed the post of the Sherpa of Dr. Tanenbaum’s camp.
I think each founder got to pick one additional director. For example, Terry Gross (Paladin) is Michael Mikel’s attorney. Where the other 6 came from is unknown, but I’ve been doing some research and will be posting some speculation soon.
Apologies, I was not of precision with the term venture capitalist, I was of the meaning of a person that might create a camp, with dues of $13,000 of cash, and, in opposition towards the principles of Burning Man, prior to the jumping of the shark.
Sad, they need representatives of the awesome Burner community upon the board of the Project.
considering the fact that the burning man project and black rock city LLC do not own the intellectual property/trade dress to the festival they hold……. effectively, all control is in the hands of Decommodification LLC, owned by “the founders”, which owns all of the IP.
sure! we can pretend like some board of 19 people has a say…… but larry himself sort of basically said that he doesnt trust it, and this external for-profit is his way of controlling things.
the board decides to go rogue (highly doubtful, cronies up the wazoo) …well, sorry to see that we wont be licensing “burning man” or the city layout, or decompression, or the man design to you this year, such a shame too..
How the fuck can anyone say where that photo was taken? Is that art car exclusively at Bm? They need a to have a Bm.
Cw
Nonetheless, makes you wonder if the car was for hire. …No, that would be wrong. The only way you can arrange rides on the playa is to buy your tickets ahead of time by making a contribution to the art car in question. And I am sure there were rides arranged for the Commodification Camps. Maybe they were hoping to pick up some dissatified Commodification Campers?