An editorial in today's China Daily reminds businesses of the moral decadence caused by marketers. In particular, the editorial points at a beer fountain that was to be used at a Harbin beer festival.
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\nThe editorial reads:<\/p>\n
Plans for a fountain of beer at the Harbin beer festival have been scrapped after a trial run prompted a nationwide outcry last week.<\/p>\n Ten tons of beer used in the pilot operation flowed into the drainage system of the capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.<\/p>\n The fountain is not only a tasteless promotional tool but also the manifestation of a trend that is of more concern than marketing professionals that lack imagination.<\/p>\n For some, the pursuit of affluence has become a drive for extravagance.<\/p>\n Society desperately needs to promote values that will encourage enterprises to use wealth sensibly and encourage citizens to abandon their dreams of unreasonably luxurious lifestyles.<\/p>\n Inaction in the face of the negative trend will result in further waste of resources and decay of morals.<\/p>\n Understandably the organizers of the beer festival wanted to use the spectacular centrepiece to attract visitors. They said the fountain promoted \"beer culture.\"<\/p>\n But what many saw was not a flowing cultural monument but a symbol for \"reckless waste of nature's produce\" a sin condemned by Chinese classics.<\/p>\n Organizers planned to use 90 tons of beer for the fountain. Experts say producing that much beer consumes 1,800 tons of water, 18 tons of barley and rice, and 9 tons of coal.<\/p>\n That is outrageous in a developing country that is troubled by shortages of energy and water, and other natural resources.<\/p>\n The figures are in sharp contrast to the social realities of Heilongjiang, one of the provinces that have suffered most during the transition from the planned economy to a market-based one.<\/p>\n The province, which used to be a leading heavy industry base, suffers heavily from large groups of laid-off workers from State enterprises, recipients of social welfare for people with the lowest living standards, and the lowest urban resident per capita consumption.<\/p>\n A worker installing devices at the fountain was quoted by the Heilongjiang Morning News as saying that in his everyday life, buying a bottle of beer is a matter to be properly thought through.<\/p>\n Many better-off Chinese have fallen prey to materialism, leading them to pursue commodities that are out of their financial reach.<\/p>\n Luxury goods, excessively large houses and expensive sedan cars are selling at an exponential rate.<\/p>\n Many companies and business people are enthusiastic about ostentatious activities. Corporate social responsibility remains a mystery to them.<\/p>\n Local government officials are known for their love of grand ceremonies and projects.<\/p>\n From the explanation given by an official from Harbin's tourism bureau, we can deduce the beer fountain had the backing of the local government.<\/p>\n Just a few days ago, at a beer festival in Chongqing, a southwestern city, revellers threw tons of beer over each other for fun.<\/p>\n It is a relief that not everybody watched the fountain with awe and envy. Many heavily criticized the ridiculous move. Sober journalists also played a crucial role in stopping the great waste.<\/p>\n Combating similar waste remains a huge problem that is likely to get worse.<\/p>\n Concrete measures are needed to provide incentives for conservation and impose limitations or punishments on waste.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An editorial in today's China Daily reminds businesses of the moral decadence caused by marketers. In particular, the editorial points at a beer fountain that was to be used at a Harbin beer festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n