Welcome to the choicemob

1 - Buy from Better World Books on December 7th: Click the choicemob button above to go to Better World Books. Order a book or a gift card, get free, carbon-offset shipping, and smile. (If you'd like your purchase to support Invisible Children specifically, use this link.)

2 - Spread the Word: Post something like the status below in Facebook/Twitter/AIM, whathaveyou.

I just bought a gift from Better World Books as part of the choicemob. You're invited to do the same. http://bit.ly/bwbchoicemob

Post about choicemob on your blog (sample post here), and use either this custom link or this code for the button you see above so we can track our effectiveness.
http://bit.ly/bwbchoicemob

<a href="http://www.betterworldbooks.com/?utm_source=choicemob"><img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ku48p3u5O21qa5d1z.png" /></a>

Change your profile pics to the picture below (click for full size).

Everyone who helps share and pings the choicemob fan page or twitter or tumblr will be eligible for a giveaway of custom recycled choicemob gift bags by Emily Grace Goodrich.

3 - If you're giving Better World Books as a gift, let the recipient know:

Print out this card and include it with your gift (links to PDF):

Use this stencil to make choicemob gift bags. Print it on thick paper (or paste it on posterboard) cut it out, and spay it onto a bag - paper, plastic, cloth, whatever you like. Make sure to let it dry before giving it away. (click for full-size jpg, 10in width, 300 dpi)

4 - Start brainstorming the next choicemob: Chocolates for Valentine's Day? Sandals for Spring? Green top hats for St. Patty's Day? Share your ideas on our facebook page.

This is a great beginning.

How Choicemob will Change the Market

The goal of the choicemob is to make it profitable for companies to practice Fairness, Compassion, and Respect for the Earth. Here’s why:

1 - The first priority of business is to make a profit. This focus on profit has pulled billions of people out of poverty and given much of the world unprecedented standards of living. But…

2 - Profit drove many businesses to bad practices. Over the last 50 years businesses flew all over the world looking to cut costs with the cheapest labor and raw materials in order to increase profits. Sometimes this led to abuses like child labor, deforestation, and conflict minerals. And we consumers didn’t ask many questions. We just enjoyed the cheap stuff and the rising stock prices. Anyone can tell you that this is unethical, and now that global business has gone from a $1 trillion game to a $61 trillion game over that same fifty years, we can see it’s also unsustainable.

3 - Only profit will convince the business world to embrace social values. Making money is still top priority for business. So if we want business to do good we have to make doing good profitable. Luckily this is way easier than it sounds. As a business owner, let me tell you: Consumers are powerful. If you buy something from me, I’ll keep making it the same way. If you don’t buy it, I’ll try something new. And if you buy from someone else instead of me, I’ll start doing what they’re doing. It’s that simple.

So if we aim our collective buying power at companies that uphold our common values: Fairness, Compassion, and Respect for the Earth, we can change the market. By supporting their bottom line and shouting all over about how great their social values are, we’ll draw the envy of other businesses. They’ll see that we’re serious about our values, and they’ll start to change to earn our business.

And when business changes, the world changes. This coming Monday we choicemob Better World Books. Let’s show the world that we mean business.

An invitation to the choicemob

Business is changing the world, right now, every day, more dramatically than ever. Our industrialized, globalized, informationalized economy has offered billions a ladder out of poverty and improved livelihoods around the world. But it simultaneously exploits our planet and our fellow men at unprecedented levels. And it doesn't have to.

Business is the most radically adaptive form of organization, constantly testing the marketplace and shifting to accommodate. If we speak our values loudly enough business will listen and adapt. But we must speak in the language of the market - money and attention.

That's why I'm starting the choicemob. It's a simple idea: A community of people committed to improving the way that business operates by supporting companies that uphold our common values: Fairness, Compassion, and Respect for the Earth.

By driving sales and attention for these companies we will improve their bottom line and draw the envy of their competitors. We will help make social value the next disruptive force in the marketplace.

The first choicemob starts in a week in support of Better World Books. Check them out - they're an amazing company. We need as many people as possible to buy gifts from and write articles, posts, statuses about Better World Books - hundreds of people, thousands of people - the more the better.

If you agree that business should reflect our common values - Fairness, Compassion, and Respect for the Earth - please join the choicemob and invite your friends.

choicemob Statement of Purpose: