back to article Greenpeace labels Dell 'a bloody marketing machine'

Greenpeace has lambasted Dell's decision to "backtrack" on its commitments to remove hazardous chemicals from all of its products. The eco-hardliner pressure group protested outside Dell offices in Bangalore and Amsterdam yesterday, calling on the vendor to stop "backtracking" over its promises to remove polyvinyl chloride ( …

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  1. Basic
    Grenade

    I bet cheapo Acer are happy

    What a lovely backhanded compliment for Acer.

    1. bolccg
      Thumb Up

      Was just going to say exactly that!

      Not exactly an incentive for low cost manufacturers to try to meet Greenpeace's demands, is it?

  2. Aron
    Flame

    morons

    There's nothing wrong with PVC or BFRs. Here's what Greenpeace's founder has to say:

    http://greenspirit.com/logbook.cfm?msid=134

    http://www.greenspirit.com/logbook.cfm?msid=82

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      PVC

      Left alone PVC is pretty much the safest stuff on the planet.

      Burning it without scrubbing the fumes is seriously unhealthy as it releases chlorine compounds into the atmosphere. Some studies have linked PVC incineration with elevated levels of dioxins in nearby soil - although the evidence is less clear-cut than some environmentalists make out.

      Vinyl chloride monomer is known to cause liver and bone damage as well as an almost unrivalled range of cancers. Fortunately modern PVC plants have tightened up their emissions and rates of liver cancer in particular amongst workers and those living nearby are almost indistinguishable from the population as a whole.

      PVC can be nasty when it is softened using phthalate plasticisers. This used to be very common in products like children's toys, and baby's bottles. The phthalates can leach into the body either directly or when picked up by fatty substances (such as milk). Phthalates are known gender benders and cause infertility in even limited amounts. Some of them are also known carcinogens.

      Most Western manufacturers have banned certain phthalates - especially diethylhexyl phthalate - from toys, although they are used in other PVC products where ingestion is unlikely - but they will most likely still eventually enter the environment as the products are disposed of.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Who cares about these reports?

    Does anyone buy a computer on the basis of their "green" credentials, or what Greenpeace say about the company?

  4. Albert Stienstra

    Liars

    In view of their track record in telling lies, I never believe anything Greenpace say anymore.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    "bloody marketing machine"?

    Pot, meet Kettle

  6. Defiant
    Happy

    I'll be using them now

    Must be a good company if Greenpeace don't like them

  7. McMoo

    Who cares?

    Greenpeace are a bunch of idiots. Who really cares whether their new technology harms anything - sod it, I'm after number one.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Buying a Dell

    > "The company is just a bloody marketing machine," claimed Kruszewska.....

    Which, aside from their environmental credentials, also sums up Dell's technical, and customer support.

    1. Boring Bob

      asd

      And GreenPeace isn't a bloody marketing machine?

  9. Lionel Baden
    Megaphone

    greenpeace

    I used to think they were quite good and helpfull along with the like of WWF

    nowadays my only impression of them is jumped up power hungry nazi's

    i kinda feel sorry for dell and the like because even if they did cut all that crap out greenpeace will just start beating on them for something else till they stop making everything

  10. JayB
    Alert

    Cretins

    Can we have a deadline on banning supercilious Eco muppets from the world of Tech?

    Greenpeace - We lie to get our way and if you disagree you're an evil planet hater... and we'll probably cry at you.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    I have been struck...

    blind, by an attack of the blindingly obvious.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Most greenpeace types would have dihydrogen monoxide banned

    says it all really.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Hmm...

    I remember when leadless solder was enforced back in the early 2000s - That was supposed to be a 'greener' manufacturing process too... only with the small problem of higher failure rates due to the solder being less ductile and therefore more prone to joint fracture...

  14. Lord Elpuss Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Greenpeace vs. Ryanair

    Now there's a battle I'd pay to watch.

    GREENPEACE: "We're disappointed that Ryanair has not committed to removing metal from all of it's planes, because we once knew somebody who cut themselves with a knife and the knife was made of metal therefore all metal is evil. Ryanair is a bloody marketing organisation who are only interested in the corporate bottom line."

    O'LEARY: "Fuck off, you tree-hugging hippy enviro-nut greeny-weeny brainless vegan turdspurts."

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      ryanair

      Not to mention all the fuel used by Ryanair's ops. You would think GP would like to bitch about that too.

  15. da_fish27
    FAIL

    wtf?

    [quote]"The company is just a bloody marketing machine," claimed Kruszewska, who added that Greenpeace would continue to protest against Dell's sluggish response to dropping the chemicals from its entire product range.

    [/quote]

    Get your vocabulary and logic straight. A quick look in the dictionnary:

    marketing : the commercial processes involved in promoting and selling and distributing a product or service; "most companies have a manager in charge of marketing"

    First, using this definition, most would agree that Apple is the unprecedented winner of the marketing run, yet it is still quite green. Where is the connection?

    Second, the fact that a company has a bad "green department" does not mean that its marketing department is automatically bigger than other company's. It might suck just as much, and even if there can be a connection, seriously, drawing random conclusions like this?

    Third, being green can be used as a marketing tool -- and it is so, very often. Today, much awareness over these issues has been raised (why do you think that Apple has a special page, "the environment", here, for the Macbook : http://www.apple.com/macbook/environment.html ?).

    Faulty logic, Greenpeace.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Pot, meet the kettle.

    "Greenpeace labels Dell 'a bloody marketing machine'

    And Greenpeace isn't? Damned hypocrites: All they do is collect money and advertise.

    Even Dell is more honest, you get some hardware in exchange for your money.

    1. chr0m4t1c
      Joke

      Yeah

      They were more fun when they used to spend their time winding up the French and the Japanese.

  17. Il Midga di Macaroni
    Pint

    Damn, now I'm going to have to buy Dells!

    I've never liked Dell until now.

    Hey Greenpeace, can you do a green audit of Lenovo? I've heard they use electricity from coal fired power stations in their factory, doesn't that make them evil planet warmers? Please?

    Thanks. Now I can choose between the two.

    Beer because it causes me to contribute my own warming gases to the atmosphere.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    I don't....

    give a f* about what loosers of Greenpeace say... I am sniffing these plastics since I got my first C64 and I feel so good!

  19. Dana W
    Jobs Halo

    Whats good for the goose.........

    When Greenpeace was busily spanking Apple, the saw mostly approval here. Now that they have set their sights on the highly plastic computers of the Dell Corporation, they are hippies and crazies.

    Dell can't match standards with ACER? That's just sad.

    Apple, HP, and even Acer cleaned up their acts, its Dell's turn to grow up. Or perhaps as Mr.Dell once said about another company, they should "shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders"

  20. Wallyb132
    Grenade

    Terrorists...

    Greenpeace is nothing more than a pack of overzealous eco-terrorists, and thus should be treated accordingly. they should be considered a threat at all times, and when spotted in packs of 3 or more they should be viewed as immediately dangerous to life and health. Given this classification every citizen of this planet has a duty and responsibility to protect the planet from these terrorists, when spotted, shoot to kill...

  21. Ramanathan Venkataraman
    Grenade

    A great man once said...

    "The earth doesn't share our prejudice towards plastic...plastic came out of the earth, the earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children...could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place: it wanted plastic for itself, didn't know how to make it, needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old philosophical question...why are we here?: Plastic, assholes."

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