WebProNews

Tag: online petition

  • Mad Max Game Will Include An Australian Accent For The Lead Character

    Count me as one of those who are highly anticipating the upcoming Mad Max video game. The idea of navigating Max through a nuclear war-torn Australian wasteland, open world-style, in a souped up Interceptor and a double-barreled shotgun sounds pretty damn cool. The anticipation increases when you realize the upcoming game is not just a movie tie-in being rushed to the market.

    The developers, Just Cause’s Avalanche Studios, seem committed to making a game that pleases not just fans of the franchise, but other, perhaps younger gamers who may not be as familiar with the source material.

    While the reception has been warm concerning the idea, some details about the game–which is currently scheduled for a 2014 release–have left some fans a little cold. Chief among them, the idea that the lead character was supposed to have an American accent. The following YouTube comment from the Gamespot video sums the mood about Max’s accent rather well:

    2 things I don’t like so far: 1. “Revenge isn’t something Max is interested in”.Bullshit. Why the hell was the series called Mad Max in the first place? Cos his wife and son were killed by a gang. 2 I found out the accents are (no offence) American not Australian! As an Australian and having watched the movies this is a bad move.

    Oz Man

    This sentiment gathered enough steam to warrant an online petition at Change.org, which featured this simple request:

    Avalanche Studios: Hire an Australian actor to portray Max in the Mad Max videogame.

    After gathering almost 3000 supporters (2884 as of this post)–which is below the stated goal of 5000–it generated enough hubbub to reach the developers. This, in turn, led to Christofer Sundberg, founder and Chief Creative Officer at Avalanche, to tweet the following:


    And thus, we have another example of an outspoken Internet audience bringing about a positive change in the world of video games.

    [H/t to PCGamesN]

  • Tebow Fans’ Plea Hits White House Petition Site

    The White House’s online petition website has been used to promote both serious and silly ideas since its debut. Petitions to build a death star or make an R. Kelly song the national anthem don’t seriously deserve the president’s time, but others, such as the anti-CISPA petition, reflect the policy views of many Americans.

    Now, NFL fans have used the website to petition the President of the United States to get Tim Tebow a job.

    According to an Orlando Sentinel report, Jacksonville Jaguars fans want Tebow to be their quarterback badly enough to bother President Obama with their cause. A petition was filed on the website to encourage the president to “call Jacksonville Jaguars GM David Caldwell and tell him to stop ignoring Jaguars fans and sign Tim Tebow.” The petition, which claimed Tebow’s presence would increase Jaguar ticket sales, has since been taken down.

    Tebow was released from his job with the New York Jets in April. Since that time, Tebow, now a free agent, hasn’t garnered intrest from any other NFL teams, including the Miami Dolphins.

    Tebow gained notoriety with the Denver Broncos in 2011 before being traded to the Jets in 2012. He has also gained a fan following for his outspoken Christian religious beliefs.

  • David Hasselhoff Wants to Save the Berlin Wall

    It’s a well-known fact that David Hasselhoff is big in Germany. Now, “The Hoff” is seeking to preserve a piece of German history.

    The actor is protesting the removal of a section of the Berlin Wall. The section is one of the last pieces of the wall to remain standing, after it was dismantled from 1989 to 1991.

    Hasselhoff is now backing a Change.org petition to prevent the “East Side Gallery” from being taken down. According to the petition, a developer is seeking to move the wall to make way for a “luxury housing development.”

    Hasselhoff echoes the text of the petition on his blog, saying that the wall is now part of German history and should be preserved as a symbol of freedom. From the blog post:

    In 1989 on New Year’s Eve I sang on the top of Berlin Wall, you all know that, it’s no secret. I sang for freedom and for all people who were going through a terrible things living “behind the curtain” or behind the Wall if you prefer. Now they are trying to tear down the wall to put up an apartment complex.

    The Berlin Wall is not just a symbol and part of German history, it’s a symbol for every single person who lived in fear for their lives and in horrible conditions that we, who were lucky to live in countries that represent democracy in its full meaning, couldn’t even imagine and the fall of the Wall represents a new beginning and a hope for all of them.

    Hasselhoff did indeed sing on the Berlin Wall shortly after the wall’s gates were opened for East Germans. The blurry footage of the event seen below features Hasselhoff singing and wearing a light-up leather jacket, with Brandenburg Gate in the background.

  • Advertisers Abandon Village Voice Media Over Child Sex Ads

    In the wake of an online petition started by Ohio minister Justin Wassel, over two dozen advertisers have pulled their advertisements from Village Voice Media. According to Wassell, Backpage.com, a website dedicated to listing classifieds from all across the country, frequently runs ads for children prostitutes, a practice he brought to the attention of the site’s numerous advertisers. As the number of virtual signatures on the petition grew, so did the number of companies who no longer wished to do business with Village Voice.

    “I’m thrilled to hear so many companies have dropped their advertisements from Village Voice Media publications,” Wassel stated in a recent interview. “Many of them are major national brands who cater to families and children, so it’s only natural they should be concerned about their advertisements supporting child sex trafficking.”

    Here’s the full complaint as stated on the Change.com petition:

    On Backpage.com, there are countless adults and minors being trafficked every day through the ads posted. Traffickers may falsify photos, ages, and certainly identity, or have other adults or minors ‘available’ as an addition or alternative to the person posted. It is extremely easy for them to circumvent any existing and lacking laws and policies that prohibit this. Although Village Voice cooperates with police with investigation, there are so few that are actually captured per the hundreds of adults and children that are exploited every single night, who are forced to suffer through 5 to 20 acts of intruisive, illlicit sexual acts, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (minus days where the victim has been too ill or injured from abuse to perform).

    Presently, 27 companies have pulled their ads from the site. The list of ship-jumpers includes American Airlines, AT&T, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Buddy Stubbs, Carnegie Hall, the Children’s Wish Foundation International, Crown Imports LLC, H&M, Harkins Theatre, Harley Davidson, High Times, Ikea, Live Nation, Macy’s, Miami Dolphins, MillerCoors, New York Public Radio, the NYC Film Forum, Park Avenue Church, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, REI, Relativity Media, Starbucks, T-Mobile, and the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. Those are some big names with a lot of money to spend on advertising.

    Will you continue to support Village Voice Media if they don’t clean up Backpage? You can read a few Twitter reactions to the news below.

    @IHOP @VillageVoice has been linked to child sex trafficking- please take a stand and pull your ads- http://t.co/zpT0ssad REMEMBER NOVEMBER 23 minutes ago via Twitter for Android ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Why aren’t liberals protesting? /RT @mashable: 27 Advertisers Leave Village Voice Following Child Sex Ad Scandal http://t.co/jl62ZovJ 1 hour ago via Project Macaw for webOS ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Village voiceless: http://t.co/1Ow3B5CD That’s what you get for helping sex traffickers you jerks. 2 hours ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • FLA And Apple Conduct Audits Of Final Assembly

    Today, Apple announced that the Fair Labor Association will begin conducting a series of special audits at Foxconn’s Chinese final assembly plants. Per Apple’s request, the FLA will be inspecting plant safety, process documents, factory and dormitory conditions, working hours, and management practices. The inspections will encompass Foxconn facilities in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China where nearly 90% of Apple products are assembled.

    Apple CEO, Tim Cook comments on the audits:

    “We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we’ve asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers,”

    “The inspections now underway are unprecedented in the electronics industry, both in scale and scope, and we appreciate the FLA agreeing to take the unusual step of identifying the factories in their reports.”

    Since 2006, Apple has regularly performed audits of their manufacturing partners facilities, but the current FLA partnership appears to be motivated by recent claims of abuse at the Foxconn factories in China and a rising call for action by supporters of the Apple brand.

  • White House: No Comment On Petition To Investigate Chris Dodd For Bribery

    As MPAA chairman, former Senator Chris Dodd had to address all of the SOPA backlash coming from every corner of the internet. And boy did he. Dodd went on a tear, calling the Wikipedia blackout an “abuse of power,” to which Jimmy Wales said: No, it’s democracy and oh yeah you should be fired. He said that the shelving of SOPA and PIPA would cost Americans jobs and expose us to foreign threats. To which actor Wil Wheaton called Dodd a “tone deaf asshole.”

    Dodd continued to talk, drawing the ire of many when he went on Fox News and basically admitted to buying votes in Congress. He said:

    Candidly, those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.

    This prompted someone to create a petition on The White House’s petition site We The People, asking that Chris Dodd and the MPAA be investigated for bribery. The petitioner described Dodd’s act as “a brazen flouting of the ‘above the law’ status people of Dodd’s position and wealth enjoy.” Apparently, more than a few people agreed because the petition currently has over 31,000 signatures. That means it has reached the threshold to merit an official White House response.

    And The White House has responded….kind of. See for yourself:

    Thank you for signing this petition. We appreciate your participation in the We the People platform on Whitehouse.gov. However, consistent with the We the People Terms of Participation and our responses to similar petitions in the past, the White House declines to comment on this petition because it requests a specific law enforcement action.

    If you head on over to the Terms of Participation, you’ll find this applicable note:

    To avoid the appearance of improper influence, the White House may decline to address certain procurement, law enforcement, adjudicatory, or similar matters properly within the jurisdiction of federal departments or agencies, federal courts, or state and local government in its response to a petition.

    Now, it would be a lie to call this response a shocker. This is why the internet community has expressed such a lack of faith in this process. If The White House was actually looking into this, it would befit them to not go into details about it – but even if they were, they could respond in a better way than this. At least the petition shows us that there are plenty of people out there watching, and when someone mentions political bribery on national television, it won’t go unnoticed.

    [Hat Tip to TechDirt]

  • Online Petition For Bringing Breast Feeding Segments Back To Sesame Street

    It’s hard to believe Sesame Street has been on the air since 1969. Needless to say, our society has grown and evolved since the show originally released. Now, Cookie Monster is whacking out on vegetables (which this author still cringes at). One topic which has been brought to the limelight recently is how the show has handled the topic of breastfeeding. More specifically, how the show has completely axed breast feeding from segments which show babies being fed.

    This all started on a blog titled, boobietime.blogspot.com (hold your snickers), where an astute mother discovered how the act of baby feeding had changed on Sesame Street from the 70’s, 80’s and into the 90’s.

    She found clips of breastfeeding occurring in episodes in the 70’s and 80’s, but sometime during the 90’s the show started showing the bottle option exclusively. The article was posted at the end of December which led to an online petition in the beginning of January, titled: Bring breastfeeding back to Sesame Street.

    The petition has a signature goal of 7,500, which it looks to hit. I started this article, went to lunch and came back to see the number of signatures grow from 4,700 to eclipsing the 5,000 mark. Here’s a description of what the petition is looking to gain: “Please take a moment to sign this petition to bring breastfeeding back to Sesame Street. Back in the 70’s and 80’s nursing was tastefully shown on the show but now they have replaced their nursing videos with bottles. Please note…We are not asking Sesame Street to remove bottle feeding. We are asking that both ways of feeding babies be shown as normal. If we normalize breastfeeding in our community, especially with our children, we can help raise a generation of breastfeeders which will support our economy, make for healthier children and lessen the risk of breast cancer for many nursing mamas!

    The original blogger found these clips of breastfeeding being shown on the program during the 70’s and 80’s…

    …and here’s the latest version of the subject of babies, which released sometime in the 90’s.

    As a 27 year old male I don’t think I could be anymore neutral towards the subject of breastfeeding. I don’t hold any negative connotations towards it, and wish these online petitioners the best. What I’m wondering is what occurred in the 90’s that turned us all into such prudes? When it comes to the more discrete aspect of our bodies, I tend to follow the belief of Kramer from Seinfeld. We all got em’.