[Quick disclaimer – I may not believe absolutely everything written below]

So I’ve been watching horror at the recent story of those poor Chilean Miners stuck underground for two months, the emotional trauma suffered, the anguish of the families and the challenges faced by the rescue teams, but most importantly I’ve been horrified by the complete lack of marketing and brand involvement. This is a PR opportunity that has gone begging! Every day I’ve read about a new endeavour to facilitate the rescue or to improve the lives of the stuck miners but I’ve got no idea which products have been used to make that happen.

I know that they were sent a home entertainment system to allow the miners to watch sports and films to keep their spirits up, but I don’t know which ingenious manufacturer developed such a cunning device that could fit in the tiny tube through which they received it.

I know that the miners have been on a special diet to ensure that they stay the right size to fit into the escape capsule, but I don’t know which nutritional company created the diet or provided the food!

I know that Camp Hope is a makeshift tent town, but why hasn’t Vango provided the tents and sleeping bags for those bitterly cold Chilean nights

There’s not even any big corporate sponsorship going on. Why hasn’t Richard Branson sponsored the Phoenix 2 Escape Capsule – this rescue mission would have cost an absolute fortune and I’m sure that a few million extra to stick “Virgin” on the side would have been very welcome.

Come on guys – the eyes of the world are on 33 guys in CHile – Sky News has had non stop rolling coverage for the past 16 hours since they sent the first rescue worker down, billions of people have been united in an outpouring of hope and joy and yet there is no-one making any money out of it. I’ve lost my faith in the cynical bastards who work in my industry.

Oh – what’s this? Oakley have created the special $450 sunglasses that they are wearing when they get out? Maybe our industry hasn’t grown a soul after all, thank god for that!

UPDATE – Someone just sent me this link after reading above post – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEnA29wK7uM I don’t understand…

Further Update – Some people have missed the sense of irony in my blog post and have accused me of being callous etc. I hoped that the disclaimer headlined the nature of the piece but maybe not.

Anyway, I feel somewhat vindicated by the news that the Oakley PR endeavour has netted them $41million in PR value http://adland.tv/content/oakley-sunglasses-chilean-miners-worth-41-million-exposure Callous or not – someone is getting a bonus.

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