Racism defining mobile plans?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Racism defining mobile plans?

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Detruire

1771 posts

Uber Geek

#215492 18-May-2009 00:32

Using an offer to target a specific race is fine, as long as it's available to other races, too.

rm *

compost

295 posts

Ultimate Geek

#216121 19-May-2009 22:11

Racism is a bit of an over the top suggestion don't you think?

If a Maori only plan was offered by 2degrees, I believe this would be a breach of human rights legislation for the provision of goods and services (unless overridden by other Maori-specific legislation I'm unaware of). But I don't think it would be a deliberate thing - rather a misguided attempt to create a unique product and target niche markets.

A time-poor geek is hardly a geek at all

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#216143 19-May-2009 23:23

it just says tailoring their offerings for specific groups e.g. Maori.

It does not say offering any sort of preferential treatment or discounts to Maori, which is something different alltogether

You can tailor your offering to target a specific demographic (whether it be Maori, students, Homosexuals, retirees, single mopthers etc etc), but unless you are restricting other customers from taking up the offer, then it is not racist (or sexist, homophobic etc etc)
Hypothetical example. 2 Degrees research might tell them that Maori use more international MMS messages on average, so if they make a plan which includes international MMS for free or at a discounted rate, then it will likely attract more Maori customers. Other people are still totally free to take up the plan if they want. Hence, not racist since everyone is given access to the plans

It's no different from an ISP offering broadband plans tailored for small businesses. They are targeted with small businesses in mind, but anyone can take up the plan if they choose to

BTW, some of Telecom's new phones have the ability to use predictive text in Maori. Is it racist that Telecom spent money on implementing a feature on it's phones that is targeted specifically to Maori? Of course not. But that is no more ridiculous than your suggestion that tailoring offerings to Maori is racist.

ETA: fixed the underlingin crazyness

Dratsab

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#216456 20-May-2009 20:27

Given that Maori have a large stake in 2degrees and Bill Osborne is Maori, it seems to me it is only natural to him to cite Maori as a sector which could have tailored offerings. He didn't say this would happen, he didn't say offerings wouldn't be considered for other ethnic groups. He merely said it is possible and cited a natural example.

For this type of "concerned debate" to pop up on Geekzone seems very media-ish to me. Making a big something out nothing. Get a perm...

simon14

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#216487 20-May-2009 22:24

...nobodys really getting perms these days...

Regs

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Snowflake

#216514 21-May-2009 01:29

shareholders of a company are often entitled to better offerings that the general public. in a way 'maori' are shareholders through the ownership of the frequency. i see no problem in offering that 'group' discounted access

given that 'maori' are spread across NZ and there are a lot that don't live in the cities where 2degrees have infrastructure of their own I wonder if it will only become 'maori who live in akl, wlg, chch' who get the special offers...

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jbucky

24 posts

Geek

#219880 30-May-2009 16:55

Detruire: Using an offer to target a specific race is fine, as long as it's available to other races, too.

Agreed!

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zkcow

57 posts

Master Geek

#219970 30-May-2009 22:23

Agree with Dertruire completely.

The concept of offering deals tailored to one race (or any other group really) is fine, providing they are not exclusive to that group. I don't think the idea is inherently racist - and at least 2degrees is trying something novel.

simon14

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#220072 31-May-2009 11:26

If it's not exclusive to that group, that's absolutely fine.

If it is exclusive to that group, then there will be problems.

Wait and see i guess.

Kyanar

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#220150 31-May-2009 16:03

Depends how they implement it. If their mechanism is to allow the customisation of plans beyond "bundles" (ie. permitting negotiation of the contract) then that's all good, because that would be available to everyone - and a welcome change too! I don't see anything deliberately racist, just badly worded. He did say "such as" after all, so the only change I'd make to that sentence is to not provide an example at all.

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