Group boycotts 3DS because it "abuses" Human Rights.

Ben Wiley wrote:

Hi. I'm a guy who likes video games. My favorite video games have been those I've purchased from Nintendo. I love Nintendo. And when I heard about the Nintendo 3DS, I was psyched.

Hi. I'm also a guy who cares about people. The best times in my life have been spent with people. I love people. And when I heard that Nintendo is allowing people to die and suffer grave human rights abuses for the sake of video game console production, I was horrified.

Nintendo isn't alone. The Enough Project, a campaign to end genocide and human rights abuses, has uncovered the practices of many electronics companies that involve a failure to ensure conflict minerals are not being traded for use in those companies' products. And what are conflict minerals? They are minerals that are mined in the Congo under countless abuses of human rights by armed rebel groups. Why has no one stopped this? Because we're doing the exact opposite-- fueling the war with our consumerism.

We can still have the products we enjoy while ensuring conflict minerals are not being used, and the Enough Project has ranked the companies it has surveyed on their action to change their practices and become conflict mineral-free. No one is at the top ranking yet, but several companies have made the change, including Sony and Microsoft, manufacturers of the Playstation 3 and XBox 360. However, Nintendo is one of the few at the bottom of the barrel-- a company that has stubbornly refused to investigate trade chains that bring minerals used in consoles from the mine to the factory. Why is it that they can get away with this? Because their customers haven't threatened a strike.

A strike. What is it? With workers, it's a refusal to work until conditions are met. With consumers, it's a refusal to buy products and services. Without these means, companies have no choice but to change-- or else they will be choked by the neck.

Nintendo's DS system sales are withering, and its 3DS is set to launch for sales in February in Japan and in March everywhere else. These sales are set to upstart Nintendo's next big growth in income, the beginning of a cycle it experiences about every three years. But if customers fail to come out on opening day, or the next day, or the day after that, Nintendo will notice, if not the human rights abuses it is effectively committing, the money disappearing from its company wallet.


What I am asking you to do is to refuse to buy a Nintendo 3DS system until Nintendo announces plans to halt use of conflict minerals in production-- and this can only happen through monitoring of trade systems. I am not in any way opposed to the 3DS itself-- I actually think it's one of the coolest things I've never seen in person. But I am not going to be one of the millions who looks the other way purely for entertainment, and I hope you will join me.

You do not have to be a player of video games to participate. If you are a parent of a video gamer, you can make financial decisions that affect your household. Explain the conflict to your kids, and tell them they won't be playing Nintendo's newest system until Nintendo decides to do the right thing. If you aren't into gaming but you have friends who are (trust me, you know someone), tell them about this and encourage them to get on Facebook and attend this event.

What I hope to do is have enough supporters on this event that we can fix the problem before March. That would be fabulous-- and opening day sales could go on as planned.

If Nintendo announces plans to change, I will message all who have not committed a "No" RSVP for the event. Then, you can go on with your happy shopping, knowing you are not contributing to consumption of conflict minerals.

Please invite all your friends. This can't work if you don't.

Source:https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115366428534785&index=1

wait why they boycott 3ds? because of conflict minerals? o_E

I don't see what's so bad about this boycott. If Nintendo is, in fact, using conflict minerals in their products, then that's definitely something people should know about and be able to decide for themselves if they want to buy the product or not.

TRF wrote:

I don't see what's so bad about this boycott. If Nintendo is, in fact, using conflict minerals in their products, then that's definitely something people should know about and be able to decide for themselves if they want to buy the product or not.

Whether they are or aren't, I doubt the group can pull it off.