Tangled up in blue –

I just today handed in my last ever undergraduate paper — so exciting that I thought I would share a little insight into the paper. In general I analyzed the relationship/partnership of Nike and the UNHCR for the purposes of sport for development campaigns – namely ninemillion.org and a program call MES: more than football. In my research I came across many intriguing and thought provoking articles – though one of my favorites is from a activist point of view and is published by corpwatch. The article brings up themes such as bluewash (the new greenwash) where multinational corporation are associated themselves with the UN to better their image (brand) and assimilate their values for the public to those of the UN. 

Check it out – “Tangled up in blue: corporate partnerships at the UN”– http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=996 

Brings into question the ethics of these venture and how different relationships (such as the Global Compact) have an effect of the goals and values of the UN. This is only an example – corporate partnership (which use to be simple donors or sponsors) are akin to NGOs all across the board in international development programs.

I am curious to some of the perspectives from the rest of you in class (finance, poli sci, etc). Are these relationships mutually benefit? Are compromises being made to development initiatives? Is it fair to say that the goals of the corporations are not synonymous with those of the the UN – even within the reaches of corporate social responsibility?