Who Protects Brand Montego Bay?

Brand Montego: Part 1

The City has to Develop and Protect it's Brand

A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well. Jeff Bezos

“There is more similarity in the marketing challenge of selling a precious painting by Degas and a frosted mug of root beer than you ever thought possible.”
A. Alfred Taubman

Imagine the words Montego Bay, instantaneously it brings to mind, relaxation, coconut and palm trees, white sand beaches, sun and sometimes even sex - it's one of the most powerful images in the Caribbean. So how is it, dozens of companies use the name to sell products – Payless is notorious for selling a brand of sandals called the Montego Bay Club, there is even a foreign band full of white boys called Montego Bay Band, A Freemason pub of some sort in England with the Name Montego Bay littering the menu- so I put it to both the government and the public now, that we start considering seeking protection for Brand Montego Bay, under intellectual property, through trademark and copyright.

Freemasons Arms Pub... on the Menu Montego Bay Chicken Wrap!

We must consider that in today’s environment cities compete amongst each other for talent, business and human resources. In many ways they have to act like commercial entities by selling themselves to potential customers – business investors, visitors/tourists, the working and creative classes– as successful, vibrant, forward-looking brands. Simply put they have to market themselves as the place to be, project an image of tomorrow and betterment. At the same time that image, that name, that identity must be guarded. Just as commercial entities, have lawyers and make legal cases on issues of copyright and trademark infringement. So too must local government and even central government entities now seek to protect the Brand Montego Bay and Brands of Jamaica.

How do a group of white boys in America or is it England become the Montego Bay Band?

Intellectual property rules offer the potential to provide a valuable source of income for people in developing countries, who tend to get only a small sliver of the profits made on their goods on the international market. Do we profit from made in China T-Shirts that say Montego Bay. NOPE! Montegonians are not getting value. Their image and name is being abused. Consequently I saw a study that detail through study of Mobay and other areas, how Brand Jamaica has mostly benefited entities like Puma, whilst craft vendors and small businesses flailing in the harsh economy.

Montego Bay City must re-examine its role and function, as well as define its appeal to ‘citizens/consumers’, at the same time protecting the name and the Brand of the city for the citizens. Our city must distinguish itself from our competitors (Kingston, Portmore, Ocho Rios) and position our self as a recognizable brand in an increasingly regional and international market place. Port of Spain, San Fernando, Bridgetown, Kingstown are all Caribbean cities vying for status and international cosmopolitan appeal, so what of us in the Bay?

I noted on twitter that a few Kingstonians started noticing that “Mobay look like farrin” and that “any time mi waan go farrin mi go Fairview, Montego Bay.”

Here is an excerpt of Mobay through a foreigners eyes

“Downtown resembled a cross between America and what we would picture as rural Africa. The streets were full of activity. People yelling, laughing, buying and selling items. Playing music. Their skin was black as tar and beautiful. Their hair was the epitome of natural. They wore clothes that we would have worn in the early 2000’s but did their best to match it up.”

From instagram.com (via @RudeboyRJ) - June 3, 4:05 PM

What is the vision of Mobay, what is the vision for Montego Bay, who protects the name Montego Bay? The name Montego Bay has been already been branded and used and bandied about like there is no tomorrow, but Montegonians haven't seen the benefits.

I put it out there that Montego Bay is the biggest cultural brand in the Caribbean. When I travel abroad, Montego Bay always seems to be the more popular Jamaican destination and known location. So those companies using the Montego Bay Brand in ways that really do enhance their business, they use the name to make association with luxury, comfort, sun, breeze and such... so it's reasonable for the Montegonians to ask, Why aren't you coming to talk to us? Why aren't you asking our permission? Why don't you engage with us?

The notion of cities and cultures seeking IP protection is not an entirely new one - the Native American Navajo recently brought a case against the clothes company Urban Outfitters, for use of their name.

Relying on past glory is no longer enough; As the once den like, homely Montego Bay is now becoming a metropolis and showing a citizenry acquiring the cosmopolitan lifestyles to go with it… the friendly city is now a big city, and nowhere near as friendly as it used to be. 

Today, successful companies and young talented people have lost hometown loyalties; note the influx of outsiders and outside businesses in Mobay, not to mention the ‘Spanish Invasion’. They can choose where to cluster. Cities with distinctive characteristics; be they economic, cultural, environmental or life style, and it these things that will attract the best companies and people. So now we have questions of Montego Bay’s identity and its brand identity: What are the distinctive characteristics of Montego Bay, what makes us, US?


To Be Cont’d

On Anti-heterosexuality, Anti-hetero-pathy & Heterophobia: The Unpopular Intellectual Opinion!

As the Rowdy Gays saga continues... I have seen the gay community saying The Jamaica Observer is being vindictive, for publishing the address of where the gay men had been squatting. The media's prime objective in reporting is to answer the 5 W's who, what, WHERE, why and when. I will admit the first published article leaned on some bias as is indicated by tone and choice of words, but the writer never truly crossed any line in journalistic integrity. I don't want to seem insensitive or rude on the issue but... are we now to toby to the whims of unscrupulous gay men and wards who violate the law by squatting, by being rowdy and soliciting or eliciting media attention by attacking the media. 

I say the gay community has let prejudice, colour its judgement in hot pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, indigo/blue and violet. The colors of J-flag has shrink wrapped the brains of many in our national and diaspora's intelligentsia... and to oppose the homosexual lobby is to be unpopular and court the life of a pariah.
I am pro-tolerance and never promote harm to humanity, but I disapprove of homosexuality and feel a sincere attempt to shut up, lock off, label, libel and slander any intelligent opinion that does not agree with homosexuality as antiquated, draconian, non-progressive or not with the progressive liberal agenda... dunce... outdated and overly or unnecessarily militant. Is there a polite way to just say no to homosexuality! Once you show any dissent on homosexuality you are branded ’homophobic.’ While these accusation do not fill me with indignation, I know they are an inaccurate description of what I do, who I am, or how I think.

This sudden groundswell of Anti-heterosexuality, Anti-hetero-pathy, Heterophobia, Anti-hetero-philia... would seem as if they are in the process of being consecrated into an ideology. If your straight shut up. Our have no right to free speech straight people... shut up... u can have no legitimate grouse against homosexuals! The terms “homophobic” and "homophobia" are usually used by the Gay Activists and Lobby Group to discredit and inaccurately define its critics. Once someone is branded homophobic, the chances are that he or she will be judged before they are heard, and the argument will be lost in the welter of bruised gay pride and ego.

But what do the terms “homophobic” and "homophobia" mean? Do they mean you are anti-music or Elton John or Luther Vandross? Or that you’re opposed to freedom of choice? That you don’t delight in listening to Diana King (whom I love dearly, I listen to her version of "Say a Little Prayer" ritually) or Freddie Mercury (everyone in Jamaica sings "Another one bites the dust)? That you have a quarrel with Shebada? Does it mean that you don’t admire the positive work of hundreds of thousands of possibly and notably gay persons who have contributed positively to the advance of humanity? Does it mean that you hate gay people? Truth be told it does not. One can disapprove of smoking and not hate the smoker, one can disapprove of homosexuality and not hate a homosexual and not be homophobic.

It is a conflation to try and say that every time someone disapproves of homosexuality or every act or event that went unfavorably for the homosexual community was or is based in homophobia. It is not just a conflation but borders on intellectual dishonesty. It is also most crucially a failure of the imagination. An inability to see the world in terms other than those the group mind, the institutionalized Gay Lobby, international establishment has set out. If you’re not homosexual you’re a homophobic. If you don’t love us, you hate us. If you’re
not Good, you’re Evil. If you’re not with us, you’re against us.

There is this fancy attempt by the gay community to sanitize its image by projecting only the successful productive ones amongst them and distancing and disassociating itself from the so called "screbbe screbbe" ones. So that it would appear to most that gay is taste acquired by affluence or education and open mindedness, or it would be, as it is rumored Rex Nettleford once told an ironically rowdy student, whom as the case maybe  had opted to verbally abuse him as "B---Man" to which he replied, "Yes it is an intellectual disease you'll never catch!"

If one faithfully followed common homosexual propaganda you'd think all homosexuals were artsy, cultured, tech savvy, swanky sophisticated people, soft gentile people, limp wristed folk... living high above poverty in aloof safety sipping wine and nibbling cheese smoking long cigarettes at fancy shin digs...

The homosexual PR propoganda machine is well oil, lubed even and working.

If it had been GUNMEN hiding over there... The headline would probably have read "Residents call police on gunmen squatting uptown," or "Squatting Gunmen attack reporter"... If it had been RASTAS squatting there the news would probably read "Fanatical RASTA squatters attack Journalist," So why is it because they are GAY SQUATTERS we must sshhhhhhhhhhhhhh doah seh the squatters dem gay... The only reason is that it makes GAY LOOK BAD!

Sooner or later this madness has to stop.

OBSERVER ARTICLE: Unruly Gays

Behind the music on a very popular Montegonian: Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff was born James Chambers on April's Fool's Day, 1948 in the Somerton District of St. James near Montego Bay, Jamaica. He reputedly chose the stage name Cliff to reflect the heights he intended to scale in the music business. And while he belatedly became a household name in the 1970s - in the UK thanks mainly to his appearance in The Harder They Come both as an actor and a singer - it became clear to those who followed his career that his name actually came to represent artistic, political and personal struggle, rather than easily attained commercial success. 

When he was 14 years old he moved to Kingston...

Read the full article!

My Daughter and I listen to this song every morn... she even sings it to herself... it's off his latest Grammy winning album! Another good hit is "Took the children's bread and give to the dogs!

Montegonian Editorial Exclusive: Jamaica, Black Leadership and the Future!

It's been almost one year since Jamaica 50 and sometimes I wonder have we forgotten who we are as a people and has the media forgotten who we are! 

There was a time when PanAfricanism was ripe in the island, with the likes of Walter Rodney and Rastafari played a role as the memory of the people, when people remembered their Africaness. There was a time when Michael Manley was in dialogue with Kwame Nkruma and Julius Nyrere. 

Oh come on, for goodness sake! We were a people that inspired Haile Selassie to come here, a man so revered he was on the cover of Time several times and featured in the national geographic and is even spoken of highly still today in modern literature such as Robert Greene's Strategies of War and Laws of Power, as well as Wings to Freedom by and Indian Yogi named Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath. Jamaicans are a people that inspired Nelson Mandela to come here. We produced Marcus Garvey one of the greatest black icons and PanAfricanist of all times. We produced Bob Marley who not only the world loved but Africans.

So why is it then that as Africa is now being looted and plundered by Europe and America, commercially colonized by China with a renewed 21st century thrust... Why is no one speaking out about it? Europeans are streaming into northwest Africa en masse, the huge U.S. airlift capacity may soon be necessary to keep the “Crusaders” supplied and the military industrial complex oiled and firing. African militaries are being cobbled to do the Caucasian’s bidding. 

The U.S. has almost practically establish a Somalia-like operation on the near side of Africa – with Americans at the helm. A sentiment echoed by even republican politician in the states Ron Paul who said "U.S. Action in Mali is Another Undeclared War".

All this while in America itself under the Obama administration the plight of Black Americans has worsened:  A recent interview on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press,” NAACP CEO and president, Ben Jealous, told the show’s host that black Americans “are doing far worse” than when President Obama first took office. “The country’s back to pretty much where it was when this president started,” Jealous told show host David Gregory. “White people in this country are doing a bit better. Black people are doing far worse.”  Dr. Julianne Malveaux of Your Black World recently wrote that the Obama Administration needs to speak out more about existing racial disparities and persistent problems in black unemployment.

The Black Diaspora has seen the US elect thousands of African American local and state officials and re-elect the first black president. But Obama seems to have proven just a symbol, symbolic and nothing more. Nothing real, nothing substantial, nothing progressive as it pertains to the plight of blacks.

The media is slow and unwilling to note that our black leaders are dithering. Floundering. Flailing... failing and falling even. Symbolism supersedes the fact that black leadership has few or no victories to boast for the seventies, the eighties, the nineties or the new century, apart from their own illustrious careers. 

No black leader is man enough to speak to or look at the fact that the war on drugs and the prison state sprung up in north America. The symbol of Obama over rides the fact that black unemployment remains at record levels, that US wages have not risen in thirty years and that the first black president apparently forgot his campaign promise to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour almost as soon as he made it. And what has been done for the Caribbean? Nothing. He continues an illegal international embargo on Cuba, he continues Gitmo torture in our territory, and turned down our request to exonerate Jamaica's hero and Rastafari Icon Marcus Garvey. 

Obama seems a symbol used to nullify and quiet the analytic black mind and voice. "Nigger shut up we got a black president now!" 1 black President... and 10 million  black persons still suffering. And let us not examine his neglect of his black family in Kenya, or his brother that lives in a Shanty Town.

Who in Jamaica or the media is willing to look past the fact that he is JUST a black president and willing to examine the fact that the black role model president conducts weekly “Terror Tuesday” meetings in the White House basement at which he dispatches drones to murder and special forces to kidnap and torture in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and across the African continent. It matters not at all that the First Lady is a poster girl for Wal-Mart, attacking child weight, rather than bolstering education, that the Department of Justice prosecutes whistle blowers instead of war criminals, or that black military and diplomats like Susan Rice are up to their armpits in African blood.

The black political class at home and abroad is utterly self-interested. It cannot begin to mobilize black communities to demand higher wages, a massive jobs program to relieve unemployment, a new paradigm of urban economic development that isn't just moving poor people out of neighborhoods and richer ones in. It seems our egotistical black intelligentsia can't begin to make these things happen because foisting itself and its own advancement off as “representing” the black oppressed masses is the beginning and the end of who they are and what they do. They are not truly about the black diaspora and its plight, they do not truly care to ease the existential condition of his brothers, neighbours and friends.

For them, the election and and re-election of Barack Obama is the end of black history. The be all and end all of our history. Addressing black unemployment, pervasive economic injustice, opposing the neo-liberal,capitalist, globalist, transnational agenda of privatization and austerity put forth not just by the black president, but by an entire layer of black thinkers are, in their language not pragmatic or “realistic.”

So if our black leaders have anything to say about it, more years of Barack Obama means more years of black silence and irrelevance on the issues that matter most to our communities; on jobs and economic injustice. It means black leadership will wring its hands and do nothing as American federal policies drive the militarization of Africa. Our politicians will continue to philander and spinelessly acquiesce to whatever old might Uncle Sam says, we will genuflect at his very whim. We will not be the bold humans, bold leaders that stood down injustice and untruths in the past we will be the bandwagonists of a new age much to our demise!

Baphomet in Montego Bay

Look out for ruler and the compass...

Babylon can't take me fi nuh punk Ras...

Illuminati...

Cyah hold di Natty...

Jobs in Mobay!

Cashier for Remittance Outlet in St James Must Have Min. 4 CXC including Math & English Be Computer Literate... http://fb.me/2MiP5pT1y 

COLLECTIONS SUPPORT AGENT (Temporary)- DHL Montego Bay Requirements Diploma in Finance, Administration or related... http://fb.me/JQPjK2vw 

Canadian based security firm with offices in Montego Bay is hiring ARMED guards. You must be: PSRA certified... http://fb.me/2xRMj1i10 

Teachers- Cornwall College -Mathematics to CSEC - Physics and Mathematics and Physics to CAPE - Mechanical... http://fb.me/BsyiB0rI 

Warehouse Attendants Westmoreland · Secondary school level education · Ability to work with a team effectively... http://fb.me/2DOGL4haG 

Pump Attendants Westmoreland, St James · Secondary school level education · Ability to work with a team... http://fb.me/22658N1vQ 

Cashiers Westmoreland and St James Must be computer literate 3-6 months experience High school graduate Should... http://fb.me/2HY9WA6yc 

Event Workers for August 1 in Montego Bay, St James Food and beverage experience would be good and event workers... http://fb.me/Du53xbMn 

Male Gardener needed for Montego Bay Proper Work hrs 7am to 12 noon Wed to Sun. Tel 587-4917

Assistant Branch Manager-MONTEGO BAY Purpose of job: To assist in managing the daily operations of the store... http://fb.me/IoDfOAfp 

POLICE PAY LOOK NICE IN MOBAY!

VACANCY - Human Resource Officer JCF (Area 1, Montego Bay), salary range $1,123,161 - $1,335,086 per annum + allowance(s).

LIJ TAFARI - ON (MOBAY)

A Mobay Morn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaligJJkR8Q&feature=youtu.be&noredirect=1

Mobay United Schedule

Sun 05/05/13 Montego Bay United vs Cavalier 3 : 30 

Sun 12/05/13 Montego Bay United vs Sporting Central 3 : 30

The Montegonian: The Wall of Jericho: A Tale of Sons and Fathers

The Montegonian: The Wall of Jericho: A Tale of Sons and Fathers: The Wall of Jericho: A Tale of Sons and Fathers by Yannick Nesta Pessoa Greetings once again Montegonians, were live again from the battlefi...

The Montegonian: Hurricane Dean or Hurricane Portia: Not changing n...

The Montegonian: Hurricane Dean or Hurricane Portia: Not changing n...: Don't mind my use of the double negative yes Yannick does have a better grasp and command of the English language than you so you don&#3...

Government Double Tax Calls!

It seems odd to me that since call rates have gone down on both the LIME and Digicel networks, the Government of Jamaica has adopted a cess of 40 cents per minute for both local and international calls! Why isn't the Office of the Utilities Regulation, Fair Trading Commission, or anyone else raising alarm about it?

To me, it is a serious matter. As I understand it, we already pay taxes when we buy phonecards. Why are we being double-taxed? How will this benefit us in business and interregional communication?

Is the Government's plan to tax us out of existence by making the cost of living so high that we opt out of living or simply starve to death?

This is why people will always look for loopholes to get around the system!

YANNICK PESSOA
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

Are We Independent? Montegonian Exclusive

AFTER 50 years, we have not really released our vestiges of the Crown in England. Granted, Mrs Simpson Miller has made the gesture towards a break with the Crown, but I cannot help but feel it is just political talk, pandering to the public. We still have a representative of the Queen as an influential part of the state, the governor general. We still have British ceremonials in Parliament, we still have appeals to the British courts. We are a part of their Commonwealth, we still have the remnants of their laws. Are we really independent of England?

After our recent return to the International Monetary Fund and our leaders begging on a world tour, are we financially independent? Our money is printed in mints in England and is backed by debt and United States dollars, which is losing its footing as world currency. How can one really say we are independent? What are we celebrating this 50th anniversary?

How are we independent when we are slaves to the foreign media, especially the 'mighty' Uncle Sam? We are dependent on imports from the USA; we depend on their food, their clothes, even their entertainment.

How are we independent when we subscribe to the neoliberalist policies of globalisation that insist on lessening the powers and sovereignty of the state, and the continuous breakdown of international barriers? How are we independent when foreigners own our electrical supplies, our airports, our mining plants? What are we independent of?

Bound by handcuffs

Are we not bound by so many handcuffs of ever-growing poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, crime, men-women inequality, limited technology and, worst of all, which result in other bounding forces too - corruption?

In the word of Kahlil Gibran ... "Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine press. Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful. Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except among its ruins, and will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block. Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking. Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting, and farewells him with hooting, only to welcome another with trumpeting again. Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation."

Yannick Pessoa
YannickPessoa@yahoo.com

Councillor Troupe... Playing Solitaire pon Tax Payer Money!

One would think after a scamming scandal and now the St. James Parish Council debt, you'd think Councillors would try to put on a better show!

http://corvedacosta.com/exclusive-parish-council-meeting-in-montego-bay-jamaica/

Mello FM Making Waves from Montego Bay!

As media in western Jamaica becomes a force to be reckoned with!

‘VW AD is a mockery of brand Jamaica’

Why does it seem all criticism of the Volkswagen advertisement is bungled as people taking things too seriously, or conflated with the racist argument. Is any criticism of the advertisement valid?

It seems we are prostituting brand Jamaica, and not benefitting financially from it. I am also skeptical of Volkswagen and its historical link to Hitler and his brand of racism/nazism etc. In Black History Month, is that what we want to be linked to? 

Does ATL motors need more money? Who benefits from this alleged tourism boost the advertisement is said to be bringing in? My grandfather fought in World War two to stop Hitler, only to see his off-spring and that of his oligarchy thrive from exploiting Jamaican imagery or culture.

I was privy to an anthropology study that showed brand Jamaica doesn’t benefit the local man, or craft vendors and the like, only transnational companies like PUMA etc.

Some will ask “should we get money when somebody imitates our accent? How does that work? Who do you approach for “permission” to imitate the accent? Who do you write the cheque to? And for what?”

To them I say, ask the Italians how they collect royalties for pizza. People and musicians in Jamaica collect royalties for songs that play as far away as Serbia and Romania. We can ask every cultural ministry in every country that has one, how they collect royalties. 

If we continue to neglect revenue, Jamaican people will forever be left behind. We are late in commodit-izing and cashing in on culture. Financial liberation is our salvation, and the VW ad is a mockery of brand Jamaica. 

Criticism and critical thinking are all dead. long live the age of everybody happy, and everything goes as political correctness is king.

CARTOON HITS

Montegonian Toons

Montegonian Editorial Exclusive: POLITICIANS CRIMINALISING JAMAICANS

The atrophy of socialism, social welfare, the welfare state and the growth of the penal state represent a double criminalization of poverty. Criminalising Survival, Vending, Hustling, Small Businesses, Corner Shops, Street Life Street People Street Hustling... Street children might not be securely lodged in the life-patterns that the middle class impose on young people, but their reward from trying to maintain a minimum standard of living that their parents and governments are unable to provide them is infinitely preferable to living in the absolute poverty that surrounds them, yet police and state will incarcerate them... in juvenile centres and later on in life in BIG PRISON... We know there is a Marginalised Black male, A lack of opportunity, a lack of education, a lack of funds and lack of land and access to it. We born in Jamaica and then they say you are a squatter, "wah mi supposed to do, born and float above the ground, since me cannot get any plot of land via birth right. rent an existence forever"

The government needs to stop seeing the people as a mass of cattle for culling taxes and revenue! The poor appear to be just another commodity, good, product... to be speculated, traded and profited from by the gang of bankers and political cronies

This folly continues by using a stance on Weed and drugs as an excuse to systematically incarcerate even non-violent youth. Black religious expression and such is facing serious repression. while court houses and tax office are cash collectors. They take much and give us so little.

The transition from welfare to taxfare and the proliferation of young bodies behind bars taken together work to marginalize Jamaica's black poor population, with an economy forcing them out of Jobs and no public aid, on the one side, and holding them under lock, on the other, and eventually pushing them into the peripheral [and deeply precarious] sectors of the labor market and farther on the road to poverty

We don't live in a direct or indirect democracy, in reality. We live in a police state, controlled by oligarchic forces, a two head serpent. The heads of state lack the will to HELP people out of poverty. instead we have generation that go from Cradle to Prison...

 This country is based on slavery and land grabs by a small plantocrasy. Had they been decent people, to begin with this plantation class would have asked for permission to share this land with the Tainos and or Arawaks. Instead, through force and genocide they took the land and resources and divided them up, as they did again after emancipendence, when they divided the land and this country among the descendants of slave masters and the indentured labourers and buffer classes, just as we do now by letting the wealthy determine the laws and by making slaves of the have-nots, through debt and financial slavery and usury.

If Jamaica is ever to be fixed... land reform, education reform, energy reform, economic  and spiritual reform are now absolutely necessary!

https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-montegonian/montegonian-exclusive-politicians-criminalising-jamaicans/569974083035507?comment_id=6896269&offset=0&total_comments=2