Kogan Launches Campaign To Counter Carbon Tax


They say any publicity is good publicity, and Ruslan Kogan’s no stranger to generating as much as he can for himself and his online gadget store. Today it’s no different, with the latest stunt emerging as a somewhat peaceful demonstration against the Gillard government’s carbon pricing scheme or “carbon tax”.

The carbon tax came into effect today around the country, and it sees the nation’s top polluters pay for every tonne of carbon released into the atmosphere. The policy has divided the nation, with those opposed holding demonstrations over the last few months, with one as recent as this morning.

It’s predicted that the carbon tax itself will see the cost of living in Australia rise by 0.7%, and that’s where Ruslan Kogan’s latest demonstration comes in.

Kogan sent this email to registered shoppers in the last 48 hours:

Today marks the beginning of the operation of the Carbon Tax. According to the governments’s Clean Energy Website, the Carbon Tax will result in a 0.7% increase in the cost of living for Australians.

In response, Kogan is proud to announce the immediate introduction of a Carbon Tax Offset Trading Scheme. For the next 14 days (unless the Carbon Tax is repealed earlier), any Australian can claim their Carbon Tax Offset Trading Scheme Entitlement by simply entering the code CARBONTAX at the checkout of kogan.com, which will reduce the price of an order by 0.7%.

Ruslan Kogan is no fan of the Gillard government, as he made abundantly clear during his appearance on the Q & A program where he said that Australians wouldn’t accept a Prime Minister who lied about the introduction of such a policy:

What Gillard has done at the moment is she lied to the public…about the carbon tax and Australians — you know, we’re forgiving people and we can accept a lot of things but we can’t accept a liar…

It’s a token gesture from Kogan and smacks of a stunt for publicity, but do you think we’ll see more stores stand up against the policy? Should there be more protests like it? Personally I’m all for refunds, no matter how small, but let’s keep the political views off the store shelves and keep them on panel programs like Q & A, shall we?


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