Enron has Been Resurrected in What Appears to Be an Elaborate Joke (cnn.com) 47
Have you been to Enron.com lately?
"It's the comeback story no one asked for," reports CNN, "the resurrection of a brand so toxic it remains synonymous with corporate fraud more than two decades after it collapsed in bankruptcy.
"That's right, folks: Enron is back. But only kind of." TL;DR: A company that makes T-shirts bought the Enron trademark and appears to be trying to sell some merch on behalf of the guy behind the satirical conspiracy theory "Birds Aren't Real...."
On Monday, the 23rd anniversary of Enron's filing for bankruptcy, rumors began to spread that the former Texas energy giant had come back from the dead. A sleek new website, enron.com, appeared to show that the company had done some serious soul-searching and, inexplicably, reincorporated under its original brand. As a modern energy company, it would be dedicated to "solving the global energy crisis," its press statement reads. The site is packed with the kind of stock art and benign corporate platitudes that lend it credibility. There's a link to job openings, employee testimonials and even a minute-long video titled "I am Enron," a movie-trailer-style mashup of cityscape time lapses, rockets launching into space, a ballerina twirling on a beach — a mess of imagery and baritone voiceover so trite it's almost believable.
But the site and its associated social media accounts are, like Enron's balance sheets, mostly fiction. Unlike the Enron scandal, however, this one appears to be little more than performance art designed to sell branded hoodies. Publicly available documents show that an Akansas-based LLC called The College Company bought the Enron trademark for $275 in 2020... You can tab over to the site's "Company Store" page to browse a selection of Enron-branded hoodies ($118 before tax and shipping), puffer vests ($89), tees ($40) baseball hats ($40), beanies ($30) and water bottles emblazoned with the slogan "you've got great energy."
Somewhere on the site CNN spotted a list of "key pillars" which included a commitment to "permissionless innovation," which CNN took to be "a nod that prompted some speculation online that the new 'Enron' would launch some kind of digital token." That phrase has apparently been changed now to "continuous innovation." An Enron-branded X account posted and later deleted a message teasing at a crypto offering, saying "we do not have any token or coin (yet). Stay tuned, we are excited to show you more soon."
But sharp-eyed X.com users also found the key context to add: that the Terms of Use at Enron.com declare the site's information "is First Amendment-protected parody, represents performance art, and is for entertainment purposes only."
Still, the site includes this testimonial from someone it says is a current employee. "Like many of my peers in the Enron family, I was skeptical at first.
"Now, not only do I have complete confidence in the integrity of the company, I also genuinely believe that we are leading the way for a new chapter of American business."
"It's the comeback story no one asked for," reports CNN, "the resurrection of a brand so toxic it remains synonymous with corporate fraud more than two decades after it collapsed in bankruptcy.
"That's right, folks: Enron is back. But only kind of." TL;DR: A company that makes T-shirts bought the Enron trademark and appears to be trying to sell some merch on behalf of the guy behind the satirical conspiracy theory "Birds Aren't Real...."
On Monday, the 23rd anniversary of Enron's filing for bankruptcy, rumors began to spread that the former Texas energy giant had come back from the dead. A sleek new website, enron.com, appeared to show that the company had done some serious soul-searching and, inexplicably, reincorporated under its original brand. As a modern energy company, it would be dedicated to "solving the global energy crisis," its press statement reads. The site is packed with the kind of stock art and benign corporate platitudes that lend it credibility. There's a link to job openings, employee testimonials and even a minute-long video titled "I am Enron," a movie-trailer-style mashup of cityscape time lapses, rockets launching into space, a ballerina twirling on a beach — a mess of imagery and baritone voiceover so trite it's almost believable.
But the site and its associated social media accounts are, like Enron's balance sheets, mostly fiction. Unlike the Enron scandal, however, this one appears to be little more than performance art designed to sell branded hoodies. Publicly available documents show that an Akansas-based LLC called The College Company bought the Enron trademark for $275 in 2020... You can tab over to the site's "Company Store" page to browse a selection of Enron-branded hoodies ($118 before tax and shipping), puffer vests ($89), tees ($40) baseball hats ($40), beanies ($30) and water bottles emblazoned with the slogan "you've got great energy."
Somewhere on the site CNN spotted a list of "key pillars" which included a commitment to "permissionless innovation," which CNN took to be "a nod that prompted some speculation online that the new 'Enron' would launch some kind of digital token." That phrase has apparently been changed now to "continuous innovation." An Enron-branded X account posted and later deleted a message teasing at a crypto offering, saying "we do not have any token or coin (yet). Stay tuned, we are excited to show you more soon."
But sharp-eyed X.com users also found the key context to add: that the Terms of Use at Enron.com declare the site's information "is First Amendment-protected parody, represents performance art, and is for entertainment purposes only."
Still, the site includes this testimonial from someone it says is a current employee. "Like many of my peers in the Enron family, I was skeptical at first.
"Now, not only do I have complete confidence in the integrity of the company, I also genuinely believe that we are leading the way for a new chapter of American business."
Who had Crypto Named Enron on their bingo card? (Score:3)
I didn't really see that coming, but then again, we have slipped into some kind of weird quasi-reality where shitty sitcom level nonsense happens on a regular basis in real life, so it's not exactly a big shocker.
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I think I could be convinced to join a cult whose core belief was that life here is a poorly managed reality show for aliens/gods/whatever.
It would really explain an awful lot.
Re: Who had Crypto Named Enron on their bingo card (Score:5, Funny)
Somewhere, a Vogon is writing a poem about this.
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I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young. - Arthur Dent
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Somewhere, a Vogon is writing a poem about this.
Vogon poetry is terrible. Maybe we're living the poem?
Re: Who had Crypto Named Enron on their bingo card (Score:2)
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I've been thinking that for a good long while. Some alien took control of the black hole we're projected on the interior of and are manipulating it just to entertain themselves.
Tip of the hat. (Score:1)
Birds aren't real is kinda genius. This is the type of satire we need in this desperate hour.
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Make Corporate Fraud Great Again!
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That part'll happen pretty definitely. Just give it about six months.
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That's something only a lefty suffering from TDS would say.
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Thanks to New Mexico Tech, a school made famous by Mythbusters, birds aren't real [youtu.be]!
The real life birds aren't real thing is even creepier.
fsociety, you know, for the LULZ! (Score:2)
Because it's funny (Score:3)
and is a reminder that Americans can sometimes laugh in the face of catastrophes...
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Wilfully planned catastrophes aren't so funny.
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Why is this on Slashdot?
Vague mention of crypto, and there's still some clinging, cloying crypto obsession around here. Plus, this isn't a technology news place anymore. It's an aggregator of agitation. Roll with it, or be consumed by the rage. Whatevz.
Sad state of the world today (Score:4, Interesting)
The sad state of the world or at least the western corporate culture can't be summed up better than this:
The site is packed with the kind of stock art and benign corporate platitudes that lend it credibility.
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All anti-patterns are there. Before you scroll you only see some silly animation. No, not straight ahead, you stare at the page for a few moments before anything starts at all.
People unlearned to build simple websites.
That came from letting marketing departments override decency and common sense in design. Welcome to the 21st century. We don't have milk and cookies, but we do have morale beating corporate speak around every corner, and shit reality TV to keep you from sitting around thinking about how fucked we are as a species.
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We don't have milk and cookies...
What are you talking about?! We have plenty of cookies! Looking at my browser's listing, /. alone has given me 22 cookies!
Oh, wait...
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Mr Robot (Score:2)
Then there is the Chromium Netscape (Score:2)
CHAPTER 11 (Score:2)
Paging Ken Lay (Score:2)
Oh wait he's dead, shucks. Would a Ken Lay token violate his personal copyright?
Satire's not dead. It's resting. (Score:2)
Where is the line between a real company and a near-real parody?
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Juicy Juicy Juicy Drama (Score:3)
It seems that the bankruptcy proceedings allowed Enron to sell its Twitter handle. Since this violates the TOS, Twitter should be shutting down this handle. Something tells me they don't know, but the question is will they terminate the account to start a precedent before the @Infowars drama kicks off (hopefully not so they look like idiots when the judge asks why the fake enron account across so many news publications was never caught)
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"Something tells me they don't know"
Something tells me they don't care.
Not a joke, an elaborate sales scam (Score:2)
This site is owned by a clothing seller, and guess what, the enron.com site sells...clothing. That's no joke, they're in this to make money.
Re: Not a joke, an elaborate sales scam (Score:2)
"Scam" seems a bit rough.
They are a clothing retailer, they sell clothing, and presumably ordered clothing is delivered at the mutually agreed-upon price.
Where's the "scam"?
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The scam is that they are presenting themselves as someone they are not.
"We’re proud to be an energy company." They are not an energy company.
"Repentant: Acknowledging and taking responsibility for past mistakes isn’t merely for show — it reflects our commitment to ethical practices moving forward." They are representing themselves as a reformed, resurrected Enron Energy, which they are not.
Even if you don't think $40 for a T-shirt is a ripoff, and even if the clothing is "good", it's not
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This website is the equivalent of my nephew dressing up like a police officer for Halloween and telling me to "stick 'em up!". While I acknowledge that impersonating a police officer is a serious offense, I tend to just chuckle and play along.
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Your illustration is a good one. A kid dressing up as a police officer for Halloween isn't doing any harm or breaking any rules. Somebody who deliberately tries to fool people into think they are a real police officer, is committing a crime.
This site is convincing enough that quite a few people are likely to be fooled. Not OK.
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Cui bono?
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"Scam" seems a bit rough.
They are a clothing retailer, they sell clothing, and presumably ordered clothing is delivered at the mutually agreed-upon price.
Where's the "scam"?
I don't know. A hoodie that expensive kinda screams scam. You can buy band hoodies for less. AT THE VENUE.
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That's called a business in the America of today.
waiting to invest all my retirement funds in the new Enron.
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I don't know about that.
Most grocery stores actually sell...groceries. Most hardware stores sell hardware. Most energy companies sell energy, not clothing.
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But but who is going to sell the grift (euhh...bitcoins, high priced bibles and nfts).
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Why Donald Trump, of course.
Coffee Mug (Score:2)