BrandSnark: Good Week/Bad Week for the Big Brands

Nice: Tech Giants – Some of the world’s top tech firms – including Apple, HP, Samsung, Dell, Sony, Ford and others – announced plans to band together to curb child-labor abuses in the mining of cobalt, a key ingredient the lithium-ion batteries their products rely upon. Good for children = good for business.

Naughty: General Motors – The automotive behemoth will temporarily close five factories in January in an effort to reduce its growing inventory of cars. The company is blaming the glut on the U.S. market shift toward SUVs and trucks. More than 10,000 workers will be impacted in Michigan, Kansas, Ohio and Kentucky.

Coal in the Stocking: Boeing – The U.S. plane maker announced that it will make job cuts in its commercial airplane business and plans for further workforce reductions for 2017. Approximately 8 percent of workers in the commercial division – the company’s largest – will be let go between now and the 31st. What’d you get me for Christmas? A pink slip.