TELUSIdol is a reference to a now notorious team building exercise held by TELUS in 2003, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The team building event included an “American Idol” style singing/talent competition. During this “competition”, which kicked off with a feature of a TELUS executive tied in bondage, TELUS executives made several sexist and offensive comments.  To make matters worse, the “event” ended with the CEO dancing in what could be deemed a suggestive manner on stage as a female “performer” lay down in a provocative pose, singing. And to top it all off, the entire event was video taped, and those who were unable to attend were instructed to watch the event on video.

So, just how do we know all of this? Because, one of the people instructed to watch the video, shared it. The aftermath has been credited for TELUS creating what is known as “TELUS values”, as well as part of  TELUS’ attack on YouTube, to protect its image (both to be blogged on later). However, TELUS has succeeded (partially) in keeping a proverbial lid on TELUS Idol, as the mainstream media has never fully reported about TELUS idol (opting to protect valuable dollars from TELUS advertising, something that will come up when I blog about the SUN newspaper’s treatment of the TELUS labour dispute). Yet, there are still resources where you can remain informed. Here are a few links for you to follow:

http://www.darrenentwistle.com/telusidol/telusidol.htm

http://thetyee.ca/News/2005/08/08/TelusIdol/

http://thetyee.ca/News/2005/08/21/TelusIdol/

http://www.archive.org/details/unknowncameramentelusidol

http://www.hackcanada.com/telco/index.html

Some torrent sites actually offer Telus Idol for download, if you feel like checking it out. And for immediate satisfaction (somewhat), hrere is a short clip from a YouTube video, that by some MIRACLE has not been shut down by TELUS’ team of lawyers.

And now you know what TELUS Idol is.