In response to Britney Perkins

Do you think paying a little bit extra to consume products and services from socially responsible companies is worth it?  Why do you think Wal*Mart has been so successful when they have been criticized about so many socially irresponsible aspects of their company (paying women lower wages, sweatshops over seas, child labor over seas, poor animal conditions, etc)?

I personally think that it is worth paying a bit more for products and services from socially responsible companies. There are a lot of companies that are socially responsible and are profitable so it can be done. If a company allows greed to guide their decisions then they are capable of anything. For example, the peanut butter incident should not have occurred because the company knew that it was contaminated, but still shipped it out, costing lives. A socially responsible company indicates that they don’t regard their customer as dollar signs but rather as human beings; it shows that they care.

On the other hand, because of the economy some people do not have the luxury of paying the few extra dollars when they are struggling to get by. Wal-Mart caters to those people and to them the company is god sent. At the end of the day as much as people care about those issues they are going to take care of their families first.    

Johnson & Johnson

Daniel McGinn’s September 21, 2009 article “The Greenest Big Companies in American” for Newsweek, ranked Johnson and Johnson number four in the U.S out of 500 companies and number three in the world out of 100.  Newsweek worked with the environmental researchers KLD Research & Analytics, Trucost, and CorporateRegister.com to rank the companies. The companies were ranked based on their actual environmental performance, policies, and reputation. Ranking the companies was very challenging because of the different industries involved. Another obstacle was the incompatibility of different companies’ data due to the lack of a uniform standard for reporting green data; as well as the limited corporate emissions data.

Jacquelyn Smith’s October 28 2010 article “America’s Most Generous Companies” for Forbes stated that the 5% increase in cash donations in 2008 fell by 7.5% in 2009.  Although profits are improving companies have reduced their cash donations to charity. It is still commendable that companies are willing to donate regardless of the economic climate. Johnson & Johnson took fourth place in the top ten givers, donating a total of $637,426,00 in cash and products in 2009; an increase of 12.7% from 2008.

According to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) press release in the article “public views U.S. companies as more socially responsible than a year ago,” Johnson & Johnson was rated the number one out of 230 companies measured. Researchers at the Carroll School of Management's Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College collaborated with Reputation Institute to develop the Corporate Social Responsibility Index. According to the article, CSR was developed to better understand how the public’s perception on the way companies should behave in areas of citizenship, governance, and workplace practice affects companies’ reputations. The results of the 2010 CSR index indicate that companies are becoming more aware that the public’s perception of them is very important especially in economic times such as these. Based on Johnson & Johnson’s ranking the company is very successful in communicating its CSR efforts to the public.

Budget Cuts – Reduction in the education.

We’ve all heard of the fight ongoing on in Washington. President Obama’s budget request included an increase in spending in education. His argument is that the country needs to educate their young in order to compete in the global market. On the other hand, House Education and Labor Committee chairman John Kline is not in agreement with the president’s proposal. According to an article in the Huffington Post, Kline stated that "throwing more money at our nation's broken education system ignores reality and does a disservice to students and taxpayers.”He goes on to say that "It is time we asked why increasing the federal government's role in education has failed to improve student achievement."

Both arguments are sound; the country needs to educate their young in order to compete in the future, especially since America’s youth are being left behind compared to other countries. According to an article in the Saratoga Falcon, “American children perform so poorly on international education tests; coming behind China, Japan, and India.” The article also supports Kline’s argument stating that “These countries work harder on their children than America, do, even though they spend less on education.” The article went on to say that “this embarrassing statistic shows the United States just how ineffective our education system really is, and should make the boards of education realize that our country is in dire need of an educational reform if it want to compete and match the caliber of children from other countries, notably East Asian ones.”

It is clear that both sides need to compromise, educating the youth is the key to the future, but it is also clear that the system is broken and needs to be fixed. Without reform, increasing educational spending will be negligent since it seems that the problem stems not from the lack of money invested.

Is the American education system to lax on their students?

Response to Erica Murray

Do you think the taller and skinnier can is contributing to a negative portrayal of body image?

Old Pepsi Can

New Pespsi Can



Need I say more?

I do not think that a taller and skinner can is contributing to a negative portrayal of one’s body image. Because it is not the size of the can, but the way Pepsi has gone on to promote it. For example, Heineken has had a slim can for years. I must say that I am appalled that they would market their product in such a way. It is offensive to all the amazing women who are beautiful and confident who are deemed “bigger.” The media and Hollywood are perpetrating that the skinner you are the more beautiful you become. Some of the women they portray as beautiful because they are skinny are unhealthy with some suffering from anorexia or bulimia. This negatively affected impressionable teenagers as well as adults causing them to have low self esteem and has caused more harm than good. Seeing someone’s bones sticking out in my opinion is not beautiful nor is someone who is obese. Everything should be done in moderation. 

How has the media affected your opinion on the ideal body type and what do you considered sexy?  



The Affluenza infection

John De Graaf, David Wann, Thomas H. Naylor’s book Affluenza  describes Affluenza as “a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.” I thought that it was a perfect topic for discussion especially since this course is about convincing people to buy.  This book talks about the American values that are disappearing as people become engrossed in gaining ever more material goods. Families are getting torn apart, buried under financial ruin while their debts keep piling up because they cannot seem to stop buying stuff even if they cannot afford it. The long hours needed to provide the things they deem necessary are also weakening the bonds of families. Parents are forgetting the most important thing that children need is love, acceptance and their parents to be there for them. Relationships are falling apart because people are not spending enough time together. The wasteful consumption is destroying the world as we eat our way through non-renewable resources with no thought of the future. We have forgotten that less is more. This is one book that I would recommend reading.

Are you suffering from Affluenza?

The Egyptian Uprising and the effect on their tourism

We’ve all hear about what’s going on in Egypt for the past weeks and how a people’s need for a better life led to the revolution that has captivated the world’s attention, while giving hope to people in similar situation.  On the other hand, the country’s economy has taken a beating because of the turmoil as well as the hundreds of people who have not been working. Egypt’s tourism industry in particular has suffered the most, which the country is very reliant on. Millions of people flock to Egypt to visit the pyramids of Gaza as well as the country’s famous Sphinx. 

 Any country going through what Egypt is going through is not conducive with tourism. Tourists would not feel safe especially when other countries were scrambling to get their people out of Egypt when everything started and the outburst of violence and the pictures of the battered that also dominated the news. 

  

This is also the height of the tourist season because a lot of people are leaving the cold climates for somewhere warm. According to the NPR website, “The uprising here sparked a massive exodus of tourists, and the loss of revenue could run into billions of dollars.”  Although Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president for 30 years has agreed to the people’s demand to step down, the country is far from stable. The Egyptian government and businesses have a rough road ahead with convincing tourist and businesses to come back to the country; it’s a marketing nightmare.

Would you want to visit Egypt any time soon?           

The iPad will it oust the laptop?

A Wall Street Journal article ‘Laptop Killer? Pretty Close’ by Walt Mossberg was a very interesting comparison between the laptop and the iPad as well as what the future might hold for each.  He argued that if the iPad became just another gadget to carry around then its future was looking dim and would not make it. However, if customers saw the iPad as something that could replace laptops, then its future was bright.  The iPad is very versatile, small and light weight, making it ideal for a wide range of people. Mossberg goes on to list the pros and cons of Apple’s latest invention. Some the impressive features of such a small product, Mossberg lauded, was battery life, overall speed, and doing things like watching videos, listening to music, and reading books to name a few. Even with all the apps available approximately 150,000, the iPad is still not ready to take the place of the laptop.

In the words of Mossberg,‘All in all, however, the iPad is an advance in making more-sophisticated computing possible via a simple touch interface on a slender, light device. Only time will tell if it's a real challenger to the laptop and netbook.’

Do you think that the iPad will replace laptops?