Consuming Kids

We live in 21. Century, in Europe, and that is why we think we are safe and we can be happy. This is what advertisements show us every day in more than 20 minutes full of commercials per each hour. Adult people know that not everything what is in TV is truth, but what about kids? Fact is that kids are not able to make their own decisions about what is good for their life. And these things companies use to manipulate the kids and their parents to buy their product.

Every time the parents allow their kids to watch TV, they should be afraid of what kind of product the kids will need in nearest 10 minutes. Advertisements for kids, showing them how they will be satisfied when they will own their product, help companies to make money, but are they also destroying their fantasy, vocabulary and social life. And also decreasing the amount of money in parents wallet.

In movie Consuming Kids somebody finally show the true face of marketing. Business earn 47 billion dollars per year. This is amount of money people spend under influence of kids. The problem is, can parents spot it alone? Government say that it is parents responsibility to control what are kids watching. In my opinion advertising to kids is using kids trust and kind hearth in order to make biggest profit as possible, and that make it disgusting.

We will pay by testing and judging products

Saturday opened a new department store in Budapest with an area of ​​500 square meters, in which the customer will pay by judging of the goods. After paying a registration fee, customers can start choosing from offer of food, cosmetics, household goods or electronics. According to the agency MTI , offer of the goods will be renewed every two weeks.

Purchase is limited to a maximum of five products, and after shoping and testing these products every customer can judge these product by on-line questionnaire. Customers will practically pay this way. Manufacturers will benefit from detailed and valuable information that will help them in the future more effectively reach customers.

The international experience with evaluation of products in a similar manner suggests that up to eighty percent of the testers then regularly bought tested products.

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The idea of ​​a test store is from Australia, although the first testing shop was open in Tokio in 2007. From that time there is a worlwide company working on the same principle. Budapest department store will be the first of its kind in Europe, and we have to believe that it is not the last one.

Good, Bad and Ugly

Our task was to find three companies, good, bad amd ugly in terms of ethics and thanks to our good friend google I found these three:

Good:

Ethisphere.com makes every year a competition, where the winner earbn title of World's Most Ethical Company and one of these titles in category Specialty Retail last year won Sweden company IKEA. "

In September 2005 IKEA Social Initiative was formed to manage the company's social involvements on a global level. IKEA Social Initiative is headed by Marianne Barner. The main partners to IKEA Social Initiative are UNICEF and Save the Children." And these just few good and ethical things that IKEA is doing.

Bad:

For bad company I choose Nivea, but not because this company is bad in general, but just because one mistake they made. As I wrote few months ago about their advertisment: "The billboards shown up in US, but they really didn't stay for very long time. Few days after campaign had begun, people start to complain about racism in this advertisement. This group understands this advertisement as insult of black people as in the billboard we can see the black model throwing away the mask of “uncivilized” black man." And this was why the Nivea became Bad company for few days.

Ugly:

As ugly company I choose Barrick Gold Corporation and for explaining I will cite Huffingtonpost.com:"Twelfth worst in the Covalence ranking is Barrick, the Toronto-based gold-mining corporation. Allegations against the company include charges that it had a hand in the burning of at least 130 homes near its Porgera Mine in Papua New Guinea and that it manipulated land titles in Australia and Chile. The company was also blamed in a toxic spill in Tanzania that left dangerous levels of arsenic in the area around its North Mara mine, and its attempts to mine the Pascua Lama region along the Argentina-Chile border were associated with a 56-70% shrinking of nearby glaciers."

Mission statement

1)       Avon - The Global Beauty Leader We will build a unique portfolio of Beauty and related brands, striving to surpass our competitors in quality, innovation and value, and elevating our image to become the Beauty company most women turn to worldwide. The Women's Choice for Buying We will become the destination store for women, offering the convenience of multiple brands and channels, and providing a personal high touch shopping experience that helps create lifelong customer relationships. The Premier Direct Seller We will expand our presence in direct selling and lead the reinvention of the channel, offering an entrepreneurial opportunity that delivers superior earnings, recognition, service and support, making it easy and rewarding to be affiliated with Avon and elevating the image of our industry. The Best Place to Work We will be known for our leadership edge, through our passion for high standards, our respect for diversity and our commitment to create exceptional opportunities for professional growth so that associates can fulfill their highest potential. The Largest Women's Foundation We will be a committed global champion for the health and well-being of women through philanthropic efforts that eliminate breast cancer from the face of the earth, and that empower women to achieve economic independence. The Most Admired Company We will deliver superior returns to our shareholders by tirelessly pursuing new growth opportunities while continually improving our profitability, a socially responsible, ethical company that is watched and emulated as a model of success.

My opinion – for me the statement was too long, and hard to read but after slow reading I find out that this mission statement is really saying everything what they are trying to do. At the beginning this could be big mission that looked crazy but now, the Avon really is the company, which this mission statement described.

2)       Ford Motor Company - We are a global family with a proud heritage passionately committed to providing personal mobility for people around the world.

My opinion – For me this statement very general, useful at least for every company that make vehicles. This statement also doesn’t have any specifics and it is also without the vision for the future.

3)       Microsoft - At Microsoft, we work to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential. This is our mission. Everything we do reflects this mission and the values that make it possible

My opinion – I like this statement, although this statement may look general, for me is this an example of very good statement that says everything important and Microsoft is doing everything to make this statement true.

“Fat tax” in Denmark???

Denmark will be the very first country in which you are going to pay for fat included in the food. The tax for every single kilogram in your food will be about 16 kroner what is cca about 3$, this is the way to let the mean age grow, for critics is just another way to get money into state treasury.

Denmark government in March this year accepted the tax. The new tax will be levied on food such as butter, milk, cheese, pizza, oils and meat.

“Increasing of taxes for sugar, fat and manufactured tobacco is very important step for increasing of mean age in Denmark” told minister of health for Denmark, Jakob Axel Nielsen and he add that this tax may also help to decrease number of cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

The Denmark citizens had really chaotic week, they tried to buy as much products as possible to make reserves before the “fat tax”.

Little bit creazy…

 

Business News - Nivea

Famous producer of cosmetics maybe just "landed itself in hot water for a questionably racist ad. (Nivea Ad )" The billboards shown up in US, but they really didn't stay for very long time. Few days after campaign had begun, people start to complain about racism in this advertisement. This group understands this advertisement as insult of black people as in the billboard we can see the black model throwing away the mask of “uncivilized” black man.

The firm had immediately cancel the campaign and publicly apologize: “We are deeply sorry to anyone who may take offense to this specific local advertisement. After realizing that this ad is misleading, it was immediately withdrawn,” the rep says in a statement to CNN.

The long history of the Nivea brand should be enough to convince anyone that it’s not racist and doesn’t discriminate, the statement further notes.

“Diversity and equal opportunity are crucial values of NIVEA: The brand represents diversity, tolerance, and equal opportunity. We value difference. Direct or indirect discrimination must be ruled out in all decisions by, and in all areas of our activities,” says the rep.

“This applies regardless of gender, age, race, skin color, religion, ideology, sexual orientation, or disability. Nor should cultural, ethnic, or national origin, and political or philosophical conviction be of any significance,” Nivea adds. 

At the end I want to add that every idea, even the innocent one can be take as an insult, what mean for us, as business students, owners have to be careful with choosing of advertising.

Different types of Business

Private limited company:

A limited company is a company in which the liability of the members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. The two examples are: New Look Retailers Ltd - The Retail Store Chain, and Warburtons - The Baking Firm. Warburtons is a British baking firm based founded by Thomas Warburton in 1876 in Bolton, then in Lancashire, now in Greater Manchester, England. For much of its history Warburtons only had bakeries in Lancashire and it remains a family-owned company.

Public limited company:

The standard legal designation of a company which has offered shares to the general public and has limited liability. A Public Limited Company's stock can be acquired by anyone and holders are only limited to potentially lose the amount paid for the shares. It is a legal form more commonly used in the U.K. Two or more people are required to form such a company, assuming it has a lawful purpose. Example of public limited company is Northern Rock. Northern Rock plc is a British bank, best known for becoming the first bank in 150 years to suffer a bank run after having had to approach the Bank of England for a loan facility, to replace money market funding, during the credit crisis in 2007.

Public corporatin:

One type is a company whose shares are publicly traded and are usually held by a large number (hundreds or thousands) of shareholders. The usual British term is public limited company and second type is a government owned company such as an airline or public transit company. See also corporation sole. In the United States examples of public corporations are Amtrak and the United States Postal Service.

Amtrak is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track".It is headquartered at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

Non-profit organization:

A non-profit organization is an organization that does not issue stock shares or distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders, but instead uses the funds to help achieve its goals. Examples of NPOs include charities (i.e., charitable organizations), trade unions, trade associations and public arts organizations. Most governments and government agencies are described by this definition, but in most countries they are considered a separate type of organization and not considered as NPOs. Examples for non-profit organizations are schools, and hospitals if they are own by government.

Non-governmental organization:

NGO is an abbreviation for Non Governmental Organization. It is usually a group that goes into a country and does charity work, without (financial) support of the government--for example Doctors Without Borders. Some examples are The World Peace Society and Global Volunteers. As they say: The World Peace Society of Australia's approach to peace is through non-violence and love.

Pressure group:

            A pressure group can be described as an organised group that does not put up candidates for election, but seeks to influence government policy or legislation. They can also be described as ‘interest groups’, ‘lobby groups’ or ‘protest groups’. Two of pressure groups from UK are People and Planet and Forum for the Future. People & Planet is a network of student campaign groups in the UK. It claims to be "the largest student campaigning organization in the country campaigning to alleviate world poverty, defend human rights and protect the environment."

Social Enterprise:

            Social enterprises are businesses driven by a social or environmental purpose. Examples are Kids in the Hall Bistro and ReStore. Kids in the Hall Bistro provides opportunities for at risk youth 16-24 years to learn life and employment skills while operating a food  outlet.                                                                                                                                                            

Public-private partnership:

            Public–private partnership (PPP) describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies. These schemes are sometimes referred to as PPP or P3. Examples are Hudson Bergen Line and JFK Air Train. Air Train JFK is a 3-line, 8.1 miles (13.0 km)-long people mover system and elevated railway in New York City providing service to John F. Kennedy International Airport.