In Response to Laurie Whalen...

" Do you think companies should think twice before signing an endorsement deal with celebrities? "

    I think that celebrity advertisements can be appropriate, but in most cases should be avoided.  For example, if a well known NHL Hockey player like Alex Ovechkin was to advertise a CCM brand hockey stick that he actually plays with, the advertisement would be honest and effective.  However, if there is an advertisement that uses a celebrity that clearly isn't using the product it makes me question the honesty and integrity of the company.  An example of this is Justin Bieber (new young artist) who advertises for Pro Active.  Not only is Bieber about the 5th celebrity that Pro Active has signed to do their commercials, but it is highly unlikely that with a celebrity income, they are using Pro Active to wash their face.  Pro Active is targeted at middle class families who need a product to help them clear up acne.  Celebrities are much more likely to use more expensive products.
   I agree with Laurie when it comes to potentially taking a hit on your profits when celebrities get a bad reputation.  However, I don't think this would necessarily devastate any company that is able to afford a celebrity endorsement in the first place.  All in all, I think it's great if celebrities want to advertise products that they actually use, but I don't like to see celebrities advertising products that they do not use.

Social Responsibility

If Wal*Mart is selling milk for $3.00 per gallon and your local farm is selling milk for $5.00 per gallon, which milk do you purchase?  The less expensive milk would make the most sense, if all other things are equal.  Now, take some other factors into consideration.  Wal*Mart's cows are living in conditions shown by picture 1.  The local farm however, has free-range cows, represented in picture 2.

<------- PICTURE 1

             PICTURE 2  ------->





Does that make you feel differently about the extra $2.00 you would need to spend?
I am a very big supporter of businesses that are ethical, and socially responsible.  Social Responsibility to me, is the biggest piece of becoming a successful business owner.  I have been [broadly] planning out the business that I want to eventually own around commitment to fairness, ethics, and giving back to the community.  As an animal lover, the above question is very easy for me to answer.  Of course I would pay the extra money to get the free-range cow milk, and I truly believe that educated consumers tend to feel the same way.  I think that as consumers it is our responsibility to be educated about the products we're buying, and the businesses we are buying them from in order to make good decisions about which companies/products to support; and paying attention to marketing can help us make those decisions.  Many companies like Walgreens, and Yoplait (as we discussed in class) use their socially responsible actions to market their companies.  My hopes are that as consumers become more educated about social responsibility, they will learn to support more socially responsible companies even if it means paying a few dollars more for similar products.

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)?