How about a cola company that does no advertising or marketing? Donates one cent per bottle sold to offset its carbon footprint? Where every customer can look at the company’s bank account, and if they disagree with how the founder is running things, can argue to have his share reduced? It’s called Premium Cola. There’s no salaries, no office, and no bosses, per se. All decisions are made equally by members of the cola collective. The drink is only sold to select locations in accord with the Premium Cola ideologies. Sound impossible to sustain?
ethics
OSHA Agrees To Investigate Wal-Mart Whistleblower Incident
By 11.6.07
The odds aren’t in her favor—in recent years, only 16% of employees who filed complaints with the Labor Dept.’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration won—but OSHA has agreed to open an investigation into Chalace Lowry’s claims that after she reported suspicious activities at her Wal-Mart headquarters job as she’d been trained to do, she was outed to her boss as the whistleblower, and when she asked to be moved to a new position she was told to look for one herself and that Wal-Mart would make no guarantees about her job security.
CPSC Head's Travel Paid For By Industry Groups
By 11.2.07
CPSC head Nancy Nord took scores of trips paid for lobbyists representing companies under her regulatory scope, Washington Post reports. The trips include $11,000 in “gift travel” to China, paid for by a fireworks company. The Toy Industry Association paid for her train ticket, hotel, meals, and parking ticket to attend their toy convention in New York. Federal agencies are barred from taking gifts from industry groups with pending matters before them, but other top agencies are more strict about accepting gifts from companies under their domain. By some sort of magical coincidence, the travel records disclosure come at time Nord is facing calls for her resignation for disagreeing with the new changes and expansions Congress is considering for the CPSC.
How Often Do Companies Check On Overseas Manufacturers?
By 11.1.07
With the Gap embarrassed this week by reports that Indian children as young as 10 were making Gap Kids clothing, a lot of people are asking, just how frequently and to what degree do large U.S. companies like Gap and Wal-Mart monitor their foreign manufacturers? According to Slate, “anywhere from six months to once every several years.” Unfortunately, because the visits are usually announced ahead of time, factories can hide violations, coach employees on what to say, get rid of the child workers, and forge records. In China, there are consultants who will prepare a factory for inspection, going so far as to fake missing records.
Wal-Mart Whistleblower Finally Has New Job (At Wal-Mart), But Says Ordeal Was Harrowing
By 10.18.07
When Chalace Lowry reported her suspicions that her boss was possibly engaged in insider trading, it set off a four-month-long ordeal where she was questioned repeatedly by various departments within the company, outed to her boss as the snitch, and—when she subsequently requested a transfer—told she had 60-90 days to find a new position on her own or get out—not the most supportive response from a company that only a few months earlier sent her to a training seminar on corporate ethics.
Are Companies Finally Figuring Out That Bad Behavior Loses Customers?
By 10.16.07
A new market research study of over 3600 consumers has confirmed that there are some key things that will quickly erode any trust a customer has in a company: unethical behavior, bad customer service, and outdated products and services. The bad news is that the study was conducted in Europe, which makes us wonder if U.S. companies will pay any attention.
Wal-Mart Refuses Anonymity For Whistleblowers
By 6.15.07
I just love sticking it to Wal-Mart. What crime hasn’t this mega-corporate SPECTRE-wannabe been accused of? Anyway, they may not have even done anything wrong in this case; after all, the accuser, Chalace Epley Lowry, is not yet entirely out of the company and the accused might actually be innocent. Nonetheless, shouldn’t companies be required to allow anonymous reporting of ethics violations?
What Happens When A Reporter Breaks A Press Embargo
By 5.31.07
Hardware reviewer Dan Rutter linked to our bit about press embargoes, “which in the computer world manifests itself in those sudden snowstorms of online reviews that show up for each new piece of PC gear, all on the same day and nearly on the same hour.” He writes:
How Companies Collude With Reporters To Control When Stories Get Published: Embargoed Press Releases
By 5.29.07
Have you ever noticed how a new product comes out and a well-developed article with multiple quotes and sources appears in all the major papers? Are reporters just so Olympian in their competitiveness, performing at levels differing only by a few milliseconds? If only. Often, this shows an “embargoed” story, a technique corporations use to control the media and public perception. Here’s how it works.
Sprint CEO Developed Ethics In Shop Class
By 3.6.07
Oddly framed vase of roses aside, we’re basically with it, ethics, it’s not how you win or lose, etc, until the very end.
Grade Inflation: Can Zagat Be Trusted?
By 2.22.07
SmartMoney totaled the ratings in numerous Zagat guides to come up with an average for each. The average food rating for the New York restaurant guide has risen 26% since 1983, while the number of restaurants rated 25 or above in San Francisco has jumped nearly 60% in the past five years.
One reason could be that the Zagats sell costly plaques to restaurants, the higher the score…the more expensive the plaque. Hmmm. That sounds ethical. Read the rest of the Smart Money article, it’s really interesting.—MEGHANN MARCO
Girlfriend Decides To Not Shop At Humiliating Liquor Store
By 10.6.06
Keith’s girlfriend took inspiration from our lord and savior, Jesus Christ. She will turn the other cheek, pass on a confrontation with the store manager, and simply take her business elsewhere.
We Call Up Liquour Store That Allegedly Humiliated Readers Girlfriend
By 10.5.06
We called up Shannon to find out about The Wine Press policy against humiliating customers. She was very feisty. We told Keith to have his girlfriend call the manager. Actually the most part is the aspersions Shannon casts against blogs.
How To Deal With Liquor Store Humiliating My Girlfriend?
By 10.5.06
Keith’s claims his girlfriend was subjected to completely unwarranted degradation at a MA liquor store last night by a clerk who asserted that Guinness Extra Stout did not exist, and she was an idiot for trying to buy it.
Whither Krempasky?
By 9.28.06
Despite breaking a non-disclosure with a PR rep (above, far left), we slept soundly last night.
Krempasky, Walmart Apologist, Responds To Consumerist Outing
By 9.27.06
Blogosphere hall monitor for Walmart, Mike Krempasky, took the time to reply to our post disclosing emails we exchanged about a meeting we had several months ago. A meeting he would rather we not discuss, but we did anyway on behalf of the No Respect! podcast. After the jump, his remarks and our ripostes, wherein we ponder the ethics of lying to a PR flack… and whether that’s even technically possible.
Walmart Is Mad At The Consumerist
By 9.27.06
Earlier this summer, we did an interview with the No Respect! podcast. They asked us about The Consumerist in general and Walmart in particular. Especially of interest was our meeting with Mike Krempasksy (above, center, tie), who runs the Walmart blog war team at Edelman PR. After a series of disapariging posts, Mike wanted to meet up with us for drinks. He opened the meeting with, “This is all off the record.” The next thing out of his mouth was, “What can we do to get you to stop writing about our companies?” You can hear more about it in this episode of the No Respect! podcast.
