Most Corrupt Industries

Everyone says that corporations are extremely corrupt. But, are the corporations actually corrupt or is it the industries they're in that decides whether or not they'll be corrupt? Think about it, I previously mentioned how you rarely hear about the music industry being considered corrupt. So, who are the corrupt ones?
1. Utilities: "In January 2006, FirstEnergy ponied up $28 million, on top of a previous $5.45 million penalty, to make the criminal charges go away. The cost of the replacement reactor head? $605 million, according to the Toledo Blade." (par. 1)
2. Wall Street/ Securities: "Madoff piloted the most devious Ponzi scheme ever, finding new suckers to give him money as he paid (some) old ones off, eventually defrauding his investors of an estimated $18 billion." (par. 2)
3. Telecommunications: "Officials finally decided WorldCom had been claiming $11 billion it didn't have. WorldCom filed for the then-biggest bankruptcy in the United States, and Ebbers was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy" (par. 3)
4. Construction: "...three former Fluor employees in Richland, Washington, were indicted last week for fraudulently charging about $560,000 in goods and services. " (par. 4)
5. Media: "...Four major chains, including Clear Channel, paid out $12.5 million in 2007" (par. 5)

Media and Telecommunications, in my opinion, go pretty hand in hand so that just shows how corrupt that area is. Utilities, well, here is another example of corrupt utility companies.

The story of Erin Brockovich is all about a corrupt utility company.

So, does this truly prove that it is the industry that creates corruption? I think it does. Some industries have no reason to be corrupt, and some do.  I'm not saying that there aren't some companies who just have bad apples in their work place that create corruption, but I do think there is a correlation between industry and corruption.


"Corruption at the Movies - Galleries." The Daily Beast. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. <http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/1564/1/?redirectURL=http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-04-28/the-most-corrupt-professions/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsL1>.

Love, Money, Boasting and Bars

Universal, Sony, Warner Music and EMI are 81.87% of the US Market as of 2005. (Cashmere Par. 2, 3, 4, 5)  The music industry today is extremely diverse and I'm sure if you researched each of those four you'd see that each of them represent different types of artists.  Music today is so diverse. The lyrics you hear from radio station to radio station in a sense are all about the same few topics.
Corey Deitz, former radio personality with a BS in Telecommunications from Kent State University, made a list of the top 10 music topics played on the radio in 2008.

1. Love: Choose Me
   
2. Love: Making Love
   
3. Love: Don’t Want To Break Up
   
4. Love: Painful Break-up 
5. Money
   
6. Love: Falling In Love
   
7. Bars & Clubs
   
8. Bragging
   
9. Love: Devotion
   
10. Love: On The Ropes 

I thought I'd sent up a little experiment and go through iTunes and see if I could find at least 2 songs about each topic.

1. Love: Choose Me -- "You Belong With Me"-Taylor Swift & "That Should Be Me" -Justin Beiber
   
2. Love: Making Love -- "A Night Off" -Drake & "I'll Make Love To You" -Boys II Men
3. Love: Don’t Want To Break Up -- "Stay With Me" -Finch & "Stay My Baby" -Miranda Cosgrove (this one was actually pretty difficult)
   
4. Love: Painful Break-up -- "All Again For You" -We The Kings & "You're Not Sorry" -Taylor Swift
5. Money -- "N Luv With My Money" -Chamillionaire & "Money to Blow" -Drake (Didn't even have to go to iTunes for this one!)
   
6. Love: Falling In Love -- "I'd Do Anything" -Simple Plan & "So Much" -The Spill Canvas
   
7. Bars & Clubs -- "Make Love In This Club" -Usher (Two in one!) & "Waking Up In Vegas" -Katy Perry
   
8. Bragging --"I Look Good" -Chalie Boy & "Who's Got Your Money" -Tina Parole
   
9. Love: Devotion --"Little Devotional" -Taking Back Sunday & "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" -Aerosmith
   
10. Love: On The Ropes  --"Goodbyes" -Miley Cyrus & "The Cheeseburger Song" -Veggie Tales (okay, maybe this one is going out on a limb, but he really is torn about whether or not to wait for his cheeseburger!)

I think it's proven that these themes are very common in songs when I could so easily find songs about each topic all in my own personal music library. But to me, what is most apparent about this is that love is the most common theme. I have fifty songs in my library that have love in the title, but that doesn't mean out of the 700 left the majority aren't about love, because they are.

The thing is, the music industry is huge and it's everywhere.  These huge companies that sign all of these musicians have a lot to do with society and what is popular at the time.  However, they don't always have the best judgement.  Sometimes artists go from company to company until someone signs them, and sometimes people who don't deserve to be signed at all are.  Music impacts everyone, regardless of if they realize it, and I think the music industries are some of the least corrupt out there.  People always seem to focus on the bad things of major corporations but I don't know what bad things to say about these companies.

Universal for example, it has had its controversies here and there, like bribing radio stations to play their music, but in comparison to some other companies is that really that bad?  They aren't providing products that could kill anyone and they aren't lying about what they provide.  Universal is an example of a corporation that more corporations should be like.

Now, here is a video of one of the songs above because I felt like if I was going to mention songs I should at least have a link to one (: I couldn't decide which so I used a random number generator and this is what is picked! I love this song.
Enjoy

Work Cited

Cashmere, Paul. "Universal The Biggest Label of 2006." Undercover: Your Daily Music Fix. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://www.undercover.fm/news/1203-universal-the-biggest-label-of-2006>.

Deitz, Corey. "The Top 10 Music Topics Played on Radio in 2008." News and Advice on Internet Radio, SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio, AM, FM, HD, HD-2, Podcasting, IPhone, BlackBerry, and Android Radio Applications. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://radio.about.com/od/radioprogramming/a/aa020209a.htm>.

Advertising

Every major or minor corporation has one thing in common, advertising.  No matter how big or how small they all advertise their company in one way or another, they have to or they'll never get any business, obviously.  But, unfortunately some companies go a little bit over the top with some of their ads.  Some are disturbing and some are just questionable. If you search YouTube, there are a lot of videos of banned advertisements.  For example:


This commercial, which I find hilarious, was banned for a reason.  It implies having a child just isn't worth it.  While it  makes its main point, don't have sex if you aren't going to be safe about it, or if you aren't ready for a child, it's still just....wrong.  It makes people wonder.
This, like a lot of advertisements, are just simply inappropriate.  Oddee.com made a list in 2008 of the 15 most offensive, banned and rejected advertisements.  Here are the reasons they were considered so bad.

1. Objectifying or demeaning a certain group
2. Obscene
3. Trivialized violence
4. Frightening
5. Immoral or inappropriate
6. Sexually explicit

The way I see it though, there are plenty of ads that are out today that sexually explicit or inappropriate. I think though, companies are getting away with it because they only air their commercials on stations not being seen by children, or on main channels but only during prime time.  The problem with this is, children are still watching.  I know when I was 8 years old I'd watch MTV with my 17 year old sister.  If I saw some of the commercials that I see now, then, I'd have some questions.  I see this mainly with condom commercials, especially Trojan, or with KY.  While I suppose the companies are making their point, I can't help but be a little uncomfortable with some of those commercials.  Not because I'm uncomfortable around sex, but because the whole idea of their commercials just make me uncomfortable.
While I don't necessarily agree with a lot of the commercials or advertisements I see today, there are plenty that I fine acceptable.  While doing my research for this blog I came across another blog by someone who didn't seem at all to agree with advertising. Mark Irons, the creator of this blog, said " [People in advertising] serve no useful purpose in the world, and just drag the rest of us down into the mire. Off yourself and do us all a favor."
Can you say over dramatic?  
The thing about it is, advertising is essential in our world.  How am I supposed to know which pizza place to order from if I didn't know who was having the better sale.  However, I definitely think that advertising companies need to cool down their advertisements.  Unfortunately "sex sells" is a common phrase today, and is the truth.  The obscenity and objectification in advertising is a lot of what sells things today.

Why can't a product sell itself?

Work Cited

"15 Most Offensive, Banned and Rejected Ads - Oddee.com (banned Ads, Offensive Ads...)." A Blog on Oddities: the Odd, Bizarre and Strange Things of Our World! | Oddee.com. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://www.oddee.com/item_96502.aspx>.

 Irons, Mark. "Mark Irons’ Home Page." RainDrop Laboratories, Home of Agora. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://www.rdrop.com/~half/index.html>.

Valentine's Day

Billshrink

So maybe I'm a few months late to talk about this topic, but it definitely involves corporations.  Valentines Day: The ultimate corporate holiday.  Why is it that America feels like they need a holiday to say "I love you" to their loved ones? Why do they think they need to spend a ton of money on one day? Do people really think the more money spent on them on Valentines Day means the more someone loves you? It doesn't.  Now I'll admit, when the day comes around I want attention too. If I'm single, I wish I wasn't and if I'm not, I expect something good. That's the downfall. This corporate holiday has made us into greedy people who expect to be blown away this one day a year? Honestly, if someone really loves you they'll blow you away everyday.  They won't need Valentines Day to do it. According to Online Dating Magazine "15% of singles send flowers to themselves on Valentine’s Day". (Par. 2)  It's sad that it means SO much to women to get something on Valentine's Day that they go to lengths to spend money on themselves. Billshrink.com posted this graphic about Valentine's Day.Click on the caption below the picture to be taken directly to Billshrink.com and enlarge the photograph.  It has so many statistics that prove how much of a corporate holiday Valentine's Day really is.  Especially one particular quote near the bottom of the graphic that talks about how some taken people still don't enjoy Valentine's Day because they feel it is meaningless and they're under pressure to provide the perfect gift for their loved one.  That right there is the problem.  People shouldn't worry so much about what they're going to receive or give someone on Valentine's Day.  They should show their love everyday.  The following clip from the movie Valentine's Day shows two teenagers (played by Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner) who talk about how much they love each other.  All he got her for Valentines Day was a teddy bear and they're still so in love for two high school students as opposed to other people in the movie and in the real world.  People who expect diamonds and pearls and when they don't get it it just isn't enough. I'd say I wish we had Valentine's Day without all the corporate influence, but honestly, I think we're too past that.

Works Cited

"Valentine's Day Statistics." Online Dating News Blog - Online Dating Tips and Advice. Web. 

.Maybelline or Maybelying?

E Marinot

Maybelline cosmetics have been around since 1915 when they were just a small family run business. In 2002 Maybelline became the number one cosmetic brand in the world. (Maybelline par. 1 & 16)  It seems like that is a long time to  build up your business and become huge but honestly, I'm pretty impressed that they achieved that in such a short period of time.  But what have they done to climb their way to the top?  Maybelline claims that  "L’Oreal is a leader in developing alternative methods to animal testing with the ultimate goal of eliminating all animal testing completely. In 1989, L’Oreal voluntarily stopped using animal testing for the evaluation of its entire range of finished products." (Par. 3) Because L'Oreal owns Maybelline this quote implies that Maybelline also wouldn't partake in animal testing.  This claim couldn't be more wrong.  All over the internet are different websites saying that Maybelline does animal test.  For example, PETA has a huge list of companies that do animal testing and Maybelline is clearly on their list.  (Par. 1) And PETA isn't the only website with a list of companies that do animal testing. Google gives you a lot of hits if you search "Does Maybelline animal test?".  What gets me though is that Maybelline doesn't actually come out and say, "yes we animal test" or "no we don't".  They just imply that they don't do it anymore.  While it's bad to perform animal testing, it's worse to not answer if you do or not.  Maybelline is playing politics with their consumers and that isn't fair to us.  How are we supposed to know what the truth is? All I know is that if Maybelline does animal test, my opinion has changed on them.  I know if my dogs were ever taken from me to be tested on, or if I saw any animal being tested on I'd be outraged.  But what is completely outrageous to me, is how Maybelline doesn't even own up to what they're doing.  I'd be more inclined to buy products from a company who said they do animal test than one that implies that they don't when really they do.  Maybelline has made a poor decision when it comes to what they imply, especially because it is so easy to access proof that they animal test.  Major corporations who lie, or imply something that isn't the truth, is part of the reason they all have such a bad connotation.  Maybe that's how they got to the top so quickly??

Work Cited

"Companies That Do Test on Animals | PETA.org." People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA): The Animal Rights Organization | PETA.org. Web.

"Maybelline Animal Testing Policy." Web. 

 "Our History." Maybelline New York. Web. 

The Tobacco Industry

According to thetruth.com, which is a website all about promoting the truth about tobacco and tobacco companies stated that, "a tobacco company once gave $125,000 worth of food to a charity, according to an estimate by The Wall Street Journal. Then, they spent well over $22 million telling people about it. I guess when you sell a deadly, addictive product, you need all the good PR you can get." (Fact 80 Truth) What does it say about Big Tobacco Corporations if they spend more money advertising their good deed than they actually did on the deed itself?
Big Tobacco companies are, in my personal opinion, the worst of all the corporations out there. I don't know of any other corporation that would treat the questions they were asked about their products the way Tobacco companies do. For example:

1. Truth.com Fact 108 --How do infants avoid secondhand smoke? "At some point they begin to crawl." Tobacco Executive, 1996. 
• Don't believe it? View the document
2. Truth.com Fact 87 --In 1997, a Big Tobacco executive once said, under oath, that he believed Gummy Bears were addictive like cigarettes. 
• Don't believe it? View the document 
3. Truth.com Fact 70 --In 1984, a tobacco company called younger adult smokers "replacement smokers." 
• Don't believe it? View the document

It's hard to believe that corporations would say these things, and not only that, but that they would actually write them down for other people to find.  Personally, I'm dumbfounded because of it.  And sadly, thetruth.com isn't the only place to find negative things about tobacco industries. Take the screenshot above for example. Of the five links listed when you search "tobacco corporations", the first, fourth, and fifth are all negative. "Trap millions into death", "lure for youth", "invasion of third world", these are all phrases that would make any normal corporation shake in their boots if it was written about things they were doing. Tobacco industries, they seem to embrace it and just keep doing it.
According to Corey Habbas, a journalist, tobacco companies find great importance in smokers that are under the legal age to buy tobacco. The way they see it is the younger they start, the more addicted they'll be. That way, when the older smokers die, the smoking population isn't gone because the younger ones have kept the tradition alive. (Par. 23)  This is just what the industry referred to as "replacement smokers" (thetruth.com)
Smoking advertisements always try to make tobacco look like, while it is unhealthy, it's still a good thing to do. Take, for example, this ad for Camel Cigarettes from the 1940s.

  

What is completely ridiculous about this is, aside from the fact it is doctors advertising smoking, is that there is a random beautiful woman at the end smoking. What was the point of that?! And if you pay attention he said "see how mild and good tasting a cigarette can be".  Now, not only are the advertising Camels but they're encouraging "cigarette[s]" as a whole.  Now, watch this commercial from thetruth, which is on the other end of the argument.

 

This definitely takes a different point of view, and probably had little to no effect on the tobacco company it was outside of.  Which is the worst thing in the world.  There are a lot of bad CEO s out there that realize they're in the wrong and they turn their companies around.  However, tobacco industries are so proud of what they do and they just keep doing it.  

And, just to conclude with a fact that will really make your skin crawl. 

Thetruth.com fact number 172. --

In 1971, when one tobacco executive was reminded that smoking can lead to underweight babies, he said,"Some women would prefer smaller babies."

Smaller babies? Really? For more information on the harm of tobacco, the wrong their companies are in and what you can do to help visit this link right here.

Habbas, Corey. "Tobacco Corporations Trap Millions into Death." MG | Indian Muslims Leading Newspaper | Alternative Media News Source from India. Web. 06 Mar. 2011. 

"Thetruth.com - Facts." Thetruth.com - Unsweetened Truth. Web. 06 Mar. 2011. 

Fast Food Corporations and Obesity

theimpulsivebuys on flickr

theimpulsivebuys on flickr

"Two thirds of Americans are now either overweight...or obese," (Par. 1) states Maia Szalavitz for MSN Health & Fitness.  TWO THIRDS. Is that not one of the scariest statistics you've ever seen? Two thirds of Americans. In November of 2002 the story broke of the two girls who were suing McDonald's because it made them overweight. According to the New York Times, these girls were angry because they were not provided the proper nutritional information to make better choices of what to eat. (Santora Par. 7) Now, I can't even imagine, what person in their right mind thinks that going to McDonald's and making healthy choices is going to be an easy task.  If you're looking for healthy choices then choose food that is healthy.  Make your own food, for instance, they have Lean Cuisine's in every grocery store in America.  Why were these girls saying that McDonald's made them fat because they didn't provide them with nutritional information? Honestly, how many teenage girls go into a fast food place and ask for nutritional information? As a teenage girl myself, I've known very few people to ever even care about knowing those things. Continuing on in the New York Times article, the lawyers representing the company said that everyone knows the consequences of eating food like they serve. The consequences on your dress size, on your health and how it will effect you if you continuously eat it over and over. (Santora Par. 9) It's unfathomable to think these two girls had no idea that eating McDonald's hamburgers and fries multiple times a day would have no impact on them. In my honest opinion, no one has any right to blame fast foot companies for obesity.  Everyone is making the conscious decision of what they're going to eat.  If children are obese, it's because their parents are choosing to neglect making them eat healthy.  If anyone else that has a mind of their own is obese, it's because they are choosing to eat fast food.  Fast food companies are choosing to  meet the demand of people wanting something fast and quick to eat.  People say they want healthier choices, but how healthy do you think something can be if it's ready when you get to the next drive thru window.  Subway has managed to make healthy choices a possibility and Taco Bell has a special menu for people trying to watch their weight, but every day people still blame everyone but themselves.  If you want healthy choices, make time to sit down and make the meal yourself if that is what it takes.  You can't sit there and say "oh well I'll make dinner tomorrow night because I was too busy tonight" because if you keep saying that you'll always be busy. Personally, I know a family who has three children and they're all under the age of 16 and are all involved in at least one athletic team.  These three children and their parents are ALWAYS on the go, and not one of them is obese.  It is possible to keep your children healthy.  Unfortunately, there will always be blame on the Fast Food companies and they'll continue to have to fight off law suits left and right. Hopefully, eventually, people will learn that they can make their own decisions.  What will it be? A Big Mac or grilled chicken breast salad?

Works Cited

SANTORA, MARC. "Teenagers' Suit Says McDonald's Made Them Obese - New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Web. 03 Mar. 2011.

Szalavitz, Maia. "Obesity in America 2010 - Page 1 - MSN Health - Health Topics." MSN Health: Health Articles & News – Fitness Tips & Guide. Web. 03 Mar. 2011.