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1st Annual PR Week Interactive Career Fair

December 7, 2006
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Following the overwhelming success of the PRWeek Career Guide, PRWeek invites you to attend the 1st Annual PRWeek Interactive Career Fair.

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posted by jacqueline @ 1:14 PM

Ideas for case studies

Your case study for the final project will need to have a clear ethical dimension, at least in the way that you tell the story. For instance, it's perhaps not readily apparent that the Dallas Cowboys case study from our textbook has an ethical dimension, based on the way that the organization told the story about Michael Irvin stabbing a teammate. But there were clear legal and ethical issues the organization wished to ignore. Using the communitarian framework sometimes helps us find these other dimensions of the case.

The final study should be 12-15 pages long, double-spaced, including works cited but not appendix pages. Research should start immediately, with proposals due Nov. 6. Some ideas, and the best of these may be the local ones, but it's OK to do something with national implications:

Omni Hotels, deciding not to sell pornography through its pay-per-view movie network

The 7-Eleven decision not to sell the drink called "Cocaine"

Any non-profit's alliance with donors, such as the Lance Armstrong Foundation's funding sources; or a pediatric dentistry group's funding by Coca-Cola

Any technology company's efforts to be greener, in terms of providing for disposal of its toxic hardware

Galludet University's selection of a new president and the resulting protests

The selection of contractors for the new Cowboys' stadium

Michael J. Fox's endorsement of political candidates

Any number of bond elections around the area

The new Toyota dealership in the Metroplex that is using green construction and will be a model for future dealerships around the nation

Send me your questions, and I'll see you next week.

posted by jacqueline @ 7:27 PM

A company does the right thing

In class, I'm always saying that companies, PR professionals, and other workers can do better. This week, 7-Eleven did something: neglect profit in favor of parental requests about a product sold in its stores, an energy drink called Cocaine. The chain will be removing this product from its stores. I wonder whether there was a conversation about selling this product in the first place, and what would be the argument in favor of selling the product, beyond money-making? Check out some stories about this decision, and be sure to read the justification offered by the company that makes "Cocaine."

So, 7-Eleven could have never sold it in the first place, but then we never would have known about its decision to pull it from stores. It would be nice to know what other unsavory products have been pitched to this chain and denied.

posted by jacqueline @ 5:33 PM

Some last words on Enron

Take a look at coverage from this past week on the sentencing of Skilling and what was said: by the judge, the people from Enron who confronted him, and Skilling himself. Reflect and write about what you learned from the Enron film and this week's sentencing.

posted by jacqueline @ 5:29 PM

Ethics and blogging

An apt topic for our course, especially in this web-based portion:

http://adage.com/article?article_id=112588

It's about a major PR firm, Edelman Worldwide, using freelancers to "flog" (rather than blog)about Wal-Mart, basically having them pose as real consumers. Eeeyuuuuck.

posted by jacqueline @ 11:53 AM

Blogging for the week of Oct. 16

We're watching the Enron DVD this week and next. What about a small investigation of your own into the relationships between financial analysts and practitioners of financial public relations? Go forth and google.

posted by jacqueline @ 12:03 PM

Ryan A http://rabrey.blogspot.com
Dandre A http://deeallen2003.blogspot.com
Courtney B http://iheartpr.blogspot.com
Christine B http://youhonestly.blogspot.com
Brittany B http://britb83.blogspot.com
Spencer C http://sac5124.blogspot.com
Krena C http://mynameiskrena.blogspot.com
Jake C http://jacobstapp.blogspot.com
Kasey C http://kcrill.blogspot.com
Marie F http://mariefahey.blogspot.com
Sabrina F http://snferrell.blogspot.com
Lauren F http://cubanalaf.blogspot.com
Glynn H http://collegefootballrocks.blogspot.com
Erika H http://erikahayes.blogspot.com
Gina H http://ginamari9.blogspot.com
Andrea H http://achernandez.blogspot.com
Ashley H
Shauna H http://shaunasprethicsblog.blogspot.com
Linda J http://thesaltlick.blogspot.com
Libba J http://libbaloo.blogspot.com
Nancy K http://kihenia.blogspot.com
Katerina L http://KatLowery.blogspot.com
Michael P http://braves84.blogspot.com
Kimberly R http://kimberlyrand.blogspot.com
Kwesi R http://untpr.blogspot.com
Danielle S http://des0095.blogspot.com
Katherine T http://katherine_teel.blogspot.com
Natalie T http://natthompson.blogspot.com
Kurt W http://kurtwatkins.blogspot.com

posted by jacqueline @ 7:15 PM

FYI

There's a great column today in the Dallas Morning News about violence against women--go online for its op-ed page to find it. So, what does that have to do with our class? Well, we've been discussing the pornography industry and how Marriott and other large hotel chains could be considered as sellers of pornography since their hotels grab part of that lucrative revenue stream. Think beyond how much money they can make, which is not the most relevant information for an ethics discussion. Instead, think about a company's image and its business practices in the framework of communitarianism. What about the effects of pornography in society, violence against women and exploitation of children? When you think about pornography, you might be thinking about soft porn or erotica, of the sort experienced at a bachelor's party. But I'm speaking here about the ways that hard and soft porn are connected and intertwined. As one of you pointed out in your blog, at least one hotel chain, Omni, has decided to disentangle itself from this industry.

Could someone think about Marriott and others as being sexually oriented businesses? We regulate those in our society, and in fact, there was a news item from the Metroplex this week of a condom shop having perhaps to relocate because it was in a neighborhood retail center, rather than off in an area zoned for such businesses. BTW, the Omni case study would be interesting for a final project for this class.

posted by jacqueline @ 6:35 AM

CASE STUDY FOR CASE ANALYSIS

We'll be discussing chapters 25 and 26 next week, and we'll be focusing especially on the textbook's use of the pyramid to dissect cases from the utilitarian and communitarian standpoints. Pay attention to how the principles--freedom, humaneness, truth, justice and stewardship--are present in each of these standpoints.

Due October 18 will be a five-page case analysis of the following case about Citigroup, from the AW Page Society case study competition (see first link, below). We'll be writing the case analysis differently from a typical case analysis; instead, we'll look at this case study to see where the company followed utilitarian and/or communitarian values and principles in its turnaround effort after financial scandal. Subsequent links are from the Citigroup site, about its ethics statements and efforts internally to change the company's culture.

http://www.awpagesociety.com/resources/case_studies/Citigroup.pdf

www.citigroup.com/citigroup/fin/data/ar041c_en.pdf

http://www.citigroup.com/citigroup/press/2005/050214b.htm

http://www.citigroup.com/citigroup/press/2005/data/050214b1.pdf

posted by jacqueline @ 3:26 PM