I found this article to be quite interesting. I’m certain that we have all heard of, and probably used or consumed an Apple or Coca Cola product once in our lives, so it is fairly relevant to all of us. As of September 30, 2013 (which is coincidentally my birthday), Apple has dethroned Coca Cola as the No. 1 Global Brand, who has held the spot for 13 years until this year. While I am aware that Apple is an incredibly large brand and company, I did not expect it to overcome Coca Cola, which is known pretty much everywhere around the world. I personally thought the iPhone 5C would not have been as successful as it was, since it was marketed as a less expensive phone but still ended up costing $599 but I was surprised to find out that apple ended up selling 9 million iPhones in the first weekend of availability. However, this article takes a different approach to this, saying that Apple didn’t ‘technically’ sell 9 million phones. The article states that the iPhone 5C did not completely sell out, therefore Apple did not make 9 million actual sales to consumers, but rather to resellers.

Nestle Waters is a subdivision of Nestle. Its brands include but are not limited to “Nestle Pure Life”, “S. Pellegrino”, and “Perrier”. Nestle Waters has been under scrutiny for a long period of time due to the ethical problems with their methods of acquiring mineral water for their “Pure Life” brand.  This article briefly describes Nestle’s methods of collecting mineral water.  It also refers to the documentary “Bottled Life”.  Friedman stated that “there is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud” (178).  I believe this is false in the case of Nestle Waters.  According to the article, as well as the documentary (which may be biased against Nestle), their methods are highly profitable for Nestle, however it deprives the community in the area of water.  While they are holding up their promises to their shareholders, they are simultaneously damaging many communities and indirectly killing many people, which is highly unethical.  It is ironic as Nestle tries to present themselves using the “cloak of social responsibility” that was mentioned by Friedman by stating that they are working on providing clean water to places without it while at the same time taking the water supply of other communities.  This “cloak of social responsibility” is only for self benefit as it helps improve Nestle’s image and reputation, despite the fact that they already have a reputation for ‘stealing’ (and I say this with a grain of salt as what they do is technically legal) the water supply of other communities.

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