The New York Times Magazine published at the beginning of the year this article on how Target and more large companies get close to the people that consume there. Every time a client walks in a store regularly, Target re-collects tons of data and, when it’s possible, it gives the client a unique ID number or code that recognizes his shopping. Target’s Guest Marketing Analytics department links your frequent shopping with your age, where you live, what your job is, your approximate salary, what credit cards you have and more. Big companies today know what we are interested in because of the research that has been done through psychological questionnaires, brain studies and habit formations. The way Target achieves high sales made me think of Management Information System because as a company they are using technology, recollecting data on the clients to offer them what they are interested in, and with this obtain the high sale rates needed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=2&_r=4&hp&

After reading Daniel’s blogpost RE: Sustainable driving and going to the class on Corporate Social Responsibility, my interest in the companies who help others but themselves grew. Within the many companies that have corporate social responsibility, is Pedigree, whose “consciousness” permeates everything they do.

What Pedigree does goes beyond simply making and selling dog food, they help homeless dogs to find a home and to help those in shelters. What Pedigree does is they donate one bowl of food to animal shelters every time they obtain a Facebook fan with the goal to donate 4 million bowls of dog food, enough to feed every shelter dog in America for one day.

What is fascinating is not only Pedigree’s ability to be a social enterprise but also how they’re an example that no matter how big a company is, it’s never too late to help

Reading Taylor Carkner’s blogpost on Greenwashing Corporate Actions a lot thoughts came to my mind regarding the veracity of company’s claim of being ‘ecologically friendly’. Firstly, Taylor brings up a good term that is not very well known; greenwashing. The following video details a few facts about greenwashing:

As may be seen, there are several things that companies do that consumers believe are helping the environment, when in fact they aren’t. An example of a company who’s involved in greenwashing is Fiji Water Company. The company claimed of making an ‘environmentally friendly’ water bottle, however,”the actual “greenness” of the “bottled water was not disputed, but rather that the bottler’s overall manufacturing distribution and packaging of the water uses a “greater amount more of natural resources” in the creation and transportation of the bottled water than competitors and that this results in the use of “46 million gallons of fossil fuel, producing approximately 216,000,000 billion pounds of greenhouse gases per year.””

Brantford’s blogpost Bic’s “For Her” Ballpoint Pens was so intriguing that I decided to look for other ridiculous gender-specific products. Primarily it seems as if the main concern that makes gender-specific advertising a huge success- or failure- is the stereotypical consumer behaviors; women like pink and men like beer. As simple as that.

However ludicrous that may seem to some, gender-specific has reached a limit. Chocolate bars.. for her?!

Apparently this chocolate designed for women is the answer to women’s “main concern”; weight. The market research carried out by Cadbury shows that women buy less chocolate in an attempt to be healthier and that ” According to industry research, annual sales of single chocolate bars have fallen by some 6.6 per cent in a market worth approximately £800m a year”.

But just like Brantford pointed out with Bic, is this actually a good business decision for Cadbury? Does gender-specifying products decrease potential profit? With a company as prestigious as Cabury, I believe that the Crispello will actually benefit or not even influence Cadbury at all, since other targets may be reached; women concerned about their overall health. However, wouldn’t it have been easier to simply call the chocolate a ‘low calorie’ chocolate so that both men AND women enjoy the benefits of Crispello whithout the shame of it being a ‘feminine’ product?