RE: Snapchat as an Ad Medium

Posted on November 6, 2014 by StellaCho under COMM 101

No one likes seeing ads on their social media news feeds. With the exception of the corporations themselves. This blog post by Rob Schlyecher, Creative Director at Vancouver advertising agency, Spring, touches upon the newest social media platform, Snapchat, and its rising potential as an ad medium. With Facebook, Twitter and YouTube playing as veterans in the social media ad game and Instagram following close behind, it’s just a matter of time before Snapchat follows suit. Despite the company’s rejection of acquisition offers of $3 and $4 billion from Facebook and Google, respectively, Snapchat is still a profit-maximizing corporation and undoubtedly recognizes the financial value in opening its app up to advertising.

Consumers do not like to see a plethora of ads across their news feeds. With a rise in advertising being seen across many popular social media platforms, disruptors are beginning to crop up. Ello is one such disruptor, with a platform very similar to Facebook and a point of difference being that they promise no advertisements. As a fairly new player in the game, it will be very interesting to see how consumers adapt to such a social media site and how the current players will fight this new competitor.

RE: Bowie Ko’s Blog Post

Posted on November 5, 2014 by StellaCho under Uncategorized

I’m glad Bowie wrote about the topic of sexualizing women for use as a business’s value proposition. Bowie wrote about restaurants such as Hooters, which utilize female waitresses dressed in minimal clothing as their main value proposition in order to attract male customers. Thinking in grander terms, sexualizing women and men as a marketing scheme is something that we see in the media and business world quite often. Everywhere, we see men and women in advertisements wearing little clothing or staring seductively into the camera. The fact of the matter: sex sells. If the model consents and the business makes profits, while not engaging in illegal activities, then it should be allowed. As long as the firm does not compromise the model’s dignity by releasing ad campaigns without their consent or forcing them, in any way, to engage in sexual campaigns, it will always exist in our world – whether we like it or not. This comes back to our business ethics lecture and the question of what a business’ primary responsibility should be – to better the community or to increase profits for shareholders.

Cable television: the new old-timer

Posted on October 27, 2014 by StellaCho under COMM 101

Photo via Digital Trends

Do people still watch TV through cable? With the rise of online media streaming structures such as Netflix, consumers have begun to steer away from cable television altogether. These are the rising concerns of telecommunications companies such as Rogers and Shaw, as detailed in this Huffington Post article. These two companies have collectively lost approximately 193,000 cable subscribers in the past year.

Netflix is a disruptive innovator. By creating an incredibly successful online TV and movie streaming subscription service, it has effectively disrupted the cable industry and poses major threat and competition for old-timer industry oligopolies, Rogers and Shaw. With today’s technology, people are able to stream Netflix or other online media streaming sites straight from their TVs. Owning TVs no longer automatically correspond with having cable subscriptions. Telecom companies are now forced to reevaluate their services and consider marketing to a different consumer segment. Cable television is something that I, personally, have not enjoyed for a very long time. Despite having multiple TVs in my family home, I prefer to watch videos on YouTube or shows on Netflix, as is the case with many of my peers. As telecom companies attempt to compete against disruptive innovators such as Netflix and YouTube, it will be interesting for consumers to see how new services emerge onto the market.

Will Vancouver’s housing market ever crash?

Posted on October 20, 2014 by StellaCho under COMM 101

A house that sold in Vancouver. Photo by Darryl Dyck for the Globe and Mail

The average price of a detached single-family home in Vancouver sells for upwards of $1 million – it’s safe to say that housing prices in Vancouver are crazy. An article by the Globe and Mail titled “How a housing market decline could put retirement savings at risk” elaborates on the effects a crash would have on the retirement plans of Canadians nearing that point in their lives. Many Canadians have the majority of their savings invested in their real estate. For them, an increase in interest rates would add additional costs onto mortgage payments and have a large impact on plans for retirement.

This topic hits close to home because the demographic that this article speaks of includes my parents. Having purchased a home in Coquitlam only two years ago, my parents pay a large mortgage and will rely on high housing prices when they sell our home. Our house is their primary source of retirement income. On the other hand, as a student hoping to graduate and enter the workforce in the next couple of years, the housing market is less than desirable. With a decent downtown single-room apartment renting out for a minimum of $1,000/month, renting accommodation is proving to be neither sustainable nor economically smart. For 20- and 30-somethings in the process of moving out and renting or purchasing housing in the city, a crash in the housing market may be even welcome. Analysts have been predicting a housing market crash for the past decade, yet prices have continued to skyrocket. As long as banks continue to lend money at low interest rates, people will continue to buy. It’s a difficult problem whose answer has yet to be found.

First Nations Land Claims

Posted on October 6, 2014 by StellaCho under COMM 101

Fish Lake, BC. Photo by Garth Lenz/Special to The Sun

Ever since European settlers first arrived to Canada hundreds of years ago, the possession of land has been much disputed. To this day, the Canadian government and First Nations groups are struggling to find balance between aboriginal claims to land and economic plans. This article by the Vancouver Sun exemplifies a recurring situation – where firms looking to do business on land with aboriginal claims are faced with barriers. In the case outlined in this article, a mining company, Taseko, faces opposition in the beginning stages of New Prosperity mine, a $1.1 billion copper-gold project at Fish Lake, BC. The Tsilhqot’in people who have claim to the land oppose the project, and rightfully so, as the proposed mine would destroy many of the area’s thriving ecosystems. From Taseko’s standpoint, external social and political factors pose significant barriers. Political factors would include environmental laws and treaties with First Nations groups. Social factors would be public attitudes against the construction of a mine highly likely of harming the environment. External factors must be taken into serious consideration and strategically planned for by any successful company.

Gender Equality in Business

Posted on September 24, 2014 by StellaCho under COMM 101

Emma Watson receives resounding applause after delivering her speech at the UN headquarters in New York. Photograph by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

Four days ago, UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson delivered a speech introducing her new campaign, “HeForShe”, at the UN headquarters in New York. The campaign aims to eradicate gender inequalities, as well as the negative connotations surrounding the word “feminist”, by imploring men to stand up for gender equality. Some places may suffer from gender inequalities in more serious ways than others, but it does not change the fact that they exist even in the world’s most developed societies. We have heard about the injustices committed against girls and women in cultures very different from our own; however, these seem so far away and intangible that we do not truly understand them. So when Emma shed light on her experiences with sexism as a girl growing up in the UK, it was relatable and it hit home.

Emma’s speech made me think about the gender inequalities in the business world and how they will affect me as I enter the workforce upon graduation. Gender stereotypes implicitly influence society into believing that certain sexes should behave a certain way and that, logically, they will perform a task better. Pay differences between a male and a female, for the same work done, should not still be an issue. Stereotypes should not influence who gets promoted and who does not.

Read her speech here.

RE: Kerry Poon’s blog post

Posted on September 22, 2014 by StellaCho under COMM 101

I found Kerry’s business ethics article and insights very interesting. Reading her post, I found myself sharing her sentiments of disgust and horror that oil supplier, Chang Guann, disguised gutter oil as clean cooking oil and sold it to the unsuspecting consumer market. This exemplifies the epitome of corporate greed. It’s especially horrifying when executives of such large, influential companies make unethical decisions because their decisions have the power to negatively affect so many people. Kerry also wrote about her feelings of anger at Chang Guann, because they ruined a traditional Chinese festival when thousands of traditional Chinese pastries had to be recalled off shelves for having used the gutter oil. So not only did this company put at risk the health of millions of people, but they wrecked a cultural holiday by trying to maximize profits with no concern of basic social responsibility. I’m glad that this company was fined and made an example of.