L’Oreal has constantly been condemned by animal welfare protection groups for their use of animal testing for some of their products. The company has been the focus of damaging publicity and has also lost many customers as they question the morality of the company as a whole. L’Oreal recently made the decision to donate $1.2 million dollars to an EPA program to help put an end to animal testing. This move by L’Oreal was a good way to get positive publicity for the company and gain the support of the public. L’Oreal is taking a step in the right direction to market themselves as an ethically correct business. These days, consumers care a lot about the ethics and image of a business and will bring their business elsewhere if they feel that the ethics of a business are substandard and represent a bad image. It is the unfortunate truth that companies are mainly interested in making ethically correct decisions with their own interests in mind, such as pleasing consumers and maximizing profits.

Sources

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2115572/LOreal-donates-1-2million-help-abolish-animal-testing-welfare-groups-say-company-stop-practice-NOW.html

L’Oreal Donates Money To Help End Animal Cosmetics Testing

Hostess Brands Inc., widely known for it’s Twinkies and Ding Dongs is going out of business. I believe that one of the main reasons for this company going out of business is the company’s inability to modify it’s products to the new healthy living global trend. People all around the world are becoming increasingly conscious about eating healthy and living healthier lifestyles. Hostess Brands Inc. failed to adapt to the new market demand for healthier, lower calorie snacks and therefore could not keep up with it’s competitors. It is important for a company to be able to adapt and modify their products quickly in order to keep up with changing market demands. The company has had many factors working against them lately as increasing pension and medical costs for employers have been rising recently. Many of the company’s employees were on strike and Hostess Brand Inc. followed up on it’s threat to shut down if these employees did not return to work. This company’s closing will have serious effects on the company’s workforce as approximately 18,500 jobs will be lost.

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/11/16/hostess-twinkies-shutdown.html

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1288748–no-more-twinkies-hostess-going-out-of-business

Toyota, once again, recalls 2.77 million vehicles, this time, for a pump problem and a steering shaft defect that could result in difficult and even hazardous steering. This does not bode well for the company’s reputation as this incident is only the most recent in a slew of recalls since 2000. These massive and frequent recalls do nothing positive for the reputation of the Japanese automaker. These mistakes look poorly on the company as a whole and decrease sales for Toyota. One would think that after several similar incidents,  the company would pay more attention to the quality control of their products. Mistakes like these that call into question the reliability of a product, of which safety is a key selling feature, can only lead to a decrease in sales. However, it seems that executives at Toyota are less concerned about the quality control and reliability that should be synonymous with the company name, but instead have decided to focus on pursuing aggressive growth and expansion. This begs the question: Will Toyota’s smeared reputation allow the company to pursue this growth? Or has the loss in public faith hindered these hefty ambitions? It seems that only time and no more recalls will determine this.

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/11/14/toyota-recall.html

Peter Nowak brought up an interesting point on his business blog that Apple may have a dilemma once it’s iPad Mini comes out. He pointed out that the new iPad Mini is around $200 dollars cheaper than the full size iPad and once it comes out many consumers will buy the cheaper Mini as opposed to the more expensive full sized iPad. The iPad Mini is much lighter and smaller than the full-sized iPad and corresponds to the consumer’s needs to have their electronic devices as small and convenient as possible. As Peter Nowak suggested, Apple may not have taken into account the possible effects on profits of creating a cheaper version of the iPad. He stresses that a cheaper iPad mini means less profit for Apple as there will be less total revenue. He also suggests that competition in the smaller tablet market is much fiercer and that Apple will be faced with more competition. Due to the increase in competition Apple may have to lower it’s price for the iPad Mini as well.

The proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline has caused much debate lately and critics are unsure whether the benefits of this pipeline outweigh the risks. This pipeline would run from Alberta to Kitimat, B.C, passing through much nature and wild life. Thousands of people protested against the pipeline on the lawn of the B.C legislature. The pipeline would serve as a huge risk to B.C as a potential oil leek or rupture could cause extensive damage to the surrounding wildlife as well as endanger humans. Many protestors believe it to be morally wrong to risk our wildlife in order to create this pipeline. The oil inside the pipeline would belong to Alberta and B.C would just be used as land for the oil to transport on. In this case, Alberta would be responsible if anything went wrong with the pipeline however a problem would serve as an inconvenience to B.C. Although I am able to see the protestors’ reasoning for why the pipeline shouldn’t be developed, I believe that it would be in everyone’s best interests to develop the pipeline. Even if the pipeline didn’t end up going through B.C, any other means of transporting this oil would cause pollution and is pretty much unavoidable. Additionally, the creation of the pipeline would create many available jobs for individuals in B.C which would have a positive impact on the economy of B.C. 

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/northern-gateway/story/2012/10/18/bc-enbridge-northern-gateway-terry-lake.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/northern-gateway/story/2012/10/22/bc-pipeline-protest-victoria.html

I found Sarah Li‘s blog post on gender targeted marketing very interesting. In our society, it is clear that there is a divide in the products that are marketed to women and men. However, I had previously never thought about products that have no need for gender differentiation and the possible effects of marketing them as gender specific products. In Sarah Li‘s post, a BIC pen is used as an example of a unisex product that is now marketed as a feminine product because the pen is pink and called “for her”.

I agree with Sara’s stance that marketing gender specific versions of basic products is a good way to increase sales. In the case of the BIC pink pen, I think that this product differentiation would be a determining factor in buying the pen and that many females would be drawn to this pen as opposed to others because it seems more customized to meet their needs. Changing the colour of a product, for example from blue to pink, is a simple change for a business but also one that could increase profits. I believe that this kind of marketing works for both men and women and that when a product has a specific visual appeal to a gender, that gender is more inclined to buy the product.

Sources:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/surge-in-gender-targeted-products-creates-marketing-headaches-for-companies/article5358521/

https://blogs.ubc.ca/sarahli/