I Wanna Get Ethical, Ethical...

If you watch the Office, you probably know that the title of this post comes from the "Let's Get Ethical" episode of the Office. (The song is a partial remake of 'Physical' by Olivia Newton-John).

I don't think that there is another show out there that better portrays how not to act in an office. Something unethical happens in almost every episode. BUT in the ethics episode, Meredith, an employee, states that she has been sleeping with a supplier in exchange for discounted paper and coupons for steak. While sleeping with people in exchange for goods or services is basically prostitution, they (corporate) claimed that it wasn't that big of a deal and to just dismiss it. Obviously wrong.

Again, ethical dilemmas within companies seem to focus on the employees or those in charge. Ethics is defined as the "moral principles of an individual" according to dictionary.com. So it only seems fitting that companies face ethical issues based primarily on the actions of their employees.

An example of an ethical dilemma is when Volkswagen was using company funds to pay for personal expenses like prostitutes and shopping sprees for wives. Hopefully the reason why this is an unethical is pretty obvious. Then there are other corporate scandals out there like the Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme where Madoff promised returns on investments that were clearly to high and was pocketing the money. Madoff was obviously caught and the repercussions of his actions landed him in jail for 150 years.

These examples just go to show that unethical behavior can be either large (like corporate scandals), or small (like anything seen in the Office). Unethical behavior is based primarily on the moral principles of those performing the act. They know its wrong but continue because of a personal gain that is taking priority.

You can watch the "Let's Get Ethical" episode of the Office on Netflix, its season 5, episode 2. Pretty funny and definitely educational.

Marketing Mix

 

I recently watched Hot Rod and started thinking about the various ways that Rod and his crew had to promote the 15 bus jump to raise money for Frank's new heart. When I think of marketing, I think of magazine ads, television commercials, websites and all that good stuff. However, there are ways to promote events without going through the trouble of spending large amounts of money on big advertising.

The four P's of marketing are shown very clearly throughout the movie. The product being offered is a 15 bus jump for those in the community. While they don't ever specify where the movie takes place or where the big jump occurs, it appears to be at the fair grounds or some place similar to that where guests can easily attend. The price is also not clear on how  much they charge for admission to the big jump or the stuntman movie, or for performing at private parties. What they do tell us is that Rod does reach his $50,000 goal and that he did have to give over $3,000 away for a broken projection machine. Rod and his crew promote the big jump using flyers, showing the community a homemade stuntman movie, and by performing stunt like activities at private parties. Rod even runs around in a stuntman suit with his name on the cape. And towards the end an AM radio station decides to sponsor the event and give all proceeds to Frank's new heart. This is just an example of how a decent marketing mix helped reach a goal.