Comments on: You’ve wondered if there’s any way to rationalize picking up a tobacco company as a client

By: Eran

Eran — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 04:51:26 +0000

"Wal-Mart has no responsibility for what people choose. That Wal-Mart paragraph is complete nonsense and is influenced by political rhetoric in the media. Wal-Mart pays what the free market allows Wal-Mart to pay so long as it doesn't go below a government-mandated minimum wage. And when I say free market I mean employees choose to accept the pay that Wal-Mart offers." by Russell Page

Amen brother... People are also able to choose where to spend their money. Cost and ease of shopping seem to rank as priorities in retail. Wal-Mat seems to be master of their domain. I personally believe their positive out weighs their negative. Then again I think mainstream media has lost touch in reporting fairly. (In my personal career I have seen enough hoaxes or half-truths to fill a book) Link http://www.answers.com/topic/wal-mart-stores-inc I read an article today on Wal-Mart trying to save energy and reduce waste but was unable to find the link. I hate to tell it to you but Wal-Mart isn’t the first or last company to offer crappy wages and little or no healthcare. I have experienced it first hand several times in my life including from a famous ultra liberal local actor who has a net worth in the $300 million range. I love bandwagon hatred. It seems to show the sheep in their clothes. Media says baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad as do the rest of the sheep. In the 70's everyone hated GM In the 80's everyone hated IBM In the 90's everyone hated Microsoft/Bill Gates In the 00's everyone hates Wal-Mart Other notables on the list are Standard Oil, US Steel Corp, and Union Pacific Who is next on the ladder for Success Hate? My guess is Google? And yes I agree with make your choices ahead of time so when the event arises you are already prepared with your answer to moral dilemmas. In business often times decision makers fail to decide right from wrong ahead of time and get caught up in the rationalization of lower standards later. Draw your line in the sand and stick to your guns.

By: Russell Page

Russell Page — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 08:00:40 +0000

Ethics is funny because unless you just decide what you will and won’t do beforehand, then everything starts to get real easy to waffle on.

I’m completely against porn, but I read the comments, and I see how a lot of “logic” is being used to say why it’s bad, and it’s just as easy for someone to give reasons why it’s good. Not that I would agree with them, but they can still give reasons/justification.

The idea isn’t to give reason as to why you feel it’s right or wrong, but to just decide based on principle why it’s wrong for you. If you don’t, you’re still justifying because you’re justifiying why you won’t do work for an industry while others justify why they do. Justification is the same problem with the abortion debate. I’ve heard great reasoning for why it should be legally okay. The point is to not have that argument. If you believe it’s wrong.

@Jeremy.I don’t see what Wal-Mart has to do with lowering employee valuation and compensation. How does a company that employs 1.6 million people contribute to unemployment? Any employee who doesn’t like what they get paid either chooses to take the pay at Wal-Mart or not take the pay and do something else. It’s the employee who ultimately chooses the pay and not Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart has no responsibility for what people choose. That Wal-Mart paragraph is complete nonsense and is influenced by political rhetoric in the media. Wal-Mart pays what the free market allows Wal-Mart to pay so long as it doesn’t go below a government-mandated minimum wage. And when I say free market I mean employees choose to accept the pay that Wal-Mart offers.

By: Jeremy Votaw

Jeremy Votaw — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 05:12:43 +0000

What if you were hired to do anti-smoking work with the bill footed by said Phillip Morris? That seems questionable to me as that advertising is actually somewhat geared to be ineffective.

What if you did work for Wal-Mart? Who – despite their great entrepreneur success story – contribute greatly to unemployement and the lowering of employee valuation and compensation? Could you do work for them? They are probably responsible for hundreds of suicides every year.

Now what if you received Big Tobacco money, as the result of a settlement, and had free reign to use that money to actually get people to stop smoking. Ah Hah! Now we have The TRUTH. And personally, I wake up with a smile on my face that I get to do great work for that great group everyday.

By: Joshua Steimle

Joshua Steimle — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 00:21:29 +0000

Maybe my stance on tobacco vs. porn is that porn destroys families and lives on a mental/spiritual level while tobacco just kills people or makes them sick physically. A lot of people in this world would probably see tobacco as destructive and porn as relatively harmless but to me porn is causing more people to be unhappy than smoking is. Now if only Phillip Morris would buy up a bunch of porn and alcohol companies and sell it all in a combined package through a network marketing business model that’s advertised via spam and which sponsors casinos–there’s a company I could really refuse to do work for.

By: Matthew Reinbold

Matthew Reinbold — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 00:15:28 +0000

Moby, regardless of what you think of his music, has an interesting quote on this. When asked by a reporter about how he could justify “selling out” 11 of the 12 tracks on play for commercials (I think that was the number) he responded that he could (1) take the moral high ground and feel superior about himself while the commercials used different music that sounded like his anyway or (2) he could take the money that they gave him and do something positive with it; like donate it to charities or causes that otherwise wouldn’t see that money.

While that makes a lot of sense to me I can’t bring myself to use it to justify a project I’m at odds with. If I’m not happy I’m not going to do good work; if I’m not doing good work I’m cheating both the client and myself. I agree that your friend was already committed and has an obligation to go through with the job. However, in the future perhaps they can very clearly, upfront, say that they will not work with certain kinds of companies before ‘secret’ negotiations begin. ?

I also feel similar about tobacco vs porn – if I was facing bankruptcy I could probably justify a tobacco account but not porn on any level. Why is that? Is it a matter of social acceptance? The fact that tobacco companies also make stuff like Ritz crackers?

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 22:19:13 +0000

I am aware of a Utah Internet company that struggeld until they allowed porn companies to use their software. The owners sold the business and made a boat load of money. I often wonder if they traded business success for something more important.

By: Scott Schlegel

Scott Schlegel — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 18:26:01 +0000

I do a lot of side work and have run into this on two occassions. Both times it happend the same, so you thing that would have I learned my lesson. I agreed to meet with a perspective client who needed some web work done. Then at the meeting the work turns out to be pronographic or online gambling. Both times I just plain walked out with out an apology. It is really ackward. No I mean really really ackward. Doing the right thing isn’t easy, but turning down garbage work has never hurt my career.