Greenwashing in Media Essay -- Ethical Issues, Misleading Customers

Research ProjectGreenwashing in Media In this day and age companies have mastered the technique of misleading customers by fabricating false claims about a green product or service that they swear to provide. This insincere display of information is called ‘Greenwashing’, a spin-off of ‘Whitewashing’. Greenwashing could be said to be a global phenomenon and it’s commonly seen in advertisements, on products packing, websites, emails, speeches, and videos (just to name a few). Greenwashing is a thought out process, a planned and typically well designed campaign. There is a wide range of reasons why companies are eager to partake in greenwashing; divert attention for regulatory change, to persuade critics or consumers, expand the company's market, and to make the company seem appealing. The goal of this paper is to provide three examples of ‘greenwashing’ and to relate these examples to Downing et al. concepts. To help further explain these misleading claims, a well recognized company by the media is called Terrachoice. â€Å"The Terrachoice Environment Marketing Consulting practice converts knowledge of markets, science and marketing into winning, client-centered solutions to help sustainability leaders deliver results† (â€Å"The "six sins," 2007). Terrachoice has conducted a study of the â€Å"Environmental Claims in North American Consumer Markets† and found shocking results that made them want to give warning to potential consumers about the ‘six sins of greenwashing. The Terrachoice Company was designed to improve the communication between the purchasers and consumers, helping to enhance, strengthen, and prove market relationship. Companies that carry out greenwashing commonly use the words, ‘green’, ‘energy efficient’, and ‘clean’ to expo... ...efit† (p. xx). More and more individuals will run into greenwashing ads from the news to even advertising; however it’s important to recognize the exaggeration, persuasiveness and omission of information in these ads. It’s evident that any form of media is filled with manipulation; pulling the perception, actions, fears, desires, and values out of the consumer. In our text Downing et al. begins saying, â€Å"empiricist communications research†¦are concerned more with questions, problems, and perspectives than with the mere recitation of detailed facts. Indeed, critical scholars would argue that facts by themselves are impossible to interpret if they are not placed into some model or theory about how the media and society work† (xxviii). I think this sums up why we all should be critical in a positive manner, and should use the theories that help us analyze media material.

Alcoholic drinking age should be lowered to 18 in the U.S

The drinking age in the United States can be considered as a controversial issue because people possess a dubious attitude in legalities of drinking age. In 1980 the minimum age of drinking in the United States was raised from 18 to 21.The intent was to reduce the consumption rates of alcohols and drunken driving among young adults. Age-21 law was implemented at that time and the sale of alcohol to the underage was strictly prohibited (Wiseto Social Issues).These laws are strictly implemented but teenagers are continuing to buy alcohol and drink illegally with fake identification cards. The law is implemented in the United States but it hasn’t stopped underage individuals to stop drinking. Researches and many individuals have stressed on the fact that drinking age must be lowered to 18 in the United States. In this paper we will discuss the arguments that are in favor of lowering the age limit from 21 to 18.Young adults should be allowed to drink in controlled environments lik e pubs, official functions, taverns etc. Their legal drinking age must be lowered to 19 or 18 and through controlled environment the phenomenon of responsible drinking can be taught. Role modeling and educational programs must be initiated and through these programs a sensible drinking behavior can be expected from young adults.There are many factors like seat belt and air bag usage, education concerning drink oriented programs etc that are responsible for driving problems and accidents during driving. Purchase age is not always responsible for driving problems and accidents during driving.An individual who is 18 years old in America possess the right to marry, the right to vote etc. That is the reason why drinking age must be lowered to 18 because an 18 year old individual is considered to be an adult in United States because 18 is the legal age of adulthood in United States. Dan Levine stresses on the point that an 18 year old individual can serve the military then why he or she c annot drink. Dan Levine states that â€Å"If you can toss a grenade, you should certainly be able to toss back a shot of tequila† (Wiseto Social Issues).People who are 18 years old must be legally allowed to drink and buy alcohol because this would reduce the element of binge drinking (Wechsler and Wuethrich).Through this approach teenagers would not break the law and this would indulge them in adult beverage. The legal age of drinking in every country except United States is 18 or younger. Every year millions of dollars are spent on twenty one year old drinking law and this law is promoted and enforced by the government (Kirk) that could be saved.A Michigan research suggests that in the year 2006, 72.2% of the twelfth graders were reported to drink alcohol at some point in time in their lives. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse claimed that the 20% of the alcohol revenues come from underage drinking.   Similarly, they added that the amount of alcohol cons umed individuals of 21 years and above have remained constant for about forty years (Aretha).In the United States most of the teenagers consume alcohol for the sole purpose of getting drunk. It must be used as a compliment to a meal but teenagers don’t follow this attribute of alcohol. Binge drinking in the United States is getting famous and people are adopting this dangerous habit in which they have unsupervised environments which can be a deadly problem for these young adults.The standards that are set for drinking in the United States have not stopped teenagers from drinking alcohol. Alcohol misuse in the country shows increasing trends and researchers suggest that out of four nearly one full time medical student nationwide met the medical threshold for substance abuse (Brown).Many people in the United States believe that lowering the drinking age is not a viable option because it would actually result in drunken driving fatalities. This might be considered as a truth bec ause a huge number of people are killed in United States because of drunk drivers but United States claims that it has the safest roads in the world. Moreover, 69% of the accidents are from individual who are 21 or above (Merino).

Effects of Humans Dependence on Technology - 1310 Words

Human’s dependence on technology to store and hold information for them leads to the decline of the human memory. Personal devices are changing the way humans remember information around them, and this is greatly impacting the quality of the human memory. Declarative memory, which is memory associated with facts and knowledge, is the type of memory that is troubled by technology, more specifically, by the internet. In modern society, when individuals are confronted with a question, they do not try to recall information in order to solve the problem; but rather turn to the internet for the answer. Individuals no longer try to learn from the information they already know, but rather quickly pick up the information online. Internets easy access from personal devices, such as cellphones and laptops, promotes individuals to use these devices as an external brain that thinks for you. Since individuals have become more reliant on the internet to solve their daily head-scratcher ques tions, this promotes individuals to rely on the internet to hold the answers as well. Research was directed by psychologist Betsey Sparrow to study the effects of search engines on the human memory. One of the experiments consisted of asking subjects to remember certain facts. More interestingly, half the subjects were told that the fact would be saved on a computer, while the other half were told the fact would be typed and then erased. The results demonstrated that individuals, who knew theShow MoreRelatedAddiction to Technology1174 Words   |  5 Pageslog in late at night? If you answered â€Å"often† or â€Å"always,† technology may be taking a toll on you (Parker). Technology is merely a way of life to society today. It is fused into everyday life and is constantly linked to basic human affairs. 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