The Hairy Potter Box

Harvard philosopher Ralph Potter devised a system to help analyze and determine situations with ethical reasoning. In a utopian world, the Potter Box would be used daily and religiously to make sure each and every decision a person makes is legally and ethically sound. Yet, as the world we live in is not utopian nor just, it is simply not feasible to employ the Potter Box for each decision.

The four steps of the Potter Box are simple enough. One, define the situation. Two, identify your values. Three, identify your guiding principal or philosophy. Four, choose your loyalties. Finally five, you make your decision. Five simple and easy steps, yet they do not take into account the consequences of each of your choices. For example, in ethics class we studied the case of a young college female, Ginny, currently employed as a sales intern at a radio station. The stations core value was to “do what is right for us, not the client.” Obviously, that is shady business practices at its finest but also it borders on the ethical line as well. Ginny, needing this internship has a few tough choices to make: she can either continue with this company and risk her reputation or she can defy her bosses and try and change the system. Ginny chose option one and remained with the company.

The consequences for her quitting her job would have been enormous. The pressure to graduate, financial obligations, and the needed business experience to add to her resume would be just a few reasons Ginny would be willing to stay at the company. The Potter Box simply asks questions without the foresight of consequences. Yes, all five questions are extremely easy to answer and if one has a problem with the results they are receiving I definitely believe that person should really examine and utilize the Potter Box for its natural insight it provides into the human mind. I find my dissention with the Potter Box on the post-evaluation.

I believe that Ginny made the right decision for herself. The negatives would have outweighed the positives. I do not agree with simply keeping quiet about the situation. She should have performed a case study and to help change the company’s business practices. Obviously, the bosses only care about financial gains. She should have devised a new system that still reaps financial rewards while still maintaining ethical and legal practices. If she can show that she still produces the same or even greater financial gain while building and maintaining client relationships, she would have proved her value as enormous and experience and insight indispensible. 

The Norm of Half-Truths in the Fast Food World

I am a fast food connoisseur. I love the notion of someone preparing my food for me and it being ready whenever I feel the time is right. I’m also not an elitist. I love McDonalds, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, Pei Wei, Chick Fil A, and also the extremely controversial Taco Bell. I admit, when I bite into these deliciously prepared foods, I never question what exactly I am biting into; I just notice how scrumptious it is. Yet, with the great Taco Bell crisis of 2011, it has made me pause and actually question what until now has purely been unknown.

This week the entire population of fast food consumers was shocked when Taco Bell was hit with a lawsuit claiming that their ever delicious meat was not in fact meat. The lawsuit claimed that Taco Bell meat is only 35% meat; which is less than the 40% minimum the USDA legal limit. Please keep in mind that those percentages are out of 100.

While I have never questioned the food I was consuming, I have wondered about the ethics of the situation. Although fast food companies do not have to legally divulge what ingredients are in their products, if it is not 100% pure, do they have an ethical obligation to inform the consumers?

I honestly believe that the majority of Taco Bell consumers do not care that it is not 100% pure beef, I think where the breakdown of trust happened is that the deception went so far. Thirty-five is quite a ways away from 100. Consumers feel taken advantage of and lied too. Yet, Taco Bell can counter-claim that if they told the truth, their business would suffer.

It is my opinion that every business decision a company makes must be ethically sound. This helps instill customer loyalty and appreciation, and in return financially improve your business. Companies must make decisions that debate the legality of certain matters.  These decisions will be played out in the court of law. Ethical decisions debate what is inherently right and wrong and will played out in the court of public opinion; which is arguably the more influential of the two.

Ethically, Taco Bell should have been more forthcoming about their business practices. The backlash of this new information is more of shock and a feeling of being taken advantage of. I believe that because of the Taco Bell fallout we will begin to see more fast food establishments, and restaurants in general, begin to tout their ingredients as pure and fresh. The new ad campaign will claim to be running because their respective companies are “ethically sound,” but really they are trying to capitalize on a market opening. 

Networking Know-How

This semester, I willingly chose (was forced) to take public relations campaigns. PR campaigns is the class dreaded by most and feared by all.  Mostly because of the huge project we complete in about three weeks. The project is extremely daunting yet I’ve learned so much about public relations and about my strengths as a future PR executive. I have learned that I need to focus on my writing skills and how to format my ideas on paper. Raw ideas are great, but if they are not formatted correctly, they mean next to nothing.

While recognizing my opportunities for improvement, I also assessed my strengths. I am great at creative. I am great with coming up with concepts and marketing tactics that others might not have thought of. Simply knowing my strengths will prove advantageous to my success post-graduation.

Yet, neither knowing my strengths and weakness has been the most valuable lesson of my UNT 4460 campaigns class, it was the PRSA communications summit. More specifically, it was the networking at the PRSA summit.

I believe I am a natural introvert. I remember as a child hiding behind my mother’s leg when she would try to introduce friends to me. That characteristic has morphed into this happy medium I like to call “extroverted-introvertedness.” This means that with people my own age, I am the most ambitious and outgoing person in the room. I can make friends with anyone and become the light of the party. Yet in the business world, I become introverted. Every word I say is a calculated move, which often results in my coming off as shy or standoffish.  As a public relations executive, the majority of your business will come from relationships and connections with various people. A previous intern captain once told me, “You are only as useful as your address book.” I believe this saying to be completely true.

Needless to say, networking is crucial. It’s not all about whom you know, it’s how you know them. Are you on a friendly basis with them, are they an occasional client of yours, are you golfing buddies? Each one of these scenarios can result in work and potential revenue. 

During a previous internship with Dykeman Associates, I learned the basics of networking.  The CEO, Alice Dykeman, would bring her interns to whatever networking event she was attending for that week. I learned the proper way to shake hands, eat a meal that had multiple utensils, and to always have business cards ready to distribute.

I employed all these tactics at the PRSA communications summit and to my success landed a pretty amazing deal with Chevy for a fully-paid NASCAR experience. Another classmate from the same class landed a full-time PR job from networking and connections alone. Networking has the power to produce employment opportunities, generate new revenue for companies, and widen your social network. For these reasons, and so much more, is why I believe how to be a successful networker as one of the most valuable lessons I have learned in my public relations campaigns class. 

Good Hair

Actor/Comedian Chris Rock recently became a popular topic in pop culture. He released his documentary, "Good Hair." This documentary was about hair in the African-American community. Hair is huge topic in the Black community. The emphasis is always on "good hair," and yes--there can be "bad hair"

Hair in the Black community is used to distinguish beauty. The smoother,more refined your hair is, the more beautiful you are. Rock's documentary delves into the basis of this mindset. Where did originate from and who made it ok the believe this? He ties in pop culture and current Black celebrities and interviews them on their take of "good hair."

I praise Rock for this documentary. For such an important topic in the African-American culture, it has rarely been talked about and really explored.

The Double Standard

The Double standard. Being a Black, female entering into a business field, I have grown accustomed to this topic. The double standard is when a woman gets chastised for an action and when a man makes the exact same action, he is praised for it.

A woman in an executive role in business is a rare commodity. And often the connotation with these women is that they are ball-busters. That they are rude, conniving, perhaps sexually aggressive, and will do anything to reach the top. Male executives are viewed as normal. They need to be aggressive (usually in every sense of the word), rude, pushy, and willing to do anything necessary to reach the top. 

Why are men praised for these actions yet women chastised? I believe this goes back to the mindset of the 1950's women. The housewife that cooks, cleans, and caters to her husband. In that era, men had complete dominance, and unfortunately, that mindset has remained to this day. Women are deemed as innocent and pure, they must remain calm and often silent.

Hopefully with help of Oprah, other powerful women executives, and the new generation of future business executives (like myself), this mindset will change

Checkerboard Chick Speaks Out

In the words of the 2007 Disney hit, Hairspray, I am a self-proclaimed "Checkerboard Chick." Which is slang for, I am in an interracial relationship. I am an African-American woman dating a White male. Now, you would believe that in the grand year of 2010 that publicly there would be no problem with this, and for the most part there's not, but I've come to find it's the little things that make an impact.

For example, if my boyfriend, Cody, and I are simply strolling around the mall hand-in-hand, we will get the lingered looks, the shocked faces. It's as if people are honestly surprised that an interracial relationship exists. My request: please don't gawk at us like we have a third foot or some deformity; we are simply two people in love-that is all.

I will admit it is rare to see an interracial couple, especially in the south, and being different will cause people to stare. But let it be known that we are exactly the same as any other same-race couple. We are in love and love knows no skin color :)

A True Sex Symbol

I am a huge fan of the AMC series, "Mad Men." I love the throw back to the 1950's era. Personally, I think that  era exudes a natural sex appeal. Progressively, since the 1970's the idea of sex appeal has morphed into the idea that whoever wears the least amount of clothing is deemed sexy. I don't agree with this mindset at all.

I think Joan Holloway of Mad Men is the sexiest TV character on-screen today. Joan, played by the gorgeous Christina Hendricks, is a full-figured woman. By full-figured, I mean has breasts and a shape to her body. She is not stick thin, she is voluptuous.Joan is fully covered and extremely sexy, she doesn't need to be naked to be attractive.

I believe characters like Joan Holloway and others like her will slowly change the public mentality that thin and unclothed is sexy. They convey that a womans natural figure, presence, and subtle sex appeal is what truly makes a sex symbol. Hopefully, this trend will catch on and the idea of what is sexy will change along with it.