PEPSI
LIVE FOR NOW
THE GOOD
History of Pepsi: How it all started!
The original trademark application for Pepsi-Cola was filed on September 23, 1902 with registration approved on June 16, 1903. In the application's statement, Caleb Bradham describes the trademark as an "arbitrary hyphenated word "PEPSI-COLA", and indicated that the mark was in continuous use for his business since August 1, 1901. The Pepsi-Cola's description is a flavoring-syrup for soda water. The trademark expired on April 15, 1904.
A second Pepsi-Cola trademark is on record with the UPSTO. The application date submitted by Caleb Bradham for the second trademark is Saturday, April 15, 1905 with the successful registration date of April 15, 1906, over three years after the original date. Curiously, in this application, Caleb Bradham states that the trademark had been continuously used in his business "and those from whom title is derived since in the 1905 application the description submitted to the USPTO was for a tonic beverage. The federal status for the 1905 trademark is registered and renewed and is owned by Pepsico, Inc. of Purchase, New York.
Environmental Sustainability
In my opinion i think PepsiCo is putting in the effort to make the world a better place. Especially in its environmental state, PepsiCo is doing its best to reduce its consumptions from the world. PepsiCo provided more than $15 million worth of clean safe drinking water for developing communities.
PepsiCo & it's Connection to Society
PepsiCo wants to encourage this and all generations to live their life happily, all their ads and what they try to promote is simply drinking their product will give that affect, i think nothing is wrong with that. Why can't we take a load of every once in a while, why can't we enjoy the time to relax with family and ourselves. PepsiCo is thriving, and its because of the people that support it, PepsiCo's fans, PepsiCo's society.
Ethics
Code of Conduct
- Companies must take initiative to positive actions towards undeveloped communities.
- Companies need to put consideration as to how they can positively impact the environment.
- Companies must give their employees the right to take time off for their medical or personal matters.
- A company must insure that their workers are in a safe and healthy workplace.
Government
Nike The Evil Empire
Introduction/History
Nike formerly known as Blue Ribbons Sports, is an incredibly large multinational corporation that takes part in the design development, and worldwide marketing/selling of footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories. Nike has been and currently is the largest supplier of sportswear in the entire world. Its motto is “Just Do It”.
The company was founded by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight on May 30th 1971. The name Nike spread like wildfire, and eventually gave birth to other subsidiaries such as Nike Pro, Nike+, Nike Skateboarding, Air Jordan, and Nike Bauer. Under the wing of Nike we also see other well renowned companies: Converse, Bauer Hockey, and Umbro. Nike’s company is based out of Portland’s Metropolitan area, where the corporation first came to be. The company’s annual revenue is estimated to be $24.1 Billion in its fiscal year. That gives Nike the number one spot in the richest sporting goods companies according to Forbes top 10 sporting retail corporations. The brand worth is estimated to be US $10.7 Billion.
Now the question that rises from all this information is: how does Nike gain so much revenue? Here is the answer.
Manufacturing Methods
It has been concurred by many activists that Nike is the owner of 700 sweatshops all over the world! There brutal manufacturing methods are situated in over 45 countries. The major countries that are victims to Nike are Indonesia, China, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Philippines, and Malaysia.
The Vietnam Labour Watch (VLW), an activist group documented many crimes that Nike had committed in their sweatshops in Vietnam. They found out that workers were paid below their minimum wage. The workers also claimed that they were forced to work overtime, and for that they received no money. All of this is occurring in fair-trade areas of Vietnam, which makes it an even more of a heinous crime. Michael Moore exclaimed with great emotion that customers should “Boycott Nike in Vietnam.” due to the heartless way that they treated their employees. Further reports show that Nike is guilty of not showing their workers the “Nike: Code of Conduct”. This would allow workers to see their rights and object to their oppressors. Greg Rossiter (Nike Spokesman) publicly announced one of the clauses within the Code of Conduct: “The Nike Code of Conduct is very clear: Nike expects contract factory workers to be 'paid at least the minimum wage required by country law and provided legally mandated benefits, including holidays and leaves, and statutory severance when employment ends.” But the evidence given by the activists group shows otherwise, Nike has been cutting costs by paying below minimum, and doesn’t allow employees holidays.
Not only do workers work overtime, but the factories in which they work are incredibly dangerous. Workers are not provided with protective goggles, hand gloves, or safety masks. These are all essential materials that workers need to complete their daily tasks. The lack of safety masks causes the workers to inhale harmful carcinogens from the rubber on the sole of the shoe. Since the workers must sow the rubber material to the actual shoe with a high speed machine, the friction releases gases from the rubber that causes harm. The working area is also very compact which allows the factory to become incredibly dense with the hazardous gases. This is an outright act of immorality and is a huge cost to human rights.
Nike: Matt Kleinhans Article
Nike is being referred to as the “Evil Empire” due to their infamous methods of saving costs. An anonymous activist from Indonesia explained in a private interview with a CBC reporter that in the company he saw the workers treated very wrongfully. He witnessed:
· Verbal abuse
· Physical abuse
· Limited/monitored bathroom breaks
· Pregnant women being fired
· Workers who rebel are beaten, and fired
· Low wage
· Dangerous work environment
The workers are physically intimidated by “strong-men” as the anonymous reporter states. Unethical isn’t the proper term to describe this, rather the word is heartless! The workers go home to their starving families with their low wage that can’t even sustain for them, and when they come back to work they are treated like vermin. “They throw shoes at us and other things at us” said a woman in her late 50s. "It was a horrible job," she said. "Our bosses pointed their feet at us, calling us names like dog, pig or monkey." All are major insults to Muslims, and Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation.
Exploitation of Child Labour
In the 1990s, Nike faced a lot of criticism for the children that they had employed in Cambodia and Pakistan. Reporters were all over their factories taking photos of children that were working within the harsh environments. Despite the decisive evidence that photographers attained, Nike managed to curb the practice and drop all lawsuits that were against it. The countries themselves do not hold adequate regulation to stop Nike from doing so; it is safe to assume that Nike is still practicing this unethical method.
Nike’s String of Plagiarism Scandals and Drug Influence
- Used a Beatles cover song in an advert without consent from Apple Records. Had to discontinue use of that song and paid a fine of US $250,000
- Ian Mackaye’s (lead singer of the band “Minor Threat”) band imagery was appropriated in a Nike Flyer that promoted Nike Skateboarding. Again, this was without the consent of Ian Mackaye, and so Nike was forced to dispose of that flyer (wasting paper). At first Nike said that they were fans of the band “Minor Threat”, and merely wanted to express their fandom. This was a baseless argument as pointed out by the prosecuting attorney (Jim Garrison) that Minor Threat hired. He said that Nike is “well aware of the consequences of plagiarism”, and should avoid appropriating any more work from Ian in the future.
In 2011 Nike began a new shirtline named Nike 6.0. These t-shirts had phrases such as “Dope”, “Get High”, “Ride Pipe”, “F**K Gravity” etc. Along with the offensive phrases there was also art on them that showed immoral acts. Boston Mayor, Thomas Menino objected to Nike’s subliminal shirts and urged to have them removed from shops. “What we don’t need is a major corporation like Nike, which tries to appeal to the younger generation, out there giving credence to the drug issue.”
Nike’s Environmental Backfire
Nike began a Reuse-a-shoe programme with very good intent in 1993. The idea was to use old shoes and to recycle them to make new shoes again. Essentially it was the refurbishing of old shoes. The workers that were to complete this job suffered from toxic isocyanates and other chemicals when they began processing said shoes. The toxicity level rose to such an extent in factories that employees of Nike became patients of asthma, and severe allergies.
The pollution from the manufacturing process also caused dense smog to form above the factories in which Nike carried this initiative out. Scientists concluded that this was due to Nike using extremely dangerous amounts of hazardous chemicals to refurbish the shoes. This is the most plausible explanation after observing the patients that came in from Nike’s factories.
Nike’s Relationship with the Government
Nike has a sour relationship with the government. Time and time again as you have read, Nike has been targeted by many activist groups saying that Nike has committed illegal activities. The government has given many warnings and reminders to Nike of the American policy. However, Nike has certainly not been abiding by the rules, as seen by previous reports. This raises the question as to why Nike is still and up and running company within America. The answer by many economists is that, due to Nike’s extremely large revenue, America’s economy is rising which appeals greatly to the government.
We can conclude from here that Nike is costly to the human rights of people, and torment people based on their religious views. Apart from all of this, Nike has only done badly for the environment despite their attempt at setting up an environmental initiative. In addition, Nike lacks ethics in terms of their adverts as seen by their plagiarism and credence given to drug usage. It is a cost to the social world as seen by their corrupt t-shirts. It is important to note that since Nike is the world’s largest sporting goods corporation, that other companies look up to it as a role model. This may cause other companies to use the same methods as Nike, which in turn will make these other companies unethical.
Code of Conduct
* Each employee must be paid at least minimum wage.
* A company must not appropriate in other corporations ideas without their consent (plagiarize)
* A company must refrain from influencing the society in a negative manner