Spy Convo Live Tweeted from Train

Spies: Don't talk on the phone while on a public train. A passenger on an Acela train near Philadelphia overheard former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden criticizing the Obama Administration during an interview.

At a certain point, Twitter monitors caught onto the situation, and passenger Tom Matzzie tweeted this: a photo of himself with Matzzie. Apparently, they became BFFs because they both like the Steelers. 

 

 Discussion Starters:

• What are the ethical considerations in this situation? Consider the position of the CIA/NSA, the American public, journalists, and other constituencies.
• Where did Hayden go wrong? How well did he recover?
• Matzzie seems to change his tune, so to speak, in later tweets. Why do you think this happened?

Health Care Website Trouble

A PBS news story assesses problems with the new healthcare website, which, according to a CNN report, includes log-in errors, delays, incorrect information, and the requirement for users to register before browsing plan options.

In the interview, a software expert tells Hari Sreenivasan that the fixes are in "the right direction," but "it's going to take quite a long time to fix the entire system." Another systems expert explained the complications: the site is a "massive integration project" across several states and agencies. Just one transaction (for example, signing someone up for health care), requires a "tremendous" amount of coordination. The government's lack of experience in managing such complexity is blamed for the problems, including running out of time for proper testing.

The PBS News Hour guests paint a grim picture of the site going forward, claiming that users have encountered problems so far with mostly the site interface. Problems with data integration and coordination are yet to be discovered, but surely will. A troubleshooter admits that the fixes will take a month.

The Obama Administration is now under pressure to delay the enrollment deadline.  Some are calling for Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius's resignation.

Discussion Starters:

• How do you think the website problems will affect Obama's legacy? Will people remember this, or will it blow over once the site (we hope) is up and running?
• In the PBS interview, Hari Sreenivasan asks whether it was realistic for software development to follow a political timeline. What does he mean by this, and what's your view? 

McDonald's Employee Help Line Is Recorded

You many remember Nancy Salgado, who recently confronted McDonald's USA President about her wages. She claims to be working at the restaurant chain for 10 years and is making $8.25 an hour.

The organization "Low Pay Is Not OK" posted a recording of her call to McDonald's employee help line. I received an email about the incident: 

 

Video captions of the phone interaction focus on public assistance for McDonald's workers: 

Discussion Starters: 

• How do you assess the organization's argument that the public is supplementing workers' wages? In what ways do you find this argument convincing, and how does it fall short?
• Imagine that you're the person who received Salgado's call on the help line. How would you react to the posted video? Should she have done anything differently on the call?
• The recording is clearly edited. What do you think may have happened during the deleted portions? Does that affect your reaction? 

CEO Criticizes Stilettos

The CEO of health care company Kanteron Systems tweeted about women wearing high heels at business meetings. 

With the hashtag #brainsnotrequired, Jorge Cortell seemed to imply that stilettos pictured in his tweet aren't appropriate for work. In return, he was criticized for sexism. In a Wall Street Journal blog post, "Are Stilettos Too Sexy for Business Meetings," the author described the result:

"The two-day tweet-convo slid from sublime to ridiculous when Mr. Cortell argued that he wasn't referring to sex at all. Heel wearers are dumb because heels are unhealthy for their feet and backs, he tweeted, repeatedly, until Twitter briefly suspended his account."

In his posts, Cortell denied sexism and focused on health issues of high heels: 

The WSJ author accused Cortell of "wimping" out, both in his subsequent tweets and in an email response to her: 

"If he had stood his ground, I would have stood with him. Five-inch-high platform stilettos call to mind the fetishistic footwear of a cabaret performer. If not quite hooker heels, they are nonetheless best paired with fishnet nylons, a sultry voice, and champagne for two.

"In a business setting, platform stilettos are the female equivalent of a man wearing his shirt unbuttoned to his clavicle underneath his suit jacket.

"Yes, we see them at venture capital conferences and in offices and even board meetings. But let's not pretend they're conservative business footwear. Twitter seems to agree.  The social media service on Wednesday labeled Mr. Cortell's heels photo 'sensitive content' – requiring many users to click a permissions button to view it."

Discussion Starters: 

• What's your view of wearing stilettos at work? When would they be appropriate and, perhaps, when would they not be appropriate? 
• Do you consider Cortell's initial post sexist? Why or why? 
• How well do you think he recovered from the criticism? 

Former Hostess of Heart Attack Grill Tells All

I guess we should expect unorthodox practices at a restaurant called Heart Attack Grill, but still, an ex-hostess's comments on Reddit are surprising. In an opening post, the former employee welcomes questions:

"I am an ex-Hostess of the controversial Heart Attack Grill. If you aren't familiar it's the restaurant located in Downtown Vegas who is known for their 9000 calorie Quadruple Bypass Burger, Butterfat Milkshakes, and the infamous "if you weigh 350 pounds you eat for free" gimmick. It is a hospital themed restaurant where all customers have to wear hospital gowns, and if you don't finish your food we spanked you with a paddle. Ask me anything!"

One jarring admission on the website (if it's true) is that the employee's manager had her video record a person who passed out in the restaurant:

"At one point, the man passed out. I heard him knock onto the hard ground. We had to call an ambulance. A manager made me take out my cell phone to record a video of the whole thing, so they could send it to the media. It was on a Friday afternoon, and he hoped it would make the news so they could have a busy weekend. The food may or may not have been responsible for what happened to that man."

With a name like Heart Attack Grill, you don't shy away from controversy. Rather, the restaurant founder and owner Jon Basso promotes the food, admitting in a Bloomberg interview, "I am probably the only restaurateur in the entire world who is unapologetically telling you that my food is bad for you, that it will kill you, and that you should stay away from it."

The Heart Attack Grill website describes the business: selling high-calorie food (including an 8,000-calorie Quadruple Bypass Burger), having customers dress in hospital gowns, spanking customers who don't finish their meal, and offering free meals to customers weighing over 350 pounds. 

Discussion Starters:

• What's your view of the restaurant's "unapologetic" strategy? 
• How do you assess the ex-hostess's Reddit posts? After reading several of them, do you think she helped or hurt the brand? 
  

A Peak Into GM's Social Media Team

General Motors gets its share of negative social media comments, and staff are ready to respond if they need to. An article in Automotive News describes GM's extensive social media strategy.

To promote GM products, the customer service team Tweets, posts to Facebook, blogs, and runs contests. But GM also has an active defensive strategy. Here are a few examples of how they work:

• Eighteen employees monitor social media sites, including 90 car-enthusiast sites.
• Employees post online between 200 and 300 times a day (between 5,000 and 7,000 a month).
• 47% of staff interactions are in response to Twitter posts, and 47 percent are posts on GM customer sites.
• Employees clear up misinformation, give repair advice, and so on, to keep customers happy.

Discussion Starters:

• How do you think GM's strategy might differ from other companies' approach to social media? Consider the industry, brand, and customers.
• Search for GM responses on two or three social media sites. What works well about the responses, and what, if anything, could be improved?

Users Aren't Happy About Yahoo Mail Changes

Trying to be more Gmail-like, Yahoo has changed how its mail system works, and people don't like it. Users are organizing online by signing a petition, participating in a Facebook group, and posting to a Yahoo Mail forum with comments such as this:

The petition asks Marissa Mayer to revert back to the old mail:

People are complaining most about the lack of tabs and ability to multitask:

"We are asking Yahoo to restore the old version - with tabs, with the ability to edit an email and switch to a folder - to multi-task like we used to be able to do. If they are unable to do so, we want them to restore these BUSINESS-CRITICAL functions to Yahoo Mail.

"Most of us picked Yahoo because of its interface. We don't like gmail! Please let us go back!"

On the Yahoo Mail forum, the company explains the new features this way:

"We have refreshed your inbox with more room for messages and added exciting new features you will love. These include 1TB of free mail storage, Conversations, Stunning new Themes, Attachments preview and much more. Please note that while there is no way to revert to the previous version of Yahoo Mail, you can learn more about the new features.

"We want to hear what you think about Yahoo Mail. Help us make it better for you. The more specific your feedback, the more useful for us. While we can't respond to every suggestion, we do take your suggestions seriously and review them regularly."

Discussion Starters:

• What features do you most appreciate in your current email program? Compare those to Yahoo Mail's functionality. 
• How could Yahoo have communicated the changes differently?
• How should Yahoo address these complaints now? 

Is BlackBerry's Open Letter Too Desperate?

Called "pretty hilarious" by BuzzFeed, BlackBerry's open letter to customers may sound a bit too desperate. 

To our valued customers, partners and fans,

You've no doubt seen the headlines about BlackBerry®. You're probably wondering what they mean for you as one of the tens of millions of users who count on BlackBerry every single day.

We have one important message for you:

You can continue to count on BlackBerry.

How do we know? We have substantial cash on hand and a balance sheet that is debt free. We are restructuring with a goal to cut our expenses by 50 percent in order to run a very efficient, customer-oriented organization.

These are no doubt challenging times for us and we don't underestimate the situation or ignore the challenges. We are making the difficult changes necessary to strengthen BlackBerry.

One thing we will never change is our commitment to those of you who helped build BlackBerry into the most trusted tool for the world's business professional.

And speaking of those dramatic headlines, it's important that we set the record straight on a few things.

Best in class productivity tool.

We have completely revamped our device portfolio this year with the launch of BlackBerry® 10. We have four BlackBerry 10 devices – two all touch and two hybrid (touch and QWERTY) – and all are running the third update of our new platform. If what you care about most is getting things done – taking care of your business -- we have the best range of devices for you. And we continue to offer the best mobile typing experience – no ifs, ands or buts about it.

Best in class security.

Governments all over the world, global corporations and businesses that simply cannot compromise on security choose and trust BlackBerry. Security is our heritage, and the industry recognizes that BlackBerry is the most secure when it comes to the device, server and, of course, our global data network. Have no doubt that you can continue to trust us to keep your communication safe and private.

Best in class enterprise mobility management.

We changed with the market, embracing BYOD because we understand that as iOS and Android™ devices become common in the workplace, businesses still need to manage all of these different platforms seamlessly and securely.

This is not a trivial task. While there are a number of startup companies that make bold claims, BlackBerry has more software engineers and the most resources dedicated to developing the most innovative solutions to address this complex challenge.

And our customers know it. Over the past quarter, our BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10 server base grew from 19,000 to more than 25,000. Corporate clients are committed to deploying and testing the latest enterprise technology from BlackBerry. We are committed to evolving with our customers. That will never change.

Best in class mobile social network.

We are bringing the most engaging mobile messaging platform to all, with our BBM™ launch for Android™ and iPhone. There are already around six million customers pre-registered to be notified of our roll out. This number is growing every day, and speaks to the tremendous opportunity we have to expand BBM beyond BlackBerry® smartphones to make it the world's largest mobile social network.

Yes, there is a lot of competition out there and we know that BlackBerry is not for everyone. That's OK. You have always known that BlackBerry is different, that BlackBerry can set you apart. Countless world-changing decisions have been finalized, deals closed and critical communications made via BlackBerry. And for many of you that created a bond, a connection that goes back more than a decade.

We believe in BlackBerry – our people, our technology and our ability to adapt. More importantly, we believe in you. We focus every day on what it takes to make sure that you can take care of business.

You trust your BlackBerry to deliver your most important messages, so trust us when we deliver one of our own: You can continue to count on us.

Sincerely,
The BlackBerry Team

Comparing the letter to a "Friends" episode and the movie "Say Anything," BuzzFeed paints a sad picture of RIM's attempt to keep customers-and find a buyer.

This isn't the first time the company has been criticized for desperate attempts to hold onto market share. A New York Times article compared the device to an "embarrassing relative," and BuzzFeed poked fun at a BlackBerry song set to the music of "Keep on Loving You" by REO Speedwagon. (I know, "Who's REO Speedwagon?")

Discussion Starters:

• BlackBerry executives are fighting. Should they just give up? What other approaches might work?
• What ideas do you have for the company to use social media to improve its image?
• What in the open letter could sound desperate? How could the letter be rewritten? Or is it just hopeless to try to communicate in this way?

Study Shows Importance of Employees' Role in Social Media

A recent study in the Journal of Marketing Management has an important message for companies: manage employees for them to represent you well on social media. Education News summarizes the study results:

"...companies need to focus more on managing employees as active reputation builders and brand ambassadors in social media instead of conceiving them only as possible reputation risks."

According to lead author Joonas Rokka, "employees have a crucial role as active meaning makers and reputation builders in various social-media networks that include customers, colleagues, and friends." Rokka also emphasized companies' role in employees' well-being:

"When companies trust and treat employees fairly, and employ good day-to-day management practices, employees will do good for the company in return. For instance, by sharing their experiences of the company and its products in social media." 

The article is titled "Balancing Acts: Managing Employees and Reputation in Social Media" in recognition of the paradoxes and contradictions in managing employees as well as a company's reputation. In other words, companies won't find easy approaches or perfect solutions.

Discussion Starters:

• How, if at all, has your own experience working at companies affected your online posts about them?
• What would inspire you to talk positively about your employer on social media sites?

Starbucks' Petition to End the Government Shutdown

If you've been to Starbucks lately, you may have seen a petition to end the government shutdown. The company is promoting the petition through several channels.

In a brief video on Instagram, CEO Howard Schultz asks customers to "Join us in our stores to sign a petition to ask our government to come together, solve our problems, and open up our government."

With the hashtag #ComeTogether, Starbucks is inspiring its 4.7 million followers to sign, and full-page print ads in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The Washington Post are promoting the campaign. 

If that's not enough, Starbucks is asking people to text a code to encourage the government to get back to work.

Discussion Starters:

• This is not the first political issue that Starbucks has gotten behind. What other recent examples can you find?
• What are the risks and rewards for Starbucks' involvement in this campaign? Why would the company-and Schultz particularly-want to deal with this controversy?
• Overall, do you think it's a good idea? Why or why not?

Employee Confronts McDonald's President at Dinner

The president of McDonald's USA Jeff Stratton was caught off guard during a dinner in Chicago. Ten-year-employee Nancy Salgado interrupted the event at the Union League Club of Chicago when Stratton was speaking. The confrontation was captured on video and is described by TheRealNews.com.

On the video, Salgado says, "I'm a single mother of two. It's really hard for me to feed my two kids and struggle day to day. Do you think this is fair that I have to be making $8.25 when I've been working at McDonald's for 10 years?"

Stratton responded, "I've been there 40 years." Then, Salgado was told she would be arrested. She and six other protestors were given trespassing tickets. 

Discussion Starters:

• What's your view of the situation? What would lead Salgado to confront the president in this way? On the other hand, what other avenues does she have?
• How do you assess Stratton's response? What could he have said or done differently?

Twitter CEO Responds to Criticism About Lack of Women Execs

As Twitter's IPO approaches, the company is being criticized for having an all-white board and only one woman on its executive team (an attorney who was hired five weeks ago). Also, although Twitter has females in VP business roles, none are in technical roles.

Twitter management has acknowledged the problem. Back in March, chief technology officer Adam Messinger told The New York Times: "Half our customers, more or less, are women, and we want to have empathy for our customers, and part of that is having a wide variety of opinions in-house. It's also something a lot of people here think is the right thing to do." He also said, "There is definitely a supply-side problem." A New York Times writer has since suggested 25 women from a variety of industries who would "bring value beyond a checked box."

In response to the criticism, CEO Dick Costolo attacked Vivek Wadhwa, who was quoted in the NY Times article: 

In a blog post for the Wall Street Journal, "Silicon Valley Has a Code Name for Sexism & Racism," Wadhwa asked for an apology-and flung an insult of his own:

"Yes, Costolo's comments were inappropriate and he owes me a formal apology. But I don't for a moment think that he is overtly sexist or that he deliberately discriminates. I think that he is reflecting a common behavior in Silicon Valley, where power brokers proudly tout their 'pattern recognition' capabilities. They believe they know a successful entrepreneur, engineer, or business executive when they see one. Sadly, the pattern is always a Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreessen, Jeff Bezos-or themselves. Nerdy white males."

And the missives continue:

 

Discussion Starters:

• Some people have expressed disappointment in what they consider Costolo's defensiveness. What's your view? What could have been a better response?
• How, if at all, do you think this controversy will affect Twitter's pending IPO? Should the issue of female management be a consideration as the comany goes public?

Riders Stuck on Roller Coaster for More Than Two Hours

Twelve thrill-seekers got more than they wanted when a roller coaster at Universal Orlando malfunctioned and left them in the air for more than two hours. The twelve-story Rip Ride Rockit reaches speeds of 65 mph and, according to the webpage, "features six near-miss moments and first-ever thrills including a record-breaking loop."

Naturally, the fiasco was recorded on a cell phone.

Tom Schroder, a spokesperson for the park, called the problem a "technical glitch" and said, "We are going to work to understand what happened tonight before we reopen the ride again."

It took a while, but rescue teams moved the stuck car to a horizontal position that allowed people to walk along a platform towards elevators to ground.

With more than 99,000 followers, Universal Orlando's Twitter page appropriately addressed the situation:

Discussion Starters:

• Assess the communications we have from Universal Orlando so far. What's your view of the spokesperson's statement and the tweets?
• What would you suggest the company tweet when the ride reopens? Write a few tweets that would be appropriate to the situation.

HP Asks Remote Employees to Work at the Office

Following in Yahoo's footsteps, HP is next major company to ask employees who work from home to come into the office. Part of CEO Meg Whitman's turnaround plan for the company, employees are being asked to make a case for working remotely.

In a Q&A document, the company explains the rationale for the change, which is similar to Yahoo's, focusing on collaboration and innovation:

My Workplace, My HP Community. What is the goal of the effort?

As part of the company's overall turnaround strategy, there is an effort underway to bring employees who currently work from home to work from the office. This effort is part of the company's cultural shift and will help create a more connected workforce and drive greater collaboration and innovation. In some major sites thereto large amount of underutilized workspace and we want to make the best use of our space. HP will maintain flexible work arrangement options, but with greater clarity and consistency about how to use them.

Why now?

During this critical turnaround period, HP needs all hands on deck. We recognize that in the past, we may have asked certain employees to work from home for various reasons. We now need to build a stronger culture of engagement and collaboration and the more employees we get into the office the better company we will be. Belief in the power of our people is a core principle of the HP Way Now. Employees are at the center of what we do, we achieve competitive advantages through our people. HP has amazing employees who are driving great change. We believe the more employees we have working together, the better for HP and our customers.

How does this support the company strategy end culture?

We want to make HP a great place to work and build a stronger HP Way Now culture of engagement and collaboration. Employees who are more connected tend to be more collaborative, productive, and knowledgeable They will also have a greater sense of the company goals and experience a greater sense of pride in HP. We believe that having employees work from the office will unite and inspire them to achieve higher levels of operational excellence and innovation.

Which employees are affected?

The overall effort is designed to increase collaboration among all employees, including employees who regularly work from home despite having an assigned desk at a site, telework employees who are near HP sites, and those who regularly work in an office now. Employees with part-time or job share arrangements are expected to work from the office. Where legally permissible, contingent workers also are expected to work from the office.

 An HP spokesperson gave this statement to AllThingsD:

"Over the past several years, HP has been focused on developing workplaces that attract employees to the office and encourage effective and collaborative work. Our investments in real estate and IT infrastructure have made it possible to now accommodate more employees in the office and also support new styles of working which we believe will further HP's business strategies and objectives. Flexibility continues to be a core operating principle at HP."

Discussion Starters:

• Compare Yahoo's email to employees to HP's Q&A. What similarities and differences do you notice, and what could account for them?
• Which message is more effective and why?
• List all of the possible questions and concerns that employees would have about the change. If you were part of HP management, how would you address them?

Language Variations Gathered from Facebook Users

A University of Pennsylvania study of 75,000 Facebook users identified interesting differences in language by personality, gender, and age. 

This is the largest study of language and personality, and it reveals, for example, that a Faceboook user's gender can be predicted with 92% accuracy just based on words used in status updates. According to the authors, language also predicts age within three years more than 50% of the time and personality (based on questionnaires).

Comparing extraverts' and intraverts' language, for example, we see some obvious differences-and some that are surprising. A graduate student who contributed to the study explained,

"It may seem obvious that a super extraverted person would talk a lot about parties, but taken altogether, these word clouds provide an unprecedented window into the psychological world of people with a given trait. Many things seem obvious after the fact and each item makes sense, but would you have thought of them all, or even most of them?"

The study raises interest in the "open vocabulary" to research rather than giving subjects a list of pre-determined words.

Discussion Starters:

• What surprises you about the word choices of each group?
• How do you do see your own language choices reflected in these examples?
• What other applications could you see for the "open vocabulary" approach to research?

News Anchor Compares Shooting to "Breaking Bad"

Not quite as tasteless as the CEO of AIG comparing its bonus controversy to lynchings, but a news anchor was criticized for comparing Philadelphia shootings to the TV series "Breaking Bad."

Either really insensitive-or perhaps a bit dense-Evans replied with this general tweet and repeated it as a reply to a few naysayers:

It didn't take long for Twitter joksters to create #JoyceEvansTweets:

Discussion Starters:

• What's your view of the reaction? Are people just too insensitive?
• How does the #JoyceEvansTweets help or hurt the situation?
• Write a more appropriate tweet response (an apology) of Evans' behalf.

Another Daniel Loeb Letter

Followers of business news may remember hedge fund manager Dan Loeb's letter to the Yahoo board of directors calling for the termination of Yahoo's now former CEO Scott Thompson. Thompson had falsified some information on his resume.

Now Loeb is after Sotheby's chairman and CEO Bill Ruprecht. This latest letter is more personal, according to a Reuters opinion writer, than his letter about Yahoo-or another letter about Sony's strategy. In this case, Reuters writer Felix Salman speculates that Loeb will not be successful in "outsting" Ruprecht, but he may get a stock price boost he's looking for.

Here are headings of the full letter: 

• Pressing Issues at Sotheby's
• Management's Lack of Alignment with Shareholders
• Limitations in Formulating and Executing Strategic Initiatives
• A Prescription for Repairing Sotheby's

Discussion Starters:

• Compare Loeb's three letters: to Yahoo, Sony, and Sotheby's. What differences do you notice, and what could account for them?
• In what ways do you agree or disagree with the Reuters writer's view?

Employee Quits by Dance Video

Fed up with her job at Next Media Animation, Marina Shifrin resigned byvideo rather than the traditional letter. As of this writing, the video received 13 million views.

One of the company executives, Mark Simon, responded by email to Gawker:

I am Mark Simon, I am the one who hired Marina Shifrin, who danced her way to fame in her resignation video which she sent to Gawker.

Currently, I am one of the senior executives of the group and she reports up to the folks who work for me. Marina actually thinks enough of me to have given me a call the Thursday before she released this to say that she was resigning, which I appreciated. I asked her to tell her bosses, as I took our call to be in confidence. The first her boss saw was the video.

Look, I actually like Marina a great deal. Marina herself has said we are a great company to work for, and I do not think she intended to hurt anyone, but it has happened.

There are a few things I would like just make a point of and if there is an interest I will be happy to be asked any question. (We do not have a PR department and we are wide open to any and all questions).

There is an image now of a sweat shop, we are not. Marina made USD$42k per year. She had a 40 hr work week, 5 days a week. There is no expectation of OT on our behalf, you finish your shift and leave. In our office most folks leave when their shift is up as you work on news flow.

Also we ask journalists to work one month per year on the midnight shift as we just need to cover the shift. We pay a differential of 30% for these hours, which I know are hard hours to work.

Look, we do news animations. We are not investigative reporters. Two international outlets have asked us for comment, and her video is up on nearly 300 sites. We think we have something to say about this and we are hoping Gawker will have us.

I am not looking to slam her, nor am I engaged in anything but trying to help some other managers in their early 30's, understand why the young lady they hung out with just cashiered them. I don't think she meant for it to be seen as so harsh, but we are getting some nasty attacks on our managers, who she says she respects.

I just want any chance to answer any questions, answer anything on Skype or on phone.

I am not spitting nastiness at Marina, but in her 9 months with us we sent her to Hong Kong twice, to Thailand for a media conference, and she just came back a month ago from two weeks in LA and NYC where she was pitching animation stories. She logged 170 hours the last 3 months in creative time working up ideas to pitch. She is a hard worker, but I cannot foresee results or always give her the best story of the day.

We let her talk to all the press she wanted, we encouraged her stand-up, and frankly my folks in Taiwan are a bunch of granola's... They are nice folks. We have 600 employees and I have not one outstanding case in labor tribunal. That is no small feat in Taiwan.

I though Gawker played this fair and so if anyone wants anything we are open.

Thanks

Mark

Employees also posted a video in response:

Discussion Starters:

• What are the potential risks and rewards for Shifrin? Consider her position and industry?
• How do you assess Simon's response? 
• Correct Simon's many typographical and punctuation errors.

Bertolli Capitalizes on Barilla's Anti-Gay Comments

Competitor Bertolli is taking full advantage of the CEO of Barilla pasta's anti-gay comments.

After saying that he'll never make ads featuring gay people, CEO Guido Barilla is facing a new foe: Bertolli. Promising "Love and pasta for all!" the company posted this image to its Facebook timeline:

Given its history, Bertolli seems to be a supporter from way back. AdWeek discovered this commercial from a "couple of years" ago:

Discussion Starters:

• What are the potential risks of Bertolli's advertising strategy?
• If you were Guido Barilla, what, if anything, would you do in response?

Hobby Lobby Apologizes for Potential Anti-Semitic Comments

Hobby Lobby is on the defense for an alleged comment by an employee and for not stocking Jewish holiday items. Someone relayed this story in a blog post titled, "Why I Will Never Ever Patronize at Hobby Lobby":

One of our friends entered the store, asked where the Chanukah goods were, was told there wouldn't be any, and asked why.  According to her, the answer was:

"We don't cater to you people." 

Understandably irate, she called the home office, and was told, indifferently, that hobby lobby doesn't have Chanukah on its list of holidays. 

Since I did not hear this ugly exchange with my own ears, I was not personally certain it was the case.  And that's not good enough for this blog.  So I just called the Marlboro hobby lobby and asked whether it would be stocking any Chanukah merchandise.  I was told it would not.  When I asked why, the answer - verbatim - was: 

"Because Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he's a Christian, and those are his values." 

The company's mission is connected to religious beliefs. Here are two references on the "Our Company" page of its website: 

At Hobby Lobby, we value our customers and employees and are committed to:

• Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles.
• Offering our customers exceptional selection and value in the crafts and home decor market.
• Serving our employees and their families by establishing a work environment and company policies that build character, strengthen individuals and nurture families.
• Providing a return on the owner's investment, sharing the Lord's blessings with our employees, and investing in our community.

------

We believe that it is by God's grace and provision that Hobby Lobby has endured. He has been faithful in the past, and we trust Him for our future.

Hobby Lobby responded first in a Facebook post: 

Then, Hobby Lobby gave a fuller response in a statement: 

We sincerely apologize for any employee comments that may have offended anyone, especially our Jewish customers and friends. Comments like these do not reflect the feelings of our family or Hobby Lobby.

Our family has a deep respect for the Jewish faith and those who hold its traditions dear. We're proud contributors to Yad Vashem, as well as to other museums and synagogues in Israel and the United States. 

We are investigating this matter and absolutely do not tolerate discrimination at our company or our stores. We do not have any policies that discriminate; in fact, we have policies that specifically prohibit discrimination. 

We have previously carried merchandise in our stores related to Jewish holidays. We select the items we sell in our stores based on customer demand. We are working with our buyers to re-evaluate our holiday items and what we will carry in the future. 

 Discussion Starters: 

• Assess Hobby Lobby's two responses. How do they differ? Which do you find more effective, and why? 
• A Hobby Lobby is opening in Ithaca this year (no joke!). If one were opening near you, and you wanted what they sell, would you shop there? Why or why not?