Four Ethics Links: April 29, 2010
Four ethics links is a review of recent stories related to ethics.
1. Hotel Fakeout Photos
FatWallet ran a story last week about some "creative" photography resorts use in their advertising. Hotel review site Oyster.com, which encourages users to send their own photos of hotels, has a gallery full of examples.
Of course, it's the photographer's job to make things look as good as possible, but it's a slippery slope.
2. 'The story BCG offered me $16,000 not to tell'
MIT newspaper, The Tech, ran an interesting opinion piece this month about a student's ethical dilemma in Dubai. But it's probably not what you think.
The story is not about Dubai or the culture there, but rather the troubling practices of a consulting company the author worked for after leaving MIT:
...[C]lients usually didn’t know why they had hired us. They sent us vague requests for proposal, we returned vague case proposals, and by the time we were hired, no one was the wiser as to why exactly we were there. I got the feeling that our clients were simply trying to mimic successful businesses, and that as consultants, our earnings came from having the luck of being included in an elaborate cargo-cult ritual.
3. The Ethics of Flying Gaming Press to Hawaii
Ars Technica asks: Is it ethical for journalists to accept an free trip to Hawaii, in order to view presentations from a game company?
I would add: what about the CO2 from all those trips? Hawaii is a long ways from just about anywhere.
4. Is it OK for vegans to eat oysters?
Okay, so this one is not related to design or business ethics, but as a story about ethical complexities, it made me stop and think. Apparently, oysters are okay for vegans to eat.
I thought vegans didn't eat any animals or animal products. It seems I didn't understand vegans or oysters.
| Tagged with: | Business, Consulting, Design Ethics, Ethics, Food, Four Ethics Links, Journalism, MIT, Photography, Travel |
