Ethical Issues in Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Ethical Issues in Marketing - Essay Example However, after its approval for distribution in 1993, Neurontin was aggressively marketed for a large number of off-label usage that were not only unapproved by the FDA, but were also suspected of negative effects such as suicide. Thus, given the important role pharmaceutical companies play in ensuring the well-being of a nation, and the dangerous effect off-label marketing can have on patients; this essay will argue that it is unethical, not to mention illegal, to market drugs for unproven uses on the basis of public health, especially if it is linked to harmful effects such as suicidal behavior. Off-label drug usage is a common practice in the medical community. Defined as the use of medicines for "indication, dosage form, population, or other use parameter not mentioned in the approved labeling," it has been accepted, and even warranted, in some occasions, where it presents the best and sometimes even only course of possible treatment (qtd. in Kaufman 2004, 3). According to Steven Salbu, there are three forms of off-label activities - off-label use, of-label prescription, and off-label marketing (qtd. in Kaufman 2004, 5). While off-label use and prescription are readily accepted, off-label marketing for unapproved usage of drugs is another story. ... The interest of pharmaceutical companies to market off-label usage of their products lies in their need as business entities to get these medicines out in the market as soon as possible without the long and expensive wait that FDA approval requires. One company that took advantage of this leeway to the point of fraudulently marketing their products is Pfizer in its efforts of promoting Neurontin. Neurontin: An Effective Marketing Strategy Neurontin is a legally approved drug indicated as an "adjunctive therapy" for the treatment of partial seizures and epilepsy (Pfizer Inc., 2005, 7). Hence, it is not to be used alone, but only as a secondary treatment "added to other antiepileptic drugs" in the event that the primary drugs are not successful (7). However, it was still aggressively marketed for non-approved uses in treating a wide range of ailments including: bipolar mental disorders, various pain disorders, Lou Gehrig's disease, attention deficit disorders, migraine, drug and alcohol withdrawal seizures, restless leg syndrome, and as a primary treatment for epilepsy (DOJ, 2004). In a whistleblower suit filed by Dr. David Franklin, evidence emerged that the off-label uses previously mentioned were marketed in an illegal and fraudulent manner in what has been known as "the most complete and well documented case of off-label promotion to ever come into public view" (Sweet 2003, 18). According to Franklin, the company implemented a "coordinated national effort to implement an off-label marketing plan" because first, conducting further clinical trials to prove its effectiveness for off-label uses are both too time

Benefits of hunting Essay Example for Free

Benefits of hunting Essay For my research topic I have decided to go over the benefits of hunting. I think these reasons are numerous, and cover a wide variety of topics. Some of which include, controlling the animal population, helping to maintain balance in the ecosystem, connecting with nature, participating in something with a rich tradition, and also to provide healthy organic food that you know exactly where it came from, and what was done to it. There are definitely other benefits to hunting, but they are probably almost too many to list, or touch on all of them. I will also try to tackle some of the proclaimed downsides to hunting. And example of that is people constantly complain that hunting is killing, and yes it is but such a small part for most of us it is not why we hunt. That being said every piece of meat in the super market is also killing, and the animal never had a chance, and may not have ever been as healthy or happy as it could be. The audience for this paper would be those against hunting, or who don’t have any knowledge about hunting. My reason for choosing this topic is that I am an avid hunter, and the only differences I see for what I do when hunting vs. what a cattle ranch does is that I know everything going on in what I’m doing. Basically I know where the animal was, I know who shot it and how it died, I know the animal is healthy, that it has had a good life, and was not confined to a tiny cage packed with others. Long story short, I know my animal I harvested is probably healthier than just about anything from the store. Also as humans we have a long history of hunting. I’m not sure when we started hunting, though for my paper I think it will be an excellent argument for the tradition of hunting, but I know we as a species have been doing it for as long as we can remember. Not only that, but hunting is something often passed down from father to son, and is mainly why hunting has survived this long against so much backlash. I know for me personally hunting with my dad was some of the most fun times, and fondest memories, that I will ever get to have, until I pass it on to my kids. Hunting gets attacked from a lot of angles, the only one I really think that has any argument is one from a vegan. That is a person who really has no connection with any sort of harvesting animals at all. Honestly I respect their opinions, and wish that they would also do mine. Hunting goes beyond people going out and shooting animals, and then posing with them in pictures, which I believe is all they see. They miss out on the tradition, the actual â€Å"hunt†, hunting does not mean killing, something any hunter can tell you. Not to mention all the bonding time with friends and family, and last the experience of just getting away from it all and being in the great outdoors. One last thing for the vegan argument is that from an evolutionary stand point it is pretty much impossible to argue against hunting. Humans grew up the evolutionary ladder partly because of our abilities to get better at hunting. Someone who provided a couple hundred pound animal complete with meat and hides had to be more valuable than someone who just picked berries. Being vegan is also a choice, its not exactly the way of nature. Sure some animals eat only plants, but things like wolves just can’t do it. Eating meat and hunting are part of Earth, and I would say that 99. 99% of kills done by humans are quicker, and cleaner, than those done by animals.

Opening Scene of Educating Rita Essay -- Educating Rita Themes Charact

Opening Scene of Educating Rita Explore the ways in which Russell engages the audiences interest in the main characters and themes in the opening scene of Educating Rita and explain whether you think the play written in 1979 is still relevant to 2005. Willy Russell’s play, Educating Rita, written in 1979, is a story about a typical lower class woman called Rita who decides she wants to lead an ‘educated life’ and she tries to do this by getting a private tutor called Frank to teach her, but learning to lead an educated life proves to be not what she expected. Willy Russell introduces Frank and Rita in two very different ways. Frank is introduced as a well read university tutor who seems to like his drink; this is shown when Russell writes ’the walls are lined with books’ making him appear educated. But then writes: â€Å"pulls out a pile of books to reveal a bottle of whisky† which makes the audience question their first impression of him as a typical university teacher, is he an alchoholic? Does he drink too much? Is this important? Rita is introduced as an uneducated, loud, rude young woman. The first impression Russell gives the audience is Rita saying: â€Å"I’m comin’ in, aren’t I?† to someone she has never met before, which shows a lack of manners or simply a casual upbringing. He then shows her going to a chair and â€Å"dumping her bag†. By using the verb â€Å"dump† Russell immediately suggests that Rita is not a ladylike person, and this follows the impression that she is ill mannered. Russell presents the play as a two-hander so that the audience is focused on the clash between Frank and Rita and the entire play is focused on Frank and Rita’s point of view. The two very contrasting personalities seem t... ... or missing something in his life, and Rita also says ‘ I want to be free’ which means she feels trapped in her life and wants to escape and she wants to do this by getting educated. They both seem to change through the play almost into totally different people, Rita changes her name to susan as she thinks it sounds ‘proper’. The play has a certain humour about it as the two characters personalities and views are almost opposite, this creates chaos, as neither of them knows what the other is talking about which is amusing to the audience, and Rita is very loud and uses a lot of swearing and slang which is not what you would expect in a university. In conclusion, Russell uses the contrast of the two characters in Educating Rita to create humour and engage the audience, whilst facing issues and views that are still a problem and relevant to today in 2005.

Brave New World of Digital Intimacy

The article from the New York Times â€Å"Brave New World of Digital Intimacy† by Clive Thompson vividly describes the experience of using Twitter and Facebook. The author pays attention to exploring several theories when discussing the impact of continuous sharing of daily details. The central idea of the article is that online contact is described as ambient awareness. Sociologists and psychologists have been wondering for many years how humanity would be adjusted to the anonymity of city life.Modern awareness is argued to be a tool which reverses the original conceit of the Internet. From the very beginning Internet was viewed as a place, where it is possible to re-invent and to express one’s identity, but nowadays Internet is claimed to constrain human identity. Social media tools – Twitter and Facebook – offer intimate contact and they are very likely to give the new meanings in the virtual world. Ambient identity is defined as being physically near s omeone and observing their body language, gestures and sighs.Parasocial relations are a new form of voyeurism. Finally, weak ties are remote acquaintances that increase problem-solving abilities. (Thompson, 2008) Ambient awareness is incessant online contact and Facebook is, therefore, not the thing in virtual world that offers interaction online. Microblogging has become a boom in the last years and research had to do their best to invent something new to attract customers. Twitter appeared to be one of the most popular new tools.Twitter is a web-site that gives its users an excellent opportunity to communicate online with their friends. The negative moment is that messages are limited to 140 characters, similar to mobile-phone messages. Additional services are ability to report where you are traveling and ability to toss quickly on-line stream of videos and pictures. Nevertheless, sociologists claim that people over 30 find an idea of describing blow-by-blow activities a little bi t absurd. (Thompson, 2008)Thompson argues that â€Å"the growth of ambient intimacy can seem like modern narcissism taken to a new, super-metabolic extreme — the ultimate expression of a generation of celebrity-addled youths who believe their every utterance is fascinating and ought to be shared with the world†. (Thompson, 2008) Twitter has become some sort of mania, when people checking and –rechecking their accounts to see two-line updates in their friends’ life. However, the popularity of Twitter can be hardly disputed.Thompson argues that weak ties are a very good thing as they help to expand abilities to solve problems. For example, remote acquaintances are of help in looking for a job for you as they are afield and, at the same time, they are intimate enough to help you out. Many of the Twitter users explicitly use this dynamic for their worth as within ten minutes solution for any problematic issues will be found. Nevertheless, more than half of Tw itter and Facebook users argue that ‘unexpected side-effects of constant self-disclosure’ are present.After days and weeks the act of checking account several times per day becomes a sort of philosophical act. Users are willing to present their activities and actions throughout the day with accuracy as it is necessary to keep the audience interested. Thompson concludes that in our modern age of technologies and awareness the only person you know the best is yourself! (Thompson, 2008) Works Cited Thompson, Clive. (2008, September). Brave New World of Digital Intimacy. Available online at http://www. nytimes. com/2008/09/07/magazine/07awareness-t. html Accessed October 18, 2008.

Individual Assignment: Interview Report Essay

Cross-Cultural Realities at Work (individual interview report) In this individual assignment, you are required to interview someone who is different from you (see criteria below) so that you may learn from the interviewee and be able to adequately reflect on the questions for analysis as given below. Please make yourself aware of questions for interview and for analysis before conducting the interview. This interview is designed for students who are learning about diversity. Preparation Find someone who meets all three criteria: at least 7 years older or younger than you are; doing work that you may not imagine yourself doing; and culturally distinctly different from you. Conducting the Interview Your goal is to get the person talking. Listen for what is said, what is implied, and what is not said. Try not to insert your opinions and experience. Use the sample interview questions as below; please feel free to add your own. Start the interview by explaining who you are and why you are interviewing him or her. Thank the person sincerely for giving you his or her time and thoughts. Be sensitive throughout the interview regarding whether the person wants to continue. Sample Interview Questions Start with questions that are easy and comfortable to answer. 1. What kind of work do you do? 2. How long have you been doing it? 3. Can you describe a typical workday? Then move to questions that require more thought and rapport with the interviewer. 1. Why did you end up doing this work? What kind of person often does this sort of work? (And would you consider yourself typical?) 2. What do you like about this work? 3. What is difficult about this work? 4. How do [customers, others in the company, etc.] treat you? What do they  think about the job you do? [Adapt this question to fit your particular interview—try to get at how the person thinks he or she is treated based on his or her work.] 5. How does being a [fill in the blank with a salient cultural category: man, older person, African-American, 20-something, etc.] play into the work you do? 6. Has this work changed the way you think about yourself and about the world? 7. What are some cultural values that are important to you? [It can be family, work, or interpersonal.] Do you think these are similar to or different from mainstream American culture? Please explain your ideas. 8. What do you like best about American culture? What do you like least? [Even if the person is American, he or she will have an opinion about this question that gives you some insight about how he or she views things from his or her perspective.] Thank him or her again. Analysis of Your Interview and Writing Your Report Think about your interview, the person, and his or her work. Please consider these questions as you write your report for this assignment. Make sure to present a well thought response based on your interview and these questions. 1. First, state who the interviewee is and how does he or she meet the three criteria (all three should be met). 2. What aspects of this person’s work determine or indicate his or her status relative to others? 3. What are some of the connections between this person’s work experience and gender, race, age, and/or ethnicity, etc.? 4. What kinds of attitudes, values, and behaviors does this person’s work culture encourage? 5. What attitudes and values held by this person are similar to your own, and which are different? 6. From this interview, what can give us insight into communicating across cultures or across work cultures?