Departments
In the News
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Week of 12 November 1999 |
Vol. III, No. 14 |
In the News
George Annas, SPH professor of medical ethics, referring to a Web site offering for sale the eggs of fashion models, says in the October 25 USA Today, "What he's really saying is: Come to my site and buy a nice, beautiful child. Not only is it ethically ludicrous, but the fact is, no kid's going to look like the model's picture." In a column by Ellen Goodman in October 28's Boston Globe, Annas says, "We actually do start down the road of treating people like products. We have a giant industry, the marriage of biotechnology and assisted fertility." Although the site operator claims that millions have visited the site, Annas asserts, "It's all hype, and nobody is thinking about it seriously."
"Our schools are seriously diminished by the decline of the heroic ideal and its replacement by mere celebrity," says BU Chancellor John Silber, in an op-ed piece in the Boston Herald October 28. "The difference between the two is that very little achievement is expected of a celebrity." Pointing to the results of this diminishment, Silber concludes, "In a world with fewer and fewer heroes, parents and teachers have a burden to find, present, and indeed be, models that will help our children become responsible adults."
A U.S. landfill company and an Ontario utility have signed an agreement to swap rights to emit ozone-depleting gases. The agreement steals a march on a pending treaty that would recognize and internationally regulate such deals. "What you've got here is basically a demonstration product," says Andrew Hoffman, SMG assistant professor of organizational behavior, in a story in the October 26Wall Street Journal. Hoffman, who has studied such trades, says, "There are some big questions in creating a global trading system, and this deal seems to be orchestrated to address a lot of them."
Commercial sponsors of Little League in Newton would like a sign at a Newton Lower Falls playing field acknowledging their largesse. "This quid pro quo savors of a devil's bargain to some residents -- a kind of environmental pollution," says Mark Kramer, professor of journalism at COM, in an October 28 Boston Globe story. He adds, "I don't like anyone renting my attention without my consent." The article includes a somewhat different reaction from Tobe Berkovitz, COM associate professor of communication, who says bluntly, "Welcome to the modern world."
They're not that sorry. The filmmakers who took viewers into the dark woods inThe Blair Witch Project are planning to use a similar technique in a marketing blitz touting a dot-com retailing venture. No images of dark woods this time, though. The harsher challenges of Manhattan will be used. "I suppose it's as good a way to waste advertising money as anything," says Roberta Clarke, associate professor of marketing at SMG, in the October 28 USA Today.
"In the News" is compiled by Alexander Crouch in the Office of Public Relations.