Lobbyists in Legislation

Lobbyists are essential in helping legislators understand the advantages and disadvantages of passing and putting into effect certain pieces of legislation. The main point of contention has been the wisdom of this lobbying group function. Even while the discussion is open, it is clear that this task is just as crucial as discussing a law in Congress. Legislative watchdogs are lobbying organizations. This aims to prevent the discussion of legislation that would only promote the self-serving interests of legislators. The primary benefit of having lobbyists actively involved in the creation of law is that they serve as a bridge between the legislative and judicial branches of government. It is common knowledge that the three arms of government are independent. As such, the judiciary cannot interfere openly with legislation. This means that lobbyists may seek the guidance of the judiciary to ensure that legislators pass laws that address the needs of the majority rather than the interests of a few.

Lobbyists represent the interests of the public. This means that their involvement in advising legislators the benefits and detriments of complex legislation seeks to ensure that laws favor the interest of the public. Even though lobbying is costly and time-consuming, it is an important aspect of modern legislation, which ensures that legislators are kept on check and focus on laws that are in line with the needs of the common person. Lobbying is a fundamental aspect of development as it forms the second form of opposition, besides the main opposition to the government, that seeks to form a bridge between the common person and legislators.

Internet and Consumer Movement

It is with no doubt that the internet has brought the narrative on globalization to perspective. The benefits of the internet are standard across all industries, and particularly the consumer movement. In the modern world, all organizations have an online presence. The main aim of having online presence is to increase consumer reach. A few years back, one had to go to a banking hall to transact. However, with the help of the internet, there is internet banking, and consumers may transact without having to visit the banking halls physically. Another example is in retailing. Shops have begun moving online as a means to increase consumer outreach. Market competition occurs online, with the company having the best search engine optimization receiving the most consumer traffic.

In the recent past, consumer movement was not predictable. This is because suppliers had to locate potential clients, which proved to be a daunting task. However, with the emergence of the internet, suppliers can easily identify consumer movement, which is basically the platform where consumers seek information and make purchasing decisions. As such, the internet bridged the gap between consumers and suppliers, enabling the identification of consumer movement; hence, increasing market outreach. In most cases, consumers seek convenience. They seek to get the best, without having to stress out looking for such. The internet has created convenience for consumers, which explains how it has facilitated their movement; hence, changing the market dynamics.

Business Social Responsibility and Advertising

Business or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is central to the concept of advertising in the sense that businesses strive to have an active presence in the society. It is important to note that advertising dwells on repetition whereby consumers need a constant reminder of the presence of a particular product. As such, CSR achieves the two benefits for each business. It enables the business to ‘give back’ to the society or develop the society without expecting any monetary reward. In addition, it acts as a mode of advertising, whereby the business becomes ‘visible’ to the public. Even though the business does not obtain monetary rewards from participating in CSR, it benefits from the multiple advantages of have an active physical presence in the society. For instance, a business may sponsor a social event such as marathon to cater for a worthy cause such as a feeding program. The business may be conducting CSR by raising awareness about the issue of hunger in a particular location, but on the other hand making itself visible to the public. In such an event, the business would not expect to make any profits, but the natural occurrence is that it will be advertising itself.

The concept of business social responsibility revolves around creating a balance between making profits and giving back to the society. In a broader sense, the act of giving back entails sponsoring activities that would help the business gain recognition from members of the society. The concept of advertising occurs naturally once a business engages in social responsibility, and in a way helps it gain a competitive advantage over its competitors.

Technology and the Society

The advancement of technology has had both its advantages and challenges within the society. The challenges circumventing technology are centered on the transition process. It is the transition process that disrupts the status quo that makes the adoption of technology challenging. The common challenge that technology presents is its dynamisms. Technological advancement is dynamic and continues to improve day by day. This means that most activities are rendered obsolete due to such dynamisms. This means that it becomes difficult to conduct some activities without utilizing technology, and most probably in its most recent forms. This brings forth the issue of cost. Technology is expensive, and the fact that it is dynamic does not help the narrative. For instance, the shift from analog to digital televisions was an expensive transition. As if not enough, the emergence of smart televisions meant that consumers had to transition again. What is worse is that such technology keeps on evolving, bringing about the challenge of technology being expensive.

Technology brings about unemployment, which by far has been the greatest concern among many people. For instance, an activity that would have required a workforce of about five people would require one person to operate a machine to do the same activity. As such, with technology, there has been an increase in retrenchments and downsizing, having an adverse effect on the society. Technology has also been used as an avenue to conduct crime. Cases of cybercrime are all centered on the use of computers and the internet. The society has had to grapple with this challenge making technology a necessary evil. Cases of identity theft and cyberbullying have been a significant challenge brought about by technological advancements. Members of the society have to bear losses in the instance that they are victims of cybercrime.

Economic and Social Regulation

The government establishes policies to regulate operations conducted by firms and individuals. Such policies seek to either regulate the economy or society; hence, the concepts of economic and social regulation. Economic regulation is founded on the basis of prices and output whereas social regulation is based on activities involving the wellbeing of the people. Among the two, none takes precedence over the other. In fact, the two regulations are interdependent. Success in the implementation of economic regulation would have a positive ripple effect on the wellbeing of the people. Economic regulation is focused on keeping prices in check, and ensuring that firms do not pass an excessive burden to consumers in relation to pricing. On the other hand, social regulation seeks to increase public good by ensuring that living conditions are sustainable. For instance, public health is an aspect of social regulation, and the government would hold anyone who threatens to reduce the public good in relation to accessing public health accountable.

The two forms of regulations are similar in the sense that they lay down the permissible activities on the part of individuals, firms, and the government itself. If there are cases of any of the three bodies conducting impermissible activities, the regulation provides measures on how to deal with such misconduct. The point of division comes in the stipulation of the permissible activities. Economic regulation majors on permissible activities regarding prices and output and social regulation is centered on activities revolving on the greater good of the people.

Ethical Issues on Product Information

Product information is a concept that more often than not faces immense ethical issues. The basic reason surrounding such issues is the need to create an appeal to the prospective consumers by firms, which results in marketing gimmicks becoming prevalent. When producing goods and services, firms recognize that consumers have needs, and do all they can to meet such needs. The marketing field is one that has numerous ethical issues due to cases of firms misleading consumers. In an effort to make sales, firms either conceal some product information or provide false information to convince a potential client to make a purchase. This is an ethical issue that most firm fail to adhere to in a bid to create a healthy competitive environment. For instance, the skin care industry is marred with numerous ethical issues regarding product information. This situation is made worse by the fact that consumers of skin care products fail to seek information from credible sources and in most instances trust any information they come across or rely on referrals. Firms in that industry capitalize on the naivety of consumers by misleading them using false information. In other instances, firms fail to reveal product information in their packaging, and if they do, they do not provide accurate information. This is more of the reason why the government establishes agencies to check on the quality standards of all products and issue a mark of quality for companies that adhere to the ethics of product information.

Government’s Involvement in Internet Privacy Protection

In the digital era, many challenges have emanated from the use of the internet. The main challenge has been privacy protection. There has been a wake of multiple breaches of internet privacy, which is a cause for alarm. Cases of firms losing consumer data have been on the rise. Such cases warrant government’s involvement in internet privacy protection. It is evident that there are no clear laws governing internet privacy, which leaves the burden of protecting personal data to the respective firms. However, government involvement in internet privacy protection is an advancement to enhancing cybersecurity. It is through the government’s involvement that there would be policies regulating how firms handle personal data, and consequences of exposing such data to unintended users. Many would argue that involving the government would lead to numerous protocols that would complicate the issue of cybersecurity. As much as the issue is debatable, it is important that the government establishes clear-cut measures on enhancing cybersecurity that would mitigate cases of identity theft.