The Pepsi Challenge

Back in 1975 the so called "Cola Wars" where at the peak of competition when Pepsi challenged the Coca Cola consumer to tell the difference between the two brands and see which they liked best. 

Interestingly enough, a lot of people started to see that they prefered Coke over Pepsi, or that they where basically the same. That's when Coca Cola dramatically plumaged. But not to focus on the business part of the situation, as we all know the final winner and worldwide cola producer is Coca Cola. 

What I really find useful for this blog is the ethical analysis we can get from this competition. Unlike Chevy and Ford (mentioned previously in the blog) Pepsi took a more ethical approach by not directly trashing their competition, they actually believe in the quality of their product and let the  consumer decide, which in my opinion is great because it empowers the customer without having to enhance the negative aspects of the other company.  

Andrew Carnegie VS. John D. Rockefeller

Carnegie and Rockefeller went down in history as two of the greatest industry names that have ever lived. Many of us now that these two giants built their empires in the young United States of the 20th century, but what is usually ignored or dismissed is that these two men where contemporaries of the same time and they were bitter rivals. 

They were always on constant competition and it is a fact that in their efforts to get on each other nerves they would interchange mockery Christmas presents every year, Rockefeller would send paper garments to Carnegie as an allusion to his humble beginnings and poverty as a child, while at the same time Carnegie would send fine whisky to Rockefeller in a way of making fun of his shrewdness and withdrawal from drinking.

But besides their competition in the economic and industry position, I want to focus on their rivalry for being the most charitable, Carnegie was a famed philanthropist, he built schools, libraries and many other charities and he did because he actually believed it was the right thing to do. He once said “a wealthy man's life should go in two stages -- first gaining wealth, then using that wealth to improve the general welfare. Rockerfelle, on the other hand, gave away more money that Carnegie, but for the wrong reasons, he did it to avoid persecution and prosecution from anti-monopolistic trusts that were after the Standard Oil.

And I raise the question, is this ethical? I think that charity has moral weight as long as it is done towards improving the spirit, or if it's something we see as a form of personal growth, but if it is done simply by pacifying the law, even though the purpose is good, I think it is unethical. 

Chevy VS. Ford

For superbowl XLVI, automotive giant Chevy, set out on a campaign to discredit one of their biggest competitors, Ford Motors. As part of this scheme, they aired a commercial in this event titled Chevy Silverado "End Of The World" Commercial. 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gc6AR8HR-c

This incredibly witty ad features four friends driving Silverados and meeting at a rendezvous point after the end of the world. When one of them asks for their missing friend, Dave, another actor responds with the line "Dave didn't drive the longest lasting, most dependable truck on the road. Dave drove a Ford"

This direct hit causes amusment and a little bit of entertained shock for us as viewers, the company didn't even try to hide the battering by saying that Dave drove a Mord, Shord, Cord or anything that rhymes with Ford, it was as clear as water. But let's not feel sorry for Ford Motors, they have done their share of shaming as well, they even centered a whole campaign "Drive One" around mocking his competitors by featuring a F-150 driver saying "I wasn't going to buy another car that was bailed out by our government. I was going to buy from a manufacturer that's standing on its own: win, lose or draw. That's what America is about." Of course this is a straight allusion to the government having to save Chevrolet from bankruptcy.

This advertising fight is amusing to see, but how ethical is it to mock and bring down your competitors for the sake of business? Instead of showing off their products they discredit the competition. This is not fair play, in fact, there are laws that condemn direct publicity fights like this. I don’t know how they are getting away with this; But just like criticizing another employee in front of the boss to get ahead is unethical, so is this.   

Thomas Edison VS. Nikola Tesla

When it comes to electricity, Thomas Edison is the name that always comes to mind, considered the father of invention, he was awarded 1,093 patents in his lifetime (www.thomasedison.org). He is undoubtedly one of the greatest minds of modern times, but what the general public sometimes disregards is that he was a protagonist in one of the greatest corporate wars of the 20th century.

In 1884 Thomas Edison welcomed Serbian engineer, Nikola Tesla, to work with him in New York. Edison's DC apparatus reigned supreme at the time. But Tesla had conceived of a new method using alternating current (AC), which, unlike DC, could transmit significant amounts of power over long distances. According to Tesla, Edison dismissed his ideas as a waste of time, not to mention dangerous given the high voltage involved. Tesla designed several products for Edison, expecting to receive a promised $50,000 bonus for his efforts (about $1 million today). But when Tesla asked for his reward in the spring of 1885, Edison told him it had been a joke all along.

Tesla quit and went out on his own and eventually made ​​an alliance with industrial titan George Westinghouse, together they ventured into the electricity business. When Thomas Edison heard about this he ridiculed them. But not long after, the war came. It wasn't long before Edison was holding shocking public demonstrations to discredit AC power. To make his point, he electrocuted dogs, cows, horses, even an elephant. He even put an effort to use AC to power the first electric chair. The execution lasted eight minutes and required two attempts, it goes without saying that this was a grisly affair. (Fortune Magazine, 2013)

What an unexpected behavior from the hero and role model of thousands of people in the last century. Thomas Edison proved that in this war, he was a sore loser and a cheating player. The epitome of unethical behavior is hard to define in this story, as there are so many. First of all, what type of a boss makes an employee work and develop products for their company with the promises of money?, to later dismiss them by ridicule, claiming they were a joke. Even worse than this, what man of science and business willingly kills inocent animals and prolongs the suffering of a man just to discredit his companies competition? 

This makes us wonder, was Edison really such an unethical business man? Was he forced to do so by people behind him? Or, was the business environment of the time ripe for this kind of behavior? Perhaps the moral conduct of the time did not see this as something wrong or unfair, just healthy competition.