Firstly, one of the main focus points that caught my attention was the ‘environment’. As we all know, the environment has been the very surrounding we live in. Keeping a clean environment will only ensure the level of cleanliness that we live in. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the gentle aroma and every surrounding nature around is decided by how well we maintain the environment. It was an ill-feeling for me when I soon found out through watching this documentary, that the corporation, are responsible for the countless amount of pollution towards the environment while manufacturing goods for the consumers. The corporations produce goods or manufacture produce claiming to be for the benefit of consumers, yet it defeats the whole purpose when in the process of producing these goods, they end up contributing to massive pollution which will put everyone at the losing end. The video showed that corporations do not care about the environment as they seem to only care about profits. Anything is possible for them because to the corporation, as long as the ends justify the means, the corporation will keep making profits and keep reaping the rewards in monetary terms. Take the case of the era soon after the Industrialization period, massive waste and tons of wastage landfill were produced and no strict guidelines or rules were implemented yet. This allowed pollution to occur in the open.
Secondly, the ‘human’ element caught my attention. Corporations, supposedly open up job opportunities for everyone, however, as I watched the documentary, it’s clear that corporations only care about profits. The corporation would do anything for a quick buck such as the case example seen in the scene where they previewed the office of the National Labour Committee in New York City. Labour exploitations by corporations went as far as demeaning their workers in El Salvador, paying them a mere $0.78 for every jacket they made while it retailed for a whooping sum of $178.00. Other examples can be where shirts selling for $14.99 per piece only garnered 3 cents to the labourer. Some corporations go as far as lying in their marketing efforts by stating “A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this garment will be donated to various children’s charities” on their label but only for us as viewers to find out these labels were produced by 13 year olds. These are just the few among many others and even with this much information thus far, it’s sickening to the extent that corporations have simply crossed the line to be preceded as inhumane.
Lastly, taking a focal point of view on the corporation as a whole, it cannot be said that corporations are good for nothing. However, cases such as the Monsanto incident which clearly involves corporations does not help plead their case. It is an open secret, the involvement of corporations in the Monsanto case, whereby BST or rather, Posilac that was declared safe for cows and human by the Food and Drug Administration which in the end turned out to be wrong. This shows that corporations do not know where to draw the line but instead, they are willing to lie, cheat and deceive the public or any bodies in any way possible, to reach their goals. The goals here simply mean their big buck profits. Ethics are thrown out of the way to give in to profiting and monetary temptation. This is evident when the corporation were willing to bribe their employees to give a false statement regarding Posilac, even when the truth is out, in order to save their corporation namesake.
To conclude this report, I personally feel that corporations today have definitely made a change towards the positive. Though it cannot be denied that there are still some bad practices within corporations, stricter guidelines and newer implemented laws have played a part in setting the corporations in line, although much more improvements can be made.
