companies
Before the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona named its annual Ethics Award winners last week, a senior attorney for the Federal Trade Commission offered her own “iffy” awards of companies she said had a lapse in judgment.
|
|
Fair began her “iffy” awards for companies who make claims that defy science, specifically citing Xanadrine, Cortislim and TrimSpa for their claims of weight loss that didn’t pan out. She said the FTC sued the companies forcing them to return $20 million to consumers.
A couple of the other “iffy” awards she handed out an award she called “sex lies and video tape” to Volvo for a commercial depicting a Monster Truck driving over cars all of which were crushed except the Volvo; a “true lies” award went to Klondike ice cream bars for a commercial in which they said their light bar had 25 percent less fat but what wasn’t mentioned is that it was also 25 percent smaller.
“When a product comes on the market that lets you eat whatever you want and not exercise and still lose weight, I’ll give you buzz. Until then, just forget it,” Fair said.
Quoting former President Ronald Reagan, Fair said people should “trust but verify that companies they are doing business with hold the same ethical values as they do.”
A great way to do that is to call the local BBB. They will tell a person what a company’s track record is for complaints.
“The BBB was right up there with Ann Landers and the Pope as far as accurate information went,” she said of her experiences with the organization.
Etihics Award winners
This year’s fifth annual Southern Arizona Ethics Awards went to:
• Evergreen Mortuary, Cemetery and Crematory, William Addison Jr, president
• Golden Eagle Distributors Inc., Kimberly Clements, president
• Green Valley Cooling and Heating, Ethan Beneze, president
• Perry Heating and Cooling, Butch Ashbrook, CEO
• Snell and Wilmer LLP, Curt Reimann, administrative partner
“This crop is very unique,” said Tom Collier, president of the BBB chapter. “It is the first time we had a multi-year winner in Perry Heating and Cooling.”
Perry also won the award in 2005.
“It really makes a big difference for these companies in many areas,” Collier said. “Employees like to know they work for a company that cares about ethics and not just money. However, it does help these companies with the bottom line also.”
Both facts are something that Perry Heating and Cooling could attest to as a previous recipient.
“There are huge benefits to this,” said Ashbrook, Perry’s CEO. “It definitely brings us more value conscious consumers. It is also huge as far as moral of the employees because they like working for a business with higher ethical standards.”
Companies had to be nominated and had to complete a large binder application to be considered for the award.
“It takes a lot of work,” Collier said. “It is not anything you get for a couple of glossy paragraphs.”
Joe Pangburn
Inside Tucson Business
Contact Joe Pangburn by e-mail at jpangburn@azbiz.com or call (520) 295-4259.
© 2007 Inside Tucson Business. All Rights Reserved
Comments