Should food avaliable to buy be ethically sourced?

I believe that ethical sourcing is the intentional purchase of products and services that the customer considers to be made ethically. This may mean with minimal harm to or exploitation of humans, animals and/or the natural environment.

As a consumer would you pay more for a certain product simply because it has been ethically sourced?

Does it matter where your food comes from?

UK law requires that all life stock be stunned prior to slaughter so as not to inflict pain or suffering on animals. If you knew your meat was Halal meat and had been slaughtered by a cut to the throat where the blood is left to drain out, instead of being stunned to numb the pain first does it matter to you?

Would you pay more for meat that had been slaughtered in a way that is seen as a more humane method by British law?

If you're wondering what Hala meat actually is, then this bit is for you!
Halal meat is prepared in accordance with Sharia law and requires the cutting of an animals throat, without stunning the animal first during which process Islamic verses are recited.

Would it change your opinion to know that in January this method of Halal meat was discussed at the World Secure Food Chain Conference in Hong Kong, where research showed that non-stunned animal's killed by the Halal methods actually produced healthier meat that had a longer shelf life.
Does knowing this fact make it more ethical? As the meat gained by this particular slaughter method will not only last longer so hopefully not get wasted, but it will also go further! feeding more people in the process!

On a final note, whats to say the method used in accordance to British law doesn't in fact cause the animal discomfort! Its been stunned through the brain?! Maybe a quick cut to the throat is more ethical, what do you think?

The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.... An Obsession?

Are we as a nation too obsessed with social media?

People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook, thousands of which I reckon are spent trawling through irrelevant applications to find something of interest to that individual! I bet I'm not the only one who clicks through page after page reading about pointless groups, events and quiz's, but I just can't seem to help myself. There is something so addictive about it! Facebook withdrawal is by no means a medical condition, but I know for a fact some people would argue it should be!

Does everybody "Like"? 

The "Like" button on Facebook gets hit 65 million times per day! 

26% of Facebook users "Like" things on a regular basis! Like what?

I know as well as any other PR student or PR professional that social media such as Facebook is crucial to the work we carry out! It currently has more than 500 million active users, 50% of these active users log on to Facebook every single day.We couldn't as PR's justify not taking advantage of such an amazing free tool as a means of facilitating communication!

My lecturers continually hammer home the fact that we NEED to be insanely computer literate when it comes to social media sites as young PR students soon to be released into the professional world of PR, so for me it has always been a 'part' of PR. Yet when I carried out a month's work experience over the summer in a PR agency it was the last thing people wanted to be seen on, looking over their shoulder every 2 minutes for fear of someone else thinking they weren't pulling their weight or doing their job properly! Why is this?

How much of an affect does the rapidly growing technology industry pose? There are currently more than 150 million active users accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. These people that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on the site than non-mobile users.

Do you believe that the use of social media is the way forward for ALL PR's?

Are PR students 'ahead of the game' so to speak?