Do companies REALY care?

[Schwarzenegger]

We all know the ads for various companies of all types that have the same gimmicky "we care about our customers!" type line as their slogan.

 

My question is, do they truly deep down inside CARE?

 

Today I saw an article about some kid who had some kind of fatal disease, one of his wishes was to see the company Blizzard. He got his wish, he got the full tour with his dad. They even created a character after him and his dog, a new weapon, and he did one of the voices.

 

Do you guys think that they did all this out of the goodness of their hearts? I am sure it has something to do with it, but as one of my professors says that there's always more than one reason to everything that happens. It is just that one (or some) of the reasons are not as "sexy" to talk about.

 

How good would it look on their part if it was known they did not allow a sick dying kid to visit their building? On the contrary if they allow him to visit and do a bunch of stuff, it is only good publicity. "Oh look at those guys, they really care! Perhaps my children should be able to play that game after all!"

 

It's like all those food companies that put "satisfaction guaranteed or your money back" on all their food products. If someone is not satisfied they will tell their friends who might change their attitude about that company and may then in turn tell their friends, etc etc... Same with restaurants. If you complain loud enough, or if the chef butchers your order enough times- the manager comes out and you get the meal on the house. They would rather lose a couple bucks here and there than have a bad rep and lose potential customers. They really couldn't care less if you end up with a charred piece of leather on your plate.

 

edit-somehow a quote tag ended up in this post, don't know how it got there

[Darksavior69]

No.

[Mercifull]

If caring for your customers gives a better sales record then yes.

[Lenin64]

They probably do, but all in a business perspective. If caring gives them more sales, they'll care right out the wazoo.

[kelem_ryu]

That story about Blizzard and the dieing kid is a bad example. That just showed that they cared enough to fulfill the wish of a dieing kid. I'm sure there are people out there, who would do that just to for the good publicity, but i guess most people would do that because it's hard to deny a last wish (even if it wasn't public at all).

 

 

 

Companies should probably care more for their product then for their customers.

[Nom]

You say company like it's a single entity with a collective hive mind. What you're dealing with are the CEO's and select other officials, who will care only if it boosts their reputation. Individual workers probably care, but they have no say if they want to keep their job.

[highlanders]

Most of the companies don't. They make little publicities to make people believe otherwise because it helps their image, but it's not true. It shows in their customer support, quality of their products, the provenance of their products, how they threat their employees, etc.

[adam_ross0]

Yeah, good luck finding a company that actually, deep down cares.

 

 

 

From a business perspective, yeah...they care about you as much as the most beloved icon in their lives.

[Giordano]

The more a company advertises, the less it probably cares. Blizzard probably does care since they hardly ever advertise. I'm not saying they DO care, just they have a less chance of not caring.

 

If they say they care in a commerical, I call that BS. Commericals are nothing but 80% of lies.

[Bubsa]

Well, to an extent, any successful business must have customer interests, or they'll fail. Simple as.

 

 

 

Whether they get emotional, empathy or what have you? Well, on a grand scale, no. But, you'll get individual employees, no doubt.

[venomai]

Frankly put, the mass media doesn't give a [cabbage] about us unless it affects their profit.

 

 

 

If they say they care in a commerical, I call that BS. Commericals are nothing but 80% of lies.

 

Not quite. If a commercial isn't truthful they may end up in legal troubles, so most commercials tend to only tell truthful things.

 

 

 

For example, "leaves dishes spotless" may not always be true. To save themselvse possible legal issues, it should be "leaves dishes almost spotless". Of course, saying that wouldn't be very effective. That's why you see so many "weasel words" like virtually, fights, helps, etc.

 

 

 

Even though it's truthful, it doesn't tell you anything about the product's effectiveness. Rubbing a dish with your fingers can leave it virtually spotless. Drinking water helps fight bad breath. etc..

 

 

 

I recommend taking a media studies course if your school offers it. Very interesting stuff. It's changed the way I think about the media.

 

 

 

 

 

To the OP:

 

Certain companies care. Alternative media, especially. It's hard to avoid some of the mass media crap we see every day but there are some decent companies out there that have good intentions.

[ExcelBlue]

If by care, you mean care for your money. Then yes, they do.

[Giordano]

Frankly put, the mass media doesn't give a [cabbage] about us unless it affects their profit.

 

 

 

If they say they care in a commerical, I call that BS. Commericals are nothing but 80% of lies.

 

Not quite. If a commercial isn't truthful they may end up in legal troubles, so most commercials tend to only tell truthful things.

 

 

 

For example, "leaves dishes spotless" may not always be true. To save themselvse possible legal issues, it should be "leaves dishes almost spotless". Of course, saying that wouldn't be very effective. That's why you see so many "weasel words" like virtually, fights, helps, etc.

 

 

 

Even though it's truthful, it doesn't tell you anything about the product's effectiveness. Rubbing a dish with your fingers can leave it virtually spotless. Drinking water helps fight bad breath. etc..

 

 

 

I recommend taking a media studies course if your school offers it. Very interesting stuff. It's changed the way I think about the media.

 

 

Good points, I guess I should of said 80% exaggeration.

[justin_m23]

People will only care when it effects them. So I guess, you could say they do.

[BlueLancer]

Absolutely not.. When you hear the cheesy "We care about our customers", or the healthcare company's "We care about your wellbeing", what they really mean is "We care about your wallet".

 

 

 

Really, if you missed 3 payments on your healthcare plan because you are poor and needed to feed your children, and you suddenly get a heart attack, would their clinic accept you out of good will to save a human life?

 

 

 

They don't give a rat's ... about human life, a "company" is just a bunch of people looking to maximize profits with the least possible effort. Like said above, a company isn't a collective entity really :lol:

[Master_the_Great]

Companies care about the people who spend their money buying their products. They will do whatever they can to get that money, So in that case yes they do care because if they didn't they would be out of business.

[warri0r45]

A company dosen't care, it's a profit machine. The people who are part of a company may or may not care about serving the customers with a good product or service.

[nine naked men]

Any company that actually cares about it's customers quickly becomes a bankrupt company. So, no.

[Darksavior69]

Any company that actually cares about it's customers quickly becomes a bankrupt company. So, no.

 

Not really, they just won't have the insane profit margins you see with huge corporations.

[dsavi]

Any company that actually cares about it's customers quickly becomes a bankrupt company. So, no.

 

 

 

That's right. Unfortunately.

 

 

 

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[samurai_lassie]

Depending on how efficient it makes the company, yes.

[warren211]

There's always some kind of gimmick. Very few companies are so generous. Look at some of the promotions. sweepstakes, 1 in ten thousand chances of winning. The company gives you 5000 bucks but so what? in return they make 20000 with all the customers going "omg i gotta win this sweepstake!"

 

 

 

Those TV and radio shows where they ask for people to text? sponsored by cell phone companies. The station offers you 500 dollars, but the company thats dishing out the reward gets 10000 in return.

 

 

 

Ever heard of My Coke Rewards? How many cokes you gonna drink to get good prizes? Nintendo Wii is 6000 points. Thats 600 12-packs. hell of a price. Unless you got loads of coke drinking friends. Even if you work for big companies, coca-cola was smart. They don't give my coke reward items to hotels and big service industries. They just give regular colas. otherwise one my-coke-reward employee could just take a trip to the garbages and recycling bin and get thousands of points a week.

 

 

 

 

 

No companies are that generous. There's already some kind of catch. even if you do win 10,000 dollars for merely looking inside your box of cereal, its a great deal for you, but an even better deal for the company.

[Gilformen]

haha! no. they dont.

[Celt23]

Most of the people here seem to be forgetting that there's such thing as non-profit organizations which depending on how you define it can be considered "companies."

 

 

 

Even in for-profit organizations there's still that .1% that will sometimes care about their customers without the benefit of profit.

[Dizzle229]

I can think of ONE company. Red Cross.