On the eve of the biggest e-commerce shopping day of the year in 2013, Amazon’s normally secretive founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, scored a public relations home run by going on CBS’s 60 Minutes program to unveil the company’s Prime Air unmanned aircraft project to deliver packages to consumers’ doorsteps. Forget that it couldn’t be implemented because the Federal Aviation Administration does not allow such use of drones and that it will likely be 2026 before drone delivery might even be possible. The interview set off “Dronerama,” as some have called it. The next morning—Cyber Monday—the media were abuzz about drone delivery, with news organizations and Internet sites replaying the video of Amazon’s cool drone delivering a package. The normally hard-hitting 60 Minutes interview has been criticized because the interviewer, the famous Charlie Rose, seemed to gush all over Bezos and ignore other controversial issues, such as working conditions at Amazon. Rose further gushed over Amazon during the 60 Minutes Overtime digital supplement to the show. Critics believe the normally unattainable Bezos called the shots in return for appearing on the show. “Dronerama” not only got Amazon on every cyber shoppers’ lips on that all-important online shopping day, it seemed to take some of the wind out of the sails of a recently released book critical of Bezos at a time when Amazon needed customers the most. Watch the 60 Minutes interview at www.cbsnews.com/news/amazons-jeff-bezos-looks-to-the-future/. Is it ethical for companies to use the media in this way to gain favorable exposure? Did Jeff Bezos acknowledge the fact that drones were not feasible at the time of the interview?
On the eve of the biggest e-commerce shopping day of the year in 2013, Amazon’s normally secretive founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, scored a public relations home run by going on CBS’s 60 Minutes program to unveil the company’s Prime Air unmanned aircraft project to deliver packages to consumers’ doorsteps. Forget that it couldn’t be implemented because the Federal Aviation Administration does not allow such use of drones and that it will likely be 2026 before drone delivery might even be possible. The interview set off “Dronerama,” as some have called it. The next morning—Cyber Monday—the media were abuzz about drone delivery, with news organizations and Internet sites replaying the video of Amazon’s cool drone delivering a package. The normally hard-hitting 60 Minutes interview has been criticized because the interviewer, the famous Charlie Rose, seemed to gush all over Bezos and ignore other controversial issues, such as working conditions at Amazon. Rose further gushed over Amazon during the 60 Minutes Overtime digital supplement to the show. Critics believe the normally unattainable Bezos called the shots in return for appearing on the show. “Dronerama” not only got Amazon on every cyber shoppers’ lips on that all-important online shopping day, it seemed to take some of the wind out of the sails of a recently released book critical of Bezos at a time when Amazon needed customers the most. Watch the 60 Minutes interview at www.cbsnews.com/news/amazons-jeff-bezos-looks-to-the-future/. Is it ethical for companies to use the media in this way to gain favorable exposure? Did Jeff Bezos acknowledge the fact that drones were not feasible at the time of the interview?
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