Page 4-Thursday, June 18,1981-The Michigan Daily
Advertiser's
TV boycott gets
mixed reviews
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By the Associated Press
Procter & Gamble, TV's biggest
spender, got mixed reviews from
Hollywood and Madison Avenue
yesterday for refusing to advertise on
50 shows it deemed too violent or
sexually explicit and for saying it
listens "very carefully" to conser-
vative critics of television.
Procter & Gamble chairman Owen
Butler revealed the decisions, involving
programs last season, in a speech
before the Academy of Television Arts
and Sciences in Los Angeles on Mon-
day.I
HE DENIED that the company,
which spent $125.2 million on TV ads
last year, was reacting to threats of
boycotts by conservative coalitions
monitoring TV programming. But he
said those groups are "expressing some
very important and broadly held views
about gratuitous sex, violence and
profanity."
"I can assure you we are listening
very carefully to what they say, and I
urge you to do the same," Butler said.
The programs involved included TV
movies and series episodes which Proc-
ter & Gamble didn't approve.
LEE RICH, president of Lorimar
Productions, which makes "Dallas"
and several other popular series, con-
demned Procter & Gamble's decision
as a replay of the Red scares of the
1950s.
"It's up to the people," he said.
"There shouldn't be any pressure
groups or any boycotts. . . I don't need
the Moral Majority or the Rev. Wild-
mon to tell me what to watch."
The Rev. Donald Wildmon, a United
Methodist minister from Tupelo, Miss.,
is the leader of the Coalition for Better
Television, which plans to announce an
"offensive" programs list on June 29
and launch a boycott of advertisers.
WILDMON CALLED Procter &
Gamble's statement "socially respon-
sible."
"The networks know, too, that the
handwriting is on the wall. They are
going to have to be more responsible.
They may not say it, but they know it,"
he said.
"IT'S SOMETHING that needed
saying, pairticularly by a man in his
role whose company does more adver-
tising than any other," Tinker said.
"He's saying out loud what has been
known but left unsaid until now - that
many advertisers have been shying
away from borderline material."
Among advertisers, many companies
insisted they had been pre-screening
TV programs for good taste for decades
- long before the current wave of con-
servative groups came along. But
others said the Procter & Gamble
statement meant that the impact of new
conservative coalitions on advertising
was undeniable, and might well grow.
In Brief
Compiled from Associated Press and
United Press International reports
U.S-China relationship
requires'utmosteare'
MANILA, Philippines - Both the United States and China must exercise
the utmost care if their relationship is to persevere, a senior Reagan ad-
ministration official said yesterday after Secretary of State Alexander Haig
Jr. ended a four-day visit to Peking.
The official, who spoke on condition he would not be identified, said that
a decision to sell new high-performance jet aircraft to Taiwan, for example,
could seriously damage Sino-Americanties. Such a sale, he said, "cannot be
accepted" by the Chinese.
"We are going to have to proceed with great sensitivity for the under-
standable concern on the Chinese side, and with prudence and with care," he
said. "If it is mismanaged, it will have consequences."
The answers are not going to be provided by rhetoric or predictions of
good or bad consequences," said the official. "They are going to be an-
swered by day-to-day performances on both sides, awarenesses on both
sides of the sensitivities and the internal and external contradictions with
which both governments must deal."
PBBeauses cancer in
laboratory animals
DETROIT - PBB, a fire-retardant chemical that got into the blood of
nine out of ten Michigan residents after being mixed with livestock feed,
causes cancer in animals and might be hazardous to people, a federal study
has concluded.
It was the first time the substance has been definitively labeled as a can-
cer-causing agent.
The two-year study, conducted by the National Institute of Environmen-
tal Health Sciences and due to be released next week, was based on tests on
1,227 rats and mice.
THere were no tests on people, but the effects of PBB on laboratory
rodents indicated the chemical "could pose a potential hazard to humans,"
according to a 90-page report. "This is not the first time that PBB tests on
animals have produced tumors," Bob Berg said. "So far, there's no evidence
that cancer in the lab means cancer in people." "There are a lot of
chemicals that cause liver tumors in rodents for which there's no demon-
stration that cancer is caused in humans," said Kenneth Wilcox, the
Michigan Department of Public Health's chief of disease control.
FAA controllers talks
break off, strike possible
WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration and the union
representing air traffic controllers broke off talks yesterday, heightening
chances of a strike next week that could paralyze air transportation.
The FAA and the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization had
been meeting informally - without their full bargaining teams - with a
federal mediator since Monday, when the FAA made a new contract offer.
The FAA proposal "doesn't begin to deal with our concerns," said PAT-
CO's Marcia Feldman. "It does touch on pay, but only for a few people. It
sn't the kind of broad relief our people are seeking."
Prevailing wage law
upheld in Appeals Court
LANSING - The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld yesterday a
requirement that contractors on public projects involving state funds pay
workers the same wage earned by union labor in their area.
The court also ruled the law applies to bond-financed projects in which
the state guarantees repayment.
The so-called prevailing wage law was successfully challenged in Ot-
tawa County Circuit Court by the West Ottawa, Grandville and Wyoming
school districts, which claimed the measure violates the constitution by
delegating to private individuals the power to set wages on public projects.
The law adopts "as the critical standard ... the wage rate arrived at
through a collective bargaining process which is completely unrelated to
and independent of the prevailing wage statute," the court said.
A claim that prevailing wage laws artificially raise the cost of public
construction challenges "the wisdom of the legislation, not its con-
stitutionality," the court said.
Groups say misuse of baby
formula causes deaths in U.S.
WASHINGTON - A coalition of minority rights groups accused doctors
and hospitals yesterday of contributing to what it says is an epidemic of
death and disease among newborn babies in the United States caused by
misuse of infant formula.
Public Advocates Inc., a San Francisco law firm representing the rights
coalition, charged that at least 5,000 infant deaths each year in the United
States are caused by misuse of infant formula and bottle feeding among
poorer families.
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Both MBA and BBA
have desired qualities
(Continued from Page i),
mercial loan departments still hire
mainly MBA grads.
Although BBA's are hired into the ac-
counting, retailing, banking, and sales
departments of businesses, Carroll said
she did not see a trend toward in-
creased hiring of BBA graduates
overall.
The major advantages of an MBA
degree are the ,Maturity and drive,
their exposure to problem-solving, and
writing skills, said I*umbsa. The ability
to communicate 'f an important
criteria, and comes a oss in the inter-
views, which average about half an
hour, he said.
The manufacturing industry hires
mainly MBA graduates for their finan-
ce, personnel, and marketing positions,
said Carroll. These companies "usually
don't have a training program for
MBAs, but a few, such as Texas In-
struments and TRW do," she said.
CONSULTING and investment
banking take only MBAs because of
their exposure, business experience,
and insight, said Carroll.
The interview is the final deter-
minant in hiring a graduate for a job,
said Carroll. All of the student's ac-
complishments-such as grades and
extracurricular activities-are finally
articulated to the hiring representative
during the interview, said Carroll.
"The interview is exceedingly impor-
tant," said Rumbsa. The applicant has
the opportunity to project oneself and {
impress on the recruiter one's
motivation and drive, he said, which
may be the difference between getting
a job or not.
University of Michigan graduates
rank among the highest in the nation
academically, according to a recent
survey.'The University's program was
ranked second in the nation among both
college deans and personnel executives
around the nation, rated behind only the
University of Pennsylvania.
"IT IS A mistake for a new BBA
graduate to go directly into an MBA
program in my opinion," said Carroll.
There is no harm in getting a BBA,
working for a couple of years, then
deciding on an MBA later, she said.
"I would also not encourage a BBA
from here to get an MBA here," Carroll
said. An undergraduate degree and a
graduate degree from the same in-
stitution is not advisable, she said,
because the programs may be similar.
and diversity is better for the student.
Entering freshmen should get in-
volved in school activities, Carroll said,
not just because it looks good on an ap-
plication, but because all experience is
beneficial. It is helpful to demonstrate
leadership abilities while in school, she
said.
Grades, while important, are not
worth the time many students spend on
them, Carroll said. A social life is
desirable because the business world
has many social events, and practice
helps, she said.
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