College of Business Administration

Social and Ethical Issues in Business

Drunk Driving Prevention

GROUP MEMBERS:

Tim Mungie
Chuck Rudolph
Scott Wagner
Eric Shaw

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Project Profile
Drinking and driving resulted in the deaths or injury of over 37,000 people in 1995. The age group from 21 - 34 years is responsible for over half of the fatal incidents due to alcohol related crashes. We decided to take on the task of increasing the awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving. It was decided that Drunk and Drugged Driving (3-D) Prevention Month in December would serve as an ideal medium for this mission. 3-D Month is sponsored in California by the California Office of Traffic Safety and nationally by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. These agencies have a flagship event on December 20, called 'Lights on for Life.' This event calls for drivers to drive with their headlights on all day in support of law enforcement, in remembrance of those killed in alcohol related crashes, and to say that you are against drinking and driving.

Project Concept
It was decided early on that we would use T-shirts as a publicity tool for this event. This, however, proved to be too limiting. As such the group decided that any medium for publicity that we could attain would be good publicity for the project. We then approached companies with the idea of donating their services for this cause. In return they could put their logo on the product, would receive a medium for advertising, free distribution, improved public relations through social consciousness, and a tax write-off. They would also be recognized by the Office of Traffic Safety in their newsletter.

Target Markets
San Diego State University served as the principle market for this project. It has a population of over 30,000 people to include students, faculty, and staff. Students are also of the age group (21-34 years old) that is primarily responsible for drinking and driving incidents. As such, the university was an ideal market. The general public was also included, however. The information media we sought would reach the public to one degree or another.

Target Industries
The T-shirt printing industry was our initial target. We expanded this to include screen printers as well and it was here that we found success. In addition, it was decided that a larger information medium was needed. The group then turned to the newspaper and radio broadcasting industry.

Companies Approached
In the printing industry we approached several companies with the idea of obtaining T-shirts, bumper stickers, or any other publicity material that we could. The first company, Custom Logos, never got back to us. The second company, Pacific Logos, liked the idea and wanted to help. They, however, were currently operating in the red and could not contribute. Imprinted Products, the third organization, loved the idea, wanted to help, but outsourced their production to Asia. As such, their production time was far to long. Landmark Screen Printing liked the idea, and decided it would donate 500 bumper stickers (valued at $500-$1000). Two radio stations were approached with the project, Z-90 and Q-106. Z-90 would not contribute. Q-106, however, said they would air our project (promote 'Lights on for Life') and would have their affiliate stations do the same. This could reach a very large portion of the San Diego population. Our last organization targeted was The Daily Aztec. We found that they do not normally donate adds, but because our project was so targeted to the college age group and due to the dangers of drinking and driving, they agreed to help us. They published a 1/4 page ad in the December 6-8 issue, and used the promotional logo. This medium for publicity had the potential to reach 30,000 plus individuals at S.D.S.U. We achieved success.

Management Team
The team consists of four management majors. Task organization of the project was constructed to maximize efficiency:
Chuck Rudolph - coordination with government agencies, obtain permission to use logos
Scott Wagner - solicit local companies with the project idea and seek donations
Eric Shaw - solicit local companies with the project idea and seek donations
Tim Mungie - provide administrative support; construct letters and proposals for class and to take to companies; construct executive summary

Ethical Reasoning
Due to the nature of drinking and driving, and the terrible results thereof, the following ethical theories were used as a basis for undertaking this project:

Deontology - It is a universal rule that killing and maiming is wrong, especially when it involves innocent bi-standers. If a person drinks and drives they are a potential killer. It is also against the law to drink and drive. As such, people should not undergo this activity.

Utilitarianism - Drinking and driving does not produce the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. In fact it does just the opposite. Casualties from drinking and driving often result in a loss of life, a loss of worker productivity due to injury, and a great cost to society monetarily due to medical bills and cleanup of incidents.

Relational Accounts of Moral Reasoning - By drinking and driving a person is no longer taking seriously the moral worth of relationships. They are in direct violation of this principle as they have the potential to destroy relationships of others as well as of themselves.

Land Ethic - Drinking and driving produces waste in the form of destroyed vehicles which fill junkyards. This does not preserve the integrity, stability, or beauty of the environmental community.

Justice - No justice is served by a drunk driver killing an innocent bi-stander. The innocent are not receiving their due of life, liberty, and happiness. In contrast, those guilty of drinking and driving very often do not receive their due of a proper punishment to fit their heinous crime. Our system is too lenient on these criminals who deprive us of our most precious commodity: our loved ones.

Return to Professor Dunn's home page.