A growing number of businesses—including videogame developers, cigarette companies, soft drink producers, liquor marketers, and fast food chains—are feeling the heat from government, the press, and society at large for encouraging harmful consumer habits.

DQ1 A growing number of businesses—including videogame developers, cigarette companies, soft drink producers, liquor marketers, and fast food chains—are feeling the heat from government, the press, and society at large for encouraging harmful consumer habits. But in our free market economy, people are free to choose the products they consume (within legal boundaries, of course).

Where does personal responsibility end and corporate responsibility begin? How does your response change across specific industries? What role (if any) do you believe the government should play? Develop a rationale for each of your answers.

DQ2 Choose a favorite actor, musician, businessperson, political figure, or athlete with a Twitter page. Scan through his or her Twitter feed until you have a good understanding of the types of tweets he or she makes. In a paragraph or two, analyze your celebrity’s use of Twitter as a communication medium. For example, does he or she use effective language to convey messages to the audience? Do those messages tend to focus on self-promotion, general musings, or conversation? When does your celebrity post? Does that timing have an impact on how messages are received?