Sponsor Watch

Disclaimer

This essay does not describe an existing computer program, just one that should exist. This essay is about a suggested student project in Java programming. This essay gives a rough overview of how it might work. I have no source, object, specifications, file layouts or anything else useful to implementing this project. Everything I have prepared to help you is right here.

This project outline is not like the artificial, tidy little problems you are spoon-fed in school, when all the facts you need are included, nothing extraneous is mentioned, the answer is fully specified, along with hints to nudge you toward a single expected canonical solution. This project is much more like the real world of messy problems where it is up to you to fully the define the end point, or a series of ever more difficult versions of this project and research the information yourself to solve them.

Everything I have to say to help you with this project is written below. I am not prepared to help you implement it; or give you any additional materials. I have too many other projects of my own.

Though I am a programmer by profession, I don’t do people’s homework for them. That just robs them of an education.

You have my full permission to implement this project in any way you please and to keep all the profits from your endeavour.

Please do not email me about this project without reading the disclaimer above.

The problem for the individual consumer is knowing who is sponsoring what. Even if you see a TV commercial in the middle of a show, that sponsor may have just bought block time on the station and has no particular affiliation with the show. What you want to know, for any particular show, the breakdown of ad revenue from sponsors, even ones that inadvertently advertise.

You can then do your best to apply pressure:

Persuade a sponsor to drop sponsorship of an objectionable show, e.g. one that promotes racism, bigotry, denying civil rights to some group, violence, views contrary to your religious or political beliefs, views contrary to your belief on abortion, euthanasia etc.

Persuade a sponsor to drop co-sponsorship with a unscrupulous sponsor such as Nestlé, Monsanto, Altria/Kraft

webscraping

Who is sponsoring a particular show.

Which shows a particular sponsor is supporting.

Controversial activities of a given sponsor.

Which corporations are active promoting views on some particular topic.

Information about petitions, boycotts etc. relevant to any particular show or sponsor.

How to contact any individual show or sponsor by mail, email or phone.

To start, you might select some small interest area, e.g. genetically modified foods, abortion, health care, pesticide use, gay marriage.

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This page is posted
on the web at:

http://mindprod.com/project/sponsorwatch.html

Optional Replicator mirror
of mindprod.com
on local hard disk J:

J:\mindprod\project\sponsorwatch.html

Please read the feedback from other visitors, or send your own feedback about the site.
Contact Roedy. Please feel free to link to this page without explicit permission.

Canadian Mind Products
IP:[65.110.21.43]
Your face IP:[18.117.158.10]

Feedback

You are visitor number