This week in our CSR course, we watched a documentary called “The Corporation”. It was sad to see how many advertising and marketing techniques were used by big companies to manipulate consumers. Advertising to children was one of the more problematic parts I noticed in the documentary. Toy, fast food, and movie advertisements try to get children to nag their parents to buy their products. Even though parents obviously do not want their kids to nag for new toys and fast food, a woman who works for a company that targets children said that she didn’t know if it was ethical but it’s their job to sell the product. This proved most of my assumptions about corporate greed and no care for consumers. It was interesting to see how a lot of companies use undercover and subliminal advertising in order to spread information about their products.
In my internship at AL Assistenza Legale this week, I continued my search for international law firms that represent employees to join the international association of lawyers that my company is a part of. It has been very interesting to expand my knowledge of law in different countries and how important it is to have international relations between these firms. I was able to draft my first newsletter for my company, as well. Since I am responsible for writing articles for the company newsletter every two weeks, I wrote my first newsletter on employee data security and privacy at work. I discussed different Italian laws in relation to data protection and security in the workplace, which was very new and different from the US laws that I have learned in my Lehigh courses.
In Milan, I continued to explore the city and went to different cafes. My coworkers have been showing me new places to eat during lunch and it has been fun trying different foods and pastries. On Thursday, we went out for a big class dinner at Terrazza Furore. It was my first time having a hamburger since arriving in Italy! On Friday after my internship, Sophia, Bella, Emily, and I went to a cooking class. We learned about Italian food culture and how to make pizza and gelato. After cooking our food, we were able to eat it as well. The pizza came out delicious and it was so cool learning how to cook real authentic Italian food. I can’t wait to learn more and I will definitely be bringing the recipes that I learned back home with me!
