Thousands of dogs are sold from the black market, cooked and eaten in Yulin, in Guangxi province in southern China, as part of the city’s yearly dog meat festival.
Outrage on social media over an annual dog-eating festival in China has been growing every year – and this year it’s trended across the world. Will the anger eventually end the practice of eating dog meat in China.
Each year during summer solstice, it’s thought that 10,000 dogs are cooked and eaten in Yulin, in Guangxi province in southern China, as part of the city’s yearly dog meat festival. Although it’s not illegal to eat dog meat in China, opinion is divided on how deep the “tradition” really runs.
On Chinese social media in recent years, the Yulin Festival has become a focus for the large numbers of animal lovers – mostly within China – who are against it.But this year, the reaction has gone global. Since May, almost a quarter of a million tweets have been posted using the hashtag #StopYulin2015, with most of the activity coming from the UK, the US and Australia.
One of the loudest voices has been the US animal welfare group Duo Duo, whose change.org petition calling for the cancellation of the event has received more than 200,000 signatures. The group’s campaign video on YouTube has been viewed more than 130,000 times.
“I went to a slaughter house in Yulin a few days ago. The dogs and cats were wearing collars and of different sizes and breeds. They were very friendly,” says Duo Duo founder Andrea Gung. “Dogs are man’s best friend. To kill more than 10,000 of them in one day is wrong,” she says. Activists have also raised health concerns – although the meat is traditionally seen as having health benefits, campaigners claim the dogs transported into Yulin come from the black market and could be diseased. “The consumer thinks they’re safe to eat but they’re not,” says Gung.Duo Duo has intentionally targeted a Western audience with its social media campaign, rather than campaigning within China, as it says it doesn’t want to interfere with the activities of local activists. “The main thing we have done is made people in Yulin realise that their tradition is something from the past, that is perceived negatively from the outside world,” says Gung.
Ashworth College, formerly known as PCDI, is an online high school and college comprised of various courses that claimed to prepare students with the tools and skills needed to launch into a new career.
This past week the school came under fire for misrepresentation and fraudulent marketing practices.
Ironically, I worked for Ashworth College a few years ago and from the moment I began sales training, I realized that the “product” I was selling was a dream.
I was recruited in as a Senior Admissions Advisor, which was nothing more than a glorified sales title. My recruiter assured me that the gig was a marketing based position and that I would be assisting potential students with enrollment and career counseling. At the time I was interested in doing some college recruiting so I was excited for the opportunity.
My first day on the job I was given a headset and a quota and expected to enroll X amount of student prospects on a daily, weekly and monthly basis –over the phone.
The sales admissions department was every bit of a sales environment, lined with cubicles and head sets and “Admissions Advisors” were divided into teams and pitted against one another all in the name of selling that dream! Team managers never seemed interested in the student, only the sale. The sale was actually an enrollment fee, in which the students had to pay up front, out of pocket. The school accepted no other forms of payment other than COLD, HARD CASH!
I knew my first day in that I was in over my head and that the dream I was selling just didn’t feel right. As a mid level sales and marketing manager, I had marketed and sold enough to know that the feeling had to be right in order for me to be successful at “selling” what Ashworth was offering. I just didn’t believe in the “products”.
In the end, my career at Ashworth College was very short lived. I absolutely hated every single moment of my time working there. My first week I surpassed my sales quota but I was mentally exhausted and stressed to the maximum. The next week I called up my recruiter and respectfully resigned.
Needless to say that it came as no surprise that this company school had been sued for their shady business practices.
In my humble opinion, Ashworth is nothing more than a shakedown money pit disguising itself as a reputable educational institute.
Join the discussion.
Ashworth College promised to refrain from unfounded claims about its programs to settle federal charges the for-profit college misleads students about its career training programs and credit transfers, the Federal Trade Commission announced.
Under the terms of the agreement announced May 26, Ashworth, also known as the Professional Career Development Institute, from misrepresenting how well it prepares students for vocational licenses and whether its course credits are generally accepted at other schools.
A 23-page complaint filed the same day the settlement was announced, lays out Ashworth’s marketing strategy and the reality of its programs, which the FTC says contradicts the school’s promises that its graduates will qualify for jobs in their desired fields and that their credits can be transferred to other colleges.
“PCDI, through its advertising materials and its representatives, tells consumers that its courses of study will provide them with the comprehensive training and credentials they need to switch careers or obtain a new job, often presenting specific careers or jobs in various fields that its graduates could purportedly obtain,” the complaint says. “In numerous instances, however, such representations are false or misleading, or are not substantiates at the time they are made.”
According to the complaint, PCDI doesn’t accept student loans, and students are required to make full or monthly payments, which range from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
PCDI employs “Admissions Advisors” to read pre-written call scripts to potential students. They work on a partial commission and can be fired if they don’t meet enrollment quotas.
“Despite their titles, these Admissions Advisors are, in reality, professional salespeople who are trained to use high-pressure tactics to persuade consumers to enroll,” the complaint says. “In numerous instances, PCDI Admissions Advisors have reinforced over the telephone representations in PCDI’s advertising and marketing materials that PCDI’s programs provide consumers with the ‘credentials [to] apply for jobs’ and ‘the comprehensive preparation . . . to start a new career.'”
Baltimore has faced its deadliest month since 1999 after 32 shootings left nine people dead this Memorial Day weekend.
Among the wounded was a 17-year-old boy shot in the arm and a 9-year-old boy shot in the leg, according to CBS Baltimore.
The violence began during the weekend and spilled into Monday, with two more people killed shortly after Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) met with the Baltimore Police Department to discuss the violence, The Baltimore Sun reports.
The Sun reports there have been 35 homicides so far this month and 108 this year. By comparison, New York City — with a significantly higher population — has seen 115 murders this year.
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