My first semester of junior year within the Business Honors Program consisted of taking two courses: BUS 447 - Business Ethics for the Honors Program alongside WRT 301 - Writing in the Disciplines: Business Honors Thesis. The task for these courses was to write a thesis on a topic related to ethics in the business field. I chose to write about a topic that truly interesed me. My thesis explores the ethical complexities regarding color trademarks in the fashion industry, where color plays a highly significant role. This was actually published into URECA - Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities. Here is the abstract for my work: 

Abstract

Given that the fashion industry relies heavily on the natural phenomenon of color, whether it is fair or unfair for companies within this industry to be granted color marks is a recently popularized debate. This thesis explores the different ethical issues regarding unfair competition and possible monopolistic control as well as perspectives and arguments by different stakeholders in order to present a set of pragmatic approaches/recommendations for how companies may be able to create and maintain a strong color brand without creating an ethical backlash while keeping in mind additional legal, economical, and social considerations. By exploring theories and historical turns that contributed to the popularity of color marks as well as presenting case studies that have had an impact on the role of color marks within the fashion industry, this thesis continues with two essential cases that the government relied upon when setting legal precedents. It then goes on to show the different perspectives of color marks from various stakeholders in the fashion industry (companies, competitors, government, etc.) Cases include Tiffany & Company and Christian Louboutin, who have taken fair and responsible paths to establishing color marks. Lastly, it proposes a set of recommendations to the companies in the fashion industry to address how to avoid being unethical when establishing a color mark. The thesis concludes by highlighting that though this debate is both complex and still evolving, it is important for the consumers, the government and the industry to continue to play an integral role within this debate because ultimately, color marking affects everyone.