Is it ethical for companies to use unpaid interns if they know they will not have any jobs to offer at the end of the internships? It can be ethical IF the firm is up front in their providing and understanding to the intern. Listing the job duties and expectations. My daughter did an internship to assist with the restoration of President Eisenhower’s house, she received room and board. There was no false expectation of employment once the project was complete. She went on to add this internship to her resume and it paid off. The conservator she worked for is considered a visionary and highly respected. SO, her internship though it was unpaid, she received priceless training and development from it. This is an example of how an internship at that particular company may be a building block to the intern getting into a better opportunity. Now if the company has used smoke and mirrors and is leading the intern on, making them think there will be a job opportunity at the end of the internship: this is unethical practice. Is it ethical for companies to use unpaid interns if the unpaid internships replace paid jobs? Again this can be answered in a number different ways. Yes it can be ethical. If the company is going under and it is the only way it can survive, yes. If the company is phasing current employees out, say through their own leaving or retirement and will eventually have a staff of jus interns, I believe this can be ethical as well. As long as there is no strong arming of current works to leave. If it is just a means to save money and has replaced current workers with inters, then I say No it is not ethical. Pop Culture Across Cultures Context & Description South Korean pop artist Psy’s smash hit single “Gangnam Style” is more than just a song. It is a cultural phenomenon. The video has gone viral on YouTube, garnering over 600 MILLION hits in just three months, becoming the third-most viewed video on the website (YouTube.com). “Gangnam Style” has been remade and parodied by hundreds of people all around the world. Psy’s popularity has crossed over from South Korea to many countries including the United States. He has granted interviews to the Today Show and the Ellen DeGeneres Show, danced “Gangnam Style” with Britney Spears, and become one of the most popular Halloween costumes of 2012. And through this buzz in the United States, one thing remains the same: the song is sung in Korean (not English). “Gangnam Style” is one of the many K-Pop (Korean Pop) songs in what Chinese journalists called the Korean wave (韓流), “a phenomenon that refers to the onslaught of South Korean entertainment in Asia and, more recently, in other parts of the world” (Valerio). Despite differences in language, Psy’s song is now a mainstay in popular (pop) culture in the United States and beyond. However, Psy’s “Gangnam Style” is definitely not the first K-Pop song to exist: groups like 2NE1 and BIGBANG are certainly popular in Korea, but they did not mak ...