Case Example: "Less Sugar"? Marketing
The marketing team presents a children's cereal brand manager with "Less Sugar"? ad campaign for three of her brands. Large print and dynamic type on the package exclaiming "75% LESS SUGAR"? will catch the parent's eye and increase sales. Concerned about their children's weight gain, parents will purchase the cereal. The carbohydrate content of the less sugar product, however, is the same as high sugar version, at best onely fewer calories per bowl, so it offers no weight loss advantage. The brand manager's immediate reaction is "This marketing campaign is unethical."? * How can she be sure of her judgment? * How can she convince the marketers? * How should she act in this situation? IS THERE AN ETHICAL ISSUE HERE? THE SMELL TEST Introduce the test: To alert the marketers to the ethical issues in their proposal, the brand manager can ask them: Would we be comfortable reading a WSJ story that our company had persuaded mothers to buy high calorie cereal when they were trying to protect their children from weight gain? Validity: This principle is a valid way to start because it focuses the discussion on what other ethical people in the society would think. It enlists feelings "?o powerful motivators to be sure we are getting this right. Conclusion: Would the public approve of this campaign? Not likely! We have an ethics issue to clarify here before we decide to roll out this campaign.
The marketing team presents a children's cereal brand manager with "Less Sugar"? ad campaign for three of her brands. Large print and dynamic type on the package exclaiming "75% LESS SUGAR"? will catch the parent's eye and increase sales. Concerned about their children's weight gain, parents will purchase the cereal. The carbohydrate content of the less sugar product, however, is the same as high sugar version, at best onely fewer calories per bowl, so it offers no weight loss advantage. The brand manager's immediate reaction is "This marketing campaign is unethical."? * How can she be sure of her judgment? * How can she convince the marketers? * How should she act in this situation? IS THERE AN ETHICAL ISSUE HERE? THE SMELL TEST Introduce the test: To alert the marketers to the ethical issues in their proposal, the brand manager can ask them: Would we be comfortable reading a WSJ story that our company had persuaded mothers to buy high calorie cereal when they were trying to protect their children from weight gain? Validity: This principle is a valid way to start because it focuses the discussion on what other ethical people in the society would think. It enlists feelings "?o powerful motivators to be sure we are getting this right. Conclusion: Would the public approve of this campaign? Not likely! We have an ethics issue to clarify here before we decide to roll out this campaign.
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