MARKETING TO CHILDREN:
ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY
BUSINESS
ETHIC
Presentation of the situation• Marketing to children at Mc Donald• Responsibility of the company is
challenging • Deceptive marketing practices to
children.
• Corporate Accountability International launched a campaign to fire Ronald Mc Donald Failure
• Request from Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia Failure
• Response of Mc Donald : “ leave to parent’s the right to choose what their children eat, saying it is up to personal responsibility”.
Concepts
Corporate Social Responsibility is the Continuing commitment
by business to behave Ethically and contribute to economic
development while improving the quality of life of the workforce
and their families as well as of the local community and society
at large. World Business Council for Sustainable Development
Does McDonald’s have a corporate social
responsibility about kids healthcare
?
Concepts
The Friedmans's theory of individualism: the company's main goal is to maximize profit for the owner and
stockholders.
• McDonald's is purposely marketing children because they are able to persuade their parents to purchase their products.
• Children push to get a new toy in a Happy Meal and play on the playground provided at many establishments which drive profits
• Children are unable to drive or buy the food but their parents are. By having children go with a parent or adult, it doubles profit. If one adult goes, that is one burger, but if a child and an adult go, its two.
Therefore increasing sales
The company is acting ethical.
Concepts
Utilitarian theory: happiness should be maximized while pain shouldbe minimized.• The stakeholders are happy considering the situation.• The employees are happy; with higher profits employees are able
to have job security and higher wagesAt a short term point of view: • The children are happy with their toys, and playgrounds, and a
clown, which is the face of the McDonald's Corporation.• Parents are happy because its fast and easy and it makes their
children happy, hence the name Happy Meal. => At a short term point of view: McDonald’s is ethical At a long term point of view: • The parents and their children can have health concerns due to
overweight. In this case they would not be happy. => At a short term point of view: McDonald’s is not ethical
Concepts
Kantiantheory: one should do things for the right reasons. Kantiantheoryisattached to the saying "the end does not justify the means. »
• McDonald's began the marketing techniques to children out of self-interest to maximize profits
• McDonald's was not motivated to justprovide a toybecauseit's the right thing to do, but to attractthem to come back.
Inthatsense, McDonald's isunethical
Concepts
The virtuetheory, which states that one should express good
character, whichincludes courage, honesty, temperance, and justice.
• McDonald's ishonestwiththeirfood nutrition, and variety of productsthatsatisfydifferentconsumersneeds. Consumers know thatMcDonald's providesfastfood for cheap prices
• In reference to the lawsuit, Monet Parham, the consumersalwayshave the control and power to buy or not and Monet Parhamhadthat control.
McDonald'sactedethically
Concepts: Normative ethics and normative
justice
Normative Ethics
Justice
Practical Reason = Moral Issues
Normative Justice
Positive LawIndividual
EthicsSocial Ethics
What kind of person do I want
to be ?
What are my ethical duties as a
manager?
Personal morality
Personal values
Professional ethics
What are the ethical
obligations of the organisation I
work for ?
Normative CSR
Self-regulation
Corporate values
What should be the legal
obligations of the
organisation I work for?
What are the legal obligations of the
organisation I work for?
Civil law
Corporate law
Employment law
Etc.
BU
SIN
ESS
ETH
ICS
A Normative justice that should be
a normative ethics
1950• TV advertising begins
1967• The first calls for change: Petition to halt TV commercials for candy and sugary snack foods directed at
children
1980• Congress passes FTC improvement Act that allowed to regulated on case-by-case basis and barred from
issuing industry-wide regulations
1981 • Industry initiates volontary self-regulation
1998• Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act requires teh Federal Trade Commission to develop specific rules to
implement the provisions of the act concerning the invasion of children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule
Personnalcommentary: Responsability of
McDonald’s
DID YOU KNOW ? - 30% of the children ages 6 to
11 are overweight and 15,3% of the children ages 6 to 11 are obese
- The eating habits children develop carry on into adulthood
- Mcdonald’s marketing goal is 20 visits/cust/month
- 90% of children visit McDonald’s once a month
- Only 1 Happy Meal option meets calorie guidelines for children
Personnalcommentary: Responsability of
McDonald’s
• By the age of 3, children are able to understand the difference between television programs and commercials
• By the age of 10, most children are able to understand the persuasive nature of adverstising and that not all advertisements tell the truth
• HOWEVER, being able to understand the persuasive nature of marketing is another story
Personnalcommentary: Responsability of
McDonald’s
Recentstudies have shownthat the influence childrenexert on the purchasingdecisions in householdsis extensive and on the increase. Some of the factorscited are as follows:
1. Parents are havingfewerchildren and thusspendingmore on eachchild;
2. Parents are havingchildrenlater, at a time whenthey are beyond the struggle phase in theircareer;
3. Young professionalspurchasepresents for children to compensate for the lack of time they are able to spendwiththem
Personnalcommentary: Responsability of
the parents
• Parents influence children’seating habits throughtheirimplicit and explicit modeling of foodconsumptionbehavior(Fisher and Birch1995). For example, the children of parents who consume fruits and vegetables do the same(Nicklas et al. 2001).
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION