Week 3 DQ2

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Lacy T: Ethics and Advertising Web Search: Week 3, DQ 2 ( Reply Due Now)

The purpose of this discussion is to consider an advertisement or commercial one finds unethical. The writer will give a brief description of the advertisement or commercial and an explanation of why one believes the ad to be unethical.

McDonalds uses children as vulnerable marketing targets: easy to manipulate and posse the power of persuasion over parents. Fast food restaurants such as McDonalds are exploiting children as consumers which have become profitable business. Advertising directly to children is damaging and has had a negative impact on them in the writer’s opinion. McDonald’s commercials constantly advertise unhealthy meals that are high in sugar, fat, salt and calories to children (Bou, 2015). They are enticed by offering novelty toys from the latest movie or popular kid shows.

One change would be made to McDonalds advertising to make it ethical. Stop advertising to kids; let the parents decide if they want to take their kids to McDonalds. If in the future the company decides to continue to market to kids make healthy choices more fun, so that kids will choose them instead of the unhealthy products.

One finds the advertisement McDonalds using to entice kids unethical. In closing, McDonalds could effortlessly turn ethical by promoting the right products to kids or stop promoting to kids at all.

 

References

Bou, C. (2015) McDonalds Unethical Marketing

 http://courtneybou.blogspot.com/2015/02/mcdonalds-unethical-marketing.html

Minsker, M. (2014) Is Kid-Targeted Marketing Unethical

http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Columns-Departments/Insight/Is-Kid-Targeted-Marketing-Unethical-98186.aspx