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Changing the unethical way
In this case study, it talks about me being a recent college graduate, working at a small
firm which specializes in web design and management. After almost working a year at this
company I was being assigned to this new project called the “big kahuna”. The client was very
impressed by my previous works therefore I was assigned to lead this project. However when
overviewing the nature of the client, I have found out that in previous advertisements, they were
encouraging underage drinking on their websites. Not only did this marketing technique not get
negative comments, but it actually boosted their sales. After acknowledging all these
information, I went and talked to my senior executive Lynn, although that he made a few good
points talking about how I could change the company, I still hold the stand on not working with
them.
The main issue with this project is the unethical ways of advertising. Although that the
end goal for every advertisement is to catch the eyes of the audience and to make them buy their
products, being ethical and abiding the law is still necessary. As for this specific case, the client
company was promoting underage drinking to increase sales, this is totally unethical and illegal.
According to an article titled “the power of peer pressure” it is said that, “Children and teenagers,
ages 10-14, are proven to be the most easily influenced age group as they are unconsciously
fearful of being different due to society’s response to difference”. (Influence, 2022) As the
younger generation are easier to influence, the client company took total advantage of this and
started to input into their minds that drinking is cool so that they could buy their products. In the
textbook it mentions that “unethical means of influence would include threats, coercion,
deception, manipulation and lying”. (Hartman, 2021) In this case there is a strong use of
manipulation as the company tricked their younger customer thinking was is wrong is right.
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Furthermore, another reason to refuse to work for them is the fact that I don’t see a reason for
them wanting this to stop. As mentioned in the case study, the company thought that this would
have some negative comments, but it turns out to increase their sales by a lot. As the company
has already done this unethical act, they won’t see a need on changing it as it is working out
perfectly for them.
One of the alternatives for resolving this issue is by accepting this project and directing
my team to completely change the marketing direction of the company. Although that the
company had bad history of unethical advertising, I believe that I could redirect the whole
marketing campaign to be a more ethical and create a more positive impact to the community. As
this company is the leading apparel manufacturer, what they do could very much influence how
other company produce their products. A good example of this would be when Samsung copied
from Apple. “The lawsuit pointed out several things that Samsung allegedly copied from the
hardware”. (Wanjala, 2022) When tech powerhouse like Apple creates product and sells out,
other companies would want to follow that trend and make something similar. This same logic
applies very well to this case study, if my team and I turn this unethical company into a positive
influential company, it could influence a lot of other businesses.
Another alternatives for being considered would be turning this project down and not
associating with them. When working with businesses who has a bad reputation of doing
unethical work, it is easy to put myself and my company at risk also for bad reputation. When the
public sees that our company works with them, they could easily associate us also being
unethical or even rumors about us designing and promoting underage drinking. As a result of
this, not only would the senior board members get upset but we could never get another customer
as our reputation has gone bad. According to an article by Valerie Swaen she mentions that
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“Corporate reputation is a perceptual construct that represents stakeholders’ overall evaluation of
a company and reflects the degree to which stakeholders perceive a company as “good” or “bad”.
(Swaen, 2021) This article also talks about how it is very hard to come back from a bad
reputation as you have already set a negative mindset on the general public.
The solution I would be choosing is to reject this project and not being involved with this
company. After considering all the pros and cons, the drawbacks outweighed the benefits. The
reason being that, there is just too much at stake when my company takes on a client who has
been actively involved in unethical acts and has profited a large amount of money from it. In
Jeremiah 17:11 it says that “Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain
riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the
end they will prove to be fools.” (Bible, NIV) In this verse it basically says that if you earn
money dishonestly it will one day be all gone.
In conclusion, the reason which I have chosen to stick to my personal moral ground is
because I find it way more important to be ethical rather than professional advancement.
Furthermore, by choosing to work this project, it might bring some short term benefits however
it might bring some long term side effects. In addition, if we work with this company it might
include some legal problems with promoting underage drinking, meaning that it would bring
some legal obligations with my company.
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References
American Bible Society. (1986). The holy bible: Containing the old and new testaments
translated out of the original tongues and withA the former translations diligently
compared & revised.
Hartman, L. (2021). Business Ethics (Fifth) [McGraw Hill]. McGraw Hill. https://prod.reader-
ui.prod.mheducation.com/epub/sn_6d26/data-uuid-2a974553e26c41b89bf2e84b38fac77a
Influence (2022, December 24). The power of Peer-Pressure and influence and it’s affects. This
Is Local London. https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/23212474.power-peer-
pressure-influence-affects/
Swaen, V., Demoulin, N., & Pauwels-Delassus, V. (2021). Impact of customers’ perceptions
regarding corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility in the grocery retailing
industry: The role of corporate reputation. Journal of Business Research, 131, 709–721.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.12.016
Wanjala, A. (2022, September 15). Why does Apple think Samsung copied the iPhone? MUO.
https://www.makeuseof.com/why-apple-thinks-samsung-copied-iphone/#:~:text=Another
%20notorious%20trial%20was%20Apple's,why%20it%20had%20to%20pay.
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