A topic that was covered in our Comm 101 class last week was on business ethics and unethical practices. The above picture is a billboard-style poster of Wayne Rooney (a popular icon in English soccer and one of the headline-hogging players of the recent World Cup) that was released by Nike in 2006.
Definition of unethical:
– Not conforming to approved standards or social/professional behaviour.
The picture, at first glance, will seem like a fairly innocuous – the flag of St. George painted across someone’s body. But when we look closer (and we do not need to look THAT much closer, mind you), it seems as though Wayne Rooney is depicted as the “savior” of English soccer, much like how Jesus Christ is the savior to Christians. When many people look at this photo, it brings to mind the crucification of Jesus Christ because of the character’s outstretched arms and blood-red choice of color that was used for body paint.
The trivialisation of Jesus Christ’s suffering is highly offensive to Christians and as you would expect, this poster came under a lot of fire from the general public, and even prominent figureheads in the country.
From another viewpoint, the aggression contained in the poster with “Rooney” stained in blood, bound up with the flag of St. George could be seen as a throwback to the Crusades, which would hardly go down well with Muslim countries.
Note to self: Being unethical does not simply mean to price-fix to put others out into business so as to monopolize the market, or to have insider information on the market. In this globalized world, we must remind ourselves to be sensitive and conscientious by taking others into consideration. Though this poster is not an obvious “unethical” advertisement in the form of a beautiful lady puffing on a cigarette, it was nonetheless offensive, as it triggered an uproar from the religious communities, for “not conforming to approved standards or social behaviour”.
References:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-391684/Nike-attacked-Rooney-warrior-picture.html