Growing up as a child in the 21st century is substantially different than many years ago. As many know, children in this new “information,” era, are exposed to over thousands of hours for television per year, and many of this time is consumed by advertisements. But when do ads directed at children become unethical, and pure immoral?
While a study conducted in the US, has shown that around 300 fast food ads are broadcasted and received by children between the ages of 2-11 every year, more than 50% of those ads are from a single corporation; McDonald’s. While the bottom line of a company should be to maximize profits in terms of Friedmans’s theory, explicitly advertising unhealthy and unnatural food to children in order to increase revenues is unethical and incorrect. By displaying these advertisements that target children with the use of bright colours, animated characters and speciality “Happy Meal,” prizes, McDonald’s is solely focusing attention on increasing revenue, while completely disregarding the potential harm done to society and the children within it. In order to account for aspects of social well-being McDonald’s must reorganize and redesign its marketing strategy, but this will eventually lead in a decrease of potential sales. The question still lies, “Is it ethical for a company to solely strive to maximize profits?”
Article can be viewed at:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-13/happy-meals-with-mcnuggets-dominate-
childrens-advertising#r=hpt-ls
Image can be found at:
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130603185419/logopedia/images/b/ba/Mcdonalds_logo.png