Nowhere were mixed emotions more prevalent than in the executive offices of the Livestrong enterprise following former cancer-victim, Lance Armstrong’s, confession of doping, throughout his illustrious cycling career. For the executives who saw the bigger picture, concerns for Lance’s emotional wellbeing was only secondary to the negative implications that the publicly televised confession would bestow on the non-profit organization. Information regarding the Livestrong foundation’s objectives and workings can be found here. The realization that the marketing face behind a lucrative business that the public has grown to worship was merely a hoax, is a classic example of a marketing-related ethical issue. The debate is whether Livestrong’s marketing scheme of using Lance Armstrong’s grit and success, despite being achieved through illegitimate means, to promote the sale of its products is ethical.

My personal thesis: it was perfectly ethical. The Armstrong endorsers knew nothing of his doping activities so they are clearly not at fault, but let us disregard that for a second. If they had known, would it then be unethical? I still think the contrary. Countless successful marketing campaigns that have made companies incredibly lucrative have all been centered on mistruths. What comes to mind immediately is the Old Spice commercials. It is intuition that using their body wash is not going to transform you into the romantic, millionaire alpha male that the protagonist in the advertisement is, yet we have become socially accepting of this fraud because it is seems relatively harmless, and somewhat amusing. What about the young scrawny me who actually bought Old Spice products based on their false premise? Whether based on legitimacy or not, Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong brand fosters hope in our population. In a society that has become cohesively socially accepting of false advertising, why should we treat this case differently?

Related Articles:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-24/can-livestrong-live-without-lance

http://abcnews.go.com/US/lance-armstrong-confesses-doping/story?id=18244003

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