http://business-ethics.com/2013/05/17/1631-when-edgy-advertising-sends-the-wrong-message/

news report video http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/tyler-the-creator-racist-mountain-dew-commercial-pepsico_n_3193650.html

The article discusses the temptation for companies to target certain stereotypes within particular racial groups in order to provide “humour” for their commercial ads. The article focusses on the recent 2013 Mountain Dew commercial which had components that were targeting certain racial/social groups, in particular, black Americans and women. The writer reports the press releases that were made in response to Mountain Dew’s commercial and emphasizes the importance of social responsibility, ethics, and human resources departments within a company. The video available in the second article emphasizes that Pepsi Co. has had advertisement campaigns in the past which have been offensive to the public since 2009.

If this was the first time Pepsi has had a company rep apologize for an offensive commercial and state that they are reviewing their screening process to prevent this from happening again, perhaps one can give them the benefit of the doubt and give them another chance. However, this was not the first time and since 2009 other incidences have occurred … they have lost credibility. The mistakes that were committed seemed to be obvious faux pas, that anyone, especially a marketing and advertising group should have the common sense to prevent. Pepsi’s actions imply a lack of understanding of acceptable social norms which imply a serious lack of professional capability. You would expect that Pepsi would do adequate work in validating the ad via focus groups, etc. We can say let the free market decide the punishment for their mistake, but it seems like there is a continued lack of urgency or understanding of the seriousness of the mistake because these mistakes continue to happen. There are legal ramifications if a company causes damage to a brand, but shouldn’t there be legal consequences for causing damage to a person’s dignity?