Reading Catalina Verna’s blog about the success of McDonalds’– influencing our behavior through situational factors, shaping our attitudes, targeting parents and using celebrity endorsement, McDonalds is indeed a leading fast-food chain. Despite such success, how is it that McDonalds is still in the negative light for some…
1) San Francisco asks McDonalds for Healthy Meals instead of Happy meals – San Francisco would ban McDonald’s from putting toys in Happy Meals unless it adds fruit and vegetable portions and limits calories. Yet, Cynthia Goody, McDonald’s nutrition director, said there was no evidence that obesity in children would be reduced by requiring a fruit or vegetable with all meals.
2) McDonald’s Meal resist decomposition for 6 months – Sally Davies, US photographer, bought a Happy Meal, placed the burger and fries on her shelf, untouched. After 6 months, there was no sign of decomposition, rather, the food just turned solid rock. McDonald’s spokeswoman Theresa Riley said “Our hamburgers are cooked and prepared with salt, pepper and nothing else — no preservatives, no fillers. Our hamburger buns are baked locally, are made from North American-grown wheat flour and include common government-approved ingredients designed to assure food quality and safety.
What are ethics of marketing? How is it, that the ads claim to offer healthy choices, but overall, the food is still detrimental to our body. Or, how is it that there are negative claims about the food itself, but yet public relations of McDonalds states otherwise? Who is actually correct? Where can the line be drawn between what is ethical and what isn’t.
With that I’ll leave you with the question – In marketing terms, what is ethical and isn’t?
But indeed, in some sense, whether an act in marketing is deemed as ethical can often be rather subjective