It’s hard to imagine LeBron James, Dwight Howard, and Kobe Bryant would have McDonald’s BigMac meal for launch (specially right after practice). We all know how bad McD foods are for us, and technically speaking these ads want to show the opposite with their slick marketing techniques. So are these ads ethical? The simple answer is No. But are they morally wrong? Not really. One could say that these ads are trying to deceive the public into thinking that McD foods are healthy. I disagree. We are a lot more smarter to be deceived by these ads into thinking that McD’s fast food is good for us. We may not exactly know “why” something is good or bad for us, but we precisely know “what” is good or bad for us. However, we often choose to ignore those facts. The purpose of these ads are not to say McD foods are good for you, rather these ads are trying to convey that “it’s ok to be tempted and make mistakes, even successful professional athletes and innocent kids make those mistakes.”
People want to feel accepted even when they make mistakes. One can argue that depression is a lot more serious than obesity, and these ads are doing us a big favour by making us feel better about ourselves. Conclusion ? Don’t judge fast. Nothing separates ethical and unethical except our perception of them and people’s perception differ from person to person, culture to culture, and generation to generation.