In response to Neilinder Saini’s Blog “Ethical Market” which is based upon Gael O’Brien’s blog entitled “Business Ethics”.
In Neilinder’s blog, he takes the point of view that the way that companies advertise to children to affect their point of view on often unhealthy options is ethically questionable. I would argue that it is good to teach these children at a young age that there are unhealthy options out there, and avoiding them is nearly impossible but it is a question of ethics of society to choose to educate them about the positive options available. As Neilinder mentioned, these foods are cheap, convenient, and often have motivation for kids including toys. The only goal of these businesses is to maximize profits and minimize costs while keeping a positive stigma. It should be promoted that these foods are good in moderation and that responsibility should fall to education systems. The good marketing by these corporations should be matched by marketing by governments and others to encourage moderation and exercise. It would be unethical of any organization to put down any type of enterprise that these children are bound to encounter, but better yet to educate them about how to react when they do encounter them. From a young age children are exposed to sexual education yet it is much later that they are exposed to the importance of healthy eating and moderation.
The point of this post is to prove that it should not be in the interest of the company to pursue healthier eating campaigns, as it fundamentally goes against the principles of capitalism. It is the responsibility of independent organizations.