Tim's Blog

Advertising to Children

During one of our classes one of the professors showed an old McDonalds advertisement. It was of a baby swinging in his chair and smiling and laughing when he was able to see the golden arches of McDonalds and crying when he was not able to see it. During the discussion someone brought up the point of advertising to children as unethical. After doing some further research, I was somewhat shocked to see that everyone on the internet it seems, believes that advertising to children is wrong. At a business standpoint it is a huge market and consumer base. According to the article on APA.org children/teenagers spend and influence an exchange of nearly $400 billion a year. It would seem idiotic for a huge company such as McDonalds to not advertise to a huge portion of their market, based on the fact that they are under a certain age. Sure, it may seem as though these companies are abusing an impressionable child’s mind to embed a product or idea. It may seem unethical but companies should not stop doing so, but it is up to the parents to deem what their children should and should not watch.

Advertisement of the Baby https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz8dsR5vPzM

APA.org http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep00/advertising.aspx

Samsung Electronics Co. has had allegations put forward saying that one of their suppliers is using child labour. Samsung had investigated the accusation but found no evidence of child labour being used, instead found malpractice. These derelictions included: overworking and potentially unsafe working conditions for the employees at HEG, Samsung’s supplier. Samsung has demanded that these problems be fixed or Samsung will sever all business with HEG and find a suitable manufacturer who will adhere to all laws. The main ethical issue in this case is that companies who do not adhere to working laws, especially those who will use that to save on production costs. Samsung, fortunately, did the right thing after these allegations were made and thoroughly investigated it, fortunately they did not find child labour but other unsafe practices. It is too often seen in the news that major corporations try to take the cheaper, but unethical route, to save a couple dollars on production costs and to maximize profits. This can also be applied to any business, and not just child labour, where companies take the easier and cheaper route, while they sacrifice the safety of the employee and the consumer.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Samsung+looks+suppliers+child+labour/7187709/story.html