MARKETING TO CHILDREN:

ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY

BUSINESS

ETHIC

Presentation of the situation• Marketing to children at Mc Donald• Responsibility of the company is

challenging • Deceptive marketing practices to

children.

• Corporate Accountability International launched a campaign to fire Ronald Mc Donald Failure

• Request from Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia Failure

• Response of Mc Donald : “ leave to parent’s the right to choose what their children eat, saying it is up to personal responsibility”.

Concepts

Corporate Social Responsibility is the Continuing commitment

by business to behave Ethically and contribute to economic

development while improving the quality of life of the workforce

and their families as well as of the local community and society

at large. World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Does McDonald’s have a corporate social

responsibility about kids healthcare

?

Concepts

The Friedmans's theory of individualism: the company's main goal is to maximize profit for the owner and

stockholders.

• McDonald's is purposely marketing children because they are able to persuade their parents to purchase their products.

• Children push to get a new toy in a Happy Meal and play on the playground provided at many establishments which drive profits

• Children are unable to drive or buy the food but their parents are. By having children go with a parent or adult, it doubles profit. If one adult goes, that is one burger, but if a child and an adult go, its two.

Therefore increasing sales

The company is acting ethical.

Concepts

Utilitarian theory: happiness should be maximized while pain shouldbe minimized.• The stakeholders are happy considering the situation.• The employees are happy; with higher profits employees are able

to have job security and higher wagesAt a short term point of view: • The children are happy with their toys, and playgrounds, and a

clown, which is the face of the McDonald's Corporation.• Parents are happy because its fast and easy and it makes their

children happy, hence the name Happy Meal. => At a short term point of view: McDonald’s is ethical At a long term point of view: • The parents and their children can have health concerns due to

overweight. In this case they would not be happy. => At a short term point of view: McDonald’s is not ethical

Concepts

Kantiantheory: one should do things for the right reasons. Kantiantheoryisattached to the saying "the end does not justify the means. »

• McDonald's began the marketing techniques to children out of self-interest to maximize profits

• McDonald's was not motivated to justprovide a toybecauseit's the right thing to do, but to attractthem to come back.

Inthatsense, McDonald's isunethical

Concepts

The virtuetheory, which states that one should express good

character, whichincludes courage, honesty, temperance, and justice.

• McDonald's ishonestwiththeirfood nutrition, and variety of productsthatsatisfydifferentconsumersneeds. Consumers know thatMcDonald's providesfastfood for cheap prices

• In reference to the lawsuit, Monet Parham, the consumersalwayshave the control and power to buy or not and Monet Parhamhadthat control.

McDonald'sactedethically

Concepts: Normative ethics and normative

justice

Normative Ethics

Justice

Practical Reason = Moral Issues

Normative Justice

Positive LawIndividual

EthicsSocial Ethics

What kind of person do I want

to be ?

What are my ethical duties as a

manager?

Personal morality

Personal values

Professional ethics

What are the ethical

obligations of the organisation I

work for ?

Normative CSR

Self-regulation

Corporate values

What should be the legal

obligations of the

organisation I work for?

What are the legal obligations of the

organisation I work for?

Civil law

Corporate law

Employment law

Etc.

BU

SIN

ESS

ETH

ICS

A Normative justice that should be

a normative ethics

1950• TV advertising begins

1967• The first calls for change: Petition to halt TV commercials for candy and sugary snack foods directed at

children

1980• Congress passes FTC improvement Act that allowed to regulated on case-by-case basis and barred from

issuing industry-wide regulations

1981 • Industry initiates volontary self-regulation

1998• Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act requires teh Federal Trade Commission to develop specific rules to

implement the provisions of the act concerning the invasion of children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule

Personnalcommentary: Responsability of

McDonald’s

DID YOU KNOW ? - 30% of the children ages 6 to

11 are overweight and 15,3% of the children ages 6 to 11 are obese

- The eating habits children develop carry on into adulthood

- Mcdonald’s marketing goal is 20 visits/cust/month

- 90% of children visit McDonald’s once a month

- Only 1 Happy Meal option meets calorie guidelines for children

Personnalcommentary: Responsability of

McDonald’s

• By the age of 3, children are able to understand the difference between television programs and commercials

• By the age of 10, most children are able to understand the persuasive nature of adverstising and that not all advertisements tell the truth

• HOWEVER, being able to understand the persuasive nature of marketing is another story

Personnalcommentary: Responsability of

McDonald’s

Recentstudies have shownthat the influence childrenexert on the purchasingdecisions in householdsis extensive and on the increase. Some of the factorscited are as follows:

1. Parents are havingfewerchildren and thusspendingmore on eachchild;

2. Parents are havingchildrenlater, at a time whenthey are beyond the struggle phase in theircareer;

3. Young professionalspurchasepresents for children to compensate for the lack of time they are able to spendwiththem

Personnalcommentary: Responsability of

the parents

• Parents influence children’seating habits throughtheirimplicit and explicit modeling of foodconsumptionbehavior(Fisher and Birch1995). For example, the children of parents who consume fruits and vegetables do the same(Nicklas et al. 2001).

THANK YOU FOR YOUR

ATTENTION