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Critical Thinking Scenario Critical Thinking Scenario Ethical Scenario Enquiry 15: A cosmetologist operating a local beauty solon is enjoying popularity with his clients and high sales records. The cosmetologist believes that being attractive is greatly important and his responsibility is to help his clients feel that they are attractive or could be. Although he is aware that some of his complements are false and that some of the beauty products he sells do not usually live up to advertising claims, he feels he is doing a public service by making people to feel good about themselves.
Response Yes, the cosmetologist’s conscience should bother him since it is morally wrong to knowingly give deceptive complements and misrepresent the beauty products being sold to the consumers. This is particularly because there are many moral issues touching on the conduct of the cosmetologist that should trouble his inner intuition or moral sense. For example, it is the moral responsibility of every business salesman to ensure that any statement representing their services or products are always true, accurate and properly substantiated (Ruggiero, 2011).
As a salesman, the cosmetologist is morally obligated to be absolutely clear in his mind that the information he is giving his customers regarding the beauty products is factual and the overall impression is accurate as opposed to knowingly making claims about the products without reasonable basis. In addition, the cosmetologist is also ethically obligated to provide the customers with what they pay for. In this regard, deceiving people about the services and products they are buying is ethically wrong because the customers do not get what they have paid for.
According to Richards(2010), although the goal of business advertisements is normally to persuade customers into buying products or services rather than conveying, information, businesses are obligated to make sure that all advertisements are based on factual information that can be verified. This is because false compliments and deceptive, misleading advertisement claims can potentially persuade individuals into commercial transactions that they could otherwise avoid. Lastly, the argument that the cosmetologist offers to justify his false complements and deceptive advertisement claims is all wrong (Grace and Stephen, 2005).
For example, although the Cosmetologist feels that he is doing a public service by making people to feel good about their selves, he is actually trying to make his potential customers to feel inadequate particularly with their appearance in order to buy the beauty products with the hope of making them look better. At the same time, he is also trying to make them need a product that may not live up to advertising claims. In conclusion, it is ethically wrong to knowingly making a false claim when selling products or services.
The cosmetologist’s main moral failings included making false compliments to his clients in the name of making them feel good about their own appearance as well as making deceptive advertisement claims about the capability of his products to lure the clients into buying them. His actions should therefore trouble his conscience particularly because the beauty products he sells do not live up to advertising claims.. ReferencesGrace, D., Stephen C. (2005). Business Ethics. Victoria, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press publishers.
Richards, J. (2010). Deceptive Advertising. New York, NY: Routlege publishers.Ruggiero, V. (2011). Thinking critically about ethical issues 9th edition. Boston, MA: McGrawHill
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