Marketing of Fast-Food Aimed at Children and Young People - Case Study Example

THERE IS CURRENTLY CONSIDERABLE DISCUSSION OF THE MARKETING OF FAST-FOOD AIMED AT CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE. CONSIDER THE ETHICAL ASPECTS OF THIS DISCUSSION. Time is money. It is the time for economizing every industrial process and minimizing losses. The same theories apply to our lives as well. In our struggle to make money and devote more time to our jobs and please our bosses, we often overlook the most important thing in our life; our life. The easiest solution we find to save time is to shorten our lunch times. This is where fast food comes in. Fast food is primarily designed to be, well, fast. It's designed keeping the businessman in mind who cannot spare too much time on himself because he is too busy making money and could lose money if he devoted a little more time to watch what he is eating. Unfortunately, fast food can only be delivered fast if it is fried. This is because frying food in oil is the fastest way of cooking something, especially meat, which is preferred by most people. Secondly, fatty food tastes better. Fat itself has a lot of taste. The real magic of fried food tasting so good is not in the hands of the chef. There is no real secret ingredient. The only ingredient which everyone loves in their fast food is fat. This fat however has caused a bit of a dilemma though because even though it tastes excellent, it is full of saturated hydrogen compounds which are very difficult for our body to break down and digest properly. Hence, our body doesn't digest them when it's confronted with such large amounts of it. It merely deposits it in convenient places in our body, hence leading to obesity. Now this would have been relatively fine if it was only happening to the very busy Mr. Businessman. But the truth is, fast food has become the very thing to have at mealtimes. It's become not a thing to have just when you are running late, but as the only meal no matter who you are and which meal of the day you are having. Careless parents give their children loads of cash without bothering to ask where it is being spent, either on pornography, drugs or fast food. Hence children have become dependent upon it and fat being so tasty has become sort of an addiction for these children and they have completely switched from eating proper meals to eating fast foods whenever they feel hungry. In fact, marketing of such products have become so good and so persuasive that young employees and entrepreneurs are also on the same path. So who can blame the children They are only doing what they see going on around them. No warning, no label and not the tiniest hint of the truth. Marketing of fast food is going on so ferociously that for many marketing companies, the account of a corporate giant has become the swan song of the company which was once up in rompers. Ethical Theories The bottom line for every big cheese is always is that whatever they are doing is not unethical. Big corporations put a lot of effort and even more money in trying to make everything they do seem ethical, even if it involves tearing families apart and nailing small children on the wall. Utilitarianism This is one of the theories of ethics with a contrasting opinion of itself. It basically says that man is allowed to do anything as long as it is "for the greater good"1. This means that on one hand it's ok for scientists to make human clones then chop them up into pieces for their organs because apparently they will not be accepted into society as they are completely alienated from our experiences of life and they would come under better use if their organs are used to save "real" humans. On the other hand however, killing these clones might promote a feeling of neglecting the value of human life and our children who will grow up seeing this inhumane treatment will learn to value human life even less than the scientists and political figures do at present. Applying this to our topic, it is good for McDonalds to promote their Big Mac and for KFC to promote their version of packaged fat because they are serving the society by saving their time and helping them out indirectly so they can spend more time on their jobs being productive. Not only that, they are also making this experience more enjoyable by offering all types of delicious food. So, well done fast food giants, job done. I don't think so. Because even though they are giving the perception that they are acting for the greater good of the society, they are also responsible for not making their customers aware of the dangers of regularly eating fast foods. A study carried out in the US in 2003 (January 2003 issue of Pediatrics, published Monday, Study: One-Third In U.S. At Risk Of Obesity, Fast Food Linked To Child Obesity)2 has showed that about one in three children aged between 4 and 19 is likely to become obese because they are regular eaters of fast food. It proved its findings by giving facts that these children will add up to 6 extra pounds per year by eating 187 extra calories each day because of this carelessness. The study also reports that since 1970, the consumption of fast food in children has increased fivefold. Divine Command Theory This theory states that our ethical behavior is dependent upon god. This means that whatever religion we follow, we have to behave according to its ethics. Relating our case to this ethical theory would mean that every member in our fast food company would design a different type of fast food marketing campaign according to their own religion. In the simplest of cases however, there is not much difference in ethical values in all religions be it Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or even Buddhism3. No religion states that you can market goods to consumers even if you have the knowledge that they might be harmful to the consumers. The very least thing required from followers is that the company should at least provide some form of awareness about the product to the consumers about the health risks it poses upon long term continuous use. If this is somehow not possible, then something should be done internally to change the content of the food to make it healthier. The fact that McDonalds and KFC or Burger King do not change the amount of fat they put in their food is very easy to understand. Using less fat will make their food taste less desirable and more importantly it would spoil their economies of scale. This is because if they use less fat, their food will take a longer time to cook which will mean they will deliver food late to hungry customers and this in turn will form a bad image of the company in the minds of the consumers and they might not come back to the same restaurant. Result: decreased profit. Taking the divine command theory further, it delves into the controversial grounds of religion and ethics. The theory has its own supporters and criticizers. The most common debate in between the philosophers and scientists is that if god and religion is responsible for ethical behavior in an individual, then where does that man's ability to judge come into this Man develops a strong sense of right and wrong in his experiences and in his upbringing due to his unique intelligence and way of perception. This is why man is the most intelligent creature in the world. But if he is limited by religious ethics or encouraged to do something by religion which is not perceived entirely right in man's intelligence, should he still do it This also lights up our fast food case. Religious scholars say that it might be easy for companies to sell fast food to young employees and children but it doesn't specify where this could turn harmful for children. Kantian Ethics Another very popular theory is the Kantian ethics. This has two basic concepts behind it.4 1- Happiness is not the purpose of our lives. If it were, it would be very easy to live because we would just seek any source of pleasure and be happy with our lives. The problem lies here. Because happiness largely depends upon the persons behavior and how he has utilized his time constructively during his life to achieve happiness. Secondly, happiness in this world also largely depends upon god's blessing on you and how lucky you are at a particular time in life. 2- If we avoid social beliefs and mores and we want ethics to work in life, then we should be fair and apply our theories to all human beings regardless of what they are and how will it benefit us. Kant has spent a lot of time polishing his theory and given surprisingly good results. According to Kant, a duty done for the sake of doing the duty is not worth much regarding ethical values in comparison of doing a duty while really believing it will be beneficial for the persons for whim the duty is being performed for. In other words, if someone is forced to do something and he agrees to do it grudgingly, there is no moral worth for it. But if someone sees to doing that work while thinking that it is beneficial for others and this feeling and thoughts come to him without the aid of any other's intervention, his work will be valued much more than the previous person's. Applying this to our case, if numerous studies have indicated that fast food is harmful for kids and young people in general and the fast food companies have till now turned a blind eye to the situation or worse yet, they hid this fact from the consumers even when they did a demand and product analysis for the launching of fast food chains offering deep fried foods, then it is high time for companies to act upon this looming threat before multiple generations fall prey to heart diseases and pass these on to the generations to come. Even if they realize this now because of these criticisms being made, they will not be morally active according to Kant. Only if they had acted when they were in the process of launching this product and if they were monitoring their customers and offering them food with no fat (grilled food) which would taste not much different but would be many times better and they did this happily and out of their own will then it would be worth some credibility. Self Interest This is the fourth and final theory which is going to be discussed in this paper regarding the case of fast food companies targeting food to children and young people and causing worldwide obesity along with other diseases. As the theory name itself suggests, it revolves around relative self interest. Every man will go for the thing which he most desires. Desire here should not be confused with interest however. This is because there is a fundamental difference between the two. Interest means that the man has to have that particular thing no matter what because he can relate it to himself. It can be interrelated with a need. Desire is a wish. It is something which a man wants but cannot necessarily have given the present circumstances. Applying this theory to our case, we cannot fully blame the fast food companies for the appalling rise in the global obesity levels. This is because it is the interest of all children and young entrepreneurs to save time and to eat something tasty during lunch. It is not the McDonalds fault if almost all American customers want to add cheese in their meals knowing that cheese contains one fifth of the fatty calories that the whole meal they are eating contains. Less privileged children have a deep sociological and psychological impact when they feel that they cannot afford to eat the food which relatively more affluent children are eating. This is why they spend a major part of their earnings upon eating "rich people's food".5 All this of course would not be the case because seeing the situation from the big fast food suppliers' side doesn't make much of a good case either. Marketing of such fast foods is so good that they give anyone the desire to eat them. The organization's self interest is to make profit. They find and devise fool proof ways for attracting more customers to their restaurants by offering hundreds of deals and discount coupons to customers which keeps them coming back for more till they earn their loyalty. The only argument given from fast food suppliers is that people who become obese do not do so just by eating their food. There is something involved in the mix too. They do have a point. They cannot be blamed for something for which they are only a part of. In their eyes, they are providing a much needed service for the society but offering quick and tasty food to consumers who want nothing else at that time than something hot and spicy which would change the flavor of their mouth from the boring jobs they do all day. It is the customer's fault that they do not exercise of workout to let off the excess fat they are letting on themselves. Conclusion Fast food is one of the world's greatest breakthroughs in the food industry. This is because not only they save time and energy, they are easy to handle and can be consumed very quickly without any hassle and also without costing a lot of fortune. But the trend towards eating this food not as a snack or during times of emergency where a person doesn't have time to prepare something for himself because he was too busy doing something else or forgot to plan making his dinner in advance, is becoming very dangerous for the people consuming this food. This tasty food also tends to make teenagers eat more than they should have consumed if they were offered "normal" food. The present statistics suggest that almost 75% of teenagers consume fast food at least once in a week. Given this information, it is not at all surprising that they will also join the reducing weight programs at their local gyms. Still what needs to be done about the situation is that fast food companies like McDonalds and KFC and even Burger King should take an ethical stand and modify their marketing gimmicks by introducing grilled or less oily foods and market them more ferociously so that the majority of consumers can shift to these foods. Seeing this, other fast food vendors will take lead and start offering the same and obesity and its related fatal diseases might be controlled. Bibliography 1Laura Pincus Hartman (2004) Perspectives in Business Ethics. McGraw Hill 2O. C. Ferrell, John Fraedrich, Linda Ferrell (2004) Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. Houghton Mifflin 3Jeffrey L. Seglin (2007) The Right Thing: Conscience, Profit and Personal Responsibility in Today's Business. Natl Book Network Alan R. Malachowski (2001) Business Ethics: Critical Perspectives on Business and Management. Routledge Johan Verstraeten (2000) Business Ethics: Broadening the Perspectives. Peeters Publishers 4Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr. (1995) Business Ethics: Roles and Responsibilities. McGraw hill College Elaine Sternberg (2000) Just Business: Business Ethics in Action. OUP Sheena Carmichael (1995) Business Ethics: The New Bottom Line. Demos 5CBC News (2004) Overweight teens don't compensate for fast food meals. Available from website http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2004/06/15/obesity040614.html [accessed 19 April 2008] Jeff Landauer and Joseph Rowlands (2001) Self-Interest. Available from website http://importanceofphilosophy.com/Ethics_SelfInterest.html [accessed 19 April 2008] GFDL (2001) Kantian Ethics. available from http://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/kant.html [accessed 19 April 2008] Michael W. Austin (2006) Divine Command Theory. Available from website http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/divine-c.htm [accessed 19 April 2008] Read More