Mc Libel Paper PDF

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A Grade Required McLibel Paper. Includes all 8 required arguments....

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McLibel Paper MGMT 382

McLibel

McDonald’s has long been a controversial player in the fast food industry. McDonald’s has served billions of customers since its inception, but its treatment of customers has been questionable at best. This paper will explore the ways that McDonald’s has acted ethically towards its customers, as well as some of the ways that it has acted unethically towards its consumers.

Why they are ethical

One way that McDonald’s has acted ethically is by adherence to government requirements with regard to their advertising tactics. According to a McDonald’s representative in the McLibel Documentary, McDonald’s is in compliance with all legal requirements and regulatory agencies that govern advertising. Their marketing tactics, although questioned by many, are legal. (Government Requirements).

McDonald’s acts ethically towards consumers by supporting the community that buys its food. McDonald’s gives back to the community through the Ronald McDonald House

Charities. This charity provides grants to schools, youth athletics and communities in need. Their main goal is to improve the health and well-being of children all across the world, a goal which clearly displays a care for the community. (Caring/Building Community)

McDonald’s business model relies on them making large quantities of food quickly and for a competitive price The best way for McDonald’s to benefit their current customers is by continuing to provide fast and convenient service. If McDonald's were to pivot and provide slowly prepared healthy food, their business model would fail, and they would satisfy no customers. By providing the products that they currently serve to a high volume of consumers, they provide the largest benefit to those who enjoy their food. McDonald’s adheres to the Principle of Utilitarian benefit by providing their current products in a way that is convenient and affordable for a maximum amount of consumers (Utilitarian Benefit).

A final argument for the ethical behavior of McDonald’s towards consumers has to do with the affordability of their food and the quality of their food. McDonald’s is perfectly ethical in providing food which provides below average nutrition because it is sold for below average price. The reasonable price of McDonald’s food makes it fair to be of low quality. This behavior is in adherence with the ethical principle of Fairness, namely the treating of equals in an equal fashion (Fairness/Distributive Justice).

Why they are unethical

However, McDonald’s has also engaged in some unethical behavior towards consumers. In particular, McDonald’s spends enormous amounts of money on advertising campaigns that do not accurately reflect the reality of eating McDonald’s food. Advertising depicts people living active lives who have balanced and healthy diets, but McDonald’s food doesn’t contribute to this idealistic image. Given the adverse medical effects of excessive McDonald’s consumption, this picturesque scene would likely be destroyed by eating McDonald’s food with any frequency. For this reason, McDonald’s is violating the ethical principle of Personal Virtue by not being truthful in their association of certain things with their food (Personal Virtue).

McDonald’s marketing is also unethical because of the way that it targets children. As shown in the documentary and admitted by the McDonald’s representative, the restaurant is well aware of how children are easily convinced to engage in what may become lifelong eating habits. Children are the youngest and least able to make rational decisions, and, as the Ronald McDonald actor said himself, “Anyone can manipulate a child.” In aggressively marketing to children, McDonald’s is taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us, and using them to make their parents buy McDonald’s food as well with the use of “pester power”.This is a clear violation of the ethical principle of Fairness/Distributive Justice.

Another way that McDonald’s behaves unethically towards consumers is by the way it handles people who seek to inform the public. The opponents of McDonald’s in the McLibel case attempted to dispense information to the public about McDonald’s, information that could have swayed the way people made decisions about patronizing McDonald’s. However, McDonald’s threatened them with lawsuits and other legal action to try and keep them from spreading out these leaflets. By trying to keep information under wraps, McDonald’s hinders the ability of people to make decisions for themselves based on all available knowledge about McDonalds. If the people featured in the McLibel documentary were allowed to disperse their leaflets, there is a good chance that people’s decisions about McDonalds would change. This shows that McDonald’s is in violation of the ethical principle of Liberty and Individual Rights because they are acting opposite the consumer’s ability to make an informed choice. (Liberty/Individual Rights).

The same Utilitarian Benefit that is caused by McDonald’s massive distribution of food is also a point of unethical behavior. As was mentioned in the McLibel Documentary, everywhere that the fast food lifestyle spreads, obesity, heart disease, and cancer spread as well. McDonald’s own physician who commented on the case said that McDonald’s food is linked to cancer and heart problems. By selling their food to such a large quantity of people and by expanding their operations to many countries across the world, McDonalds is actually causing harm to an increasingly large amount of people.

McDonald’s is therefore acting counter to the interest of the greater good of its broad customer base (Utilitarian Benefit).

Conclusion

In summary, McDonald’s acts both ethically and unethically towards its customers. McDonald’s does support the community, offer affordable food, provide food to many people, and obey all governmental regulations. However, McDonald’s does engage in unethical behavior such as harming many people through its unhealthy food, attempting to stifle the public gaining information, misrepresenting the nutritional merit of their food, and marketing specifically to children, the most vulnerable among us....