I understand that today almost
everything is faster. Cars drive faster, trends come and go faster and children
grow up faster. This is also a time were “sex sells.” Even though this may be
the case, not every product needs to have a sexual connection to it. Take for
example the Burger King advertisement for the “BK Super Seven Incher.” If I
were to just have seen the name I wouldn’t be offended because it’s just the
length of a sandwich, like the five-dollar foot-long from Subway. However, I’m
pretty sure that Burger King executives could have found a better way to market
the sandwich rather than have a woman with her mouth wide open with a sandwich
representing the male anatomy.
Now, I wouldn’t have as big a
problem with the ad if adults were the only was to see it. However, this is
unrealistic. And help the parent in line that gets asked why the adult males
are laughing at the ad.
At my on-campus job we have to go
through a workshop EVERY semester where we sit through a lecture about how
others may not share your same humor. So be careful of what you say because
someone else may find it offensive.
This is just one example of the
ethical decisions that organizations should make when deciding what to run in
the media. Burger King is seen as a family fast-food restaurant, and should
take into account all of its customers.
Organizations should also be
careful of who they do business with. For example, in the case study my group
did in class a non-profit organization, called New Chances, was going to build
a new building and needed electrical work done. The town it was located in was
small and, with the exception of one company, all the electrical organizations
were too small to handle the amount of work the non-profit needed. A family
member of a board member of New Chances ran the company that was the exception.
Another board member suggested a policy stating New Chances shouldn’t conduct
business with board family members. But, New Chances was already getting all of
its office supplies and building maintenance from board family members.
My group’s question was should New
Chances pass the policy and cut all existing ties or should they continue using
the companies tied to board members?
If New Chances lets one of the
smaller companies take the job the electrical work might not be done right.
Resulting in more money and time being spent trying to fix their mistake when
the large family run company could have done it right the first time. But, if
New Chances does go with the company run by the board member’s family it could
look as if the organization only does business with board members’ families,
and could potentially sever ties with other companies.
We decided that New Chances should
allow all companies to place a bid for the job, and the company with the best
proposition would get the job. Even if the company belonged to a board
chairman’s family member. As for the already established relationships, they
would be analyzed to see if those relationships are benefitting the company.
And, all family ties will have to be fully disclosed.
If a company can do the job right
the first time and give you a reasonable price it would be stupid to go with a
company who doesn’t have the skills or experience just because someone might
look at the decision with skepticism. And there are plenty of CEO’s all over
the world who groom their sons and daughters to take over their businesses.
Now, I’m not exactly sure what it
is about ships and creating headlines, but that industry needs some workshops
taking place about preventing and rectifying problems. BP had the oil spill in
2010, and this year a cruise ship sank off the coast of Italy.
BP just messed up all around. Especially
when it came to the timing of their commercials with everyday people promising
that they’re going to stay until everything is cleaned up.
As soon as their headquarters got
word of what happened they should have been owned up to the problem and
explained step-by-step what they were doing to rectify the issue. But, they
were too scared to clean their wound with alcohol and ended up getting infected
with a horrible response from Americans.
Costa Crociere SpA, the Italian
cruise ship, is doing a better job handling its issue than BP handled its.
While, the squabble between the ships’ captain and the CEO needs to be cleaned
up. Even if the captain was the one steering, he was still hired by the
company.
Simply put, I think that if an organization
puts thought and time into how to handle issues or the response of the public it
could save it time and a headache later.
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