Summary of Case Study
The case highlighted information regarding questioning children as target markets for products through commercials designed by marketers and advertisers. The statistics revealed that children have been considered target markets due to the lucrative potentials that the trends have disclosed. Commercials were apparently coursed and endorsed through schools, either directly or indirectly. As such, there have been important issues and concerns that the readers could reflect on.
1. Is there an appropriate age that advertising should consider?
2. Who are the stakeholders that will be impacted by your decision, and how will each be affected?
The stakeholders that would be impacted by decisions to advertise to children include: parents and caregivers, school administrators and educators, community members involved in children’s welfare, as well as government regulators. Parents and caregivers are the decision makers and the ones who have the actual capacity to purchase the products being advertised for children. The school administrators and educators are targets for direct or indirect advertisements who could further endorse and promote the products to the children. Community members are on the lookout for products directed to children that could have been falsely promoted or advertised through false claims that could jeopardize the welfare of children. Finally, government regulators govern children’s advertisements through the amount of time where advertisements could be aired during children’s shows .
3. What are the benefits and drawbacks to advertising products within schools?
The benefits of advertising products within schools include acknowledging that, as educators, it presumes that the products (or services) meet standards that consider the safety and welfare of students. Likewise, schools are the most authoritative medium of information which could be considered objective and unbiased.
On the other hand, the drawbacks include the possibility to providing unfair advantage to those organizations who were favored by educational institutions to promote their products or who sponsor school activities. In addition, large organizations with greater resources have more opportunities to use schools as promotional medium, as compared to small organizations with limited funds.
4. What other facts would you need to make a decision, and how might your decision affect the stakeholders?
Taking the perspective of advertisers, other facts that are needed to make a decision regarding marketing or advertising in schools include ensuring that the products (or services) being promoted conforms to standards of high quality and that the benefits would definitely exceed the costs. The decision should consider and address all the issues and concerns which could be brought up by stakeholders. Finally, the decision should consider that the product would provide utmost good and benefit to the children, who are identified as the ultimate target market for the product/s.
5. Discuss alternative marketing practices that could be ethical and help the schools to raise money.
Alternative marketing practices that could be considered ethical include considering that the product would serve the greatest good for the greatest number of people. As such, marketers should first seek the comments or inputs from various stakeholders, prior to the plan of promoting products (or services) through schools. Likewise, the best interests of the community and the schools should be taken into account through commitment to social responsibility. Thus, by designing programs that promote the organization’s products or services, these educational institutions could raise funds to enhance awareness to the product/s (or to the organization that sponsored the activities).
References
Advertising Educational Foundation. (2014). Advertising to Children. Retrieved from aef.com: http://www.aef.com/on_campus/classroom/speaker_pres/data/3005
Marketing in Schools. (2014). In L. Hartman, J. DesJardins, & C. MacDonald, Business ethics: decision making for personal integrity and social responsibility (p. 430). New York: McGraw Hill.
