McDonald’s has come under sharp criticism lately due to our advertisements that are aimed at children. This public outcry highlights the ethical dilemma that is marketing to children and youth especially for products that are unhealthy. Seeing as McDonald’s is the world’s largest fast food chain with 34000 outlets worldwide (Simon), it is imperative that we ensure that all our advertisements are not only legal but also ethical. The negative publicity is hurting our company’s image and may lead to a decline in our profits which are currently at $ 27 billion annually (Simon).
Those in our marketing department believe that marketing to children is ethical because of the following reasons;
- There is freedom of speech
- The company needs to maximize the value that it gives to stakeholders
On the other hand, parents and health practitioners are against advertising to children they believe that McDonald’s is taking advantage of the innocence of the children. They think that advertising to children is unethical because of the following reasons;
- Kids’ meals are unhealthy
- Kids cannot distinguish fact from fiction
My recommendation is that McDonald’s should stop deceptive advertisements to children; this includes the toys that are given together with happy meals, retiring Ronal McDonald, introducing healthier meals, following all the rules and self-regulating. This will ensure that our company gives the best services to our customers while retaining a good corporate image.
Opposing argument McDonald’s should Advertise to Children
Advertising to children is now commonplace in most industries. This is because children have a huge say in the spending of most households as they influence what their parents buy, this ranges from food, furniture and to holidays (Dietz). Due to this fact alone, children are one of the biggest targets of advertising because of the influence that they have on spending which makes the advertisements have high returns. Currently, McDonald’s ads account for 70% of all fast food ads (Bernhardt et al) and the company spends $ 843million on advertising annually (Simon). Our marketers argue that advertising to children is ethical because;
- There is freedom of speech
- The company needs to maximize the value that it gives to stakeholders
There is freedom of speech
Every company is free to advertise their products as they wish. In this case the proponents of advertising to children say that advertising is completely legal and they should therefore be allowed to advertise.
McDonald’s has a right to reach out to all its target audiences.
McDonald’s makes products for children such as the happy meal. It has a right to reach out to these clients and advertise this product to them. McDonald’s also has the right to use all available channels to market its products; these include media campaigns, the internet, mascots and offering incentives in the form of toys. Companies should, therefore, not be prevented from reaching out to their clients.
Parents should be responsible for their children
They also state that the parents have a responsibility towards their children and they should therefore control what their children view online and on television. The fact that a McDonald’s ad has appeared on television does not mean that parents are obligated to buy their children the McDonald’s meals. At the end of the day, the parents have full responsibility over the activities of their children. They argue that irresponsibility on the part of the parents and their inability to control their children’s diet should not be blamed on the McDonald’s advertisements.
The company needs to maximize the value that it gives to stakeholders
The company has a duty towards its stakeholders; this is to ensure that they get high returns for their investment in the form of dividends. In the year 2011, our company paid $2.6 Billion to its stakeholders in the form of dividends (Simon). For the company to make such profits, it needs to market its products aggressively so as to make a lot of sales. Since children make up a huge a large percentage of their target market, they have to be reached out to.
President’s Argument: McDonald’s should not market to children
The number of children suffering from diseases caused by the food that they eat, mainly junk food has increased. There are more children suffering from obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure and the advertisement of fast food to children is to blame. Whereas the company’s advertisements are not 100% responsible for these grim statistics, they surely play a major role. McDonald’s has a social responsibility towards its clients and this includes being sensitive to the needs of their young customers. It is, therefore, my opinion that McDonald’s should not market to children because of the following reasons;
- Kids meals are unhealthy
- Kids cannot distinguish fact to fiction
Kids’ meals are unhealthy
McDonald’s ‘Happy Meals’ that are made for children mainly contain a hamburger, chicken nuggets or a cheeseburger that are served with fries.
The quality of their meat cannot be ascertained
The quality of the meat used in our burgers has come under fire from health watchdog groups that claim they are made from animals that have been fed genetically modified grains. These genetically modified foods have a lot of negative effects on the health of children. Some contain heavy metals, carcinogenic compounds and chemicals. These products have been linked to the increase in the early onset of cancer among children.
The quality of the fries
The potatoes that are used to make the fries have dextrose and a lot of sodium which predisposes the children to diseases caused by a lot of fats, sugars and salts such as diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure. A recent recipe of these fries was released which shows that McDonald’s uses 17 different types of oils on their fries alone, most of which are hydrogenated and made from genetically modified raw materials such as sunflower and canola oil. The sugar levels are beyond the recommended daily intake for children. The fries also contain mono-sodium glutamate (MSG) which is used as a flavor; this chemical is a nerve and brain toxin (Cook).
McDonald’s has recently included free milk and apple slices in the happy meal in a bid to make their meals more nutritious (McDonald’s). Whereas this is a step in the right direction, these additions cannot offset the huge damages caused by the fats, sugars and salts found in the fries and burgers.
Kids cannot distinguish fact from fiction
Recent research highlights the fact that children under the age of 14 are highly vulnerable to advertisements and are not able to resist the persuasion that is used in most of these advertisements. McDonald’s has taken advantage of these fact and uses an array of marketing methods to lure children, they include;
The use of premiums
For every happy meal that a child buys at McDonald’s, they get a toy (McDonalds). These toys are known as premiums. Children have a problem distinguishing between the product and the premiums and will therefore associate the premium with the product (Bachman).This leads to the formation of an emotional bond between the child and the premium leading to the children always demanding for McDonald’s products. This is deceptive advertising that uses the bait and switch method to lure the children into buying the happy meals. It also violates Children's Advertising Review Unit’s (CARU) laws on advertising to children using premiums.
The use of tie-ins
Ronald McDonald is a clown character that is used to markets our products to kids. The use of tie-ins ensures that children have an emotional bond with the character representing the product. This kind of advertising is also deceptive because it does not focus on the attributes of the product being advertised. It instead focuses on the character tie-in (Bachman). There have been calls by parents and medical health practitioners to retire Ronald McDonald which have been ignored by our company which says that he has no negative effect.
The internet
On McDonald’s website, there is an array of games that children can play ostensibly for the children to associate McDonald’s with fun. The children are encouraged to invite their friends who are on Facebook to also play the games. This type of advertising focuses on the games and not on the product that McDonald’s is selling.
It also takes advantage of the children’s needs for social acceptance through asking them to share photos of the McDonald’s meals for a chance to win a prize.
McDonalds also uses banner advertisements on the internet so that the brand is always with the kids wherever they go. The advertisements can also be found when the children are playing games or using other applications. The young adults aged between the ages of 12-16 are particularly vulnerable to this kind of advertising (Simon).
McTeacher’s Night
This is one of McDonald’s charity events which are aimed at funding education. In these nights, the teachers serve food to parents, students and locals and proceeds of the sales go back to the schools. Many critics see this as a violation of Macdonald’s policy not to market in schools. Furthermore, schools hardly benefit from this activity as most schools earn an average of $0.99 per student during these nights(Simon).This activity also creates an illusion to the children that McDonald’s is a trustworthy brand and is therefore a covert kind of advertising aimed at attracting the attention of the children.
Eating habits develop into adulthood.
Researchers at the Yale Rudd Center have found that the eating habits that children learn when they are young occur throughout their lives. This means that marketing to children is not only harmful to their health now but will also be harmful in the future. The rate of childhood obesity has gone up because of fast food advertisements which associate eating junk food with fun. McDonald’s advertisements to children will lead to the next generation of adults being obese.
Cross Promotions
This refers to promoting other items, especially movies alongside products. McDonalds uses this method to lure children into liking their products by associating these products with movies that they like. This also features under deceptive advertisement and is against Children's Advertising Review Unit’s (CARU) laws as the advertisements focus more on the premiums than on the products that they offer.
Branding
According to a study carried out by Bernhardt et al, 88% of all McDonald’s advertisements aimed at children, contained images of their brand, wrapping papers and their mascot Ronald McDonald. The advertisements also had a street view of the McDonalds restaurant so that the children would ask their parents to take them to the restaurant the next time that they passed there.
Lack of Description of the nutritional value of the products.
McDonald’s advertisements focus more on the tie-ins, premiums and logos but do not explain to the children what their foods really contain. Anyway most of the young children will not be able to understand what recommended daily dietary allowance means. This makes them vulnerable as they are swayed by anything that appeals to their emotional senses whether it is healthy or not.
President’s Recommendation: McDonalds should not advertise to children
Our company has made huge profits throughout the years because of the support that we get from our loyal customers. It is, therefore, our responsibility to also take care of them by doing away with all the advertising that is made for kids. This can be done using the following methods;
- Doing away with deceptive children’s advertisements.
- Strictly following the various regulations that have been put down by marketing regulatory bodies with regards to marketing to children
- Following our self-regulatory policies very strictly to ensure that children are not harmed by advertisements, this includes counter advertisement services such as healthy eating classes.
I am sure that the above recommendations will help us solve the ethical dilemma that we are in. it will also enable us to create a better relationship with our customers as they will see that McDonald’s not only care about its profits but also cares about them and the wellbeing of their children.
Conclusion
Advertising to children has always presented an ethical dilemma since time immemorial. On one hand, most corporates support this kind of advertising because it is very effective, they have freedom of speech and because they have a duty towards their stakeholders. On the other hand, this kind of advertising harms children because the foods advertised are not healthy and the children do not have the ability to distinguish facts from persuasion. It is also very clear that this practice is unethical because the advertisements mainly lure and deceive children so that they can buy the products.
I, therefore, recommend that we stop advertising to children in a deceptive manner because this only does a disservice to them. I also recommend that we make our meals more nutritious to the children. Lastly we should follow all the rules regarding advertising to children that have been enacted while also regulating ourselves internally. These actions will ensure that our company is more trusted by the public which will in turn bring in more customers and therefore more profits. In this way, everybody wins; this includes the children, parents and McDonald’s.
REFERENCES
Bachman, Katy. “Study: McDonald's, Burger King Rely on Giveaways, Not Food, to Lure Kids” Adweek. August 28, 2013. Web. Retrieved 8 March 2014
< http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/study-mcdonalds-burger-king-rely-giveaways-not-food-lure-kids-152083>
Bernhardt, Amy et al. “How Television Fast Food Marketing Aimed at Children Compares with Adult Advertisements” Plos One . August 28, 2013. Web. Retrieved 8 March 2014
< http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0072479 >
Cook, Michelle. “Shocking Ingredients in McDonald’s French Fries” Care2.com September 6, 2013. Web. Retrieved 8 March 2014
Dietz,William. “New Strategies To Improve Food Marketing To Children” health affairs. September 2013. Web. Retrieved 8 March 2014
McDonald’s. “Happy Meals” n.d . Web. Retrieved 8 March 2014
< http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/meal_bundles/happy_meals.html>
Simon, Michelle. “Clowning around with charity” eat drink politics. October 2013. Web. Retrieved 8 March 2014
http://www.eatdrinkpolitics.com/wpcontent/uploads/Clowning_Around_Charity_Report_Full.pdf
“Rudd report shows that children need to be protected from unhealthy food marketing until at least the age of 14” Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. March 5 2014. Web Retrieved 8 March 2014
