Reference no: EM132891339

Ethics Activity

After working really hard to distinguish yourself, you've finally been promoted to senior account executive at a major advertising agency and placed in charge of the agency's newest account, a nationally known cereal company. Their product is one you know contains excessive amounts of sugar as well as artificial colorings and lacks any nutritional value whatsoever. In fact, you have never allowed your own children to eat it. Your boss has indicated that the cereal company would like to use the slogan "It's good for you" in their new television and print advertising campaign. You know that a $2 billion lawsuit has been filed against the Kellogg and Viacom corporations for marketing junk food to young children. The suit cited "alluring product packaging, toy giveaways, contests, collectibles, kid-oriented websites, magazine ads, and branded toys and clothes." In addition, two consumer groups have brought suit against children's television network Nickelodeon for "unfair and deceptive junk-food marketing." Your new role at the agency will be tested with this campaign. Doing a good job on it will cement your position and put you in line for a promotion to vice president. But as a responsible parent, you have strong feelings about misleading advertising targeted at susceptible children. Using a web search tool, locate articles about this topic and then write responses to the following questions. Be sure to support your arguments and cite your sources. Ethical Dilemma: Do you follow your principles and ask to be transferred to another account? Or do you help promote a cereal you know may be harmful to children in order to secure your career? Sources: James Schroeder, "To the Heart of the Matter: We Are What We Eat," Evansville Courier & Press, https://www.courierpress.com, September 11, 2017; Lizzie Parry, "Popular Cereals Contain Up to a Third of Your Kids' Sugar Intake," The Sun, https://www.thesun.co.uk, February 8, 2017; Stephanie Thompson, "Kellogg Co. Might as Well Have Painted a Bull's-eye on Itself," Advertising Age, January 23, 2006; and Abbey Klaassen, "Viacom Gets Nicked," Advertising Age, January 23, 2006. Answer question 4 for this.

4) A competitive advantage of the internet is the ability to comparison-shop like never before. To compare brands, features, and prices of products, go to two of these sites: https://www.pricegrabber.com or https://mysimon.com, or, for the best bargains, https://www.overstock.com, https://www.smartbargains.com, https://www.bluefly.com, https://www.nextag.com, or https://www.shopzilla.com. Which is the easiest site to use? The most difficult? Which site provides the most information?

Critical Thinking

Case Advertisers Score with the Super Bowl What sporting event is televised in 170 countries and has created a quasi-national holiday in the United States? The Super Bowl is considered by football fans as the ultimate game and known as the largest advertising opportunity for media companies that broadcast the game and companies that want to reach a large audience. The history of impactful advertising shown as part of Super Bowl viewing includes the famous 1984 Apple advertisement that "breaks" the PC wall. The ad was only shown once, but it is recognized as one of the most iconic moments in the history of advertising. In recent years companies have used football's popularity and the Super Bowl as a global program to get their 498 Chapter 12 Distributing and Promoting Products and Services This OpenStax book is available for free at https://cnx.org/content/col25734/1.7message out to a worldwide audience. While the high cost of advertising during the Super Bowl may deter some advertisers, the impact of an ad like Clint Eastwood's 2012 "Halftime in America" for Chrysler or the 2017 Heinz "Dachhund" ad has been hailed as dramatic and created buzz that ads running in traditional spots do not generate. One additional thing that advertisers have to consider is the infusion of politics into more aspects of life and how players or outside groups might create a diversion that could impact advertisers, and the amount that the networks pay the NFL for the right to air the Super Bowl. NFL games, and the Super Bowl in particular, provide a large audience for players to voice their concerns with issues such as race, or a newsworthy protest of kneeling for the National Anthem prior to the game. Likewise, controversy can occur during a halftime show or by protesters unfurling a banner, as occurred at a Minnesota Vikings game in 2017. Just as advertisers would rather not show their ads during natural disasters or live coverage of a plane crash or terrorist attack, a large[1]scale live event always provides the possibility of something happening that could not be anticipated. Companies with creative and adept social media departments can, however, make a positive impact by reacting to events as they occur. For example, during the 2013 Super Bowl in New Orleans, a faulty transformer caused a power outage just before halftime, which caused a 30-minute delay. A clever worker in the Oreo's social media department sent out a Tweet saying, "Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark," with a picture of an Oreo cookie on a dark background.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Name some of the challenges marketers encounter when developing advertising and promotional campaigns. How does the type of product affect the promotional strategies?