Reference no: EM133185802

War Child Canada (WCC) is a charity that is dedicated to addressing the use of child soldiers in conflict areas. It runs humanitarian programs for children in multiple countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, and Sudan. To raise the Canadian public's awareness of the plight of these children and to convince them to help, WCC ran an advertising campaign featuring a children's camp called Camp Okutta. The campaign posters featured children, aged 8 to 12, attending an "adventure camp" and being trained on the use of assault weapons, throwing of grenades, and minefield management. The posters directed the viewers to a website, and once they clicked on any of the camp activities, they were directed to the WCC website. Some people were upset by the images and the idea of the camp. Once WCC revealed that this was an advertising campaign, and that Camp Okutta did not exist, many questioned whether the campaign was ethical. The charity maintained that the campaign was undertaken to publicize and garner support for a good cause.

Based on your knowledge of ethics and marketing, determine whether this campaign was ethically acceptable. In your discussion, indicate what differentiates an ethical advertising campaign from an unethical one.