Reference no: EM133035809

Ellen just secured her dream job at "More More More" advertising agency. She is excited to be working with people she has admired who have been very influential in the industry over the past ten years. It's an important career move for her, since working for this Company means "you have made it", and comes with a big salary, benefits, company travel and lots of social perks. On the other side of the coin, however, if you don't last with the company and end up being fired or looking for another company to work with, your prospects for a valuable career in that sector are effectively "Over".

Ellen's first client sells both boys and girls teenage fashion. In her first meeting with her Supervisor and client representatives, she is shocked to hear that market research has indicated that demand for their products would be greater if their advertisements utilized models with bodies of exaggerated form. For example, although the average weight of their typical female teenage customer is 120lbs, and the weight of the male teenage customer is 160lbs, the research indicates that girls will respond better to images of much lighter models (90lbs) and boys respond better to models who have bulked their muscle and weigh 200+ lbs. Ellen is surprised with these facts and concerned that, should this company promote "unhealthy" images to young people who are vulnerable about their appearance due to teenage peer pressure to be attractive, that the company could be creating or furthering unnecessary societal harm. Her mother is a psychologist and has preached to her the harm that unhealthy role models and fabricated images have on the confidence and health of the developing adolescent. She is aware of the harm caused by diet drugs and programs and of the harm steroids causes young men trying to fir the stereotypical image of the "Strong Man". In fact, Ellen's own cousin was hospitalized for health conditions due to this problem.

Both her Supervisor and the client seem keen to progress promoting these unhealthy teenage images and are also discussing how the ads can be touched up with photo enhancement and airbrushing. Because this is Ellen's client, she is required to endorse and sign off on these plans for advertising. It would certainly look good for her career if she seemed totally onboard and did not bring up her views on the topic. She stands to benefit significantly from this advertising campaign, $50,000 bonus, not to mention future career prospects. She is aware, however, of a report that quantifies the cost of one teenager being seduced by unhealthy images as being $500,000 over a five year period. If she were to apply the Utilitarian theory to her decision, what decision would she make?

1. What decision would you make and what factors would you consider in your decision making process?
2. Fully explain the Utilitarian theory.
3. Complete the following table. Make sure to discuss the benefits or harm caused to each stakeholder group for each of the options you develop.