Business Objectives: What part should ethics play?- ethics of marketing to children

Young children are increasingly the target of advertising and marketing because of the amount of money they spend themselves, the influence they have on their parents spending (the nag factor) and because of the money they will spend when they grow up.Whilst this child-targetted marketing used to concentrate on sweets and toys, it now includes clothes, shoes, a range of fast foods, sports equipment, computer products and toiletries as well as adult products such as cars and credit cards.

Corporate Social Responsiblity

1. What is CSR?

: A company’s sense of responsibility towards the community and environment (both ecological and social) in which it operates. Companies express this citizenship (1) through their waste and pollution reduction processes, (2) by contributing educational and social programs, and (3) by earning adequate returns on the employed resources.

2.What is the common objective in business?

: Strong supplier relationships, Better community relations, Improved  employee productivity

3. One positive example with image 

: Minamonfilm are to be sponsored by one of their corporate clients the  “International Antiques & Collectors Fair “ (IACF) to produce a film for the unique charity “Cancer Vaccine Institute” (CVI) which provides a life-line to people diagnosed as being terminally ill. This is a great example of positive Corporate Social Responsibility, as CVI desperately need a new film to help generate the £600,000 per annum needed to continue their vital work. They can make high profits as past films made by Minamonfilm for IACF have generated over 30,000 hits on You Tube getting them the recognition of the Number One International Fair for antiques.

4. One negative example with image

:Enron, the Texan energy company that not only brought itself down but also one of the largest accounting firms at that time, Arthur Andersen. Enron was a darling of corporate philanthropy and gave millions in charity donations to charity organizations and won several awards for its corporate social responsibility work, including a climate protection award from the EPA and a corporate conscience award from the Council on Economic Priorities. In 2001, Enron collapsed under massive debts after it was revealed that Jeffrey Skilling, who was jailed for 24 years, had orchestrated a giant fraud and a massive corporate ethics scandal. Corporate social responsibility articles pounced on Enron and publicized the backlash. As Joel Bakan wrote in The Corporation, “Enron's story suggests, at a minimum, that skepticism about corporate social responsibility is well warranted.” Indeed, Enron never quite recovered from the bad publicity as its supposed socially responsible activities became irrelevant since its very existence proved to be a sham.