Essay on Ethical Theory vs. Nestle Marketing Tactics

Kant develops a principle that we must follow in order to act morally. He explains that we have a duty to act morally. Duties as described by Kant “are rules of some sort combined with some sort of felt constraint or incentive on our choices, whether from external coercion by others or from our own powers of reason.” He calls this overall principle the categorical imperative and it is the fundamental principle of our moral duties. All of our moral actions should follow and should be justified by the categorical imperative, and this means that all

Nestle was involved in the unethical marketing practices, endangering consumer health to promote its infant formula in developing nation. Nestle often used deception and doublespeak to justify its unethical business practices. Many NGOs and groups spread the word about Nestlé’s unethical practices making people to boycott its products. Later Nestle changed its policy and stops free sampling and aggressive marketing techniques. Nestle promoted the infant formula over breast milk which caused the illness and death of many infants in the developing countries. There are many reasons that contribute to it:

Nestle writes an article that is relevant to almost all of her readers because most people shop at supermarkets. Since almost everyone goes grocery shopping, we’re bound to be exposed to the supermarket’s many marketing schemes. Coming from a family that goes grocery shopping at least three times a week, I feel that this article will allow me to avoid some of the supermarket’s sneaky

The categorical imperative suggests that a course of action must be followed because of its rightness and necessity. The course of action taken can also be reasoned by its ability to be seen as a universal law. Universal laws have been deemed as unconditional commands that are binding to everyone at all times. Kant

This case study analyzes the experiences of Courtland Kelley at General Motors (GM). Courtland Kelley a third generation GM worker put his job on the line by pushing the GM managers and executives to fully respond to the safety issues found while working as a safety inspector at the company. Kelley along with his supervisor Bill McAleer first discovered the issues while auditing GM cars at rail yards across the country, a spot check of vehicles before the cars were cleared to be delivered to the dealers. McAleer was taken off the audit as a result, who subsequently sued the company seeking whistle-blower protection. The case was eventually dismissed by a judge in favor of GM. The judgement only increased Kelley’s

Act utilitarianism is the philosophy that an act is permissible (the right thing to do) if and only if it produces as much or more good than any available alternative (class discussion). Act utilitarianism states that an act is morally permissible to do if and only if the good that the act produces will out weigh the good that any other available alternative act would produce. For example, if you are choosing between sitting at home all day or going to volunteer at a charity, act utilitarianism would state that you must make your decision based on which act will produce the most good. One must weigh all the positives and negatives that each act will create and whichever one produces the greatest difference is the morally permissible act to commit.

Kant's Categorical Imperative determines the right action to be the one that is capable of becoming a universal law. In this regard, Kant argues that when decisions are made on the basis of human rights and duties, they fit the definition of being ethical because if everyone follows the same action, the world becomes a better place. To apply this test, one should answer the question of "what kind of a world would it be if everyone behaved this way?"

Act Utilitarianism is the morally right act, for any situation, is that act which produce the greatest overall utility in its consequences. (“Ethical Choices” 2011). Act utilitarians believe that we need to understand what is right and what is wrong in order for us to make ethical decisions. In doing so, it tells us what we ought to do to promote the greatest amount of utility. In this view, we are focused on the scope, duration, intensity and probability of our actions. The scope tells us how many people are affected by certain actions; The duration tells us the amount of time that the effects our actions last; Intensity tells us how differently people are affected by our actions in that no two situation affect people the same; and, The probability tells us that we can’t predict our futures, but we can estimate how are actions affect others. In act utilitarianism we

Act-utilitarianism, first of all, is an ethical theory that focuses on creating more good or happiness over bad. Effects of an action must be taken into account for everyone. Actions that directly cause the most goodness are morally right. For these reasons, everyone is considered to judge what will produce the most happiness overall. Also, every situation needs to be looked at as completely new and unique.

Immanuel Kant's rationality outlines the Universal Law Formation of the Categorical Imperative as a strategy for deciding profound quality of activities. This strategy contains two basic segments. Initially, one makes a proverb and chooses whether or not the proverb can be utilized as a general law for every single levelheaded being. At that point one figures out if every single sound being would need it to be the all-inclusive law. There are no special cases if the proverb passes both parts. An ethical activity as indicated by Kant is if the current issue passes both parts of the Universal Law Formation of the Categorical Imperative. Case in point, if a specialist is gone up against by a friend or family member of somebody who has as of late

The nature of this imperative is not absolute or universal because it applies to, and is dependant on, ones own inclination or desire, most easily described as, “if one wishes to achieve x, they must do y”. This 
results in it to not be moral because, according to Kant, morality doesn’t tell us what to do on the assumption that we wan’t to achieve a particular goal. Kant believes that morality does, however, establishes itself with categorical imperatives.


Kant’s philosophical idea of the ‘Categorical Imperative’ signifies an unconditional and absolute requirement that ought to be followed in all circumstances and is justified in the means of itself. According to Kant, every action has a maxim, which means that every action has a rule or principle. The most supreme categorical imperative is, “Act only on the maxim through which you can at the same time will hat it should become a universal law”. The ultimate principle of morality must be a moral law, conceived so that it has the ability to universally guide everyone to the right action in all similar circumstances. This is to say that categorical imperatives are for good will, to act for the sake of moral duty, treating others as a mean, and not as an end. It is not for the sake of one seeking reward or recognition, but rather for good and duty, seeking that you

The act utilitarianism theory focuses on others happiness. It looks over the number of positive and negative benefits and forms an action only if positive benefits are higher compared to negative ones. It focuses on the consequences of specific

In Kantian ethics, he believes that the supreme principle of morality is founded on the idea of the categorical imperative. In order to act with a good will, which is the highest good one can achieve, one must act in a way where the good is not a means to an end, but the good is an end in itself. In order for one to test whether or not the action is of good will, the maxim, or the personal rule according to which a person was acting, must be applied. Furthermore, these maxims are then tested by the categorical imperative; if the action can pass this categorical imperative, the rule can be made into universal law. By universalizing the law, Kant believes that this ascertains the rule as applicable to everyone at all times and in turn, is a perfect duty that

Categorical imperative by definition means an absolute and universal moral obligation, established by Immanuel Kant, one of the worlds greatest deontological thinkers. Kant summed up a categorical imperative in three basic forms the first being “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it become a universal law” (Rogerson 130). In other words, this means that you can only call something morally just, if it is able to be turned into a universal maxim, on which everybody should uphold in a similar situation. Kant used an example for this. If you make a promise with not intention of keeping it, then it is only morally just if it can be applied to everyone. This would mean that everyone who tells a promise would have no intention of keeping it. This would make promises pointless, as no one would keep them and there would be no reason for them. He uses this to argue that the maxim of making a promise with no intention of keeping it is not a maxim at all, because it would not work in society setting.

Since Henri Nestlé developed the first milk food for infants in 1867, and saved the life of a neighbor’s child, the Nestlé Company has aimed to build a business as the world's leading nutrition, health and wellness company based on sound human values and principles.