Matel Case Stusy Essay

The author is set out to target companies such as the fast food industry and its affiliation with child targeted advertisement. The article begins by

Marketing to children is not a new phenomenon; however, there have been many ethical debates on its rightness; is advertising to children a gentle persuasion of the innocent or a sinister threat to our society? There’s too much as stake if we remain silent and simply assume that marketing companies have our children’s best interests at heart; the truth is they don’t. This paper will explore to implications of marketing to children and the overall effects it has on our society. I will argue that advertising to children is a social problem. In the first part of my paper I will discuss why advertising to children is ethically wrong, I will then discuss what has changed; this will be followed by a discussion as to why it is a social problem and finally, I will conclude my paper by discussing what should be done to change it. Please note this paper is written in the first person as I have children and I have a vested interest in this topic.

Marketing and branding a product is a very practical practice for any business that wants to generate revenue, and ultimately become successful. Corporations have a plethora of methods to attract consumers to their products that they use to appeal to all demographics in order to maximize their profits. However, there is one demographic in particular that draws the majority of the attention from large corporations from its sheer size alone, children. During the course of this essay, information will be drawn from the views of Naomi Klein, Ann DuCille, “The Merchants of Cool” documentary, and Episode 14 Season 5 of The Simpsons “Lisa Vs. Malibu Stacy”, regarding methodologies of marketing that business use to make profits, that actually end up negatively affecting children.

Mattel is the world’s #1 toy maker with more than 30,000 employees and more than $4 billion in sales. A well-established core product portfolio has set Mattel’s established position in the toy market much higher than their competitors. Its products include Barbie, Fisher-Price toys, Hot Wheels and Matchbox Cars, American Girl dolls books, and licensed Disney and Sesame Street products are just a few that have helped them reach such great profits throughout the world. Although Mattel leads the industry, it recognizes the complexity of staying on top in a highly competitive and shifting business. While keeping their sales outlets current, toy companies must constantly seek to achieve the next big hit. In

“Cradle to grave” and “Brand loyalty” these slogans are the goal of many companies which target our kids to get us to spend our money on unnecessary things. The article “Kid Kustomers” by Eric Schlosser, an American award-winning author and journalist. He studied in both Princeton and Oxford. One of his most well-known writings is “fast food nation” and the other is “Kid Kustomers”. “Kid Kustomers” published in is one of Schlosser’s best articles, he discussed the fact that there is a market targeted exactly and specifically to our children, and this is not a new phenomenon, this way of marketing has been invented and followed for at least 25 years. Schlosser’s Kid Kustomers is a very good essay published in 1959, it has many ups and

Additional risks can be in the production itself. Toys are in a very regulated industry and any defects in production that are not within the regulatory standards can be either recalled if they are already being sold to consumers or cause the entire production run to be discarded or destroyed. Both instances are very costly but taking the initiative to create a safe work environment that is compliant with all regulations can mitigate that risk.

What comes to mind when thinking about childhood playtime? Memories of playing with Barbie and her dream house or racing Hot Wheel cars are most often thought about. Do you ever stop to think, where those toys were made, or if the company making them is ethical? Most consumers do not, however the leaders at Mattel do. Mattel knows they have an ethical and social responsibility to their customers. Their goal is to produce toys that are not only safe but also made at ethically run production facilities.

In 2009, Mattel opened Barbie’s first flagship store, House of Barbie, in Shanghai, China. Known as the ultimate Barbie dream house (Voigt, 2012), Mattel spent millions on setting up the most fashionable boutique where you could go to have all Barbie’s needs met for bot child and adult, to include dolls (Wang, 2012). Being that the boutique offered large quantities of products and services in variety, the company had a hard time deciding which product would catch on, how much consumers were willing to pay for the product and which ones to localize and the price of localizing in advance (Voigt, 2012). Mattel would eventually discover the magnitude of their mistakes would eventually overwhelm their ability to learn and adapt due to their dealings with too many parts moving in the dynamic yet unfamiliar market in China.. These mistakes caused them to eventually close doors two years later.

In the past four years, Mattel has had to recall nearly 30 million of toys due to safety concerns such as lead level in paint, magnets and dangerous toy parts or design.

In addition, Mattel had to recall roughly 18.2 million toy cars due the small magnets being possibly swallowed by young children (Barboza, Story, 2007). Although these toys were manufactured in China,

The problem surrounding Mattel Inc. is their mismanagement of international subcontractors and vendors and the production of certain toys (the manufacturing process), as well as their inability to adapt their marketing strategy or product to the constantly changing “demographic and socioeconomic trends.” This is supported by Mattel’s legal battle with Carter Bryant and MGA, their forced recall of certain toys that were manufactured overseas, and the increasing rate at which traditional toys are becoming less appealing to today’s young audience. Essentially, Mattel’s mismanagement and oversight lead to violations in terms of ethical and social responsibilities and safety standards.

1. Do you believe that Mattel acted in a socially responsible and ethical manner with regard to the safety of its toys? Why or Why not? What should or could Mattel have done differently, if anything?

In today’s society, the food and beverage industry is faced with an ongoing ethical dilemma because they are far more concerned with making money than providing a good, safe, and healthy product for consumers. The biggest victims in this unethical marketing scheme are children. Children are the least informed and most influenced of all potential consumers (5). Although children usually don’t directly purchase these products themselves, their desires strongly influence their parent’s decision on what to buy and what the child will eat. Most products geared towards children are unhealthy, processed foods that are high in sugars and low in nutritional content (6). This has led to a rise in childhood

Barbie has won not one but multiple awards and certificates for being who she is, and impacting the toy industry greatly. “Hello Barbie Wins Dreaded TOADY Award for Worst Toy of the Yea.” (The Barbie Doll's Not-for-kids-origins.) On December 8 Barbie won the worst doll of the year award because of people in Boston. Individuals in Boston voted Barbie as one of the worst toys created, and the TOADY stands for Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young children.

This paper will particularly focus on the food industry and will outline the ethical issue of food marketing towards children by reviewing the existing marketing ethics literature. The paper will evaluate the ethical responsibilities of marketing managers towards the issue of food marketing towards children and its impact. The paper will also explore and propose how managers of marketing can change their strategies to improve the ethical performance of the company by analyzing theories such as business ethics, social marketing and corporate social responsibility (CSR). It will discuss various theoretical approaches to marketing.