Abstract This is a research and analytical paper on the legal, ethical, and social responsibility ramifications of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s deceptive advertising scheme for its Beck’s beer products. Beck’s beer was marketed using the labels such as “German Quality” and “Originated in Germany.” It was found out that the beer is no longer produced in Germany because the brewery has been transferred to St. Louis, Missouri. A class action lawsuit was filed against Anheuser-Busch and a preliminary court approval of the agreement with the plaintiffs granted consumers a refund of up to $50 on products purchased from May 2011. Anheuser-Busch has also agreed to adjust the labels in its packaging to clarify that the beer is US-made. The deceptive advertising of Anheuser-Busch violated state laws governing unfair and deceptive trade and is unethical based on utilitarian ethical theory, Kantian theory, and social contract theory. It was also against the social responsibility principles. Table of Contents Introduction 4 Legal Analysis 5 Ethical Analysis 7 Utilitarian Ethical Analysis 7 Kantian Ethical Analysis 10 Social Contract Ethical Analysis 12 Social Responsibility Analysis 13 Conclusion 17 References 19 Introduction When an advertisement or promotion has any representation, omission, or practice that misleads consumers, there is a deception (Richards, 2013). This paper analyzes the legal, ethical, and social responsibility ramifications of the false
When assessing the economic damage to due to Paul Thayer and those that he tipped off about the acquisition of Campbell Taggart, it should be noted that some argue that this kind of insider trading circulates information and forces the stock to its “true value.” If we assume this argument to be flawed, then part of Anheuser-Busch stock dip after the announcement was due to the insider trading and the fact Anheuser-Busch probably paid more to acquire its target. Thayer and his friends trade the Campbell stock for nearly a month before any public announcement of the merger. On July 27 nearly half the volume was insider volume controlled by those individuals who were in violation of rule 14(e)-3 (See exhibit 2). The increased volume might
In today’s society, no matter where you are, there is always a good chance that you have seen an advertisement. These little creatures are everywhere. You may see them when you are reading a magazine, watching TV, or surfing the internet. We have become so used to them. Advertisements are good at making us stop what we are doing and giving them our full attention. What is an advertisement? An advertisement is an announcement made to the public. In Jib Fowles’ article, “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals,” he is informing us that companies are spending millions of dollars on advertisements to grab our attention in order to manipulate us into spending or thinking of spending our hard-earned money on their product. Even though a lot of people do not want to believe that a paper that is eight times eleven with an image and no more than five words is manipulative because we want to think that we are not that easy to trick. Nike created an advertisement for one of
Thesis statement: With marketers aiming their advertisements more towards teens every day, researchers are looking into how effective and ethical these advertisements really are.
Advertising is “false or misleading” under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17500 if it contains “untrue or misleading” claims without adequate qualifying statements. Freeman v. Time, Inc., 68 F.3d 285, 289 (9th Cir. 1995).
Every minute of every day, millions of people are exposed to advertisements. They plague televisions, streets, radio waves, and all means of communication. These advertisements employ many methods of persuasion and their influence is irresistible. Just like prisoners in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, we are told every day to invest our time and interest into the subject of these advertisements, and to accept the forms of reality they serve us. Whether it be a commercial for a must-have new car, to a spot featuring desirable fast food, or to magazines with photoshopped models; we are seduced to accept these false
The Federal Trade Commission enforces these truth-in-advertising laws, and it applies the same standards no matter where an advertisement appears – in newspapers and magazines, online, in the mail, or on billboards or buses.” The Federal Trade Commission does not have one clear definition, but it does explain that companies and services are not allowed to exaggerate their content or images in order to advertise to their consumers to purchase a specific product or service. Again, these advertisements can be seen throughout the media as well as in the public.
In an age of rising consumerism, consumers are engulfed in their gullibility and fall into the scheme of false marketers. As a result, in the 1999 publication, The Onion, it issued a parody press release about the fictional “MagnaSoles” to show marketer ploys on consumer gullibility. To achieve this satire, the publication uses a satirical tone and criticizes the credibility of ads to reveal the fallacy and manipulative power of the industrial world.
Advertisements are everywhere. They are a major part of modern day society. Whether it be a television commercial, an internet banner, or a billboard, advertisements influence people of all ages, but they affect a certain age group much more than others. Children ranging from toddlers to teenagers are exposed to thousands upon thousands of advertisements each year. Some of these advertisements are damaging to children, while others are a positive influence. Advertisements can either be used as a tool or a weapon. Food advertisements and manipulation strategies are both positive and negative, and how companies use them decides whether or not marketing to children is ethical.
In the United States, The FTC (federal Trade Commission) has the authority to impose penalty against advertisers whom violate Federal Standards for truthful advertising. The FTC considers a message to be deceptive, if they include statements that are likely to mislead reasonable customers and the statements that are likely to mislead reasonable customers and the statements are an important part of purchasing decision. A failure to include important information are also considered deceptive. Also, the FTC also looks at so-called “implied claims,?” Claims that you don’t explicitly make but that can be inferred from what you do or don’t say.
Advertising is all around us. Companies of all sorts rely heavily on internet, television, print, and various other types of media outlets as means to reach their audience. Advertising aims to bring in more customers and thereby, more profit. All of this is complicated by the fact that, out of the vast number of products and services available, companies want to prove that theirs are the best. From this is born the tricky and unique language of advertising. In their respective articles, With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything and The Language of Advertising, both William Lutz and Charles A. O’Neill discuss popular ploys used by marketing advertisers to rope in the most customers. Lutz takes a
Two issues are present in the case. The first is a decision on what research should be conducted by Manson and Associates to allow Larry Brownlow to estimate the feasibility of a Coors beer distributorship for a two-county area in Delaware. This issue is evident, even stressed, throughout the case. The second issue is a decision on whether or not the distributorship is feasible or, in other words, a go/no-go decision by Brownlow regarding his application. This issue is largely implicit in the case.
Over the last few decades, American culture has been forever changed by the huge amount of advertisement the people are subjected to. Advertising has become such an integral part of society, many people will choose whether or not they want to buy a product based only on their familiarity with it rather than the product’s price or effectiveness. Do to that fact, companies must provide the very best and most convincing advertisements as possible. Those companies have, in fact, done
Phillips’ Ethics and Manipulation in Advertising: Answering a Flawed Indictment, Timothy Fort states that Phillips’ point in his book was that since advertising has little effect on what consumers buy then there is no need to be too bothered by it. Fort says the purpose of Phillips’ book is to look at the manipulative side of advertising. Fort discussed that Phillips did not feel there was “scholarly proof” to support the effectiveness of subliminal advertising. Fort discussed Phillips’ effort in regulating advertising Fort felt that Phillips’ point certainly made sense although he was not an expert on Phillips’ supporting data. Phillip’s argument for manipulation in advertising is presented as well as his reasoning for why so much money is spent on
However, customers should be given the personal autonomy to make their own decisions about goods and services based on their judgement, especially if the product will not put them in any serious danger. This is where regulating misleading advertisements could be more paternalistic in nature. For example, if an industry has a very homogenous product, then it can be up to the consumer to consider the value of their products based on their advertising. Outlets such as the internet also provide consumers with relatively unbiased information about products in the form of customer reviews and websites
• Advertising should tell the truth not by distorting facts and misleading by means of implications and omissions.