Marketing Ethics and McDonaldisation - Assignment Example

Running Head: MARKETING ETHICS AND MCDONALDISATION Marketing Ethics and McDonaldisation [The Writer’s Name] [The Name of the Institution] Marketing Ethics and McDonaldisation This paper would discuss and evaluate two contrasting theories of marketing ethics which are General theory of marketing ethics and Utilitarian theory of marketing ethics. The scenario is increasing rate of obesity among children and the youth who are directly affected with fast food chains’ marketing. The question that would be addressed pertains to currently considerable discussion of the marketing of fast food aimed at children and young people. The ethical aspects of this issue will be explored in the perspective of General Theory of Marketing Ethics and Utilitarian Theory of Marketing Ethics. The first one being reviewed and considered on multidimensional avenues and in this theory the consumer’s benefit is also given a space. If, at all there is found a tinge of harm or loss inflicted upon customer, the marketing strategy is abandoned and reviewed. While the other theory i.e. Utilitarian theory is based on solely profit earning consideration and in this theory the customer’s interest is at stake implicitly. In contemporary fast food marketing scenario, it is apparent that McDonaldisation has created an aura and environment in which the consumer feels attracted and becomes a victim to the provided stuff in abundance and consequently suffers from obesity. The target marketing object i.e. the youth is taking keen interest in fast food restaurants’ menu and prefer it to other simple food. Introduction Fast food chains have dominated in the form of global food factories nowadays. These have changed our social norms and habits of nutritional intake. Our young generation has been suffering from obesity on large scale because of these fast food chains. The miraculous hands of powerful and lavished advertising and marketing strategies have surpassed all boundaries of ethical restraints and harnessed our children and youth who like to sit before their TV sets and taking zinger burgers with coke and French fries. This has even almost touched the level of social dilemma. This trend is called McDonaldisation and defined by Ritzer in these words, “McDonaldisation is the process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of America society as well as the rest of the world.” (Ritzer, 1996, 1) McDonaldisation attracts the youth and children and enthrals them with its apparent captivating marketing tactics and they help not but to feel themselves forced to be their permanent customers. The restaurant offers delivery to those who would like to spend their dinner in the comfort and convenience of their own homes. Ritzer further explains the situation and says, “Nearly ever aspect of today’s society has been affected by McDonaldisation including the restaurant business, education, work, healthcare, travel, leisure, dieting, politics and the family” (Ritzer, 1996, 1). There is a small server to customer ratio to provide the best service expected throughout a customer’s meal. A kid’s bambino menu is offered for children to enjoy less expensive meals that suit their size, along with a separate lunch menu that offers smaller portions for a lighter meal. Happy Hour items are offered at certain hours for a quick snack fix, providing just enough time to satisfy your thirst with a favourite drink. Dimensions of McDonaldisation and Fast Food Marketing Ritzer further affirms “Efficiency is the first dimension of McDonaldisation and the optimum method for getting from one point to another.” (Ritzer, 1996, 9) McDonalds Restaurant UK Ltd is a company that has more sales than their competitors, (Berta, 2003, 16-18) and they consistently grow more than their competitors, Nonetheless, McDonald's profit margins are not as strong as the industry average but the fact that they make up for that in terms of economies of scale and market share makes them a good investment. In addition, the company has a very strong market share but despite it being the leader in the industry, has experienced adverse publicity recently (Jones et al, 2002, 41-49). “The second dimension of McDonaldisation, calculability, is an emphasis on the quantitative aspects of products sold (portion size, cost) and service offered (the time it takes to get the product)” (Ritzer, 1996, 9). Emphasizing quantity over quality is an important aspect of calculability. With any unlimited home loaf and soup or salad is offered. For the bar flies free peanuts are always out in buckets for all to enjoy. McDonald's has loosened its capability to compete with rival's more innovative products, such as Burger King's fries and whoppers, Subway and Costa Coffee, (Berta, 2003, 16-18). With increasing competition from healthier options as well as other fast “As the third dimension of McDonaldisation, predictability, gives the assurance that their [a company’s] products and services will be the same over time and in all locales.” (Ritzer, 1996, 10) It can be argued that McDonald's early success was that its restaurants offered lower prices, faster services, and more consistent quality than competitors. Contemporaneously, competitors have caught up and are equally matching McDonald's quality and service via varied forms. The fast food sector is now near saturation, characterized with overcrowded substitutes promoting limited differentiation that encourages a poor eating experience, (Lashley, 2001, 23-26). According to McDonald's strategic annual review, it has had to review the opening of 700 restaurants and rethink its marketing strategy to attract old and new consumers. “The fourth dimension of McDonaldisation is increased control and the replacement of human with nonhuman technology (Ritzer, 1996, 10). Within the UK, McDonald's has failed to keep up with trends in marketing towards the health conscious, ingredients led customer. According to Jones et al, 2002, the trend towards fresh ingredients supported by governments, interested groups, fashion and retail has ensured a different client base. In regards to controlling customers, the guest is expected to honk the horn to get the attention of employees to serve them. If there is a wait a pager is given out to customers to be buzzed at the soonest opportunity a table opens up. When the customer is through with a meal, the check is brought promptly to encourage them to leave and allow the next table to be sat. The choice in fast food has grown and the term "fast food" has evolved. They further state that terminology has changed to encompass convenience rather than fast and equally, does not give a time limit or limit on choice of dish. (Tabakoff, 2002, 13) For example, in the 80's, McDonalds introduced a timer to ensure timings were adhered to and that the clients received the meal within 1 minute. This was abolished in the late 80's. “The irrationality of rationality is recognized as the fifth dimension of McDonaldisation. This is the downside of McDonaldisation emphasizing the basic idea that rational systems inevitably spawn irrational consequences, serve to deny human reason and are often unreasonable” (Ritzer, 1996, 13). “As McDonaldisation comes to dominate ever more sectors of society, it will become ever less possible to escape’ from it” (Ritzer, 1996, 143). The best ways to reach the ethical goal is to conform to McDonaldisation and strive for efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. People have come to value the individual dimensions of McDonaldisation and insist on relating to them even if they are not rewarded with economic gains. The process of McDonaldisation is so desirable that it is pursued as an end to itself. McDonaldisation has invaded every sector of society and as someone who grew up with McDonaldisation at every corner of life. (Ritzer, 1996, 145) Few people can imagine the impact of McDonald’s upon societies. It is one of those phenomena that have engulfed our own society so much so that people begin to be numbed by the postulation and fail to see the greater issues and significances behind the gleeful grins of the iconic Ronald McDonald. In reading Watson’s chapter on “McDonald’s in Hong Kong”, it seems that as the book progresses, it begins to move to more conceptual issues of McDonald’s – issues of modernity. That is, more specifically, of Americanization and cultural identity. (Watson, 1998, 18-25) What is interesting here is that this is an example of a kind of brand blowback happening on a worldwide scale. McDonald’s is actually a truly powerful brand, authentically global in its reach, and understood everywhere with total clarity. Normally this is its strength. Perhaps what is more significant behind this statement is that people have construed this notion that countries or places with McDonald’s are relatively more developed – and thus, civilized? The all-too-familiar golden arches seem to have become an indication of a comfort zone to many of us. Almost every time someone thinks about a McDonald’s meal, they will visualize a hamburger wrapped in paper, an order of French fries and a large cup of Coca-Cola. Much like the Big Mac, this unpretentious beverage hides a bushel of social, cultural and political issues that in itself is one of the richest sources for anthropological research. Ethical Issues Surrounding Marketing to Children Today's society rarely questions the ethics of advertising and selling to minors, and marketers are no longer considered thieves for their actions. Marketing to minors raises significant ethical issues, since many researchers (and marketers) believe that minors are more impressionable than adults. Many marketers view children as an important economic group to be used to fuel sales growth. Marketers increasingly target children because of the amount of money they spend themselves, the influence they have on their parents spending and because of the money they will spend when they grow up (Aidman, 1995, 189-93). Increasingly, the public sees pervasive advertising as a form of exploitation. This ongoing debate sparks virulent appeals from both sides, and leaves marketers and parents with ethical dilemmas. Even at the age of one or two, children find themselves in a "culturally defined observation post high atop a shopping cart" seeing for the first time "the wonderland of marketing" (McNeal, 1992, 56-60). Children as young as three years old can express brand awareness and make the connection between what they see on television and what appears on store shelves. Studies show that nearly three quarters of four year olds "often or almost always" ask for a specific brand (Fischer et al, 1991, 3145-48). McNeal (1992, 56-60) notes that this stage marks the beginning for marketers, "for it signals the beginning of the child's understanding of the want-satisfaction process in a market-driven society." In order to fulfil their profit targets, marketers recognize a minor as a full-blown consumer once the child can select and purchase an item without the assistance of a parent. By age of four or five, McNeal's studies show that children can locate items in a store, pick them off the shelf and pay for items. By age eight, children make most of their own buying decisions (Raphael, 1993, 38). This establishment of independence carries on into the teen years, forming the foundation for lifelong consumerism. Advertiser Focuses Advertisers seek to make children into children of their product or brand. Companies try to form habits at the youngest age possible, creating lifelong consumers with strong memories of a particular brand. Advertisers benefit from the impressionable state of children. Young children, especially, possess little capacity for discerning between "good" or "bad" brands, or identifying potentially harmful products. Advertisers pursue minors for a favoured spot in their memory that can last for years. "The great thing about them is that their memory banks are relatively empty so any message that goes in gets retained" says Peter Mead, chairman of advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers (Cohen, 1999, 4-8). Advertising can create a fantasy world for children where potentially harmful substances such as cigarettes and alcohol are appealing. Budweiser beer ads in the late 1990s captivated children with cartoons of frogs, penguins and lizards, making them kids' favourite ads year after year (Kaplan, 1997, 68-69). Advertisers reap the benefits of the insecurity of teens and pre-teens, where having the right Abercrombie & Fitch clothes or trendy Mazda car can play a significant part in shaping popularity. Brands act as stamps of legitimacy, authenticity or group membership. Advertisers often use sexuality as a sales tactic. Advertisers such as the aforementioned Abercrombie & Fitch use male and female models in suggestive positions and clothing to make being 'sexy' desirable. These types of ads subtly incorporate promises of being 'sexier' if you wear particular clothes or buy certain products. Advertisers also sensationalize products, adding to the product fantasy world. Nike and Reebok have aired campaigns in recent years showing athletes performing unnatural feats while wearing the "right" shoes. Food makers have turned to coloured and flavoured foods. Ore-Ida, a unit of Heinz, appeals to children with blue French fries in cinnamon and chocolate flavours. Researcher Victor Strasburger (2001, 185-87) found that junk food advertising "is very effective in increasing the children's requests for 'junk food' and for trips to fast food restaurants and in changing the fundamental views of healthy nutrition." Strasburger (2001, 185-87) notes the relationship between food advertisements, unhealthy eating practices, and obesity: "More than 50% of American adults are now overweight, and the number of overweight children has doubled in the past two decades. The prevalence of type II diabetes--previously thought to be almost exclusively an adult-onset disease--has increased dramatically among children and teenagers as well." Strasburger goes on to note that half of all ads that children view are for food, especially sugared cereals and high-calorie snacks. Marketers, through their advertisements, vigorously encourage children to seek happiness, well-being and self-esteem through product consumption. Children are taught the morally questionable ideal that material objects enable them to be cool, funny and popular. Children are "highly vulnerable to pressure to conform to group standards and mores" (Strasburger, 2001, 185-87). Without the pervasiveness of advertising, children could gain greater understanding of the social acceptance that does not come with a materialistic string attached. Clearly, the prevalence of marketing to children can lead to dire consequences. (Harris, 1996, 313-28) Marketers, parents and society in general must decide when marketing crosses the line ethically and leads to physical and mental harm to children. The moral and ideological critique of 'Big Food' has been an important contribution to our understanding of the relationships between government officials, public policy, big business and the food we eat. (Brassington, 2000, 134-40) However, the idea that the saving power of nutritional science, enacted through nutrition guidelines, has been violated by 'Big Food' would seem an unnecessary and difficult to sustain part of this critique. At the risk of oversimplification, this assessment seems to be saying that 'we know that overweight and obesity are serious diseases, we know what causes them, and, in broad terms, we know what to do about them'. (Schwartz, 2003, 57-71) The 'obesity epidemic' is mentioned in Fast Food Nation but is not the focus of the book. Schlosser's arguments are primarily moral and political; his position is that the conduct of 'Big Food' is self-evidently immoral and that unconstrained free-market forces and weak government bureaucracies do not lead to safe working environments, safe food, fair wages or the humane treatment of animals. Unencumbered with claims about scientific cause-and-effect, Schlosser focuses on the lives of real humans and animals, not theoretical machines, and is all the more compelling for it. (Schlosser, 2001, 110-16) Conclusion Applying the General Theory of marketing Ethics, marketers must recognize the consequences of their aggressive marketing to younger and younger audiences. However, parents must take primary responsibility for protecting their children from predatory marketing practices. Parents can limit their children's television watching time or video game playing. Parents should encourage children to participate in physical activities, whether organized sports or just playing outside with the family dog. Parents must monitoring movies, magazines, Internet use and other media exposure. As adults, parents have the ability to discern between positive and negative influences, and values that they support and those that they do not. Parents should also involve themselves in proactive change in their communities. In addition to lobbying schools to limit advertising on campus or lobbying the Federal Trade Commission and elected officials, parents can organize informally. One example for parents is to create support networks that provide activities for children away from the influences of corporate America. The utilitarian theory based marketers must acknowledge that advertising can and does affect children. Children are vulnerable to the persuasive techniques of savvy marketers. Parents must consider their moral obligation to provide safe, nurturing environments for their children. This requires tough, ethical decisions about the level of exposure children have to advertising and corporate influences. Parents must work to shape a new political and social environment to protect children from advertising and marketing. Implementing some of the suggestions above can help reverse the damage inflicted on children at an early age by predatory marketing, and better prepare them for making sound decisions as adults. Ritzer is intent on showing that McDonaldisation first focused on key aspects of daily living—providing food, drink, entertainment for children--and has moved into more and more arenas--the workplace, housing, sports, medicine, funerals--he discusses all of these without noting their gendered properties. Ritzer states that fast-food restaurants and other McDonaldised institutions are advantageous for single- parent and dual-career families pressed for time. Using Smith's framework reveals more complications than Ritzer acknowledges. The pervasiveness of fast-food opportunities, as well as omnipresent advertising for them, may escalate pressures on busy mothers in terms of fitting in frequent trips to them, emulating their "efficiency" and "fun" in their cooking at home, or worrying about whether boxed "Happy Meals" can truly substitute for more traditional family ones. For example, a recent television commercial depicts a mother using a packaged sausage product in order to meet her three children's demands for different dinner dishes. She is able to do this quickly and efficiently because she has purchased the right solution. What makes it right is that it allows her to reproduce at home the experience of taking her children to eat at a fast-food restaurant. Each child can have maximum control over her/his choice of entrée, and their mother can deliver their exact requests efficiently. The commercial, of course, represents this as a gain for both the children and their mother, and Ritzer seems to agree. Ritzer allows the reader to believe that McDonaldisation is compatible with the entry of more women into the paid labour force. In effect, this is one of the messages conveyed in McDonald's television commercials: busy parents find relief by taking their kids to McDonald's. The commercial described above simply has to draw on this understanding to further extend the market for McDonaldised solutions; now it also includes numerous kinds of foods available at the supermarket that require minimal cooking time and effort at home. The marketing ethics demand that the strategy must be based on general theory of marketing ethics and all aspect of human health and fitness must be adhered to while forming marketing strategy. The profit oriented marketing strategy is immoral and ultimately has to face decline and rejection. McDonaldisation that accepts one of the main claims of this enterprise, Ritzer weakens the impact of his argument. Ritzer presents McDonaldisation as ideological; it is a system of beliefs and values, as much as it is a system of actions. The beliefs and values of McDonaldisation are marketed relentlessly, sold as attractive, desirable, a positive part of the way we live now. Ritzer seeks to challenge that characterization, but concedes that McDonald's and other similar organizations offer significant advantages to harried parents. His analysis is constrained by the self-promotion of the McDonaldised world. Smith provides tools for establishing some distance from the advertised virtues of McDonaldisation. References Aidman, Amy. (1995). Advertising in Schools. ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois. 189-93 Berta, D. (2003) Study shows student eager to work in hospitality, Nation's Restaurant News. Vol.37 Issue 12 pp. 16-18. Brassington, F, Pettitt, S (2000), Principles of Marketing, London: Pitman Publishing. 134-40 Cohen, Nick. (1999, November 1). The Childhood Snatchers: Marketing to Children. New Statesman, 12 (579). 4, 8. Harris, P. and Lock, A. (1996) ‘Machiavellian Marketing: The Development of Corporate lobbying in the UK’, Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 12, pp. 313–28. Jones, P. Shears P. Hillier, D. Clarke, HC. (2002) Customer perceptions of services brands: a case study of the three major fast food retailers in the UK. [Journal] Management Research News. Vol.25, Issue, 6/7. Pp.41-49 Kaplan, David. (1997, August 4). Caped Crusader. Newsweek. 68-69. Lashley, C. (2001) Empowering Service Excellence - beyond the quick fix. London. Cassell. 23-26 McNeal, James. (1992). Kids as Customers: A Handbook of Marketing to Children. New York: Lexington Books. 56-60 Raphael, Murray. (1993). Are You Kidding. Direct Marketing, 56 (3). 38. Ritzer, George. 1996. The McDonaldisation of Society: An investigation into the changing character of contemporary social life. Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press. 1-13, 143-45 Schlosser, E. (2001) Fast Food Nation: What the All-American Meal is Doing to the World, London: Allen Lane. 110-16 Schwartz, M. B. and Puhl, R. (2003) 'Childhood obesity: a societal problem to solve', Obesity Reviews 4, 1: 57-71. Strasburger, Victor. (2001, June). Children and TV Advertising: Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 22. 185-187. Tabakoff, J. (2002) 'Slam the brakes on fast food before health problems get any worse', Sydney Morning Herald, 13 August: 11. Watson James L: 1998: Golden Arches East: McDonalds in East Asia: McDonald's in East Asia: Stanford University Press: 18-25 Read More