Mr smith owns a chocolate candy company the manufacture the choconut big bar whi

Question

Mr smith owns a chocolate candy company the manufacture the choconut big bar which he sells for$2. The chocolate bar measures 6 inches long by 3 inches wide and ½ inches thick.it is sold with the bar wrapped in foil placed in a seal brown cardboard box with the name printed white. Currently mr smith is losing money because the cost of chocolate and nuts has increased beyond his budget.

Instead of cutting back on the quality of the ingredients, mr. smith is planning to cut the size of the bar to 5 inches long by 2 ½ inches wide and keep the bar ½ thick. He will keep the same $2 price per bar. He hopes that no one will noticed the change in the size of the barif he alters the outside packaging to a cheaper brown colored paper wrap with the choconut big bar name in white on the label. Mr. smith will advertise the new package saying- “it’s the same choconut big bar,-now in a new paper wrapper”.

Recalling our discussion on ethic, how will the American marketing association and the federal trade commission address decision have taken by mr. smith? Is there anything else that mr smith can do to improve ethical deision making and avoid unethical behavior in the future?

Explanation / Answer

Mr. Smith’s actions are not exactly unethical. He is not providing any false information. However, the ambiguity of the statement “it’s the same choconut big bar – now in a new paper wrapper” may create confusion. The question here is what does the word “same” mean? Does it refer to quality? Does it refer to quantity or both?

American market association and federal trade commission can raise the point of reduction in size and weight of the candy bar. At the same time, as per the government regulation, we can safely assume that Mr. Smith will be mentioning the specifications and ingredients on the new packaging. This means that the information about the size reduction will be available to the consumers. With these details in mind, the association and the trade commission should not have any objection.

In the future, Mr. Smith could mention a different tagline that focuses more on other parameters rather than saying that it is the same big bar. For example, he could focus on the environmental factors for using paper wrapper.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse M
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.