Business Marketing Ethics:
Snuff Out Joe Camel
Business Marketing Ethics: Snuff out Joe Camel
Reynolds is acting in an unethical and socially irresponsible manner
R.J. Reynolds' use of Joe Camel smacks of "target marketing" toward children. The use of a "cool" cartoon figure surrounded by admiring friends and an attractive girlfriend seems tailor-made for enticing children, who are drawn to cartoon figures and crave acceptance and "coolness" at least as much as adults crave acceptance and "coolness." The targeting of children for an "adults-only" product is particularly reprehensible because children are a recognized vulnerable group; the vulnerability of children is the reason for so many laws treating them as "infants" who cannot decide for themselves. In the face of our society's treatment of children as a vulnerable group that must be protected, Joe Camel is an anti-social use of marketing.
Marketing to children is particularly harmful when that marketing encourages smoking. An important reason for the...
That child-to-adult addiction carries a terrible social price: smoking is the addictive cause of more yearly deaths in the U.S. than alcohol, AIDS, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined, according to the "Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids." Consequently, R.J. Reynolds' reference to other brands such as Ford, Chevrolet, McDonalds, and Coca Cola, which do not regularly kill nearly as many Americans, is a weak appeal when faced with the impacts of smoking on health.
Finally, assuming for argument's sake that R.J. Reynolds did not initially target children,…
