Find a current debate in the news or social media that involves one or several marketing ethics issues and dimensions, as discussed during the course. Support your discussion with an analysis, using the research of others.

Flat Tummy Lollipops

Your task is to find a current debate in the news or social media that involves one or several marketing ethics issues and dimensions, as discussed during the course. For instance, you might examine problems with planned obsolescence (e.g. related to the case in French courts against printer producers), ownership of consumer information (on social media platforms), remuneration of consumer input, targeting specific consumer groups, commodification of essential products (such as water), extensive industry lobbying towards governments and supra-governmental institutions (e.g. in the EU) or how actions of activist groups challenge toward certain forms of corporate activities in the market place.

You can use a wide range of media, such as discussion boards or Facebook pages, as sources for the case of your paper, but you need connect with philosophical, theoretical, and / or academic sources for your argumentation. Use theories and authors from class and add external sources (tip: take a look at the reference lists of the assigned articles, the library’s databases and so on). Thus, you cannot use your opinions only, but you need to support your discussion with an analysis, using the research of others.

The report needs to be written with a 12-point Times New Roman font with 1.5 or 2.0 linespacing and 2.54 cm margins, and page numbering throughout. Please use accurate

referencing in Harvard-style (tip: see the student handbook for further information).

The report should be structured as follows

1. Introduction: background information regarding the case (company, industry, common business practice)

2. The ethical issue / issues at stake: why is this recognised as an ethical issue, from which point of view, what is the relevance to marketing practice more broadly, etc.

3. The ethical implications: who are the key stakeholders, how can you evaluate consequences and ethical principles, etc.

4. Potential business, regulatory and consumer / citizen responses: what are the potential courses of action, are there any or should there be any relevant rules/regulations, what is the role of consumers, etc.

5. Discussion and conclusion: what can be learned from this case, what are the implications

6. References