Ethics Final Project

Scenario: You are a board member of the American Advertising Association (AAA). You have been asked to be part of a special investigative team to review current situations regarding public relations (PR) and ethical challenges recently in the news. You've been given background articles to read on 9 cases: Domino's, Taco Bell, White House, Amazon, Facebook, Starbucks, Burger King, and Motrin. You want to read all of them!



However, you only want to choose 4 of them to perform a detailed analysis on. The AAA will use your analysis, both what you say was done correctly as it applies to current ethical standards and what you say was done incorrectly as applied to those same ethical standards. Your recommendations for improvement will be used as the foundation for a seminar on Ethical Responses in Crisis Management for AAA members.



Problem: Focusing on the 4 cases you will use for your analysis, be very specific and detailed in your responses using what you know about the cases, what you know about ethics, and what you know about marketing/advertising. Use specific examples to support your arguments. You may need to do some additional research to fully solve the problem. (Please cite whatever additional information you use.)



1. Define the specific problems confronting the company and the ethical concerns that are involved.

2. Discuss in detail what strategies and tactics need to be done in order to solve the problem. (Pay close attention to the details in the articles. What a company spokesperson may or may not say will give you insights.)

3. What was the company's response to the problem? Was is the ethical response? Was it the correct or incorrect response? What supports your views on these questions?

4. What specific strategies and tactics would you have recommended to fix the problem(s)? Is your recommendation the same or similar to what was done? If so, explain why it was the best solution. If different, support your ideas and explain why you think your ideas would work.



Procedure: Type your responses discussing 1 case at a time. (Please indicate which case you are responding to.) Use a legible font 10-12 point. Watch your grammar, spelling and punctuation. Source all your quotes and references where applicable.



NOTE: Check back for information on hard copy hand-in of this final project as well as a small oral presentation in class on Thursday, May 7th. Details to come shortly!!



Secret Information: You just found out that the team member with the best substantiated and thought out report will be asked to head the White House Dept. of Business Integrity with a starting salary of $256,000/year. And, your work will be studied by other professionals in the field!

Let's Talk Ethics at 11am!

ETHICAL DILEMMA
Turn to page 110 in your Ethics textbook and read case studies 9D and 9E. When you have finished, return to the blog and write down everything you know on the following subject: ethics + social responsibility. For example, how can ethics and social responsibility be smoothly integrated into an advertising campaign?

NOTE: Your write up will count toward case study participation points so please put time, thought and effort into your response.

Let's Talk Ethics at 10am!

ETHICAL DILEMMA
Today, we are going to start with a different type of "ethical dilemma". For the next five minutes, I want you to write down everything you know and learned about the ethics of advertising in the digital age. Some areas of consideration include:

- What is the role of advertisers and clients when it comes to digital forms of advertising?
- What is the role of the consumer in this digital age?
- What are the ethical issues and concerns in this digital age?
- What have you learned about what to do/what not to do as it pertains to advertising in this digital age?

Gatorade Presents Tiger's 'Woods of Wisdom'

Read article: Gatorade Presents Tiger's 'Woods of Wisdom'
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/creative/new-campaigns/e3i81c348259fac112e045541bae1aaf637

Post your answers by Wednesday, April 29th at noon (12pm).
1. Does the partnering of Tiger Woods and Gatorade to promote the new sport drink "Focus" cross an ethical line with its use of cartoon-like/Disney-like creative?
2. Apart from children, who else is targeted with this ad?
3. Does the use of Tiger Woods' iconic image, mislead or send mixed messages to the target audience?

Let's Talk Ethics at 11am!

ETHICAL DILEMMA

Let's read the following article on neopets.com. Upon completing the article, return to the blog and answer the following question. http://www.commercialalert.org/news/archive/2000/12/neopetscom-launches-dramatic-new-form-of-internet-advertising-results-far

QUESTION

What is "immersive advertising"?

What We Should Learn from Sony's Fake Blog Fiasco

Read article: What We Should Learn from Sony's Fake Blog Fiasco

http://adage.com/smallagency/post?article_id=113945

Post your answers by Wednesday, April 22nd at noon (12pm).

1. There are implications, positive and negative, for advertisers whenever they engage in communication with their target audience. Discuss the ethical issues that must be considered when using the following modes of communication: word-of-mouth (WOM), blogs, and postings on social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter.

2. Based on your exposure to advertising thus far in your academic studies, what other "lessons learned" would you add to the list when it comes to communicating with your audience.

Let's Talk Ethics at 11am!

ETHICAL DILEMMA

Let's read the following article on the topic of ethics in the age of digital media. When you have finished the article, return to the blog and answer the following questions.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d321c9b6-f85d-11dd-aae8-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

QUESTION

Apart from some deceptive blogging practices some companies are engaging in, how else has the Internet become a "web of deception"?