Companies are trying to succeed as much as possible in order to continue to grow and change. However, from their start, they must grapple with ethical issues when it comes to the audience they seek, the safety of their employees, customers and the environment, distribution of profits and costs, and many other issues (Carpenter, et al., 2009). The government is often asked to interfere with these business decisions when a vocal group disagrees with it; the government has had to ban sweatshops, set a minimum wage, enforce Environmental Protection Act regulations, etc. In India, the government was asked to step in to ban tobacco advertising, a situation that can be used to examine the difficulty of sorting out ethical issues for governments and companies.
In India, there was a push to ban tobacco companies from advertising or sponsoring events. This was driven by a desire to prevent youth and others from taking up smoking by limiting their exposure to tobacco product advertising and through an anti-smoking program (“Ban on …show more content…
This was something that the Indian government felt was a conflict of interest: a freedom of trade meant the tobacco companies grew and earned more money, which could benefit the economy and the workers (like the farmers), but there was a cost to this in human lives. A study suggested that the economy of India would not suffer from the ban, as consumer money would be spent elsewhere once the ban’s effect on lowering cigarette consumption took place (“Ban on Tobacco Ads,” 2001). The conflict of interest the country experienced was a difficult one, and it’s conclusion that the health of the citizens was more important than the economic benefit of the cigarette companies is an interesting
In India, there was a push to ban tobacco companies from advertising or sponsoring events. This was driven by a desire to prevent youth and others from taking up smoking by limiting their exposure to tobacco product advertising and through an anti-smoking program (“Ban on …show more content…
This was something that the Indian government felt was a conflict of interest: a freedom of trade meant the tobacco companies grew and earned more money, which could benefit the economy and the workers (like the farmers), but there was a cost to this in human lives. A study suggested that the economy of India would not suffer from the ban, as consumer money would be spent elsewhere once the ban’s effect on lowering cigarette consumption took place (“Ban on Tobacco Ads,” 2001). The conflict of interest the country experienced was a difficult one, and it’s conclusion that the health of the citizens was more important than the economic benefit of the cigarette companies is an interesting