The Food Industry: The Virtue Base Model

Ethics of the food industry is one of the most important topics worthy of academic research in the marketing field. Health officials claim that food companies conduct business unethically, while food companies claim that they are behaving in an ethical manner. This industry has a crucial economic power on consumers all over the world. In order to conduct a thorough analysis I applied the ethics in question to all four models. I don’t think the Virtue Base model would work well in this case, as it works well when evaluating development of an individual and their ethics but it does not give a great framework to analyze these issues in question.
Deontological theory is duty based and works on that actions are best judged as “good”, …show more content…
The Utilitarian Approach assesses an action in terms of its outcomes such as the net benefits and costs to all stakeholders on an individual level. This approach strives to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number while creating the least amount of harm. I chose this model since it holds that every individual’s interests should be considered equally when making the decision and that it produces the best balance of benefits over harm for the most stakeholders. Outcomes may be quantified in such terms as satisfaction and distress, the comparative value of individual preferences, monetary gain or loss, or the short-term and long-term effects of an …show more content…
It allows us to analyze whether their decisions such as, not clearly stating and highlight “unhealthy/risky” ingredients, marketing to vulnerable markets, not advertise side effects or listing possible consequences if over consumed and making food that the public wants and demands produces the greatest good for the greatest number of individuals. There are so many stakeholders involved that each entity’s outcome can be weighed. These stockholders include the manufacturer, supplier, consumer, community, employees of the company, stockholders, competitors within the same segment, competitors with healthier options, parents of the targeted children, the vulnerable consumers and many more secondary stakeholders. Using the Utilitarianism model, I would say that the companies are not acting in an ethical way. I don’t think that their actions and outcomes of those are producing the greatest good for the greatest number. I think they are causing more harm to the consumers and stakeholders than