An Ethical Dilemma Essay Example for Free

An Ethical Dilemma Essay There exists a strong link between the way and pace of life in a society and eating habits of the individuals. No matter how diverse and sophisticated the cuisine of a certain culture might be, todays hyper moving tempo necessitates cheaper and faster food. That is where the fast food sector steps in, saving the day. At first glance, they appear to be life savers with their affordable menus. However, when we take a closer look and observe the long-term effects of fast food on individuals, we are faced with health problems such as obesity and heart diseases. Nevertheless, fast food firms also do a very good job in marketing their products to carefully targeted audiences, especially children. This paper will focus on the case of McDonalds and argue how ethical it is for them to advertise for children directly, examining the issue from the perspective of social responsibility. The spread of McDonalds in other parts of the world creates mixed feelings in some countries, and people even claim that the McDonalds and the distorted image of Americanization is harmful for their culture and societies. This opinion is especially valid in Europe, but surprisingly McDonalds is welcome in Asia. What is a common reaction in all countries hosting McDonalds, including its homeland America, is the attitude taken towards the effects of McDonalds on eating habits and the following negative consequences. There are plenty of fast food advertisements in North America and this industry has especially become a part of the life of families with children. Starting from very little ages, children are used to eating this good-tasting, well-marketed and fun menus which usually come along with a toy for free; and their tastes and eating habits are influenced. Even though fast food companies have started to offer â€Å"light† menus and food with less fat and calories, they do not offer the best menus for children. They continue the habit of eating fast food as they go into adolescence and adulthood, and become another candidate for an obese person with various diseases resulting from being overweight. â€Å"Overweight children do tend to become obese adults, putting themselves at a much greater risk, and at a much earlier age, for chronic illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease† (Dalton, 2004, p. 2). One out of three children in the United States is either overweight or at serious risk of becoming so. The number of overweight children ages six to nineteen has tripled within three decades; the rate of overweight preschool children is nearly as great. The accelerating rate indicates that the current generation of children will grow into the most obese generation of adults in history. (Dalton, 2004, p. 2) Although parents are aware that food sold at McDonalds is not very healthy, they are misled by the fact that it is affordable and makes their children happy. What is more, some parents do not have very healthy eating habits either; so one should not be surprised in seeing their children liking McDonalds menus. Moreover, it is not easy to resist the tempting advertisements. â€Å"Some might say that no one is forcing parents to buy these products or foods for their children. But, these ads position the products as must haves. Even if their parents do not buy them the products, children are influenced† (How to Prevent Childhood Obesity. com, 2009). â€Å"Experts name Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds franchise and Walt Disney as the pioneers of child-focused marketing, since they first recognized children as a separate marketing demographic from adults in the 1960s† (Veracity, D. , 2008). Today, we cannot help but wonder how the managers of McDonalds feel about the harsh criticisms that the company gets for advertising and promoting unhealthy food for children. From a business point of view, the company has done a great job since it was founded by Ray Kroc in 1955, generated enormous profits and even became a better known brand than Coca-Cola (Veracity, D. , 2008). Competition in the fast food sector is harsh, so McDonalds heavily invests in high quality advertisements aimed at targeting the right audience, using celebrities and partnerships with other brands, or cartoon characters in their campaigns if possible. They build playgrounds in their stores, which serve as a socializing place for children to meet other kids and have fun. McDonalds not only influences American children and families, but also exports its food, image and advertisements to the rest of the world. They have opened branches in almost all parts of the world, and keep expanding despite the economic recession. They are â€Å"optimistic about business prospects in China and plan to open about 500 stores in the country in three years† (Yan, F. Li, H. , 2009). This gives an important hint about the tastes and habits of the growing generation of children and it is not difficult to foresee that the global influence of McDonalds will intensify in the coming years, despite all criticisms that it is unethical to promote unhealthy food to children. How ethical is the advertising strategy of McDonalds really? Are the managers of McDonalds actually guilty, or is everyone being too harsh and oversensitive? Even though it is normal for a company to hold its own rights and benefits before everything, if it is as influential and global as McDonalds, it also has some moral and ethical responsibilities and should consider the social consequences of its actions as well as making profits and opening new stores. One of the most important causes of childhood obesity is lack of exercise, so it might not be totally fair to blame McDonalds and other fast food chains for obese children. On the one hand, the McDonalds culture heavily contributes in a bad way to developing irregular eating habits. But on the other hand, they cannot be the only ones to blame, as children and their parents are increasingly becoming computer and TV addicts, engaging in very little physical activity. When coupled with fast food consumption, health problems become inescapable. What is the solution to this moral problem then? It is obvious that a company this successful will not quit this business or abandon its strategy. However, McDon can at least modify its advertising approach slightly and recommend doing exercises as the underlying message after having a good McDonalds meal. They can include famous sportsmen in their advertisements and encourage children to engage in sports. They can give out toys associated with sports brands, even organize sports competitions for children with awards, sponsored by major brands like Nike or Adidas. These are just a few suggestions, and there is no doubt that professionals designing McDonalds marketing strategy can work wonders with this idea if they want to. This way, children can learn to associate the consumption of fast food with exercise in their minds and be convinced that they must be physically active in order to burn those calories taken at McDonald and be healthy. In conclusion, if McDonalds and other fast food chains would alter their advertisement campaigns so as to include the theme of more exercise and sports, they would have been more socially responsible. This way, even though they do not sell the most healthy meals, their customers, especially children would know that they have to pay a price for eating a high calorie and high fat meal by doing more exercise. They would also associate fast food meals with the energy and dynamism of sports, which also makes individuals happy. Therefore, this can be a very good formula for McDonalds to keep its happy customers all over the world and appease an angry crowd of protesters who argue that McDonalds advertisements are unethical. References Dalton, S. (2004). Our Overweight Children: What Parents, Schools, and Communities Can Do to Control the Fatness Epidemic. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Should there be Ethical Issues with Fast Food Companies Advertising to Children?How to Prevent Childhood Obesity. com. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from http://www. howtopreventchildhoodobesity. com/ethicalissues- fastfoodadvertisements. html Veracity, D. (2008, July 13). Americas Fast Food Giants Perfect the Art of Selling Junk Food to Children. Organic Consumers Association. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from http://www. organicconsumers. org/articles/article_1092. cfm Yan, F. Li, H. (2009, February 18). McDonalds eye 500 stores in China in 3 years. Reuters. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from http://www. reuters. com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE51H13F20090218

WAR And PEACE And How It Effected The World :: essays research papers

If your computer starts up in the 24 bit version of the game with fuzzy looking graphics, try re-selecting the screen mode from the F11 menu. This should cure this problem. High colour GTA uses a built-in version of the "univbe" display driver to provide its multitude of 15, 16 and 32-bit display modes. If your video card is not recognised by the univbe check, or if you change your video card and the check does not update to it, try running uvconfig.exe in the gtados directory. If that doesn't work, try running 24-bit GTA by typing "gta24 -nounivbe" in the gtados directory. This will cause it to skip univbe and use your video card's native drivers instead. Alternatively, get hold of the latest version of univbe from SciTech Software, and run it as a TSR before running GTA. Windows Drivers ( Grand Theft Auto DirectX ) --------------- GTA DirectX will only work correctly if you have the latest Windows 95 Direct X Microsoft-certified driver for your video card. Your video card vendor should be able to supply this. Some of the latest versions of drivers will allow the use of High colour / Low resolution screen modes (recommended). An example of this is the Matrox Millenium. Gravis Ultrasound ----------------- The DOS version of GTA, run under Windows 95, will not play any sound effects with an Ultrasound, UNLESS you shut down windows into MS-DOS mode, or change the PIF from DOS-Box to MS-DOS mode. DOS Version - CD Sound ---------------------- To allow CD audio to play on the DOS version of GTA, when run under a bootable version of DOS, make sure that you have the MSCDEX driver loaded. On a Windows 95 machine, if you play the DOS version through Windows, or in a DOS box, you should get CD audio. Sidewinder Control Pad - In DOS GTA ----------------------------------- The Microsoft Sidewinder pad is not compatible with DOS GTA. However, it can be used with Windows (DirectX) GTA. Voodoo Graphics (3Dfx) Users ---------------------------- GTA supports 3Dfx Glide 2.

No One Can Smoke Cigarettes in Any of Their Offices

Some Businesses now say that no one can smoke cigarettes in any of their offices. Some Governments have banned smoking in all Public places. Do you Agree or Disagree? Give reasons. Cigarettes are cylindrical rolls of finely cut Tobacco cured for smoking, considerably smaller than most cigars and usually wrapped in thin white paper, according to Dictionary. com.In our present society, Most of the places in our Environment are smoke-free areas by laws implemented in our Government, as well as in some Business Facilities, people caught smoking in public areas will receive probably a consequence or pay an amount to maintain cleanliness in that particular area. With our growing population nowadays, people are tending to buy Cigarettes and use them in public places like anywhere they want, however laws are still weak to counter these problems.But we, citizens of the Philippines and the World, should participate and obey all of the Laws and Protest to stop the use of cigarettes in all of th e areas except in their own private areas for they can only bother their selves and not the people around them and for we may protect our health for our future generations. The Main Disadvantage of smoking in Public areas and Business Offices is that the people around you or 2nd Hand Smokers, which is more severe than the one who is smoking, will have a lot of Health Problems, most probably Lung Cancers and also can Promote Heart Difficulties, like Heart Attack and Heart Failure.We don’t want our love ones or friends to have these illnesses right? So we must stop smoking in public areas or much more let us stop smoking right now. Other thing is that our Ozone Layer is Thinning that is why we need to stop smoking because it promotes Air Pollution which is considered as the top one destroyer of our Ozone Layer that covers us from the Harsh UV Sun Rays. It also has Nicotine wherein many people get addicted on it, it is also considered as a drug.Other People, who are using cigare tte, might say that it’s so hard to eliminate the use cigarettes in most of the public spaces in our environment, but we have an answer for that, we now have the Electric Cigarette wherein there’s no Nicotine on it, which is not addicted and it helps to lessen the use of Cigarettes for the user of it. And the smoke on it is not as powerful as an ordinary Cigarette. Some user of Cigarettes may say that it only contributes a little mount of Air Pollution as like the Car that produces so much Smoke.Well, for your Information smokes of the cigarettes produces 10 times more air pollution than diesel and gasoline, according to www. medicalnewstoday. com . That is why we need to ban smoking in public places; moreover, we should ban it everywhere even in private places. You know that Thousands of people are dying each day because of this Cigarette Smoking Problem, So we must learn and know how to avoid Smoking Cigarettes and mostly Weeds, as much as possible we must not try an d know how to smoke Cigarettes. We must also keep in mind that Smoking can kill, and we have our own family to care with.

Foreign Exchange Policy at Gm Essay - 723 Words

Your write-up should be eight to ten pages (double-spaced). If you provide information outside the case or the textbook, use a footnote to indicate the source. You can use pictures, but no more than four, and each figure should be no more than half a page in size. 1. Hedging Policies at GM. Describe GM’s corporate hedging policies. What are the objectives of GM’s FX risk management policies? What are GM’s passive policies to hedge operating exposures? Use the numbers provided in the case on Canadian dollars to illustrate (you have to change the numbers on pages 4 and 5 from euro to Canadian dollar and follow the same logic). 2. Transaction Exposures vs. Translation Exposures. Define transaction exposures and translation exposures. What†¦show more content†¦On the other hand, the cost of hedging was very high (see Exhibit 13). For example, the estimated cost of hedging a $300m exposure using 12-month forward contracts was $40.3m. 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