Introduction
Most organizations invest a lot of resources in marketing their products and services in order to increase market awareness. One of the marketing strategies used in the promotion of organization products is advertising. Advertising involves raising people’s awareness on an organization’s products. Advertisement can take various forms including television advertisements, billboards, radio advertisements among others. In short advertisement is done through the print and electronic media. Advertisements should have a positive impact to an organization’s image but sometimes poorly done adverts end with a public boycott of the company’s products. Advertisements must be sensitive to the public’s ethics and culture. Therefore, it is important for companies to ensure that the advertising strategies adopted cause positive attention to the company.
Question 1
As the executive in charge of marketing in R. J. Reynolds, I would have recommended for the development of a new icon to replace the Joe Camel character. The new icon would not have any features that attract children’s attention as this is not only unethical but immoral. If the company insist on the use of Joe Camel character for its advertising purposes, I would advise the company on the possible consequences due to the use of children targeted advertisements and consider resigning if nothing changes. By resigning I would be the first to take action against this practice.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Question 2
If I worked in a pension fund that has a large investment in RJR I would consider selling off the RJR holdings shares. The negative publicity brought about by the advert will lead to public boycott of the company products which will end up devaluing the company shares. Devaluation of the company shares will lead to loss of investment but if the shares are sold early enough then pension fund can save its investment.
Also, the public perception on RJR will deteriorate to a point that no company will want to associate with it. If the pension fund continues to have its investment in the company then the pension fund can be viewed by the public as complacent to children targeted adverts. This might lead to the pension fund losing its clients. It is therefore safe for the pension fund to cut any association with RJR not only to save its investment but also to save the company.
Question 3
More and more teenagers are getting into the vice of smoking. A study by Arrazola et al. (2015) posited that the number of smoking teenagers and youths is on the rise due to carefully crafted persuasive campaign by tobacco companies. The use of joe carmel cartoon is one the campaigns crafted to target teenagers and children. Many Americans quit smoking every year and at the same time a number of the current smokers die of tobacco related illnesses. To maintain sales and even increase sales tobacco companies must get new recruits to replace the customers they have lost. The easy target becomes teenagers and youths. Consequently, many government authorities want a blanket ban on all tobacco related advertisements as many studies have given the effects these adverts have on children and youths.
The use of Joe Camel ads drove the market growth of RJR as more consumers purchased their products. There is a possibility that the market growth was as a result of the increased number of children and adolescents smoking RJR cigarettes increased.
Question 4
Company shareholders all over the world expect returns for their investment. Sometimes the expectations exceed the reality. Companies are sometimes given unrealistic targets amidst challenging economic environment. Managements in these companies for fear of losing their jobs resort to unethical business practices to meet the set targets.
Greed, competition and the need for success can also contribute to unethical business practices. The society expect success hence society pushes these companies to be unethical. As much as several organizations including American Heart Association, American Cancer Society among others petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to ban the Joe Camel advertisement as it targets children, it is not enough, more is needed from the public to get rid of this targeted campaigns. The results for RJR market growth from Camel cigarettes sales provided the proof that they needed to indicate children consumption of Camel cigarettes had increased. In fact, RJR has the highest percentage of teenagers and youths smoking its products. Meaning, the market growth was achieved without any intervention from the public. It becomes a little bit late to try and curb this vice at such levels as the affected teens are already addicted to smoking.
Question 5
I think the RJR campaign effort to discourage children smoking in the “Tobacco: Helping Youths Say No” campaign was hypocritical as they supported the initiative but did not stop using Joe Camel advertisements. RJR want to see their company grow and by having teenagers and youths into their customer base is more beneficial to them financially. In my opinion, the anti-smoking campaigns targeted at children and teenagers is just a public relations strategy. RJR want to look good in the eyes of the public while on the other hand continue selling its products to children.
Question 5
Developing nations have developing markets giving the tobacco companies an opportunity grow its sales in those countries. From the read case, tobacco companies can do what happened in the US by continuing with the targeted campaigns in the developing countries for the sake of profits. As much as it is unethical, it will guarantee success as youths and children will engage in the habit for a long period compared to an adult. However, the authorities and citizens of the developing countries should also learn from the above case by not tolerating targeted campaigns. At the moment there is enough data in the US to support a blanket ban on any tobacco targeted advert. The authorities in those countries should protect their young population at all cost. Conclusion
In conclusion, cigarette manufacturing companies need to carry out responsible marketing strategies as they seek to make their products popular. The advertisements should target the correct consumers. Authorities should not allow such adverts going forward. Advertisements should also provide accurate information that does not mislead the consumers.
References
Arrazola, R. A., Singh, T., Corey, C. G., Husten, C. G., Neff, L. J., Apelberg, B. J., ... & McAfee, T. (2015). Tobacco use among middle and high school students-United States, 2011-2014. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report , 64 (14), 381-385.
