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随着世界经济的繁荣，消费者在食物或服务方面，相比以前来说有了更多的选择。同时，从能力到建设和零售的市场竞争与前几十年先比是越来越激烈。如何在市场竞争中存活下来成了严重的问题，并且，一个公司能否在激烈竞争中生存下来再也不取决于一些传统因素。一个公司成功的因素有多种，同时，公司提高他们的竞争能力的方式也成为了一个重要问题。结果就是很多公司和行业开始寻找提高他们竞争能力的方式。比如说，一些公司对他们的产品或服务进行持续升级和改善，以此作为信条。还有一些公司通过打价格战来对抗对手。然而，随着各种营销手段的利用，已经引起关注的道德问题成为了一项严重问题。本文首先讨论了肯德基公司的背景和它的道德问题。然后，根据一些参考文献简要讨论肯德基公司的道德问题。最后，根据我的立场，对道德问题进行总结。
Introduction介绍
With the flourish of the world’s economy, consumers have much more options of food or service than ever before. At the same time, the competition in the market from energy to construction and retail is also becoming fiercer than it's been in decades. How to survive in the competitive market becomes a serious problem，and whether a company can survive in the strongly competitive marketing or not, is not decided by some traditional factors any more. And with the factors that contribute to the success of one company become various, at the same time the way in which one company increase their competitive ability also become various. As a result, many companies and industries have sought to improve their competitive ability in every way. For example, some companies treat continuous upgrading and improvement of their products or service as their credo, and some other companies fight against their competitors through price war. However, with the using of a variety of marketing tools, the ethical issue has been a serious problem which has been a cause of concern for some time. This essay will firstly discuss the background of the KFC Company, and its ethical issue. Following this, it will give a brief discussion of ethical issue of the KFC Company with reference to the literature. Finally, it will come to a conclusion of the discussion of the ethical issue, which is also my standpoint on the issue.
The Background of the KFC Company肯德基公司的背景
The KFC Company has a very long history, and it is famous for its chicken food. As an international company, KFC has already spread all over the world with thousands of stores, though it has a lot of very strong competitors such as McDonald's Corporation, Faircloth Food Services, Inc, Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits. KFC’s specialty is its various forms of fried chicken, and it has two lines of hamburgers, one is the regular chicken sandwiched and the other is its Snackers. In some other places, KFC also serves other types of fast food such as pork ribs or fish. Although KFC have been popular since its establishment, it has some ethical problems. For example, in the process of making fried foods, KFC uses partially hydrogenated oil which has relatively amount of trans fat, which can increase the risk of heart disease. Although the CSP, Center for Science in the Public Interest has took action to let KFC in the United States use some other type oil or be sure the customers know trans fat when they buy KFC foods, some other places continue to treat the hydrogenated oil as their first choice. Besides the production of food, the advertising slogans of KFC also have some ethic problems. KFC used “Finger lickin’ good” as its advertising slogans before 2006, and used “Follow your taste” between 2006 and 2010, and “So good” from 2010 to resent today, all of those can be realized from the appendix in the final part of the essay. It can learn that all of KFC’s advertising slogans avoid talking about its nutritional value, which has not given a warning when its customers buy the KFC fast food. Another issue definitely can not be ignored, that is, animal rights. Just like what Adele Douglass, who was a member of the KFC Animal Welfare Advisory Council, stated that KFC has never ask advice for animal things, the Council was just poorly coordinated even had never got going.（Securities and Exchange Commission, 2006）All of those things of KFC are related to ethic problem, but what is the meaning of ethics? Ethics is a kind of knowledge of philosophy, which we will follow its principles such as the idea of Good when we deal with our life things. (Louis & Pojman, 2011) However, KFC, the fast food giant, has been ordered to pay $8.3m to a poisoned girl’s family. (BBC News, 2012). It makes us question the ethics in the producing of KFC’s fast food.
Ethical Issue of the KFC Company肯德基公司的道德问题
KFC Company has faced with ethical issues in some aspects in recent years. It can say that the process from the products’ design to the consumption is closely related to the ethical issues. However, the design plays a key role in the process. Just like what Adrian Forty stated “Far from being a neutral, inoffensive artistic activity, design, by its very nature, has much more enduring effects than the ephemeral products of the media because it can cast ideas about who we are and how we should behave into permanent and tangible forms”. (Forty, 1986) KFC uses hydrogenated oil in the producing of its fried chicken, and it does not seriously care about whether the kind of oil will hurt the customers’ heath. In this way, the action of the KFC Company dose not confirm to ethical principle—the idea of Good. If the thing goes on like this, people will believe the design of one company’s products is to create some spurious value, cynical manipulation, and try proving the inflated price of the product through its creating false impression of status and exclusivity. (Conran, 1996) Although different people have their own different design standard, the KFC Company should pay much more attention to its products’ design. The so called ethical product put the product safety, consumer privacy, and employee welfare, fair pricing in the first place and fight against the purchase decision. (Crane, & Matten, 2007) Today, advertisement is a dispensable part of one product’s promotions. In the field of product’s promotion, there are also some ethical issues such as advertise false information of the company’s products, mislead consumers to buy its products. However, different people hold different opinion to advertisement. Some people think that advertisement is a great art in the twentieth century. (Marshall & Robert, 1976) But some other people hold a totally different opinion. For example, Stephen Butler Leacock stated that advertising can be described as a kind of science in which the potential of human wisdom will certainly be fully tapped in order to get money from it. (Stephen, 1982) it is true that company advertise for its product widely without having any reference to nutritional values. For example, the KFC Company is famous for its specific food, the fried chicken food. However, the advertising slogans, no matter the past ones, “Finger lickin’ good”, “Follow your taste” or the present one, “So good”, all of them have no reference the fast food’s nutritional values at all. It is confirm to business ethics. The so called business ethics is “the study of business situations, activities, and decisions where issues of right and wrong are addressed”. (Crane, & Matten, 2007) When it comes to the right and wrong, it just means the activities of the company are morally right and wrong, which is opposed to such aspects as commercially, strategically, or financially right and wrong. (Crane, & Matten, 2007) Obviously, the KFC’s action in the filed of food safety does not follow the principle of business ethics.
There are several approached to marketing ethics such as normative marketing ethics, positive marketing ethics and debating between the above two positions. In recent years, some new approaches have developed rapidly such as critical theory, feminist ethics and postmodern approaches. All of those new approaches developed as a kind force instead of the traditional ones. However, although the new ones have some obvious advantages over the traditional ones, the latter has its speciality. For example, according to the basic principle of the normative marketing ethics, ethical marketing should put people in the first place. (Laczniak, & Murphy, 2006) In other words, normative marketing ethics means ethical and socially responsible marketing in normative perspectives. No matter what the roles of people in the marketing, for example, costumers, workers, they should be treated in an ethical way, and they can receive the real social benefit in the marketing system. However, it can say that the basic principle—put the people first is not expressed in some aspects of KFC’s operation such as food safety. The case of Australian KFC poisoned girl is still in suspense, because the KFC Company says it will appeal against the decision—KFC must pay $8.3m to poisoned girl. In this case, it can see clearly that the function of marketing managers in the marketing ethical system. As a very important leader, the marketing manager must make sure that the source material is good. In the case of the Australian KFC poisoned girl, the family’s lawyer told the Australian court that the KFC restaurant would use chicken that had already been dropped on its floor at some busy times. (BBC News, 2012) Obviously, the thing that happened to KFC will definitely lead a great damage to KFC Company’s reputation. However, it can say that this matter's subject matter puts the blame on the manager's fault. It is him who has not required a close attention to healthy sanitation. Just as what Peter Drucker stated a manager of an organization served as a very important member of a leadership, he plays his role under the demands of professional ethic, and the demands is one of the ethic of responsibility. (Drucker, 1954)With the fast development of globalization, more and more companies are paying much attention to reputation of their products, because there are more and more other options can be available. So the term “sustainability” has a specific meaning to one company’s development. Today the sustainability usually includes three main elements namely economic component, social and environmental aspects, so sustainability can be viewed as the systems’ long term maintenance, which must take the three components into consideration. (Crane, & Matten, 2007) From this definition of sustainability, it can realize that sustainability is also playing a key role in the business ethics. Just like what have stated above, the KFC Company has already several strong competitors in the world, if it still continues its original management instead of taking action in food safety and environmental issues, it will have to face with the sustainability problem. |
