Trans Fat

[Lynden1000]

I agree that the advertisement of food and education surrounding nutrition in our country is a moral issue. I just meant that french fries and broccoli don't, in and of themselves, have moral characteristics.

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I'm not convinced that the advertising of junk food is a moral issue. I think we could use words like "sensible" and "prudent" or "reckless" and "irresponsible", but I'm not sure "good" and "bad" really apply.

Sure, if I have two left feet, no coordination, and a pathological fear of heights, it might be reckless and irresponsible of me to respond to an ad for a weekend mountain climbing tour; but I don't think the company is being unethical by advertising something that is potentially dangerous-or even lethal. It's up to *me* to take responsibility for my choices, even if someone else helped influence me.

And I definitely think Uncle Sam needs to bugger off and stay out of it.

 

[trunks2k]

Sure, if I have two left feet, no coordination, and a pathological fear of heights, it might be reckless and irresponsible of me to respond to an ad for a weekend mountain climbing tour; but I don't think the company is being unethical by advertising something that is potentially dangerous-or even lethal. It's up to *me* to take responsibility for my choices, even if someone else helped influence me.

Of course it is ultimately up to you. But companies do have a degree of ethical responsibilty. I think advertising junk food towards children is a good example of this. A company needs to consider who it is targetting, and what effects their advertising will have on said audience. We can take the more extreme example of advertising cigarettes to children. It's one thing to advertise your product, it is another thing to focus your product to children such that it sets a bad pattern of behavior that can mess them up in the long run.

In your example above, it wouldn't be unethical for the business to advertise. But it may be considered unethical if that business was advertising in "Two Left Feet, No Coordination, and a Pathological Fear of Heights Weekly," and tried to disguise the potential dangers.

I'm not implying the government should step in or anything. Just that there is an ethical issue here that the individual companies need to examine.