Ethical Principles of Food Packaging: Frutee Dilemma - Coursework Example

Ethical Principles of Food Packaging: Frutee Dilemma Name Institution Course Date Ethical Principles of Food Packaging: Frutee Dilemma Introduction Frutee designs food packagings made out of paper. The packagings are targeted to packaging kids’ products. Kids have a lot of admiration for colourful items (Mininni, 2014). These paper packagings have a mix of four colours that are used in enticing kids when they purchase food products in the packaging. The colours are bright and will strike the client from a distance. In addition to this, Frutee uses cute graphics. The graphics include clipart features that are used to draw the attention of kids. Some of the clip arts are drawn from favourite kids’ shows and the image shown is that of an animated being munching the product in the packaging. This is aimed at drawing the attention of the kid to the particular food stuff in the packaging. The letters used on the packaging to describe the product inside are simple and the image of the product clearly defines what is in the packaging. In essence, the packaging speaks for itself when seen by the client. Developing the packaging has involved many factors that include stating the ingredients of the product as well as stating the impact of the product to the environment. This has been done as a way of promoting social corporate responsibility by the company. In addition, stating the effects of the packaging to the environment is a way of promoting the company’s reputation because it demonstrates the company’s commitment in providing products that are friendly to the environment and subsequently, to the people. In addition, food packaging has an aim of achieving reduced food wastage (Verghese et al, 2013). Therefore, having a food packaging that has minimal impact on the environment complements the idea of packaging the food. However, there are some ethical dilemmas involved in designing of the packagings. There are environmental concerns with the products of Frutee. The packagings have been labelled to be friendly to the environment and being green products. This has been done across all the products from Frutee. The intention is to make the client perceive the producer of the packagings as being aware of the environment and working to conserve the environment. On the contrary, the products lack the attributes they have been labelled to possess. For instance, the trash bag used in making some packagings is degradable. However, these packagings will remain in the landfill for decades when disposed off. Such products have to be activated by other products for them to decompose (ExcelPlas Australia, 2003). This information has not been presented to the users of the products. This issue is an ethical concern because there is information that has not been presented to the consumers. In addition, the information presented to the consumers is not 100% accurate, and involves some element of ingenuity. This implies that the client shall be deceived into believing that the packagings are green products and environmentally friendly while in real sense, the products take sometime in the environment. Degradation of these products also emits a lot of carbon to the environment, contrary to the claim that they are green products. The amount of carbon footprint contributed to the environment by these products to the environment is high and not conforming to what the label on the packagings portray. The intention of this information is to create a big reputation of Frutee to clients and as a result, provide an edge in selling products produced by Frutee (Dingal, 2010). Another emerging issue is the label information. This information misleads consumers by giving information that is not true. The information exaggerates the attributes of the products. For instance, the label states that the products in the packagings have low fats are organic and they are 100% juice. This information is not true of the actual products in the packagings. Exaggeration of the attributes of the products has been done so as to lure consumers into purchasing products. While this will work for the beginning, it will prove counterproductive once the consumers discover the truth about the products. Frutee will benefit from the attributes posted about the products. This shall have the positive effect of high returns and increased profits from the high number of clients that will purchase the products. However, realization of the actual attributes of the products shall be a turn off to the clients. Presently, companies have discovered that their businesses cannot rely purely on profit-making and they have turned to staying true to business ethics (Ethics Resource Center, 2009). This involves practicing standard moral behaviours regardless of the business situation. Therefore, Frutee faces the dilemma of reverting to sound business practice or going ahead with its current practice. Whatever the choice, the interests of all stakeholders have to be met. Ethical Balance Sheet Good side Bad side It brings profit to the company “Frutee” This product gives working opportunities to designers Kids love the cute graphics on the packaging, looks nice and attractive Environmental issues (related to the misleading label information. The packagings tend to label their products as environmental friendly product, green product, and so on. However, the products actually do not have that kind of attributes. For example, degradable trash bag which actually will remain intact for decades in the landfill.) Label information The product use label information to mislead consumers by providing untrue information or to exaggerate their products’ attributes. As examples, nutrition’s information like low fat, organic and 100% pure juice. The stakeholders include the kids who shall use the packaged products, the manufacturers of the foods to be packaged, the manufacturer of the paper packagings, the supermarket that shall sell the products and the designer of the packagings. These are the people who can either affect the actions of the business or they can be affected by the actions of the business. In this regard, the business issues at Frutee shall affect some stakeholders positively while others shall be affected negatively. This is because each of the stakeholders has a role to play in the development of Frutee. The kids are the clients of the products packaged by Frutee. Since they are he consumers, they determine how sales shall be made by the company. The manufacturers of foods to be packaged play the role of determining how many packagings are produced. In addition, they contribute to the growth of the company through the quality of foods they make. If the packagings used promote products that are not pleasing to consumers after use, the business of the packagings shall close down. The manufacturer of the paper packagings plays the role of producing the products as designed by Frutee. They have to develop products that are intended by Frutee to reach to a high number of consumers. The supermarket is responsible for selling the products. Therefore, they determine the number of sales made by the product by displaying the products for sale. Finally, the designer of the packagings plays the key role of developing the blue print to the packaging. The design of the packaging has the role of attracting kids into the purchasing the products. For each of the stakeholders, there are values that are at stake, each of which is aimed at ensuring maximum benefits to the stakeholder. Satisfaction is the ultimate goal when the values of each stakeholder are met. Most importantly, the value created by the stakeholder should yield a price that is more than the price incurred during production (Argandona, 2011). Economic value is important for each of the stakeholders because it helps in keeping the economic status healthy. Extrinsic value is also attained through interaction with each other. This refers to elements of recognition of each other during business transactions. Psychological intrinsic value is also gained by stakeholders. This was stated by Argandona (2011) to imply the satisfaction that is attained by individuals during the course of their business interaction. Transcendent value is also gained by involved parties. This refers to evaluative learning where the stakeholders learn from what they have done before and evaluate what they can do better. Finally, there is value based on negative or positive externalities. This refers to the value that is felt by other people other than those who have been involved in the transaction. For instance, the relation between the manufacturer of the food and the packaging manufacturer attracts this type of value to the kids. These values can be ranked as follows: 1 2 3 4 5 Economic value Psychological intrinsic value Extrinsic value Value based on positive or negative externalities Transcendent value Source: Argandona (2011) During the interaction, one of the ethical principles that are in play includes remaining trustful to one another. In addition, the community should be involved through environmentally friendly products and products that are safe for use. Environmental damage should be kept as minimal as possible. The stakeholders should also practice transparency in all their activities. Each of these principles should be done in a mutual way for all parties involved. This shall eliminate any business dilemmas. The case of Frutee can be analyzed using two perspectives. A utilitarian approach proclaims maximum happiness to the maximum possible number of people (Rosen, 2003). This implies that the most desirable ends for the parties involved in the business determine how right the business act is. This theory proposes that if the pleasure, or pain, created the most happiness to the majority of the people, then the act is said to be right. The utilitarian approach to the dilemma involves a systematic identification of stakeholders in the situation as well as alternative actions and the consequences for each stakeholder. The effects of this act by Frutee to each of the stakeholders shall be used in deciding whether the act is right or wrong. This approach is more liberal because the interests of an individual are not the key determinants of the decision to be made by the company. In fact, the approach has the goal of ensuring the values of profitability, efficiency, economic stability, fair competition and non-discrimination are promoted. The approach therefore determines best, whether the act by Frutee was right or wrong (Trevino and Nelson, 2010). On the other hand, the consequentialism theory states that the consequences of an act determine how right or wrong an act is. This implies that acts and practices should be justified based on references to their consequences. It also implies that the outcomes of alternative courses of actions have an influence on how right or wrong an act is (Hooker et al, 2000). Use of the consequentialist approach in this case is important because considering the consequences or outcomes of one’s decisions plays an important role in making business decisions. In fact, most business managers depend on this approach because they learn a lot of lessons from the consequences of their acts. This implies that the effects of Frutee’s acts can be used as a lesson. Based on the outcome, whether positive or negative, the company can learn and make better decisions from the previous decisions that had ethical issues. This is the reason the consequentialist approach is more practical in analyzing the ethical dilemma. This approach faces the challenge of getting information required to evaluate the consequences for stakeholders who shall be directly or indirectly affected. Despite this, it provides more details based on the consequences of the actions (Trevino and Nelson, 2010). Based on the two theories, the utilitarian approach proposes that Frutee could be right in acting the way it did on the two business issues, provided majority of the stakeholders were the beneficiaries. In a situation where most of the stakeholders do not benefit from the act, the move is not ethical. Justification of the act by Frutee using the consequentialism theory implies that when the consequences of the acts are not pleasing based on references to pleasing acts, then the move by the designer is not right. If the consequences are compared and found to be right, then the actions were right. In essence, if other companies did the same thing as Frutee has done and the act is considered right, then there is no issue with Frutee’s actions. Conclusion An analysis of the business issues faced by Frutee has created mixed feelings. To begin with, the action of convincing consumers that the products are environmentally friendly is good as a marketing tool. This attracts a high number of consumers to the product. The prospect of a good reputation through such a message is attractive. However, despite this, a greater reputation comes from providing genuine products to consumers. Consumers should be at peace purchasing the products everyday of their lives rather than purchasing on one day and then moving away after realization of the hidden truth about the product. In addition, use of misleading labels is a useful tool for marketing the products. However, the importance of creating products that genuinely meet the needs of consumers is seen when they keep coming for more products. While the utilitarian approach provides some leeway to business issues, the consequentialism theory demands that the acts be tallied against acceptable standards. These shall determine that the act was not right. List of References Argandona, A., 2011, Stakeholder Theory and Value Creation, University of Navara: IESE Business School. Ethics Resource Center, 2009, The Importance of Ethical Culture: Increasing Trust and Driving Down Risks, USA: National Business Ethics Survey. ExcelPlas Australia, 2003, The Impacts of Degradable Plastic Bags in Australia, Australia: Centre for Design at RMIT. Hooker, Brad, E. Mason, and D. Miller, 2000, Morality, Rules and Consequences, Boulder: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. Jindal, M. 2010, ‘Unpacking the Packaging : Environmental Impact of Packaging Wastes,’ Journal of Environmental Research and Development, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 1084-1092. Mininni, Ted, 2014, Package Color: The Ultimate Consumer Persuader, retrieved on May 23, 2014 from: . Rosen, Frederick, 2003, Classical Utilitarianism From Hume to Mill, New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group . Trevino, T. And Nelson, K., 2010, Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About how to Do it Right, (5th Ed.), USA: John Willey and Sons. Verghese et al, 2013, The Role of Packaging in Minimizing Food Waste in the Supply Chain of the Future, RMIT University, Australia, Center for Design. Read More

This information has not been presented to the users of the products. This issue is an ethical concern because there is information that has not been presented to the consumers. In addition, the information presented to the consumers is not 100% accurate, and involves some element of ingenuity. This implies that the client shall be deceived into believing that the packagings are green products and environmentally friendly while in real sense, the products take sometime in the environment. Degradation of these products also emits a lot of carbon to the environment, contrary to the claim that they are green products.

The amount of carbon footprint contributed to the environment by these products to the environment is high and not conforming to what the label on the packagings portray. The intention of this information is to create a big reputation of Frutee to clients and as a result, provide an edge in selling products produced by Frutee (Dingal, 2010). Another emerging issue is the label information. This information misleads consumers by giving information that is not true. The information exaggerates the attributes of the products.

For instance, the label states that the products in the packagings have low fats are organic and they are 100% juice. This information is not true of the actual products in the packagings. Exaggeration of the attributes of the products has been done so as to lure consumers into purchasing products. While this will work for the beginning, it will prove counterproductive once the consumers discover the truth about the products. Frutee will benefit from the attributes posted about the products. This shall have the positive effect of high returns and increased profits from the high number of clients that will purchase the products.

However, realization of the actual attributes of the products shall be a turn off to the clients. Presently, companies have discovered that their businesses cannot rely purely on profit-making and they have turned to staying true to business ethics (Ethics Resource Center, 2009). This involves practicing standard moral behaviours regardless of the business situation. Therefore, Frutee faces the dilemma of reverting to sound business practice or going ahead with its current practice. Whatever the choice, the interests of all stakeholders have to be met.

Ethical Balance Sheet Good side Bad side It brings profit to the company “Frutee” This product gives working opportunities to designers Kids love the cute graphics on the packaging, looks nice and attractive Environmental issues (related to the misleading label information. The packagings tend to label their products as environmental friendly product, green product, and so on. However, the products actually do not have that kind of attributes. For example, degradable trash bag which actually will remain intact for decades in the landfill.) Label information The product use label information to mislead consumers by providing untrue information or to exaggerate their products’ attributes.

As examples, nutrition’s information like low fat, organic and 100% pure juice. The stakeholders include the kids who shall use the packaged products, the manufacturers of the foods to be packaged, the manufacturer of the paper packagings, the supermarket that shall sell the products and the designer of the packagings. These are the people who can either affect the actions of the business or they can be affected by the actions of the business. In this regard, the business issues at Frutee shall affect some stakeholders positively while others shall be affected negatively.

This is because each of the stakeholders has a role to play in the development of Frutee. The kids are the clients of the products packaged by Frutee. Since they are he consumers, they determine how sales shall be made by the company. The manufacturers of foods to be packaged play the role of determining how many packagings are produced. In addition, they contribute to the growth of the company through the quality of foods they make.

Read More