Mars has positioned itself on the global market as a responsible business that challenges its competitors’ marketing strategies by following its own strict ethical guidelines. To be more exact, the company supports the efforts to minimize obesity among children and adults across the world (‘About,’ no date). In addition, the organization seems to carefully choose its marketing placements as not to present the advertisements to the children, as was mentioned in the case study (WARC, 2019). However, I think that their approach to responsible business is a strategy that the brand uses because it wants to be viewed as a responsible sweets manufacturer by the customers.
To begin with, the company attempts to create an ethical picture of its brand. That is why the organization supports a healthy lifestyle and usually hires women for the advertisements to regard feminism positively (WARC, 2019). However, sweets are a preferred product for children, and the company does not take action towards ensuring that this audience and their parents are aware of the potential consequences of the excessive consumption of sweets. Moreover, Harris et al. (2020, p. 1284) found that ‘industry self-regulation and most government policies do not address in-store marketing, including shelf placement and retail promotions.’One way of balancing the issue of making profits with being a responsible business is raising the consumer’s awareness about the potential dangers of sweets overconsumption. Apart from not appealing to children in their advertisements, Mars can create campaigns that actively promote conscious consumption of sweets and teach parents to pay more attention to the foods that their children are eating. Thus, by actively engaging in the promotion of healthy lifestyle choices, Mars can counter the ethical issue it faces.
Reference List
About. no date. Web.
L. Harris, J. et al. (2020) ‘Marketing to children in supermarkets: an opportunity for public policy to improve children’s diets’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(4), p. 1284.
WARC. 2019. Mars makes the case for responsible marketing [online] Web.