Not all companies are viewed as equal

Advocate for consumers

In a country that practices free trade, it is evident that the public has the perception that all industries are not equal. It is true to claim that not all industries are equal because there are some industries that are harmful to consumers than others. For instance, the tobacco industry is an industry that causes more harm to consumers through their addictive products that people get hooked, and it is very hard for one to get off it. Some people claim that consumers need to be held responsible for their actions; however, such an argument does not apply in the tobacco industry. Those companies in this industry usually go to the extent of enticing people to get to use tobacco products. Consumers cannot be blamed for their actions in this case because the tobacco industry tends to be one of the most aggressive advertisers. In their advertisements, they usually target the younger generation despite the industry knowing the dangers these products can have on consumers (Cullen & Parboteeah 2013). Despite consumers knowing the harmful effects of tobacco, the industry has considered using cutting edge advertisement designed to play on the weakness of human through making the product hard to avoid (Ferell et al. 2014). The industry also tries to hide the truth about the dangers of the product because they are in the business for the money, which makes it hard to trust the industry.

Role of capitalism in decision-making

Capitalism is considered as an economic system that is characterized by the private sector ownership and the private sector control of most economic features of the society. Capitalism plays the role of control since what the government usually wants is having control of the businessmen and also the consumers (Cullen & Parboteeah 2013). In a capitalist land, power and money continue to dominate. When looking at the tobacco industry, one major purpose of the industry is to make profits; however, the profits generated by the industry usually comes at the cost of its clients regarding health, a short life span and the cost of the health facilities because of the effect of tobacco. The tobacco industry tends to be a multi-billion dollar industry. Tobacco is a major cash crop for some third world countries, and the British American Tobacco has greatly invested in the production of tobacco. The industry has contributed a lot in taxes; therefore, banning the product tend to be a major challenge because its ban will result in cutting short funding for the government.

One always has to prevail

From what I have learned and using the example of the tobacco industry, I believe that it is sometimes not possible for a company to cater to both its best interest and that of consumers conjointly. For instance, if the tobacco industry decided to cater for the interest of the consumers, it will mean that their business will fail. Smoking is found to be harmful, and if the company starts advertising that the product it is selling is harmful to its clients, it means that they will lose many clients. Thus, for the industry to make profits, it has to advertise its product in a way that will hook its clients on the product and this result to more profits for the industry. Therefore, I do not believe that a company can cater for both its interests and that of consumers.

Reference

Cullen, J & Parboteeah, P (2013). Business ethics. Routledge

Ferell, C., Fraedrich, J. & Ferell. (2014). Business Ethic. Cengage Learning.

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