Did McDonald's Act Ethically in Selling Products That it Knows Causes Obesity?

Introduction

Over the years, McDonald's food Corp has battled its way up to the top hierarchy in the food industry sector due to the diversity of the company in multiple locations in the world. In this case, the company has dramatically dominated the food industry due to the entrusted privileges it enjoys from the consumers. Never the less, the increased demand from the addicted customers, has forced the company to act unethically in the food industry sector, which has caused severe health complications to several consumers a case in mind Jazlyn's claims who have been diagnosed with obesity.

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The society has been highly influenced by the power of the food industry, especially to members with sensitive health eating habits. In this case, the food industry, in general, plays a critical role in social change, whereas it acts as a moral agent, which helps increase its power over the influence of the community. Even though the food industry has been perceived by many as the moral agent, the ethical values and morals held by the executives who lead these businesses are the core determinant of the business standing in the industry. As a result, the increased competition from different companies within the food industry sector has resulted to the use of unethical means in food science, which lures more customers to help the company meet its financial goals.

Even though the community perceives the food industry as morally right, a few of the community members within the food industry remains to understand what goes on behind the curtains of processing, which helps the company, not to raise suspicion to the consumers, regarding the technology and the science used in the food industry. In this case, McDonald's has utilized unethical means in the production and processing of its fast-moving foods throughout its branches, which helps them reduce the heat of competition from other companies, who struggle for the same piece of cake in the market. In this case, most of the companies should take into considerations safety health precautions of their users before the products are launched in the market.

Despite the trust built by the customers on McDonald, the company failed to provide reliable information regarding the effects of excessive consumption of the food. In this case, the company violated the ethical right to provide consumers with reliable information, which may have alerted the consumer regarding the dangers of excessive consumption. Never the less, it is clear that due to the concealing of this information to a hand full of employees within the company, the organization has experienced a 72% food consumption by the employee a week, while 22% of the employee order the food at least five days a week (Meyer et al., 2017). In this case, it is a clear indication, that, the employee within the organization may be classified as the customers, who are blindfolded by the company, failing to educate them on the effects of the food content, which may result to low sales, leading to a drop-in market share.

On the other hand, the McDonalds failed to observe ethics by failing to protect the consumers, which is one of the ethics adopted in the food industry. In this case, the company should have refrained from any activities that may jeopardize the health status of its customers. However, the company prioritized profits over the health of its consumers to help it meet its financial goals.

Should McDonald's be Forced to Disclose the Information Regarding the Health Effects of Eating Their Food?

With the increased rate of food ordered by the consumers, it is clear that the company is making a fortune at the expense of innocent clients. In this case, the company may be considered as using false information to attract more customers to its platform. In this case, it is important that consumers should be protected by all means to reduce the rapid increase of chronical diseases. The government, as well as food regulatory bodies, play an essential role in public health protection, which reduces the possibilities of foodborne health complications (Meyer et al., 2017). However, companies fail to observe these regulations, with the fear of getting a negative impact from the consumers.

Among one of the effects of disclosing the impact of the food offered by McDonald, the company will experience a drastic downfall of its regular consumers, leading to loses in the company. However, this concept is cheaper than spending billions of dollars in the healthcare systems due to increased health complications, as a result of McDonald's healthcare precautions neglected. In this case, the company should be forced to publish the side effects of excessive consumption of the food, which may reduce the consequences of increased lawsuits from regular customers such as Jazlyn. Even though this concept may have negative impacts on the company, it is essential to understand that consumers should be protected by all possible means to ensure that clients do not suffer from the negligence of a company. On the same token, this will provide a clean and competitive environment for any other company in the industry to help close the gap in the market.

Reference

Meyer, S. B., Wilson, A. M., Calnan, M., Henderson, J., Coveney, J., McCullum, D., ... & Webb, T. (2017). In the interest of food safety: a qualitative study investigating communication and trust between food regulators and the food industry in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. BMC public health, 17(1), 189. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4118-x