Questions

1. Before answering this question, read the following three articles:

“Applying Catholic Social Teachings to Ethical Issues in Marketing”

http://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=market_fac&sei-redir=1#search={0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119}22ethics{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119}20principles{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119}20catholic{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119}20social{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119}20teaching{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119}22

“E-Cigarette Makers Are in an Arms Race for Exotic Vapor Flavors”

“A Bolder Effort by Big Tobacco on E-Cigarettes”

Based on the main tenets of Catholic Social Teaching (CST), is the marketing of flavored e-cigarettes ethical?  Why or why not?  When answering this question, you must apply three germane CST principles from Klein and Laczniak’s article, “Applying Catholic Social Teachings to Ethical Issues in Marketing,” and provide sound reasoning to support your position.  Note: Do not simply mention the three CST principles without specifically relating them to the marketing of flavored e-cigarettes and content from Klein and Laczniak’s article as well as the New York Times articles.

2. Present a sensible counterargument, to the position you took in Question 1, based on three applicable CST principles from Klein and Laczniak’s article, “Applying Catholic Social Teachings to Ethical Issues in Marketing,” and provide sound reasoning to support your counter argument. Note: Again, do not simply mention the three CST principles without specifically relating them to the marketing of flavored e-cigarettes and content from Klein and Laczniak’s article as well as the New York Times  Depending on the position you take in Question1, when answering this question, you will either be assuming the role of a public health/anti-smoking advocate or e-cigarette company marketing manager.

3. In your opinion, should the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching be used to address ethical questions in marketing? Why?  In your answer, give two concrete reasons that support your view.

4. Should a Business Ethics course be part of the HEBSBA’s MBA program 30-credit hour required core curriculum? Why?  In your answer, give two specific reasons that support your opinion.

5. Bonus Question.

Relate the five core values of the Mission of the University of the Incarnate Word to the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching.  Each value should be discussed separately and specifically related to one of the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching.  In your answer, you must clearly demonstrate how each core value is embraced by a CST principle.  Note: Bonus points will be earned based on the quality of your answer, i.e., the depth of your insight.

Additional Instructions

UIW’s Academic Integrity Policy applies to this assignment and will be enforced if violated.  If you do not follow the instructions given in the previous paragraph, you will violate UIW’s Academic Integrity Policy.  For information about UIW’s Academic Integrity Policy, see the course syllabus or www.uiw.edu/undergraduatecatalog0709/355.htm.  Eyebrows will be raised, if I see two or more papers with the same qualitative answers and/or calculation mistakes.  Since this type of situation does not happen by chance, I reserve the right not to grade such papers.  In other words, each paper will earn a grade of 0.  In addition, the H-E-B School of Business & Administration Dean will be informed about the transgression.

Your paper will be graded based on the completeness and quality of your answers to the above questions, including the extent and caliber of your critical thinking and analysis. To answer the questions, it will be necessary to incorporate pertinent information from the assigned Journal of Macromarketing and New York Times articles.

When doing the assignment, the questions must be answered in order and numbered.  Assignment pages must be stapled together.  A 20 percent penalty will be applied to an unstapled assignment.  In addition, please type and double-space your answers using 12-point font.  A 10 percent penalty will be applied to a single-spaced assignment.  In addition, be sure to proofread and edit your paper.  As noted before, as the number of spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and formatting mistakes in a paper increases, my interest in reading the paper decreases exponentially, leading to a lower assignment grade.

It should be 1- 2 pages long, typed in MLA format. Some ideas for effective response papers include thoughtful, informal reactions/responses that discuss the significance of the issue, or how it relates to you or others, and quotes from the assigned reading along with a discussion of what they mean, who is saying them and how/why they are significant. Attached is the article.

One Thing to Do About Food: A Forum

by ERIC SCHLOSSER, MARION NESTLE, MICHAEL POLLAN, WENDELL BERRY, TROY DUSTER, ELIZABETH RANSOM, WINONA LADUKE, PETER SINGER, DR. VANDANA SHIVA, CARLO PETRINI, ELIOT COLEMAN & JIM HIGHTOWER

[from the September 11, 2006 issue]

Eric Schlosser

Every year the fast-food chains, soda companies and processed-food manufacturers spend billions marketing their products. You see their ads all the time. They tend to feature a lot of attractive, happy, skinny people having fun. But you rarely see what’s most important about the food: where it comes from, how it’s made and what it contains. Tyson ads don’t show chickens crammed together at the company’s factory farms, and Oscar Mayer ads don’t reveal what really goes into those wieners. There’s a good reason for this. Once you learn how our modern industrial food system has transformed what most Americans eat, you become highly motivated to eat something else.

The National Uniformity for Food Act of 2005, passed by the House and now before the Senate, is a fine example of how food companies and their allies work hard to keep consumers in the dark. Backed by the American Beverage Association, the American Frozen Food Association, the Coca- Cola Company, ConAgra Foods, the National Restaurant Association, the International Food Additives Council, Kraft Foods, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the US Chamber of

http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20060911&s=forum (1 of 11)8/30/2006 2:53:39 AM

One Thing to Do About Food: A Forum

Commerce, among many others, the new law would prevent states from having food safety or labeling requirements stricter than those of the federal government. In the name of “uniformity,” it would impose rules that are uniformly bad. State laws that keep lead out of children’s candy and warn pregnant women about dangerous ingredients would be wiped off the books.

What single thing could change the US food system, practically overnight? Widespread public awareness–of how this system operates and whom it benefits, how it harms consumers, how it mistreats animals and pollutes the land, how it corrupts public officials and intimidates the press, and most of all, how its power ultimately depends on a series of cheerful and ingenious lies. The modern environmental movement began forty-four years ago when Silent Spring exposed the deceptions behind the idea of “better living through chemistry.” A similar movement is now gaining momentum on behalf of sustainable agriculture and real food. We must not allow the fast-food industry, agribusiness and Congress to deceive us. “We urgently need an end to these false assurances, to the sugar-coating of unpalatable facts,” Rachel Carson famously argued. “In the words of Jean Rostand, ‘The obligation to endure gives us the right to know.’”

The movie version of Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation, directed by Richard Linklater, will be released on November 17.