Name: Tien Yao–Ning
Candidate number:14108283D
Tutorial Class: TUT002
Topic: Whether the promotion of “The Happy Meal” in McDonalds is considered
ethical?
McDonalds is one of the most popular chain fast food Corporation that started in
Oakbrook in 1954 (McDonald’s, n.d.). Its main products are hamburgers, fried
chicken, salad etc., and its success is significantly linked with the marketing activities
that McDonalds used. The promotion of “The Happy Meal” is one of them to target
more customers especially the youth and kids. A toy is typically included with the
food, both of it are contained in a box with McDonalds’s logo. However, there are
different perceptions on whether this activity follows the marketing ethics. Marketing
ethics are the practice of marketing involving moral principles and values that govern
the actions and decisions of an individual or group. Throughout this essay, the aim is
to present the ethicality of this marketing strategy through Utilitarian and Friedman’s
theory and the principles of openness and respect to show how they outweigh the
counter arguments involving the principles of responsibility and honesty.
The opposing perspectives toward McDonalds’s marketing ethics are focusing on the
responsibility and honesty principles in American Marketing Association (AMA)
Code of Ethics. The responsibility aspect portrays that sellers should be accepting the
consequences of their own marketing decisions and strategies. In 2010, Monet
Parham was suing McDonalds by the act of providing toys with the meal. She claimed
