MODULE 18: Ethical Selling: Labeling Sleight-of-Hand
Core Module Issues:
• Do food producers have any labeling obligations beyond those strictly
imposed by law?
• Is the answer different if a company deliberately tries to stretch laws as
far as possible?
Module Teaching Notes
This is another module in which the “warm up time” is best spent, I think, by presenting simple, open-ended
questions to start debate. Students will often talk at some length when given the following prompts.
“Do you read the label when you buy food? Always? Sometimes? Never?”
“Do you read the list of ingredients? Do you avoid products that contain specific ingredients? If so, what
are they? What is your specific concern with those ingredients?”
“Do you pay attention to the number of calories a product contains? Have you ever not purchased an item
specifically because it had too many calories? Do you also pay attention to serving sizes?”
“Do you buy organic products? Why or why not?”
I think that “warm up time” is important before diving into specific scenarios and questions. Early in units, I
like (as I’ve shown earlier in these notes) to use several minutes to lecture on one, or possibly as many as a
few, ideas. Later in units, when all of the big concepts have been addressed, I tend to shift to asking
general questions (as in this unit), or showing a video clip (as I’ll suggest in the next unit).
The specific issue raised in this module is – like module 16 – related to the food industry. But whereas
module 16 looks mostly at children, this one looks at food labels which would be almost exclusively looked
at by adults.
Legal regulations allow for many kinds of trickery and hocus-pocus. What is OK, and what crosses the line?
Discussion Points for Scenario Questions
1. Is Alan’s plan ethically acceptable, or unreasonably manipulative? [Chance container size]
A. OK – WHY? BECAUSE THIS IS A FAIRLY SIMPLE “TRICK”?
B. NOT OK – WHY? CAN’T PEOPLE BE TRUSTED TO READ CAREFULLY?
2. Is Beth’s plan ethically acceptable? [Add organic sugar – sell as “organic ingredients”
product]
A. OK – WHY? BECAUSE A LOT OF THE TOTAL VOLUME IS ORGANIC?
3. Is Craig’s plan ethically acceptable? [Adding the addicting nicotine-like additive]
A. OK – WHAT IF THE SUBSTANCE IS HARMFUL? SHOULDN’T
CONSUMERS AT LEAST BE MADE AWARE THAT THERE IS SOMETHING
UNUSUAL IN THIS DRINK?
4. If you were Max, which of the three ideas would you be likely to approve or send up the line
for final approval? All? Some? None?
5. Assume for this last question that the soft drink is not in trouble, and that there is no pressure
to increase sales by 25 percent. Now which of the ideas would you be likely to approve or send
up the line for final approval? All? Some? None
A. SAME ANSWER – WHAT ABOUT STAKEHOLDER CUSTOMERS WHO
MAY BE HARMED?