"Unethical advertising through social media" -A case study investigating ethical marketing issues in fast food industry of Ireland

Abstract

Purpose of the study Previous many researches have been conducted to study the attitude of the consumer towards the unethical advertising but have failed to provide tangible results. The previous researches were focusing on the impact of unethical advertising on the consumer. Additionally, there were few researchers conducted that had emphasized mainly on the attitude of the consumers towards advertisements of fast food industry that had targeted kids thus neglecting the other unethical advertisements. Thus, in this present research, the researcher has tried to investigate the attitude of Irish teenagers and parents towards unethical advertisements of McDonald’s. Objectives of the study The main objective of the research is to understand the consequences amongst Irish teenagers and their parents when McDonald’s uses unethical marketing communication messages. The researcher also evaluates various customer behaviors pattern towards the unethical advertisements. Furthermore, this study tries to recognize the challenge faced by the McDonald’s related to social media advertising. At end of the study, recommendation solution will be provided to tackle these unethical advertisements. Research Methodology Qualitative technique is being used in the present study to carry out the research methodology. Both primary and secondary sources have been used to collect the data for the research. Furthermore, face to face interviews were conducted to gather primary data. Open and close ended questionnaire were used for the interview. The data was analyzed using tables and bar charts. Conclusion Research identified that many of the teenager and parents are well aware of the unethical advertisements and stated that doesn’t effects them in any manner, but surprisingly few of the teenagers were not able to figure out the ethical dangers entitled to these advertisements; they found it to be just another normal advert of McDonald’s. Recommendations were given to the parents to educate their growing children’s to understand the dangers entitled to these advertisements and to the company to follow strict rules and regulation during the advertising process.