Unit II-Essay-Monster Ethics-MBA 6301-15K-7-C. Austiin
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6301
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Feb 20, 2024
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Running head: MONSTER ETHICS
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Monster Ethics Caroline A. Austin
Columbia Southern University
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Monster Ethics
There is a growing concern over commercial promotions of products that are unhealthy or unsafe (McDaniel & Heald, 2000). Power drink companies cater to the young audience and profit at the expense of their health. Our current culture has a lot of young adults as well as children that like to try new products that come out. In the UK, for example, have banned the selling of energy drinks to children under the age of 16 due to the unhealthy properties of the product (Wilhelm, 2018). With the constant changes in social trends and businesses that thrive on focusing on the young, products that are advertised may not be all that healthy. For example despite the use of tobacco or alcohol or junk (fast) foods, one of the new trends is the power drinks such as Monster energy drink or Full Throttle or Red Bull. Many health issues have occured as a result of the over indulgence of the drink. Caffeine can be especially dangerous in high dose leading to a number of issues such as too much of it can increase your risk of seizures (Cobb, 2017). Focusing on one at this time is the Monster energy drink, which commercialized its produce to young adults or active people. Everything is driven by the almighty dollar and selling or buying these products is what the corporate CEOs are doing. The company caters to the young adults because they are more compliant than the older generation. Young adults and children experiment more on new products than anyone else. Little do most people know is that the energy drinks are full of caffeine and sugar. The Caffeine in large doses can raise your blood pressure, speed up your heart, making your heart beat irregular, and it can worsen reflux or irritability (Cobb, 2017). The drive is the advertisement of having energy to get
you through the day. The normal intake of caffeine is 400 milligrams per day and that equals to four cups of eight ounce coffee (Cobb, 2017). Ethical issues on the products of energy drinks are
looked at to see if the business cares about the health of their customers before they put out a
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product that might have after effects from it. Young consumers, especially young adults are naturally pulled to social media platforms primarily for enjoyment and socialization as opposed to the push strategy adopted by marketers when marketing brands (Rambe, 2017). As we all know caffeine is a drug that has properties of enhancing ones adrenaline to speed up and keep the person awake. People who work long hours or the night shifts started drinking the energy drinks in order to help make it through the day or the work shift. This behavior of drinking a monster energy drink got people hooked on its convenience to rev up the day or work shift. The energy drinks, with their high doses of caffeine, will make anybody become more dependent on them because it is truly a drug and the anybody can go through withdraws if they try to cut down too abruptly (Cobb, 2017). The energy giant Monster corporate business owners found that the selling of a drink that fits the needs of young adults was profitable and it made sense to do so. Social media has also gradually popularized the electronic word of mouth by allowing the viral spread of brand, such as energy drink choices of young adults, through brand recommendations, social commentary, debates, and affirmations through likes comments, discussion forums, and private message features of social media platforms (Rambe, 2017). When a product that can be unhealthy is looked at by a health conscious population, a concern is noted that a company that produce such a product must not care that their product might be harmful. It does not affect them as a whole in making millions of dollars and increasing the value of the product. Just recently, several young, healthy adults died from the misuse of an energy drink. People are at fault when it comes to picking a product to try and may not read any label warning. Social responsibility comes in a large package, not a small one. For example, the desire for weight loss,
availability of money to spend, obesity, and higher intensity of alcohol use were positively associated with the use of gyms and consumption of high caffeinated energy drinks (Rambe,
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2017). Ethical decisions are part of the decision the Monster Energy Corporation had made when creating the product. Over consumption can lead to negative impacts to a person’s health. Triggering the ethical behavior of young adults and helping them make a better decision of what should be good for them is a challenge. One of the primary foci of social media advertising is shaping consumer behavior (Rambe, 2017). Addiction to a product that is evolving around their existence of their every day to day life style should be un-introduced slowly so that the change is not sudden. Mental seduction manifests in manipulating customers into believing that drinking more energy drinks will make them realize the stated desire (Rambe, 2017). Good education and
communication must be understood about what the product can do to their health. The stockholders or CEOs of Monster Energy Drink must have a conscious in knowing what their product can or has caused. Many business owners do not claim responsibility for the issues that are developed over the years by misuse of the product by people. Placing warning labels are part
of the ethical responsibility the business partakes in prevent misuse from customers. If a business loses their customers from placing a bad product on the market without a warning label then it can risk ruining their reputation. Conclusion
The issues that have developed over the use of power drinks have brought many concerns about the health of young adults who tend to misuse the product. Warning labels are placed on the cans but seemingly not from an ethical stand point. The business owners feel they are not responsible for any issues that are caused by careless customers. Social media by marketers for marketing brands of energy drinks, junk food (fast food), and other unhealthy products challenges the healthy behavior of young adults.
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References
Alan & Paez, I. (29 June 2014), Developing a Framework for Ethical Leadership, Journal of Business Ethics, Springer Science Business Media Dordrecht
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Backman, E. V., & Smith, S. R. (2000), Healthy organization, Unhealthy communities, Nonprofit Management & Leadership
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Cobb, D. (2017), Caffeine consequences, TCA Regional News, Chicago, Retrieved from AB/Inform Collection database
McDaniel, S. R. & Heald, G. R. (2000), Young consumers’ responses to event sponsorship advertisements of unhealthy products: Implications of schema-triggered affect theory, Sport
management Review
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Rambe, P. (2017), Impact of social media advertising on high energy drink preferences and consumption, The Journal of Applied Business Research
, 33(4), Retrieved from AB/Inform Collection database
Wilhelm, M., (2018, Feb 16), U.K. Supermarkets to ban energy drinks for shoppers under 16, The salt [BLOG],
NPR, Washington, Retrieved from AB/Inform Collection database