Craig Smith's Marketing Strategies For The Ethics Era

The fast-food industry is criticized for influencing consumers to make poor choices that lead to their deteriorating health and well-being. While many parties contribute to the flaws in this industry, by exploring the ideas discussed in Craig Smith’s “Marketing Strategies for the Ethics Era,” we will determine why the marketing segment of the fast food industry is a significant part of the issue. We will use Smith’s ideas to understand how advertising affects consumers’ decisions and how it entices them to become long-term, frequent customers of fast food restaurants. After going through each of the elements in Smith’s piece, we will take a look at some of the attempts to reform advertising of unhealthy food and suggest methods on how to alleviate

In addition, by presenting the number of calories or basic nutritional facts, not all consumers have “perfect information” or common sense about what is the right intake amount for them. The last criterion of Smith’s test is making sure consumers have choices. One of the main issues is that because fast food is considered a cheap alternative, restaurants that offer healthier options, tend to be pricier and limit the number of choices a person may have. Unhealthier fast food restaurants have more market power or an upper hand on those restaurants that offer quality food at a slightly higher price. Based on Smith’s test, marketers in the fast food industry have failed to fulfill the necessary elements of consumer sovereignty; therefore, marketers are

The FDA presents some of its solutions to information distortion as a recommendation, but it should focus on enforcing it as a regulation. Often consumers have the misconception that calories are all that they should look at when determining the best consumption choices for their health; however, a food that contains a low number of calories is not necessarily the healthiest option. Counting macro-nutrients is a better way of identifying the necessary amount of salts, sugar, and fat a person should intake. While the process of determining the amounts may be difficult, doctors and physicians should be required to provide a recommended amount to their patient based on their profile, considering elements such as BMI, age, gender, and habits. This will educate and inform consumers and give them the necessary resources to make healthier choices. In addition, there should be regulation on fast food’s marketing. Information should be presented clearly and precisely and should not be allowed to target children. Another potential law regulators could pass is requiring fast food companies to have healthier alternatives that are not high in calories, trans-fats, or other ingredients. Consumers