State Lotteries Essay

In terms of the many ethical issues that go along with the lottery, and how they are faced in marketing of product development and the advertising of the state lotteries; there are many responsibilities that go along with it. There are also the chances that different risks could arise, and ones that the buyers themselves should watch out for, and know. The whole process of the state lotteries is just and ethical trap, where they get half of the population to play, with the hopes that they will eventually win. In this paper, I will use one external source to talk about the many ethical issues that are faced in marketing both of (product development and advertising), what the responsibilities are of the state lotteries, risks that the buyers should be made aware of, and tie in an ethical theory from class that will evaluate the state lottery process.

In terms of how the state lotteries are being portrayed in the marketing aspect, in terms of advertisement is an issue that I consider to be unethical in how they go about advertising the lottery to people. What these advertisers do is, they tend to target people who are less fortunate or do not have a steady income; and make them feel that they have a chance at winning if they just buy these tickets. According to the article The Ethics of Lottery Advertising: Issues and Evidence, it

The advertisers spend about $300 million, which places them up in the top 50% of advertisers in the country (Borna & Stearns, p. 44). These advertisers can place these advertisements out there for marketing reasons and for these people to see; and trap them into the lottery by getting them to spend their money and take a chance at playing. What the state lotteries do is they get these people in with the advertisements of stating the many chances that they have of