Eric D. Yordy, Nita Paden and Katlin Bryant
In 2010, approximately one-third of US children and adolescents were classified as at least overweight, with 17 percent classified as obese. In addition to other causes, the…
Abstract
Synopsis
In 2010, approximately one-third of US children and adolescents were classified as at least overweight, with 17 percent classified as obese. In addition to other causes, the marketing and advertising of food directly to children was identified by a Task Force on Childhood Obesity as a contributing factor. As a result, food industries began to self-regulate. Consumer advocacy organizations developed guidelines for advertising products targeted to children. Cereal companies, such as General Mills (GM), struggled with whether or not to adopt those standards. GM began to change both marketing and product advertising in small ways. The changes were considered steps in the right direction but GM continued to be under scrutiny of advocacy groups. This case addresses the struggle of General Mills to make changes to product nutritional content and/or marketing and to address the societal concern about childhood obesity while also meeting responsibilities to consumers and shareholders.
Research methodology
The case was researched utilizing secondary data – all materials are readily available to the public. There is no disguise of any actual person or entity and no relationship between the authors and the organizations or individuals mentioned in the case. Frequent sources include the General Foods, Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative and Center for Science in the Public Interest web pages.
Relevant courses and levels
This case could be used at an undergraduate or graduate level. Legal Environment of Business, Business Ethics and any Marketing course.
Theoretical basis
The ethics frameworks in most business law or ethics textbooks may be used to discuss the dilemma identified in this case. This Instructor's Manual uses Hosmer's model. Hosmer (2008), The Ethics of Management: A Multidisciplinary Approach, 7th ed.
Abdallah M. Elamin and Katlin Omair
The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in the literature on women who work in the Arab Muslim context, reflecting on the experience of Saudi Arabia.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in the literature on women who work in the Arab Muslim context, reflecting on the experience of Saudi Arabia.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 301 male participants completed the newly developed multidimensional aversion to women who work scale (MAWWWS).
Findings
The paper reveals that Saudi males report very traditional attitudes towards working females. Moreover, the single, unemployed, young and educated Saudi males report less traditional attitudes towards working females compared with married, employed, old, and less educated ones. Age was found to the most important predictor of the males' attitudes towards working females.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the knowledge in several grounds. First, it validates the MAWWW scale in a Muslim Arab country, Saudi Arabia. Second, it contributes to the knowledge of the topic of women's employment in Saudi Arabia, which is understudied in academia.
Details
Keywords
Robert James Thomas, Gareth Reginald Terence White and Anthony Samuel
The purpose of this research is to understand what motivates 7–11-year-old children to participate in online brand communities (OBCs). Prior research has concentrated on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to understand what motivates 7–11-year-old children to participate in online brand communities (OBCs). Prior research has concentrated on prescriptive product categories (games and gaming), predominantly adolescent groups and the social aspects of community engagement and actual behaviour within communities, rather than the motivations to participate with the OBC. This has ultimately limited what has been gleaned, both theoretically and managerially, from this important segment.
Design/methodology/approach
An interpretive, longitudinal position is adopted, using a sample of 261 children (113 male and 148 female) from across the UK, using event-based diaries over a 12-month period, generating 2,224 entries.
Findings
Data indicate that children are motivated to participate in a brand community for four reasons: to support and ameliorate pre-purchase anxieties, resolve interpersonal conflicts, exact social dominance in terms of product ownership and perceptions of product knowledge and to actively engage in digitalised pester power. The study also reveals that certain motivational aspects such as conflict resolution and exacting dominance, are gender-specific.
Research limitations/implications
Knowledge of children’s motivation to engage with OBCs is important for marketers and brand managers alike as the data reveal markedly different stimuli when compared to known adult behaviours in the field. Given the nature of the study, scope exists for significant future research.
Practical implications
The study reveals behaviours that will assist brand managers in further understanding the complex and untraditional relationships that children have with brands and OBCs.
Originality/value
This study makes a novel examination of a hitherto little-explored segment of consumers. In doing so, it uncovers the theoretical and practical characteristics of child consumers that contemporary, adult-focussed literature does not recognise. The paper makes an additional contribution to theory by positing four new behavioural categories relating to community engagement – dependers, defusers, demanders and dominators – and four new motivational factors which are fundamentally different from adult taxonomies – social hegemony, parental persuasion, dilemma solving and conflict resolution.