Great State Wheat Flakes Can’t Be Beat

Betty, who has been employed for three years as a copywriter for HK&M, a mid-size denote agency specializing in consumer massesaged goods, has been feverishly instituteing for the past week on a new ad go for grand States chaff flakes, a regional breakfast cereal. The account has been with the agency for some(prenominal) years. Although Charlie, the brand manager on this cereal, has been delight with the agencys work over the years, the old positioning, which unhappy taste attributes and fun-filled family breakfasts, has become tired and dated.Marketing enquiry shows a high degree of consumer wear start flock ar tired of the campaign, even miffed with it, and atomic number 18 ready for something fresh. Bettys task was to doctor the brand via repositioning it to take utility of and tie into the health and intumesce being trends, specifically the interest in feeding good-for-you food as well as in physical fitness. The brand was to be pitched as an important collap se of an active, healthy lifestyle.Betty archetype she had come up with the perfect theme line enceinte States wheat flakes impart give a great start to your active day, and she had highly- authentic what she believed were some clever scenarios for TV and grade ads featuring the product being consumed after workouts in health clubs, following a sunrise jog, after a snowboarding expedition, to power up before rollerblading, and even epoch zipping on on a scooter ( pick up Ma, no hands ). However, upon reviewing her proposals, Charlie said that sequence the vignettes were on target because health-conscious customers would relate well to them, the slogan was off base.He wanted something more(prenominal) specific and hard hitting, and so Charlie developed the theme line, great(p) State drinking straw flakes cant be meter. No opposite wheat flake offers you more vitamins and minerals and fewer calories. Betty assay to kindly tell Charlie that this was misleading because i t implies that Great States brand is healthier than approximately, if not all, of the others, whereas in reality all wheat flake cereals be mirror symmetry products they are virtual photocopies of individually other in terms of taste, texture, and, most important here, composition and therefore nutritional value.In fact, blind taste tests constitute shown that between 70 and 80 per cent of consumers cannot discern their favorite brand of wheat flakes and that subjection levels are low &8212 with price incentives consumers will readily switch brands. Charlie, obviously irritated, explained that his cover linewas an honest exaggeration, what the advert trade termed puffing, and that consumers are expected to see through it. He felt that it offered the point of difference ask to increase brand loyalty. Betty, feeling uneasy, later on that day approached her boss Steve, the copy principal at HK&M, asking his counsel.Steve explained that Charlies suggested slogan is what is called an implied favourable position asseverate. Steve explained that such claims are unremarkably made for commodity brands. They stake out a parity position, which does not claim to be superior to, but but as good as, other brands, while using copy that suggests or implies superiority for the named brand. He cited several current and spotless examples, such as Nothing else cleans better, The upper limit fluoride protection in any toothpaste, You cant beat the savings, You cant buy a more efficacious pain reliever, and Nothing is proven to work better or last longer. In effect, these brands are claiming that they are unsurpassed. However, none claims to be truly better than their competitors. Betty, recalling several other such implied superiority claims she had recently seen, complete that it was, indeed, a popular technique. Steve reminded Betty that there is a indication between deceptive advertising, which creates chimerical impressions and misleads a consumer actin g reasonably, and trade puffing, which is hyperbolize praise of the product (e. g. , Almost dwelling house cookies are the moistest, chewiest, most perfectly sunbaked cookies ever Nestle makes the very stovepipe chocolate).Puffery is viewed as acceptable in a society of the superlative. Consumers are assume to see through the exaggeration or at least engage in a willing suspension of disbelief. He explained to her that whereas deceptive advertising is il offsetal, the Federal sight Commission (FTC), which monitors national advertising for trueness and fairness in claims, views puffery as legitimate. Whats more, Steve conclude somewhat sarcastically, using your line of reasoning, Betty, we shouldnt at all advertise any parity products, since all brand advertising is intentional to create a brand distinction in the buyers mind.Advertising is necessary to differentiate yourself from the pack of imitators. And, it helps a small, underdog brand like Great State get a leg up on t he big, deep-pocketed companies like our rivals. Betty thought that, in fact, Steves taunting comment might, indeed, have some merit. In fact, she feared that it might strength Great States competitors to break and differentiate their cereals, thereby benefiting consumers (but harming Great State). Nonetheless, she even so felt uneasy.It seemed to her that the implied superiority claim get across the boundary from puffery over to deception. QUESTIONS/EXERCISES 1. Identify the ethical issues facing Betty regarding the nature of the proposed Implied superiority advertising claim. 2. What are the ethical issues Betty encounters with respect to organisational relationships and conflicts? 3. What are the possible decision preferences Betty could devise, and what are the ethics of each alternative? 4. Which alternative would you recommend to Betty and why?