Not All Companies Are Viewed as Equal
Sidia Vasquez
Strayer University
BUS 309

Not All Companies Are Viewed As Equal In Free trade, the public views on a particular industry depending on the products brought to the market. The ability of the firm to understand the consumer needs and expectations will attract more attention than other industry (Shaw 2014). Each industry plays a vital role in one way or another in making the life of the public better or worse but what differentiates between them is the market expectations. It is entirely ethical to consider one company less important than the other if the reasons are objective. Issues like the tobacco industry help businesses earn favor from consumers but at the same time it help destroy their own lives. Industries are fairly targeted since a socially ethical industry will always attract customers even though the products or services are not quite essential in life. Not all industries are viewed equally, as some industries happen to be harmful to their consumers. The tobacco industry is one such industry and continues to be a menace to the populace with their addictive products on to which people get hooked and have difficulty getting off it. Even though there is argument that the consumer should be held responsible for their decisions, this would not be fair as far as the tobacco industry is concerned. The tobacco industry goes out of their way to entice people into the habit of using tobacco related products. (White, 2015). If people were left to their own devices, then it would probably make some sense to let them be responsible for their decisions. The challenge, however, is that is not the case. The tobacco industry is one of the most aggressive advertisers. It has a strong appeal that it has directed towards the younger generation. The problem is, even as the industry is aware of the dangers of their product; they keep luring in unsuspecting consumers. In the case where consumers are knowledgeable, they have sought to downplay the severity of the products harmful effects (Pierce, 2013). The truth is, even with foresight about the harmful effects of tobacco products it is very hard to resist them. The industry uses cutting-edge advertisement and marketing of their products. These are designed to play on human weakness making it difficult to avoid the products. They now prey on the younger generation as they are more supple and easier to redirect. Their products are given an appeal that is hard for these youngsters to avoid. In the end, the throw caution to the wind and we eventually hooked, some of them for life (Pierce 2013). Furthermore, tobacco industry has an ethical obligation to the consumers. Consumer satisfaction is the essence of every business’s strives to achieve its set objectives. Besides profitability, every enterprise is obliged to conform delivering quality products and services in tandem to the international code of conducts. In most cases, the production, processing and packaging is at the discretion of the producer. There exists information asymmetry between the producer and the consumer thus exposing the latter to the unilateral decision making by producers in the market. As a result, the responsibility of ensuring quality products is indirectly conferred to the producers for them to prioritize the effect of their products on the society’s well-being.

REFERENCES
Pierce, John. (2013). Influence of Tobacco Marketing and Exposure to Smokers on Adolescent Susceptibility to Smoking. Retrieved from: http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/87/20/1538.short
Shaw, William H. (2014). Business ethics (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
White, Tracey. (July 17, 2015). Tobacco Companies. Retrieved from: http://mednews.stanford.edu.