Case Study

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Q#3 Marketing Ethics

a) Discuss the distinctions between Deontological and Consequential ethical reasoning processes. Which philosophy do you find more compelling? Discuss! Include a marketing example.

b) The exchange reproduced below is from an interview of then Senator (now President) Obama by Charles Gibson of ABC News. Mr. Gibson is pointing to data that indicates that the US Government has collected more tax revenue at lower rates while Mr. Obama wants higher rates as capital gains are an income source primarily accruing to high income(rich) taxpayers and he cites fairness as his criterion.

GIBSON: And in each instance, when the rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased; the government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down.So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?

OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness.

i) Evaluate these 2 positions ("high" capital gains tax rates versus "low" capital gains tax rates) from both deontological and consequential ethical perspectives.

ii) Which perspective do you find more persuasive? Explain your reasoning.

c) President Obama has proposedthat the "minimum wage" be raised to $10.10 per hour. He argues that a full time job should provide sufficient income to ensure that an individual working for the minimum wage earns an income sufficient to exceed the poverty threshold. Opponents to raising the minimum wage cite the Congressional Budget Office study which estimates that the increase would result in the loss of 500,000 jobs as businesses reduced their staffing levels.

i) Evaluate these 2 positions from both deontologicaland consequential ethical perspectives.

ii) Which perspective do you find more persuasive? Explain your reasoning.