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Business Ethics Dilema

Campbell Soup Dilemma

Introduction
The Campbell Soup Company wanted to advertise the solid ingredients in its soup. However, the solid ingredients sank to the bottom of the bowl and could not be photographed. In order to remedy this predicament, the advertising group placed marbles in the bowl before adding the soup. Thus the vegetables rested on the top, giving the appearance of thick soup. I will use criteria from six ethical traditions/theories to express my opinion about the moral dilemma at hand. The six ethical traditions/theories are Utilitarianism, Kantian Ethics, Natural Law Theory/Virtue Ethics, Ethics of Care, and Symphonology.

Utilitarianism
English philosophers and economists, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill explained that an action is right if it promotes happiness and wrong if it promotes the opposite of happiness. They believed that human actions are motivated entirely by pleasure and pain. Utilitarianism relies upon some theory of intrinsic value; something is held to be good in itself, apart from further consequences. Moreover, all other values are believed to derive their worth from their relation to this intrinsic good as a means to an end. Bentham and Mill were hedonists; they analyzed happiness as a balance of pleasure over pain and thought that these feeling alone were of intrinsic value. In summary, utilitarianism is the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people.
The anticipated result of adding the marbles was showcasing the vegetables; thus making the soup more appealing to the consumer. Obviously, people generally prefer eating appealing foods to eating unappealing food. Also, eating typically makes people happy. Utilitarian belief is primarily concerned with the outcome and providing the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people. The advertising group thought only of the outcome of the situation, which was to advertising the soup as being filled with vegetables. They...