Marketing Analysis Essay, Research Paper

Ethical Issues in Marketing

1 I believe that a Company has the obligation in all cases of R-rated movies to make it aware to the public what actual events in the movie give it that R- rating. Whether it is because of language, nudity, violence, or all of them included. This should be made easily accessible to the parents or children that go and see the movies. They should also make why and how much of the explicit content is shown throughout the film. Parents should be informed of this so they can make a decision on whether or not their child should be allowed to see the movie. Some movies like Schindler s List have been given an R-rating, but the explicitness of the film was put in the movie to show the intensity of the holocaust.

Many parents would want their children to see that movie because of the historic content. Other movies have explicit content just for entertainment value. All of this information should be compiled and put into a summary and should be posted in newspapers, the Internet and at the movie theater. This would make it easily accessible to the public audience and help parents, teenagers, and children to choose which movie is suitable for them.

2 The movie industry produces movies so that they can make money. In the past movies that have not been suitable for young children and that have been given the R-rating have been advertised during television programming that is made for younger viewers. It is also true that in magazines made for teenagers have had advertisements in them for R-rated movies. The movie industry must realize that their target audience should not be kids who aren t supposed to be seeing those sorts of films anyway and should be focused on the older crowds. It is a fine line to distinguish where and where not advertise since 15 and 16 year old children read and watch the same television shows as 17 and 18 year olds, but it still must be done.

Another problem that the film industry has is putting out movies that are made for adults with and R-rating, yet are still appealing to children. A movie like South Park is very appealing to children since it is a cartoon and has a wide variety of toys and dolls marketed after the movie. This movie is obviously not suitable for young children; it actually holds the record for having the most obscenities in any movie ever. Yet children love the dolls and want to see the movie. A movie like this must have strict warnings put all over it so parents aren t tricked by the cute characters and let their children see the movie. Movies like this deceive the public and make it hard for them to make the right decision.

3 When you are advertising you want people to go out and spend money on your product. For movies this is hard because R-rated movies are not suitable for younger viewers, but they are the people that are willing to spend the money on your movie. To be safe I think that R-rated movie advertisements should be shown on television during the day while children are at school and not during primetime television shows where children should be likely to see them. I also believe that the ratings should be more predominantly shown on the commercials, so parents are aware of them. Billboards showing R-rated movie posters should not be put up near schoolyards, playgrounds or anywhere children like to gather and play. Ads for these movies should not be put in teenage magazines. Movie studios also should not produce movies that have R-ratings and are very appealing to young viewers. Finally it should be mandatory for movie theaters to check anyone under the age of 22 for identification to see R-rated movies. It should be like buying cigarettes and alcohol. These changes should put a positive impact on keeping younger viewers from seeing explicit films.