Emily Petrini, Jacqueline Keenan, Joelle Levinas COMM350 Sec: 0301 Ethical Exercise: Allergy Alert There are

many ethical issues that must be considered when deciding on the Allergy Alert scenario. Although the online chat they intend to use is an open forum that anyone can participate in, using an employee to simulate a customer may be considered unethical. We have considered three different ethical approaches to help us decide if our scenario is ethical. According to the PRSA code of ethics, public relations practitioners should work to preserve the free flow of unprejudiced information. It also states that members shall reveal the sponsors for causes and interests represented to avoid public deception. According to these bylaws, having an employee with product affiliation simulate a customer would be considered unethical if the sponsor is not revealed. The information in this situation would be perceived as prejudiced because the author is working for the company, and the intentions would be perceived as immoral because the report would be posted with the specific intention to increase sales. The ethical triangle could also be used to assess the situation. The Pharmaceutical firms duty is to sell high-quality products by presenting accurate and honest information to the public. The intent of implementing the open-forum about their new product is so customers can hear from other customers whether or not the use of their new drug

is effective. The responsibility of the firm is to allow the free flow of customer opinion on their forum without bias. Including biased information on their forum would be a clear infraction in regards to the ethical triangle because their responsibility to maintain honesty would be obstructed. While the Deontological approach would apply in this situation, we feel that the Utilitarian approach is more applicable because we are dealing with a product that could potentially have negative effects on consumers. It is important that the opinions on the new drug are presented fairly so that users can be warned of any side effects that may have occurred in other users. Writing positive posts to increase sales would be harmful to the greater good and could potentially lead to users experience harmful side effects. In conclusion, our group has decided that having an employee simulate a customer by posting a positive review would be considered unethical. Not only does it violate the PRSA code of ethics and the ethical triangle, but it could potentially have a negative effect on the well-being of the affected publics who are researching the new drug. We feel that it is especially important to be honest in medical situations because the side effects of lying about a product could be life threatening to consumers. As we learned in class, people become suspicious of forums with too many positive reviews. By writing dishonest posts on their public forum, the company risks losing the trust

of their consumers and the integrity they uphold as a respected pharmaceutical firm.