The article “A Framework for Ethical Decision Making” discusses using the six ethical lens called rights, justice, utilitarian, common goods, virtue, and care. These approaches set the ethical framework on making decisions that impact your life while using empathy for those around you. One thing I have learned as a marketing major is that you have to use these approaches when creating campaigns to use persuasion as opposed to manipulation. This brings me to an in class discussion on whether or not marketing unhealthy foods to children on their television channels is unethical. This exercise in class raised many questions and I came to the conclusion that while it can be “wrong” at the end of the day it is up to parents on whether or not they want to let their young children consume unhealthy fats and sugars. This can be applied in so many real life situations for marketers because you want to get people to purchase what you are selling but don’t want to cross lines.

In another leadership class, I read an article called “Teaching for Critical Thinking: Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats” which I found to be similar to this reading. This stuck out to me because there are six different “hats” that you would wear for different types of thinking. For example, you would wear a black hat when you are using cautious thinking which I think pairs best with the utilitarian approach because it values doing the least harm possible. All of these approaches and hats can work together to bring leaders to conclusions that provide positive outcomes while using creative and critical ways of thinking to solve problems.

Velasquez, Manuel, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer. “Thinking Ethically.” Issues in Ethics, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University, 1 Jan. 2010