Description
Section 1: Your Personal Ethics
Articulate your personal ethics statement. This should summarize your overall ethical worldview and its foundations and ethical boundaries in a professional context that you believe are important.
Section 2: Ethical Case: Barrz Soda
Imagine that you are working as a public relations professional whose primary responsibility is managing the image and reputation for a beverage company—Barrz Soda. Barrz’s primary brand is Iron Brew, an intensely popular soda amongst children, teenagers, and young adults. Over the years, the advertising campaigns have become legendary because of their use of humor and image advertising. Iron Brew also has the most sugar per serving of any soda on the market. Barrz Soda, like most beverage companies, also has a range of diet sodas, waters, and other beverages that do not have a high sugar content.
In recent years, Barrz soda has come under public criticism for advertising to young adults, and for the sugar content in Iron Brew. However, as more advocacy campaigns against sugary drinks have grown, there is pressure for Iron Brew to make changes. In the last couple of years they have tried to change the formula to Iron Brew, but the market research has showed that any changes in the flavor are likely to result in catastrophic losses in sales. As it is, sales of Iron Brew remain consistently strong; however, sales in the less-sugary alternatives that Barrz offers have been low.
In the next year, Barr needs to see changes in the public and media narrative about the company to ensure their primary brand is not damaged, but also to promote their less profitable brands. Ideas have been offered about corporate social responsibility (e.g., donations to health-related organizations), promotional campaigns for their other brands, sponsorship of sports teams with their other brands, and development of new brands.
You have been tasked to develop a sketch of an initial strategic plan for the next year that identifies key needs/problems, measurable objectives, and critical stakeholders to engage, and to develop a specific set of ethical principles guiding the strategic plan. This plan need only sketch out the key principles to be considered by the team, but it needs to be delivered quickly, so it should focus on strongly supported core principles, objectives, and recommendations. It is important that you tie in personal and professional ethical considerations to your analysis of the case and recommendations.
Explanation & Answer
Attached.
Running head: BARRZ SODA STRATEGIC PLAN
Barrz Soda Strategic Plan
Student’s name:
Institutional affiliation:
1
BARRZ SODA STRATEGIC PLAN
2
Barrz Soda Strategic Plan
Section 1: Your Personal Ethics
As a student preparing for a successful career path in future, I can state that three major
words - integrity, honesty, and justice, define my personal code of ethics. These core tenets of
behavior and ethics have helped me to be sharp in identifying the right from the wrong action or
behavior. Although these are the core guiding virtues, I have always strived to ensure that I also
engage with others cautiously, respecting them and appreciating their presence in my life. As
such, I have always ensured that I am accountable of my actions and behavior since I believe
accountability and responsibility are mandatory when focusing on ethics.
Rational decision-making and critical thinking are another set of virtues that have helped
me to identify the right action and behavior. Poor decision-making is the root cause of ethically
wrong actions and behaviors. As such, one needs to maintain sobriety when handling ethical
decisions to guarantee reaching the right decisions. I can also describe myself as an open-minded
person who respects and appreciates others’ cultures and ways of life. I however tend to stick to
my interpersonal code of ethics – do good to those who are good to you. I avoid engaging with
toxic people and stand firm to get my respect and fair share in life. I stand for the truth in every
situation and try to ensure that I make peace with all those that I wrong.
Timeliness in execution is another core issue in ethics and I strive to be timely in all my
actions and decisions. I have also remained steadfast in my ethical beliefs and disposition, which
has been a major guide in my day-to-day endeavors. These core ethical guidelines have protected
me from being a partaker of collusion, corruption, and dishonesty. Adhering to these core virtues
has helped me to be a likeable person since I have earned the trust of many.
BARRZ SODA STRATEGIC PLAN
3
Section 2: Ethical Case: Barrz Soda
Key needs/problems
A critical analysis of the case of Barrz Soda reveals that the company has three major
problems:
i.
The company has suffered public criticism for focusing their advertising to young adults.
ii.
Another problem the company is facing is high sugar content in their primary product –
Iron Brew.
iii.
Another core problem is low sales of their less popular products.
The case also reveals that the company has two major needs pertaining to the public
relations of the company:
i.
To ensure that the popularity and market share of Iron Brew is not damaged or reduced.
ii.
To promote and push their less profitable products into the markets to improve sales.
Measurable objectives
Objectives are a core guide in projects. They ensure that the project is executed within the
set constraints to realize the best results. This public relations management project will be guided
by three objectives:
i.
To attract new subscribers in the...