Essay Sample on SUBJECT: Essences Fruit Beverages and The Recycling Controversy

From the assessment of the case study, the problems faced by Essences Fruit Beverage and ABC Containers were mainly ethical. Essences Fruit Beverage wanted to implement a marketing strategy that would identify the company as among the few considering the effects of plastics on the environment. Therefore, the company developed a marketing campaign that involved ABC Containers, who were the main suppliers for the plastic bottles used by Essences Fruit Beverage. However, as the company finalized on the marketing campaign, it consulted ABC Containers when Dan Whilt, the public relations officer, was informed of their request's impractical nature. By promising its consumers that their bottles were 100% recycled materials, in actuality, it was only 23%. The company faced an ethical problem that they did not handle professionally. After long discussions with the chief executive officer, the decision to continue the marketing campaign was approved. Nonetheless, critics accused the company of greenwashing the public with false figures on the bottles they use. The case was made more controversial with Dan Whilt ignoring the accusations. Both Essences Fruit Beverage and ABC Containers supported their false figures until a leaked internal memo and data on the company’s bottle production were unveiled. Essences Fruit Beverage was forced to offer a public apology and rebranding of its products.

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Recommendation

The best recommendation that would have been given to Dan Whilt was to include ABC Containers in the initial development phases of marketing camping. The result would have been a rebrand of the entire marketing campaign. The campaign should have been “made from 100% recyclable materials,” as the company finally decided after the public relations disaster.

Analysis

In marketing, it is critical to note that each party is expected to contribute a significant portion to its success, depending on the relationship developed. When consumers make purchases from a company’s products, they are expected to fulfill the promised expectations. In the case of Essences Fruit Beverage, Dan Whilt’s strategy was noble and conformed to the public’s demand for bottling companies to be environmentally friendly. The initials strategy of using plastic bottles from recycled materials was the initial idea. The main issue arose from the following point onwards. The public relations officer should have included ABC Containers in the marketing campaign development stages. Dan Whilt did not consider the practicality of the marketing campaign with the bottling company and was forced to make decisions that later resulted in negative aftermaths.

Alternatively, after being informed of the impractical nature of the marketing campaign requirements, Dan Whilt should have recommended rebranding the campaign to conform to ethical requirements. Ethical marketing decisions and labors should be made to meet the consumers, suppliers, and business partners' needs and desires. Unethical behaviors have the primary intention of promoting deceptive marketing that negatively affects the company’s relationship, as demonstrated with the public relations outcome of Essences Fruit Beverage and ABC Containers.

Conclusion

Overall, Dan Whilt and Charles Foss, did not consider the needs of the consumers and opted for unethical, deceptive marketing tactics. The company’s public reputation suffered, considering it had the option of rebranding the campaign to conform to the information attained from their suppliers. Nevertheless, the campaign strategy was a failure as the Essences Fruit Beverage failed to include ABC containers, which were among the main stakeholders in the marketing campaign.