Ethical Treatment of Animals Essay

False advertisements: Many customers have been complaining about McDonalds advertising one thing and doing something quite different. Many customers has been to a McDonald store only to find out different prices than the ones on the advertisements. For instance, sweat tea has been advertised for 1 but is sold for 1. 40 in the stores.  McDonald’s has also made many false advertisements about its products and how they are classed as healthy, nutritious food. Recently, A California non-profit organisation filed a lawsuit against McDonalds for false advertising regarding its announcement they would implement a change to new cooking oil with 48% less trans fat and that the change would be completed by February 2009. They have lied about this change and to this date have not complied by the announcement. A claim from Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) which is an animal rights pressure group; states that McDonalds has done nothing since 1997 to improve the life of even one animal. Animals are kept and grown in appalling conditions; just to keep costs down. This shows clearly that McDonald’s does not abide by the animal rights and recently PETA launched a protest in 250 McDonald’s restaurants around the globe to make customers aware of the McDonald’s cruelty towards animals. This has slightly damaged McDonald’s reputation as an ethically responsible company. McDonald’s has been unable to trade fairly in third world countries. Vast areas of land in poor countries are used for cattle ranching or to grow grain to provide raw material to McDonald restaurants. This is at the expense of local food needs. McDonald’s promote the use of meat products therefore wasting more and more food resources. 7 million tons of grain fed to livestock produces only 1 million tons of meat. This has meant that McDonalds is not trading fairly and is causing people in third world countries such as India, Indonesia and Africa to struggle with their basic food needs. Abuse of environment: Forests throughout the world vital for all life are being destroyed at a high rate by McDonalds. The company has admitted to using beef reared on ex-rainforest land, preventing its regeneration and growth. This is a major contributor towards â€Å"global warming† crisis. Farmers and suppliers are also forcing people to cut down further trees in an attempt to satisfy demand.  Violating human rights and consumer laws:  Human rights include discrimination. When a business is discriminating against an individual, they are in fact violating human rights. McDonalds are always opposed to trade unions and may not want its employees to join any as they think they are treating their employees right. McDonalds is said to be discriminating among its employees on basis of their age. Most people aged over 40 are discriminated against as it is very unlikely for them to get a job in a McDonalds’ restaurant. This is because McDonalds claim that it needs fresh, energetic, young employees to be able to cope with the constant hard work. McDonalds has also been caught on violations regarding unsafe working conditions, forced overtime, sub-subsistence wage and failure to pay legal benefits. Their factories are not open to independent monitoring by local non-government human and labour rights organisations to verify if they comply with fundamental human rights. McDonalds is linked to 4 pence-an-Hour Sweatshop in Vietnam, where seventeen year-old women are forced to work 9 to 10 hours a day, seven days a week, earning as little as 4 pence an hour in the Keyhinge factory in Vietnam making giveaway promotional toys–especially Disney characters–for McDonald’s. After working a 70-hour week, some of the teenage women earn just à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3 At the end of February, 200 of the workers fell ill, 25 collapsed and three were hospitalized as a result of acute exposure to acetone. The human and labour rights of these workers are being violated by the company. Exploitation of employees: Workers working in the fast food industry has long been exploited and are paid low wages. McDonald’s do not pay overtime rates even when an employee works very long hours. Staffs working in the company restaurants have to work harder and faster therefore the working environment is never free of accidents such as burns. Majority of employees working for McDonalds are people who have fewer job options so they are subjected to exploitation. The company have always been opposed to trade unions. I have used the following websites and book to do my assignment. Bibliography BTEC National Business Book 1 by Roger Lewis & Roger Trevitt 2007 (2nd Edition)  http://dictionary.cambridge.org/