Paper Topic:

ethics

Privacy Policy

The only information that McDonald 's gathers from its patrons are personal information which consist of their name , mailing address , and email address . In spite of this , the company assures its customers that maximum effort will be exerted to safeguard their privacy . It only shares said information with its family of companies which includes McDonald 's Corporation , their franchisees , their subsidiaries , and their affiliates (McDonalds , n .d

There are several reasons why the company gathers such information from its consumers . The first reason is to enable the company to

enter the consumers in the contests and sweepstakes that it holds from time to time . Another reason is to enable the company to solicit feedbacks from consumers concerning its products and its website . Finally , if the consumers so desire , the company uses the information to send them certain marketing information about new products being offered or discount coupons for their benefit . The company also advises its consumers that the same information would be used , when and if necessary , for the purpose of assisting law enforcement agencies with any ongoing investigations particularly investigations involving the safety of the general public or in to comply with certain legal requirements (McDonald 's , n .d

On the surface , everything appears in . One thing which appears improper , however , is the fact that the company also gathers the same information from children ostensibly for the same legitimate purposes like entering them in company-held contests and sweepstakes . In most cases , the consent of parents are sought before information like email address , telephone number , or postal address is asked and parents are advised to monitor the online activities of their children . However , the fact remains that McDonald 's , by its own admission , considers children to be one of [its] most treasured customers (McDonald 's , n .d . As a matter of fact , McDonald 's is one of the companies (mostly fast-food chains ) which have been identified to be addressing their major marketing and advertising campaigns to children . With this consideration in mind , it could not be helped if some parents would entertain the idea that the information gathered by the company from children , supervised by parents or not , could be used in the company 's promotional activities . This concern assumes even greater significance when one takes into consideration the fact that junk foods produced by companies like McDonald 's are considered heavy contributors to obesity among children in the United States

Starbucks Corporation , like McDonald 's , gathers information from its customers based on a relationship founded on trust . However , unlike McDonald 's , the company gathers not only email addresses , telephone numbers , and postal addresses . This is due to the fact that Starbucks needs more information because it needs to serve more purposes McDonald 's uses personal information only for the purpose of entering consumers to company contests and sweepstakes and to solicit feedbacks on its products and its website . The needs of Starbucks , on the other hand , exceed those of McDonald 's because it is offering...

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