To determine whether something is right or wrong, we use
moral principles which we learn from our society and environment. However, many
of us tend to do wrong things, not because we are bad, but maybe because we
need a little boost to get something beneficial for ourselves. “It’s all about
me.” “I’m going to do what makes me happy.” “Why should I do that, it doesn’t benefit
me.” You’ve probably heard all of these
statements before, maybe even said them and to meet justice, you say “nothing
is wrong with that, we’re all human”. It is said that we live in a selfish world,
but why is it said so often? 
In order to boost sales and make a larger profit, companies
may tell little ‘”white lies” to their potential customers. This is detrimental
to the company in the long-run, but for the short-term profit making- it’s
great! A popular scenario is a new weight loss discovery that says if you take
this pill three times a day, you will shed pounds in weeks. So what do you do? Instead
of losing pounds by exercising and changing your diet, you run out to the store
to buy the easiest way to your weight-loss. The first time you use the pill (which
has several side effects), you feel as if it is working great. Therefore,
you continue to use it regularly as directed. About three weeks later you
decide to weigh yourself after looking in the mirror and seeing no results and
with much surprise you have gained five pounds. You have now come to the realization after
spending about one hundred bucks for a couple of pills that you have been
scammed, and the product was falsely advertised.
The company has now earned a large profit, and is getting
ready to release another misleading product. But will they get as much sales as
the previous one? Of course, NOT, in fact they’d be lucky if they get any sales
at all. Due to the company being ethically wrong by releasing the deceptive
drug, they have lost their customer’s trust and degraded their once high reputation.
Stay tuned, there are many other ways that ethics affects businesses.
