For your assignment this week, Id like you to apply some of the ethical codes we discussed in class to the following scenarios. To complete this assignment, pick two of the situations from below. First, explain what the ethical conflicts are, and what ethical principles this violates. (To complete this assignment, choose from one of the following codes of ethics: PRSA, IABC, or Page Principles.) Second, explain how you could best handle this situation moving forward as a PR professional. (Hint: Some of the strategies introduced in the presentation for approaching ethical situations could help you!)

Food for Thought

You are an assistant account executive at a large public relations firm, which is working on a major special event for a public relations client: a series of elaborate dinners at an underground restaurant in the city to promote the clients line of frozen foods. Food bloggers will be invited to the dinners, which will be prepared by a famous chef, and a food industry analyst will offer his thoughts on the latest food trends. Food bloggers will receive an extra pair of dinner tickets as a prize for their readers and the dinner promises to include an unexpected surprise.

Youve been carefully reading the blogs posted by the food bloggers who have been invited to the dinners; you know they prefer to eat organic, fresh food rather than highly processed frozen foods. You are also troubled by the fact that your boss plans to use hidden cameras at the dinners to record the reactions of the food bloggers when they learn that the main course is actually a frozen dinner entre from the PR clients product line.

What is the ethical situation or conflict? What should you do?