Even with her newly-minted MBA degree, Janet Moore was having no luck finding that dream job in the marketing department of a spirited, on-the-move company. Now, almost any job looked attractive, but so far no one had called her back for a second interview. Employers were all looking for people with experience, but that requires getting a job first. Just as she began to lose hope, Janet bumped into Karen, who had been two years ahead of her in college. Karen, too, was looking for a job, but in the meantime, she was employed by a firm that was planning to add another marketing specialist. Janet was familiar with Karen’s employer from a case study that she had researched for an MBA marketing course, but what she had learned appalled her.

The company, Union Tobacco, Inc., is the major U.S. manufacturer of snuff, and her case study examined how this once staid company had managed to attract new customers to a product that had long ago saturated its traditional market.¹³⁹ Before 1970, almost all users of snuff—a form of tobacco that is sucked rather than chewed—were older men. The usual form of snuff is unattractive to nonusers because of the rough tobacco taste, the unpleasant feel of loose tobacco particles in the mouth, and the high nicotine content, which makes many first-time users ill. Snuff, to put it mildly, is a hard sell.

The company devised a product development and marketing campaign that a federal government report labeled a “graduation strategy.” Two new lines were developed—a low-nicotine snuff in a tea-bag-like pouch with a mint flavor that had proved to be popular with young boys and a step-up product with slightly more nicotine, a cherry flavor, and a coarse cut that avoids the unpleasantness of tobacco floating in the mouth. Both products are advertised heavily in youth-oriented magazines with the slogan “Easy to use, anywhere, anytime,” and free samples are liberally distributed at fairs, rodeos, and car races around the country.

The strategy had worked to perfection. Youngsters who started on the low-nicotine mint- and cherry-flavored products soon graduated to the company’s two stronger, best-selling brands. Within two decades, the market for snuff tripled to about 7 million users, of which 1 million to 2 million are between the ages of 12 and 17. The average age of first use was now estimated to be 9½ years old. Janet also reported in her case study that snuff users were more than 4 times more likely to develop cancers of the mouth generally and 50 times more likely to develop specific cancers of the gum and inner-cheek lining. Several suits had been filed by the parents of teenagers who had developed mouth cancers, and tooth loss and gum lesions have also been widely reported, even in relatively new users.

Karen admitted that she was aware of all this but encouraged Janet to join her anyway. “You wouldn’t believe some of the truly awful marketing ploys that I have been able to scuttle,” she said. “Unless people like you and me get involved, these products will be marketed by people who don’t care one bit about the little kids who are getting hooked on snuff. Believe me, it’s disgusting work. I don’t like to tell people what I do, and I sometimes look at myself in the mirror and ask what has become of the idealism I had starting out. But there will always be someone to do this job, and I feel that I have made a difference. If you join me, the two of us together can slow things down and avoid the worst excesses, and maybe we’ll even save a few lives. Plus, you can get some experience and be in a better position to move on.”

Janet admitted to herself that Karen had a strong argument. Maybe she was being too squeamish and self-centered, just trying to keep her own hands clean. Maybe she could do others some good and help herself at the same time by taking the job. But then again….

On what grounds can Karen's work at the tobacco company be considered ethical or unethical? Explain whether or not you believe that Karen has made a morally significant difference and done more good than harm, as she states. Would you advise Janet to take the job or hold out for something else?