On October 1, 2012, IKEA apologized for removing women from the photographs in the IKEA catalogs that were shipped to Saudi Arabia. IKEA is a Swedish company that was founded in 1943. It is now the world’s largest furniture retailer with stores in over forty-one countries. IKEA has been in the forefront of environmental and social responsibility. It generously contributes to charitable organizations. It is a world leader in producing eco-friendly furniture. For three years in a row, it was on the Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For and has been named four times as one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers by Working Mothers magazine.

Since 1951, IKEA has been publishing an annual catalog. In 2012, it printed 212 million catalogs in twenty-nine languages.

The images in the catalog were identical across the world—until recently. In the 2012 Saudi Arabian catalog, the images of all women were deleted. In one bathroom picture, a mother is with her son, and the father is with a younger boy. In the Saudi version, there is no woman; she has been airbrushed out of the photograph. There is only the father and the two boys. In another photo, there are two women smiling at each other with four pieces of furniture in the background; in the Saudi Arabian catalog, there are only the four pieces of furniture. In other pictures, women have been digitally removed or else have been altered to become men.

A spokeswoman for IKEA admitted that the error occurred at the head office and was not done by the Saudi Arabian franchisee. She said that excluding women from the catalog was in conflict with the values of IKEA. “We encourage fair treatment and equal employment opportunities without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, age, or sexual orientation.”

Questions:-

1. Discuss the pros and cons of altering the catalog using the following:

• Deontology 

• Utilitarianism 

• Virtue ethics 

2. Should a company alter its marketing campaigns to reflect biases that might be prevalent in various countries in which the company does business?