GS4 · UPSC Mains
Satish owns an ad agency which is doing very good in terms of revenue and online ratings. The creative and innovative working environment has led to a good reputation of the new company and Satish is anticipating a few big contracts from potential clients in near future. Satish attributes the success of his new agency to his very capable creative director who is instrumental in designing the content of his company's work. One day, Satish received a completed advertisement from his creative director for a daily consumer product. Satish as well as the concerned client were very impressed with the content and congratulated the creative director for his work and approved it to be launched. However, after a few days of the launch of the advertisement, Satish started receiving threats from a particular section of the community to withdraw the advertisement as it, according to them, had hurt their religious sentiments. Although Satish himself approved the advertisement, now there is pressure from an influential political leader of the concerned community to remove the creative director for offending the religious sentiments of the community. Satish is threatened of dire consequences if he does not remove the creative director. The situation has left Satish stressed and very worried as the threats through calls and messages are targeted towards his family members as well. More so the advertisement is receiving immense online trolling on popular social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook etc. Morphed pictures of Satish are being circulated in the social media platforms and he fears that the same might be done with his family members. This whole incident has caused Satish great psychological and emotional strain. His ad agency depends a lot on social media platforms for marketing and the massive amount of trolling is bringing a very bad name to his agency, thus significantly reducing the ratings and business credibility of his new firm. He has also received information from an executive of a big company that his contract for making a series of promotional videos and advertisements could be cancelled as the company does not want to associate with him due to the current controversy. Satish was counting on this project and its cancellation will lead him towards a considerable financial loss. As a concerned owner Satish consulted his legal team which advised him to withdraw the advertisement even though there was nothing legally imprudent in the content in order to save the image and retain the clients of the firm. They also informally advised Satish to agree to the demands of removing the creative director in order to placate the angry members of the community. Satish as a young entrepreneur has always supported independent thinking and creative content and finds himself in a dilemma. a) You are a friend of Satish and he turns to you for counsel in this difficult situation. Help him identify various ethical issues involved in this situation and suggest to him the most suitable course of action. b) 'Censorship by voice and defamation' on social media has become a disturbing scenario. What according to you motivates the social media users to engage in online bullying?
GS4 · Case studies on the above issues
| Topper | Rank | Source | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mehak Jain | — | Forumias | p.32 |
| Ishita Rathi | — | Forumias | p.34 |