Trial

The coffee spill lawsuit against McDonald’s launched a host of other lawsuits against the same company. What are McDonald’s social responsibilities towards and consumers and consumer’s responsibilities towards McDonald’s? Compare, contrast and analyze this and determine what type of actions a company could make to meet this ethical obligation, and why it must be considered in these relationships.

The Coffee Spill Heard Around The World

Corporate Social Responsibility, Consumer Responsibility, And Protection

The social economic, legal, and ethical responsibilities that McDonald’s has towards its consumers in the Liebeck case, and cases similar to it, pretty much go hand in hand. McDonald’s should be responsible legally for the harm that it caused, for the hospital bills, and just for the sake of good will. McDonald’s messed up and should have at least apologized for its mistakes instead of blaming the consumer for everything that happened. “More than 700(!) claims had been made against McDonald’s, and many of the victims had suffered third-degree burns similar to Mrs. Liebeck’s. Yet the company had refused to change its policy” (www.slipandsue.com, 2010, para. 8). When getting as many complaints as seven hundred in total between the ten years of nineteen eighty two and nineteen ninety two (www.knowledgerush.com, 2009, para. 4), prior to this case it is easy to ignore the isolated situations when you consider the fact the $2.7 million initially awarded to Liebeck after the court case. “This was the equivalent of just two days of coffee sales, McDonalds Corporation generates revenues in excess of 1.3 million dollars daily from the sale of its coffee, selling one billion cups each year” (www.higherlegal.com, 2009, para. 9).

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Is McDonald’s really supposed to pay attention to a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent