Mars Incorporated, the owner of Skittles, was put into an ethical dilemma during the Trayvon Martin case. As most of us know, Skittles became a very popular item over these last few months. The rainbow colored candy was what Trayvon Martin was holding as he was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida. Protest and rallies have used bags of skittles in multiple ways to represent racial injustice, giving Mars Incorporated a steady increase in profit through out the media boom.
However, the increase in profit hasn't gone over as smoothly as most companies would hope for. Mars Inc. has never received multiple social media hits telling the company they should feel obligated to donate proceeds that have profited from the increase in Skittles sales in order to give back to the Martin family and help them through this loss. Mars Inc. stayed quiet until Facebook wall posts started appearing on their company's wall. The company made one statement saying, "we are deeply saddened by the news of Trayvon Martin’s death and express our sincere condolences to his family and friends. We also respect their privacy and feel it inappropriate to get involved or comment further as we would never wish for our actions to be perceived as an attempt of commercial gain following this tragedy.” Since the statement, Mars Inc. has remained quiet and has slowly flown under the radar from the media, hopefully leading the media to focus on the real issue, finding justice in this case. I think the company made the right decision in that this case needs to focus on the real issue, not whether or not a brand of candy should be involved. What do you think?
