THE SCENARIO
You are the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Facey, Inc., a (fictional) cosmetics company that creates accessible cosmetics with a youthful, spirited style. Facey offers products for two targeted customer groups:
young adults (ages 14 to 24)
tweenagers (preteen or young teenagers, typically between the ages of 8 and 13 years old)
Under your leadership, Faceys profit has risen steadily for five years. You are under intense pressure to keep your companys sales growing. In fact, your annual bonus, and the bonuses of all Facey employees are based on the rate of growth in sales each year.
Advertising with Facebook and Instagram is the anchor of your companys marketing efforts. Sales generated from this marketing have been excellent. That became even more obvious when Facebook and Instagram were offline for more than six hours on Monday, October 4, 2021. During that time, Faceys sales were 51% lower than expected.
One of your companys core values is to honor its customers. The company considers customers the most important stakeholders it has. Customers have a high degree of trust in your brand and are a powerful source of word-of-mouth marketing2 that introduces the brand to new prospective customers.
Social media, including Facebook and Instagram, is under increasing scrutiny. The film raised awareness of issues. More recently, the Wall Street Journals publication of raised concerns about the negative impact of Instagram on teen girls. This publication and other issues prompted a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing where former Facebook employee Frances Haugen said she believes that “Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy.”
Should Facey continue to advertise on Facebook and Instagram? The is looking to you for your answer. You must answer this question in your paper. Your paper is your presentation to the Board of Directors. You want Faceys Board of Directors to support for your decision. The stakes are high. If the Board does not support your decision, you may lose your job