McDonald’s: The Coffee Spill Heard ‘round The World*

McDonald’s: The Coffee Spill Heard ‘Round the world*

1. What are the major issues in the Liebeck case and in the following incidents? Was the lawsuit “frivolous” as some people thought, or serious business?

The major issues in the Liebeck case and in the following incidents, are the burning incidents because of MacDonald’s hot products, and how MacDonald’s did not care about its customers because it only cared about its statistics. Liebeck was at fault for not being careful, but most of the blame laid on McDonald’s for not taking actions when lots of complaints regarding the hot coffee appear even before the Liebeck’s incident. Ignoring all that complaints showed that McDonald’s cared about its sales statistics more than its costumers’ safety and satisfaction. The lawsuit was not frivolous and it was a serious problem for three main reasons.  Firstly, the coffee temperature was around 170 degrees which is really high compared to the regular coffee temperature from other stores and this high temperature caused third-grade burns to Liebeck. Secondly, the coffee cup had a wrong design definitely since Liebeck had a difficulty in opening the cover which led to the spill of coffee on her lap. Thirdly, this lawsuit was important to warn MacDonald’s and force it to care more about its costumers’ safety.

1. What are McDonald’s social (economic, legal, and ethical) responsibilities towards consumers in the Liebeck case and the other cases? What are consumers’ responsibilities when they buy a product such as hot coffee or hot hamburgers? How does a company give consumers what they want and yet protect them at the same time?

• McDonald’s responsibility:

McDonald’s social responsibility towards its consumers is to apologize publicly for these incidents and to promise its consumers to satisfy their demands by decreasing the temperature of their hot products and make it safely consumable by any costumer. For the economic responsibility, McDonald’s should not put the importance of its sales statistics and how to increase its sales on the importance of its consumers’ safety. McDonald’s legal and ethical responsibilities are that McDonald’s should have accepted the settlement afforded in the mediation trials and should have admitted its mistake by accepting that the fault lay on both of McDonald’s and the consumers. In addition, it should have covered the medical costs for Liebeck and other injured consumers.

• Consumers’ Responsibilities:

Consumers should be more careful, and think wisely before acting or doing any reckless act because it is a common sense that coffee and humbuggers are served as hot products. Therefore, they should act reasonably.

All the time, a company should satisfy its consumers’ desires as long as what they ask for is safe for all types of consumers. Also, the company can put a big warning sign on their products, so its consumers will be aware of the content nature. For example, McDonald’s should put a big warning label that makes consumers aware of the hot coffee or hot hamburgers.