Retailing 8th Edition by Patrick Dunne,Robert Lusch, James Carver

Exercise 3

As the newly hired intern in the shoe department for a mid-sized apparel chain operating in six Northeastern states, you have been invited to attend your first buyer's meeting. Teresa, the new junior and misses buyer stood up during a weekly merchandise meeting at the retailer's corporate office to show off the newest trend in fashion junior clothing: sweatpants and shorts with words like "hottie," "angel," and "devil" printed in bold letters across the seat of the pants. At the time, a few other retail chains were just beginning to sell similar pants and shorts with writing across the seat of the pants. She showed the crowd of other retail buyers and operational heads several examples of the product. She highlighted the high margin and strong chance of market success. When she asked if there were any questions, another buyer raised his hand. He asked, "I wonder if we should be selling this to teenage girls Do we have a moral responsibility to not sell a product like this that could increase promiscuity or simply decrease girls' self-worth or self-esteem" An executive vice president of merchandise then stood up and responded, "Retailers don't have a moral responsibility. That's the media's role. We just sell the product."
Just then your boss asked you, "What do you think Theresa should do" Explain your reasoning.