1. What are the ethical implications of the CEO’s anonymous postings about the competition?
Two ethical guidelines come to mind with this situation. The first is honesty. Obviously, Mackey was not being honest with the public due to the fact he posted these blog entries anonymously. The other is fairness. In the PRSA Member Code of Ethics, it states “we deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media, and the general public.” In that statement it clearly says to deal with the competition in a fair way. Posting blog entries that smash the competition is not being fair to them. He may have these opinions about the competition, but keeping them private would be better.
2. Would Mackey have been better off signing his name to the postings?
It’s hard to say whether or not it would have been better if he signed his name. Yes, he’d be honest with the public by letting them know who is responsible for the blog posts, but at the same time, if had signed his name it could hurt his business. If followers of the blog realized that Mackey was bashing the competition, that may reflect negatively on Whole Foods. Seeing a blog isn’t a reliable and creditable source, I don’t think he needed to sign his name. There are going to be people who believe what he posted and who don’t believe what he posted regardless of if he signed his name or not.
3. If you had been PR director at Whole Foods, what would you have advised the CEO as to his Web postings and his blog?
Once the news came out about the blog posts I would advise him admit to the posts and that they are opinion statements. I would also inform him of how blogs can have positive or negative effects on a company and if he wants to continue to post blog entries they’re going to have to provide the public with positive information and give the company a good name. One company should not be knocking down another company. In the end, it’s going to make Whole Foods look bad.
Muffy Lavens 
I agree that Mackey was not being honest or fair to the public and Wild Oats. But i think that when people get these crazy ideas in their head that could potentially save/make them a lot of money all ethical responses go out the window. And on the other hand if you were standing in Mackey’s shoes do you think you would have gotten caught? He obviously didn’t think he was going too, until it was to late. I dont think he should have been so public with the things he was saying on the blog because he was just asking for people to put two and two together after he bought Wild Oats outright for less than he was going to 5 years ago when he first started blogging about it.
Muffy and Zac,
I think John Mackey sounds like an idiot which just goes to prove that even idiots can be millionaires in this country!
Dr. Schultz
Great answers. In regards to question 2, I agree that it is hard to say whether or not signing his name to his blog would have been better than signing it anonymous. Seeing as his name was eventually connected to the blog, it probably wouldn’t have been so bad to publish the blog under his name. I agree completely to your answer in question 3. As CEO of a large corporation he should know that he represents the face of company and that remarks made in his personal life still reflect the company.
I agree with you on question 2 as well. It’s a very dangerous line to walk when you’re bashing your competition. You represent your company everywhere. Not just in professional situations. Which makes him an idiot for doing this in the first place.
I agree with you saying that because it is a blog, the CEO did not need to sign his name. Even though this could be seen as dishonest, I think the blame should be on the person reading the blog to decide whether or not it is true. The public should know to not believe everything they read. I do agree with your answer to question 3. I think that coming out and saying that he was the one who wrote the blog, he needs to take responsibility for what he wrote.
What he was doing was totally unethical and unfair to everyone. He was driving customers away from his compatition while bring them into his store. He was also lowering the stock price so he could buy it out eventually. He should have been punished by the SEC in some way. It was not fair that he was able to do that
Mackey should have not posted anonymously to lie to the public. That was very unethical of him. I agree that he should have been punished by the SEC. He also should not have been lowering stocks so he could buy them.