Consequentialism In The Candy Man

The Candy Man
Bingheng Lin
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

The Candyman
Introduction
The Candyman: The David Klein Story was a movie that produced by Noel Murray(2011), tells the story of the rise and fall of David Klein, the man who invented Jelly Belly jelly beans. In the mid 70’s, David Klein worked at a nut store which also sold all kinds of candy, helping out in delivery. David Klein was a thoughtful person. He always came up with all kinds of ideas. “ In life, you only need to be a genius for 15 seconds. This is America. If you come up with a good idea, you can run with that idea.” The good idea that David Klein came up with, was Jelly Bellies. In 1976, he made jelly beans with specific flavors
that weren’t you run-of- the-mill sugary blobs tasting like sweet medicine. At the begining of the candy business, David Klein approached The Herman Goelitz Candy Conpany, asking them to manufacture the jelly beans. The start of the product was so slow, since the Jelly Belly was so expensive compared to other jelly. “In the late 1970’s, Jelly Belly was two dollars a pound, and gas was a dollars a gallon.” (Murray 2011) However, David was not only just a candy inventor, but also a marketing talent. He went on the “Mike Douglas Show” and posed the his funny jelly picture on People Magazine. After that, Jelly Belly and Goelitz were taken off. Because Jelly Belly was a huge success, Goelitz decided to “buy” Jelly Belly from David Klein in the 1980’s for $4.2 million. Today, Jelly Belly is famous all over the world and it generates about $200 million per year in revenue.In the following paper, the rise and fall of David Klein and Jelly Belly will be discussed from a variety of ethical viewpointsincluding Psychological Egois, Consequentialism, Hedonism and ethics of care.

Psychological Egois Psychological egoism describes human nature as being wholly self-centered and self-motivated.(Shaver 2010) In 1980, Goelitz execs flew out to Los Angeles, where Klein still lives, to meet with him and bluff and strong-arm him out of the company, out of the genius product that he dreamed up, for a mere pittance. It was just before Ronald Reagan was about to be elected, bring Jelly Bellies to the White House and make the gourmet candy into even more of a skyrocketing market sensation. The Goelitz people told him that they wanted the company and would stop production and steal his flavors and product concept until and unless he sold it to them. They told Klein that even if he sued them, they had an army of lawyers, and he wouldn’t be able to afford to fight them. They warned that even if he did fight and win, it would be too light. By the time the battle was over, the Goelitz people told him, Jelly Belly would be over and he would lose everything. (Schlussel 2011) In this case, Goelitz wanted to kick Klein out of campany was because they saw the potential of the Jelly Belly. They knew that Jelly Belly would bring their company huge profits, and they didn’t want to share with David. Goelitz was a typical example of psychological egoism. “ The lesson many have taken from this story is that we are always looking out for Number One. If we had the power to do as we liked, we would always seek out our own best interests, no matter the harms we caused.”(Landau 2012). There is only one thing that motivates human beings: self-interest. For Goelitz company. that was the profits by selling jelly beans. They just wanted money, and they didn’t care what would cause to David and his family. Even though psychological egoism looks like is selfish and immoral, but for psychological egoist it is nomoral. “Psychological egoism makes no claim as to how one should act. That all persons seek their self-interest on this theory is a purported fact, and this belief is viewed by the psychological egoist as nonmoral and verifiable”(Schlussel 2011)

Consequentialism

Consequentialism is an approach to Ethics that argues that the morality of an action is contingent on the action's outcome or consequence.
Thus, a morally right action is one that produces a good outcome or result, and the consequences of an action or rule generally outweigh all other considerations.(Branch&Doctrine 2014) Consequentialism is based on two principles, first one is whether an act is right or wrong depends only on the results of that act, and the second one is the more good consequences an act produces, the better or more right that act. A person should choose the action that maximises good consequences. In Klein’s life, Jelly Belly is his all. He doesn’t need a lot of money and fame. “ Klein is a mensch, perhaps too much of one. Even today, though not the multi-millionaire the inventor of Jelly Bellies should be, he spends his money to drive an ice cream truck to a house in the neighborhood where children are having birthday parties. Then, he just gives away the ice cream treats for free. Nothing makes him happier.” (Schlussel 2011) Jelly Belly was David’s most proud invention. He wanted Jelly Belly to change the candy industry or even change the world. When Goelitz asked for the Jelly Belly, he gave in. Today, Jelly Belly is the world famous candy company and it had $190 million in 2012. David Klein fell into a deep depression, he was so sad about the one he didn’t let get away, but sold avawy fir nearly nothing. “His biggest disappointment, though,
was not the money, but how his name is never mentioned, is nowhere on the box. A 2008 New York Times story about Jelly Bellies, doesn’t mention the very man who invented the product and made it big.”(Schlussel 2011) But at least, The Jelly Belly has been a huge success these days. In consequentialism, right or wrong is only depands on results of the act. Since the success of Jelly Belly, David’s concession was a right chose.
Hedonism
“Hedonism is a philosophical system that holds that people are motivated primarily by the production of pleasure and happiness and the avoidance of pain. A person chooses his or her actions on the basis of how much pleasure and pain the actions will foreseeably cause.”(2014) Some people will feel happy if they have a lot of money, some may feel happy if they have a happy family. For Klein, money is worthless, he is belongs to the candy world. The only thing that can make him happy is candy. Even though he is no longer has Jelly Belly, but he is working on a new candy with his family. “ He moved on and began inventing other candy, including “Sandy Candy,” with his daughter. They have their own candy factory in California. And, as David tells me, making this movie helped bring him and his son closer. That, to me, is the best part of the story.”(Schlussel 2011) In Kelin’s own words “ If the original agreement had not been changed, I would have received at least 200 million dollars more. This would not have changed my lifestyle at all, but can you imagine the people I would have been able to help with that money. The documentary brought Bert and myself much closer and for this I will be eternally grateful.” There are a variety of ways to live a good life, and hedonism explains why this is so: there are many paths to happiness.(Landau 2012) and the best activity for human beings is the one that brings us the greatest happiness. The best activity for Klein, absolute is stay with his family and work on candy.
Ethics Of Care Ethics of care, also called care ethics, feminist philosophical perspective that uses a relational and context-bound approach toward morality and decision making.
The term ethics of care refers to ideas concerning both the nature of morality and normative ethical theory. (Burton 2013) There are main belief of the theory is to helps the interpersonal relation. Human life presupposes and is possible only by the care and support humans offer each other. Parents have a moral responsibility to care for their children and children have moral responsibility to care for the elderly. Thus, human beings exist in interdependent relationships that entail ethical responsibilities. Klein gave in when Goelitz Candy company asked for Jelly Belly.“ It wasn’t just that they bullied him and he was too nice–too nice not to bring in his own army of lawyers and say, “see ya in court.” It was that he had his aging partners, his former nut store employers who were growing older and wanted to cash out. They, too, pressured Klein into the deal. True, he didn’t have to sign the agreement and could have gone and gotten lawyers, but this was 1980, and he was an entrepreneur, not a litigator. ”(Schlussel 2012) Klein was not representing himself, he was also representing his employers and his aging partners. He needed to think of them. His concession was just the embodiment of
care.
Conclusion
The title of this movie is The Devid Klein Story, not The Jelly Belly Story. As the movie shows, there’s more to Klein than the company he let slip through his fingers. In the recent years since parting way with Jelly Belly, Klein has spents tons of money on developing new candies, but none of them become popular. In addition, he also helped the young people to find their dream, cause he turly believes that “ success only needs to be genius for 15 seconds” . A person have to experience many different thing in life, success and failure, parting and reunion. However, there are a variety of ways to live a good life. “Because the sources of happiness vary quite widely, and happiness is the key to good life, there are many ways to live a good life.” (Landau 2012) Klein is a living example.

References
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Burton, B. (2013, October 1). ethics of care (ethics and philosophy). Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1162988/ethics-of-care

Consequentialism.BBC News. Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/consequentialism_1.shtml

Landau, R. S. (2012). The Fundamentals of Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.

Shaver, R. (2002, November 4). Egoism. . Retrieved October 4, 2010, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/egoism/

Schlussel, D. (2011, March 27). “Candyman: The David Klein Story” – Meet the Mensch Inventor of Jelly Belly.. Retrieved , from http://www.debbieschlussel.com/34922/candyman-the-david-klein-story-meet-the-mensch- inventor-of-jelly-bellies/

What is Hedonism?. (2014). wiseGEEK. Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-hedonism.htm