The question of the ethical way of selling things has remained unanswered for a long time, marketers do what they think is the “right/legal” way of communicating but not strictly the ethical way. This days, most marketers have realized that doing things ethically is very important to the consumers they are trying to reach, therefore organizations need to get it all together, they need to take some time out to do a little “soul-searching” and pay a lot of attention to all forms of communications that they intend to put out there. The marketing communications issues nowadays are not grievous as it used to be, displaying women in despicable manner or abusing children in marketing communications are gradually fading out. Now subtle offenses that an average consumer might not take not of, or …show more content…
Some companies take advantage of using unethical communications since unethical does not necessarily means acting illegally, many marketers deliberately exaggerate claims and make confusing statements that could misguide the consumers. It is sometimes difficult to conclude what the society terms as ethical or acceptable when it come to marketing communications, there marketers must be very sensitive enough to know what could generate controversy in their ways of communicating their products to the consumers. It is also sometimes very difficult to strike the balance between being ethical and making profits, many unethical communication has the potential of making fast profit for a company, but it is important to strike this delicate balance between stating the truth about a product in a communication and the ability to persuade consumers to buy the product. Ethical communication on the other hand is consistent, can stand the test of time, and can make the company’s brand
All in all, the book Age of Propaganda: The Use and Abuse of Persuasion by Partkanis and Aronson points out the flaws in the advertising and marketing methods. The purpose of the four stratagems in marketing is to most effectively catch consumers’ attention and get them to buy their product. The strategies are pre-persuasion, source credibility, message and emotion. The authors point out that the race of corporations to beat one another to consumers has created a world of advertising that is cluttered with tactics that take away the truth of the product. If this trend continues, and these stratagems continue to be installed, our world will be littered with over-the-top and pointless campaigns.
Lahdesmaki (2005) argued that marketing can be an ethical contract between businesses and their customers. Therefore businesses are morally obliged to inform their customers about the products in store and provide all the information necessary via marketing strategy so the customer can make informed decisions about their purchase.
The abovementioned process is influenced by the commoditisation of products and blurring of consumer's own perceptions of the companies' offering. In order to differentiate and position their products and/or services today's businesses employ advertising which is sometimes considered not only of bad taste, but also as deliberately intrusive and manipulative. The issue of bad advertising is topical to such extent that organisations like Adbusters have embraced the tactics of subvertising - revealing the real intend behind the modern advertising. The Adbusters magazine editor-in-chief Kalle Lason commented on the corporate image building communication activities of the big companies: "We know that oil companies aren't really friendly to nature, and tobacco companies don't really care about ethics" (Arnold, 2001). On the other hand, the "ethics and social responsibility are important determinants of such long-term gains as survival, long-term profitability, and competitiveness of the organization" (Singhapakdi, 1999). Without communications strategy that revolves around ethics and social responsibility the concepts of total quality and customer relationships building become elusive. However, there could be no easy clear-cut ethics formula of marketing communications.
In the media there are a lot of concerns about ethical standards in marketing and advertisements in corporations and businesses. Cumming’s marketing and advertisements strategies follow strict policies based on ethics that rest on a fundamental belief in people's dignity and decency. Cummins is committed to quality, innovation and integrity. This commitment is possible because each member of Cummins follows the highest standards of ethical conduct. These standards are embodied in the Cummins Code of Business Conduct. Individual integrity and strong corporate culture are the best assurances that this Code will be followed.
Recently, the topic of power and ethical communication has been highlighted as an important factor in company success. Considering technological advancements, there is much more information which must be treated and communicated by employees and managers than in the past. While ethical communication concerns all members of an organization, individuals with a larger amount of power are more responsible for ethical communication and its impact on the enterprise.
There are many social aspects that come into consideration when one thinks of an advertisement. Some of these social aspects are: does advertising educate the consumer, does advertising improve the standard of living, and does advertising have a powerful effect on the mass media. These three social aspects will be researched in depth to discover the pros and cons of each, and any ethical implications. Social aspects and ethical considerations need to be considered when developing and executing a sales and marketing plan.
The nature of selling product is catchy and entertaining advertisement and many of the audiences are more then likely unaware and do not know any better on what the product really is about.
The studies give us a better understanding of the definition of ethical issues in marketing research, how it works and the possible ways to reduce it. These three articles show different perspectives on ethical issues in marketing research. The first article explains the ethical issues by using philosophies theories and generated an integrated model when making ethical marketing research decisions by using a combination of many philosophies theories, which believed will be helpful in reducing unethical issues in marketing research industries. The second article shows a result of study which indicates that woman has more ethical morals than man, and it suggest to include more female researchers in the firm which may help to reduce the unethical behaviors in ethical issues of marketing research. The last article indicates that the chances of top managements of organizations to have unethical behaviors are low, therefore it suggested if the top management criticized the immoral behaviors, it will eventually help to decrease the ethical issues in marketing research. In my opinion, all the above mention suggestions can be useful in reducing ethical issues in marketing research. A combination of all three suggestions will be more effective in reducing ethical issues in marketing research. We can include the integrated model in ethical marketing research decision
It has been known that all ethical consumerism practises have actually gained an increased supremacy over the last couple of years. Consumers have found that the tendency to inform their customers of the ethical consumerism plays a rather vital part as this results in informed purchase decisions through references to ethical as well as moral principles. (The Guardian, 2014).
In 1994, a new form of advertising and getting products and services into the world was discovered: the internet. Online advertising has been growing rapidly. We can see advertisements on almost any webpage we go to. Even if you try to avoid ads, you are bound to find some. This leads us to a crucial part of advertising which is ethics.
What does FAIR stand for in relation to ethical business communications? When communicating to a group or individual one must ensure that they are transparent and fair.
McDonalds is one of the largest food chains globally and in the U.S. It has one of the most recognized symbols with the golden arches. There are more than 34,000 local McDonalds around the world and they serve approximately 69 million people in 118 countries every single day. They also spend about two billion dollars on advertisements each year. The ethical issue that I want to address in this essay is whether or not McDonalds is ethical for advertising and selling obese and unhealthy foods to its customers. I believe it is important to explore this organization because McDonalds is one of the largest and most well-known food chains around the world. It is important to know that an organization as successful and large as them is also ethical with their approach. If a corporation as successful and profitable as McDonalds can be ethical with their selling and advertising schemes then just about any other organization or corporation striving towards that same goal can be too.
In order to generate sales, marketers often promote aggressively and uniquely, unfortunately, not all marketing advertisements are done ethically. Companies around the globe spend billions of dollars to promote new products and services and advertising is one of the key tools to communicate with consumers. Conversely, some methods that marketers use to produce advertisements and to generate sales is deceptive and unethical. Ethical issues concern in marketing has always been noted in marketing practice. According to Prothero (2008), ethics itself has a profound, varied and rich past. It emphasizes on questions of right and wrong or good and bad.
In today’s difficult economy who can afford to spend their hard-earned money carelessly? Americans want good quality and low prices, and businesses that advertise their product make saving money possible. Advertising was created for one reason, so businesses could make known their product (Black, Hashimzade, and Myles). Some consumers may argue that advertising is not informative, but that it is manipulative because some advertisements make false claims. Fortunately, there are regulations and consumer rights that promote truth in advertising. Consumers must embrace their rights to keep advertising the way it is meant to be. Advertising is meant to be informative and not manipulative, and consumers play a great role in promoting truth in advertising.
growth in usage by both consumers and businesses. The unique capabilities of the Internet has captured the attention of the marketing community. While a growing number of companies have or are interested in developing an Internet presence, there is still a great deal of uncertainty about it and the potential ethical issues associated with its use as a marketing medium. Although many businesses are acknowledging the importance of a Web site, but the potential ethical issues related to marketing on the Internet still having an uncertainty in this situation. Much less attention has been given to the business community's perceptions of the ethicalness of this new medium. The unique interactivity of the Internet has captured the marketing community's interest as a way to develop and enhance customer relationships and establish greater brand identity. Thus, many commercial services have become available on the Internet that allow consumers and organizations to interact electronically. These services include booking airline tickets online, buying books and compact discs, and receiving stock market information. Although the number of consumer users and commercial organizations navigating on this "information superhighway" is growing almost exponentially, the benefits of the Internet are not without drawbacks.