Marketing ethics and business practice
Introduction
Ethics in marketing can be defined as the moral guidelines that govern good behavior. Thus, for a free market to be able to function both effectively as well as efficiently, there is need to adopt good ethical behavior. The typical marketer in today’s world is a person filled with too much dilemma that result from not only internal conflict from both internal conflict as well as the external environment on how to act. The conflict and dilemma originate from the fact that the marketing environment is constantly changing and at a very rapid pace. There is a thin line between the ethical, and legal issues that are applicable to a marketer in their line of duty. This is because of the fact that the marketer is more interested in the practical side of the routine activities of business (Vitell et.al, 2003, p.72). Due to the abundance in choices that are always available for the marketer, there will always be need for ethical as well as legal issues which always turn out to be important for the marketer in the competitive business environment. Ethical issues which the marketer faces may be either complex or easy. In most cases, the degree of complexity is often determined by how the marketer is prepared to handle the situation. The nature of the organization one works in as well as individual values of the marketers has made it necessary or there to be a code of conduct that would prevent marketers from committing any wrong in their line of duty (Ethics In Marketing, 1996, p.112).
A good marketer is one that attempts to incorporate these ‘code’, which usually comprises of both ethical as well as legal issues, into their daily marketing routine. This is partially because of the fact that the decisions made by the marketer will always end up affecting all the organization’s stakeholders. Thus it is imperative that the marketer maintain utmost integrity in the decisions they make concerning strategy. In most cases, a marketer’s function includes convincing as well as influencing consumer habits.
Marketer’s behavior
As stated, marketing can be a very competitive environment. This is because the nature of businesses as evolved and more and more competition keeps on cropping every now and then. Given the fact that there is growing competition, it is imperative that the marketer up their game in order to attract the customers. It is in this scenario that marketers often find the application of marketing ethics to be hard for they have to chose between maintaining ethics or competing with the rest who are the same if not more aggressive. More often than not marketing ethics come in where the marketer is trying to influence the consumer why to pick their products over the others (Murphy & Laczniak, 2005, p.11). The choices the consumers are likely to make mostly define the marketers’ ethical choices. Generally, marketing ethics has over the years been classified under four main responses from the marketers, depending on individual morals principles as well as values. In these cases, judgment plays an important role on the part of the marketer. This is because while some actions may be deemed legal, they may not be morally ethical. On the other hand, actions that may be considered ethical may not be legal.
Ethics more often than not comes in when markets are carrying out marketing campaigns. This is because marketing involves communication of the services or products to the consumers. All organizations usually want to market these in a way that is both effective and efficient. This would require advertisement of the service or product. In most countries, the law of advertising is very strict and must be adhered to by all stakeholders. This helps maintain order in the sector. It requires aspects of content, style and delivery which often vary depending on an organization and the resources it is willing and able to allocate to advertisement (Brenkert, 2008, p.53). Ethics comes in for example where the amount spared for the advertisement is concerned. There is no law that dictates the amount of money that an organization can spend on its advertisement, however, ethically, is it right to spend huge sums of money just on advertisement? Yet, in most cases where a company can afford to, they do spend a lot of money on advertisement which is in essence breaching marketing ethics. Thus most marketers usually strive to fulfill legal obligations set up in law yet end up trampling over ethical requirements.
Factors that influence a marketer’s behavior
Ethical issues in marketing more often than not originate from conflicts or disagreements from different parties in a given market environment. Usually, all parties to the marketing transaction will come with a set of expectations that dictate the existence of the business relationship as well as the transaction process (Singhapakdi et.al, 1996, p.1133). These different aspects of the marketing transactions usually create a set of factors that will ultimately influence how the marketers in that particular situation will react as far as marketing ethics is concerned.
Marketing research
In the course of carrying out marketing research, marketers are likely to breach marketing ethics when looking for vital information. Breach of ethics comes in form of invasion of personal privacy as well as in stereotyping of other competitors as well as consumers. Stereotypes take place when marketers want to make estimations and they therefore place people in specific groups. When carried out in non-ethical manner, stereotypes can be used to segregate certain types of individuals. This is bad because all individuals are human with feeling. Assuming that a certain group would like a specific item and segregating others is a breach of marketing ethics (Davidson, 1995, p.35).
Case study
In the game industry, the target market is usually assumed to be kids, while studies indicate that almost a quarter of the people who purchase games are over the age of forty. The same would be the fact that most market do not segment senior citizens, yet these group make up a larger percentage of most European countries. There is also the fact that most sport gear as well as expensive cars is often segmented for men while research indicates that women are the world’s biggest spending segment. It cannot be assumed that say gardening is only for the old because women also like to garden.
Market audience
In the cause of selecting particular target markets, marketers have been known to segregate other potential markets. This is known as selective marketing and it is normally used to discourage undesirable market sectors. This has been known to happen in cases such as plus size markets, gays as well as race markets that were being segregated some few years back. Despite the evolution of the markets, some still practice market segregation. This is also known as market exclusion. Marketing ethics also come in as far as vulnerable markets are concerned. Here the marketers are aware of and exploit the vulnerability of the market (Rawwas et.al, 2013, p.530).
Case study
The clothing industry is a major contributor to market segregation. This is because the marketing is for a specific group of persons and those that cannot feat in that segment cannot use their products. This is mostly so in the case of plus size markets. The clothing industry is aware of the existence of plus size individuals yet the cloths made by some companies are up to a certain size. This means that only those individuals within that specific size range can buy the clothing and those outside cannot access these cloths. One of the most controversial companies that participate in this type of marketing is Abercrombie and Fitch whose cloth sizes do not include XL and XXL.
Pricing
Ethics in pricing come in when a specific company practices bid rigging. This practice involves the offering of commercial contracts to specific parties but making it look like the offer had been made to other parties. It also includes other non ethical practices include illegal dumping which is the selling of a products at a lower price in another country. Predatory pricing is where a company deliberately lowers its prices to drive away competition. Price discrimination is where the company sells the product to different markets at different prices. Price fixing is when several members that market similar products agree to sell their products at the high same price (2012, p.21). Price skimming involves introducing the product at a high price then gradually lowering the price. Price war is where a particular company constantly cuts the price of their product lower than that of the competition. Other types of unethical pricings include super competitive and variable pricing.
The unethical nature of pricing can in the end play a very major decision in a marketer’s decision because of the unfair terms that the completion has put up.
Advertising and promotion
Advertisement and promotion has over the years played a very important role when it comes to marketing ethics. This comes in form of false advertisements that are misleading to the consumers (Schlegelmilch & Öberseder, 2010, p.3). This goes against morality and ethical marketing as well as is now an offence under the law. Case study, a few years back, cigarette manufactures used to advertise tobacco as good for an individual’s health. In most case, advertisements are viewed as both positive as well as negative depending on the outlook. Condom advertisements have been viewed as positive on one hand for the prevention of AIDs but have been viewed negatively as promoting promiscuity. Generally, bad advertisement is where the marketer showcases the disadvantages of using the competitor’s products. This form of marketing is especially common in political campaigns. Delivery channels are also pit falls that marketing ethics is likely to be flaunted. This form of unethical behavior happens in almost all industries and cannot be easily eradicated for example direct marketing.
Ethics as a marketing tool
Most companies are afraid of the damage that would come to them if they were associated with unethical practices. Most marketers have noted the fact that most markets are impartial to companies with good ethic tendencies. Thus, some fraudulent marketers want to act fast and easily incorporate ethics with the company image. This means that they use ethics itself as a selling point or for its corporate image (Schlegelmilch, 1998, p.102).
Case study
The Body shop international PLC is an example of a company that has been able to model its image as well as products around ethical issues. The products of the company strictly use natural products that are not animal tasted. There is also the fact that the company trained and employed immigrant workers. The company comes out as not only environmentally minded but also socially responsible to the target consumers.
Another example is the practice of green washing. This is where companies align their name or agenda to an eco friendly theme. This is to show the consumers that the company is environmentally conscious while the activities of the company are contrary to this agenda.
Conclusion
Ethics in marketing is a very important aspect for any successful marketer. However, for the longest time, marketers have taken advantage of circumstances and have flaunted ethical practices that were created to protect consumers. Society in turn has taken steps to help mitigate the growing rate of lack of ethical practice by creating the law. While this has in some way helped instill some ethical responsibilities in marketers, truth is that the changing marketing environment is very hostile. Thus, while there may be ethical marketers who practice proper ethical marketing, the environment in which they operate is too hostile to accommodate them. In the end, many marketers end up participating in one form of unethical practice or the other in a bid to remain relevant in a very hostile and competitive marketing environment.
References
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