Is Marketing incredibly ethical or Failing to do it is inexcusable..???

By Krishna Shah
Posted on:-24/02/2019

Source:-https://www.cleverism.com/social-responsibility-ethics-marketing/

The first type of unethical marketing is rather obvious. When you make claims about a product that are simply not true. This type of marketing is not only unethical but it also leads to broken business relationships and possible lawsuits. Which is why businesses are so sensitive to making sure that their marketing campaigns contain accurate information about their products and services.

Another type of unethical marketing has to do with violating privacy laws by obtaining email addresses illegally and sending unwanted emails to people. Which is why the CanSpam laws were created. So that consumers would be protected from this type of unethical activity.

Then there is emotional exploitation and hysteria creating marketing campaigns that purposely try to create a fear and anxiety in the consumer to purchase products that they neither need nor should be concerned with obtaining. This type of marketing is practiced by bottom feeders that have no concern with ethical marketing practices.

Ethical issue in marketing…

Ethical issues in marketing arise from the conflicts and lack of agreement on particular issues. Parties involved in marketing transactions have a set of expectations about how the business relationships will take shape and how various transactions need to be conducted. Each marketing concept has its own ethical issues, which we will discuss in this chapter.

Emerging Ethical Problems in Market Research

Market research has experienced a resurgence with the widespread use of the Internet and the popularity of social networking. It is easier than ever before for companies to connect directly with customers and collect individual information that goes into a computer database to be matched with other pieces of data collected during unrelated transactions.

The way a company conducts its market research these days can have serious ethical repercussions, affecting the lives of consumers in ways that have yet to be fully understood. Further, companies can be faced with a public backlash if their market research practices are perceived as unethical.

Grouping the Market Audience

Unethical practices in marketing can result in grouping the audience into various segments. Selective marketing may be used to discourage the demand arising from these so-called undesirable market segments or to disenfranchise them totally.

Examples of unethical market exclusion may include the industry attitudes towards the gay, ethnic minority, and plus-size groups.

Ethics in Advertising and Promotion

In the early days of existence of corporations, especially during 1940s and 1950s, tobacco was advertised as a substance that promotes health. Of late, an advertiser who does not meet the ethical standards is considered an offender against morality by the law.

Sexuality is a major point of discussion when ethical issues in advertising content are considered. Violence is also an important ethical issue in advertising, especially where children should not be affected by the content.

Some select types of advertising may strongly offend some groups of people even when they are of strong interest to others. Female hygiene products as well as haemorrhoid and constipation medication are good examples. The advertisements of condoms are important in the interest of AIDS-prevention, but are sometimes seen by some as a method of promoting promiscuity that is undesirable and strongly condemned in various societies.

Pricing Ethics

There are various forms of unethical business practices related to pricing the products and services.

Bid rigging is a type of fraud in which a commercial contract is promised to one party, however, for the sake of appearance several other parties also present a bid.
Predatory pricing is the practice of sale of a product or service at a negligible price, intending to throw competitors out of the market, or to create barriers to entry.