ETHICAL MARKETING

- Meaning and Inferences

- Dilemma areas
Ethical marketing refers to the process by which companies market their
goods and services by focusing not only on how their products benefit
customers, but also how they benefit socially responsible or environmental
causes
 Ethical marketing isn’t a strategy; it’s a philosophy !!

It includes ensuring advertisements are honest and trustworthy

Building strong relationships with consumers through a set of shared

values.

Companies with a focus on ethical marketing evaluate their decisions from -

A Business perspective (i.e. whether a particular marketing initiative will

deliver the desired return)
as well as

A Moral perspective (i.e. whether a decision is “morally sound”)

 Ethical Marketing –

 Relies on a long-term strategy of continuing education,

campaigning, and activism

 Attempts help consumers make better, more conscious choices

about the products they buy and the stores they frequent

 Changes the way we think about how goods are provided, the
people who make and sell the things we buy every day

 Cultivates brand loyalty by aligning its organizational values with

those of its ideal customers
 UNETHICAL MARKETING

Ethical marketers sympathize with emotions,

while unethical ones exploit them.

Unethical marketing practices include –

Intentionally evoking anger or sadness to manipulate consumer

decisions, using pressure tactics, targeting disadvantaged people
or tricking customers into buying a product or service
 Unethical practices … Field of Marketing
Broad areas in marketing susceptible to unethical practices –

 Sales

 Marketing Communications/ Deceptive Advertising

 Positioning / Marketing techniques

 Channels

Whereas ‘law’ is often a matter of black and white – right and wrong – ethics
often encompass a fuzzy gray area, shaded by subjective judgments
A shady marketer possibly will try to lure a customer into
participating in unethical sales practices or you will be rendered
weak by a competitor who engages in them to undercut your
business

 Wise to deepen one’s understanding of both ethical &

unethical practices in marketing and cement this information
by examining & learning some unethical marketing examples

 Ethics is sometimes best defined by the behavior, people

would engage in, when their parents were looking over their
shoulder
 AMA’s Unethical Marketing Definition

The AMA defines ethics by picking up values that “serve as the

criteria for evaluating our own personal actions as well as actions
of others...”

“As marketers –
We recognize that we not only serve our organizations but also act
as stewards of society in creating, facilitating and executing the
transactions that are part of the greater economy …
In this role, marketers are expected to embrace the highest
professional ethical norms and the ethical values implied by our
responsibility toward multiple stakeholders (e.g., customers,
employees, investors, peers, channel members, regulators and the
host community)”

AMA identifies the core values as –

Honesty Responsibility
Fairness Respect
Transparency & Citizenship
 Ethical marketing would entail –
Making honest claims & satisfying the needs of potential &
existing customers

 Boosting credibility and trust

 Developing brand loyalty

 Increasing customer retention

 Prompting customers to spread the word about the products or

services that you have been marketing
Unethical marketing on the other hand, would entail –

 Sending wrong information about your products and

services

 Destroying your brand’s reputation in the long run and

possibly leading the organization to a host of legal
issues
 Unethical practices in the field of Marketing

Avoiding unethical marketing practices can help a business

avoid other major consequences such as –

 Losing the good faith and loyalty of customers

 Jeopardizing profitability of the organization, slowly, but

steadily!!
 A) Misleading Statements
Consumers many a times turn a deaf ear to a product that
authentically claims to be “the best,” and they're known to
embrace marketing that promises to “transform their life” or
“make them the envy of all their friends.”

Distorting facts to intentionally confuse or mislead consumers

is construed as unethical

Ex: Stamping a product as sugar- or calorie-free when it does

contain some sugar and calories, or claiming a product as
“healthy” when it is loaded with carbohydrates and sodium
B) Making false or deceptive comparisons about a rival product

 Was much more prevalent some years ago among general

consumer products, can be still seen in some categories
(Phones, White goods)

 Competition tends to be fierce when rivals resort to side-by-

side comparisons with false or unsupported information

 Consumers may find such a technique helpful, as long as the

information is accurate and truthful
 C) Applying unnecessary pressure

“Limited time offers”

Companies sometimes are notorious for applying

unnecessary pressure for pushing in a sale or order
booking

It is fine if a deadline really exists and the customer is

beneficiary of the value if he/she prepones the decision
 D) Exploiting emotions or a news event

Companies pop up such instances every once in a while, then make a

quick exit when consumers/public complain or express outrage on it

Such situations arise after instances of any terrorist attacks, floods,

drought etc. when some advertisers tried to evoke sympathy – while
also attempt selling their products utilizing the situation
E) Stereotyping or depicting women as symbols, merely to
draw attention to a product

 It may be intuitive to include women as models in promotions

for beauty products and cosmetics

 But it just does not explain having them in promotions for

certain other product categories like smartphones etc. not
strongly related to women

 Such a practice could be both nonsensical and unethical

 F) Plagiarism of marketing messages

Though uncommon, some business owners and salespersons

engage in using the exact marketing messages of their competitors
to market their own products or services

Creativity is a huge part of marketing, and using other businesses’

marketing messages just passes such above companies as being
creatively bankrupt and fraudulent
 G) Spamming

Spamming is when you send unsolicited emails to potential

customers, encouraging them to buy your products or
services

This is the commonest unethical marketing practice done

online.

The number of time you send such emails doesn’t matter as

long as it remains ‘unsolicited’ !!
 Unethical marketing .. Avoiding in one’s interest !!

Henry Ford said the competitor to fear for any company was the
one who spent all their time improving their business and never
worried about what you were doing

But only if everyone took that approach…

We have a particular bunch of companies that use their mastery of

underhand marketing tactics to damage a competitor
For some businesses, killing – or at least slowing down – the
competition is a KPI !!!
 Marketing is the job that’s never says ‘its over’

 There are always new campaigns to plan and launch, new tactics
to master and roll out and of course new targets to chase down &
beat

 Pressure that comes with delivering a return on your marketing

spend can be intense

 So no wonder some marketers succumb to the temptation &

venture to the dark side in search of more leads, an advantage
over the competition or a shortcut to success
Ethics are rarely black and white …. There’s a spectrum

A fair bit of grey….

Its important that marketers have different ways to slide

right through the grey and into the black when it comes
to ethics

What’s unethical to one marketer might be an accepted

practice to another !!