Ethical marketing means making honest claims to attract potential customers.

When customers perceive your marketing

practices to be honest and genuine, they can begin to trust in your brand. Mutual trust works to develop brand loyalty,
which keeps customers coming back and motivates them to spread the word about your business. On the flip side,
unethical marketing sends the wrong messages out to prospects about your products and services. These practices can lead
to legal problems, but more importantly, they can lead to reputational loss or destroy your brand.

Unethical marketing practices in Cameroon are not always obvious. But deception in subtle ways is just as misleading.
These practices are major turn-offs for consumers and, sometimes, they can be illegal, too. Here are some common
unethical marketing practices in Cameroon which crosses the line;

Misleading Advertising Misses the Mark; Misleading advertising are unethical, and they’re illegal, too. The Cameroonian law
N° 2006/018 OF DECEMBER 29, 2006, Governing advertisement in Cameroon regulates truth in advertising, and it expects
marketers to make accurate statements in their advertising campaigns, back claims with scientific evidence whenever
possible and be transparent about negative features. But because of lack of proper information to the general public and
limited access to knowledge and above all monopoly in the telecommunication sector in the country, telecommunication
operators mainly MTN Cameroon and Orange Cameroun make advertisements that claim they are offering their
broadbands in the 3G and 4G bands, of which most Cameroonian disagree due to testimonies from those who travel
abroad and have experienced real 3G or 4G networks. But because there is no choice, citizens are forced to use what they
have.

Contacting Consumers Without Consent: The same Advertising law in Cameroon as quoted above sets commercial email
standards, such as not contacting prospects without their consent. Upon consumer request to unsubscribe, you must take
them off your list to abide by the law. Before you’re tempted to buy a list of prospects, consider that bugging the wrong
customers too many times will do you more reputational harm than good. The same above-mentioned telecommunication
operators MTN AND ORANGE Cameron along with some online shops like SellamQuick.CM and sometime JUMIA, are
notorious for these unethical actions and behavior.

Another form of unethical behavior in marketing experienced in the Cameroonian business world is that of improper
communication of what a product(s) has as side effects from consumption. Companies doing such acts only advertise about
the advantages but never about the disadvantages of consuming their products. Typically, is the Tobacco and brewery
companies; SITABAC and Les Braseries du Cameroun respectively.

Some recommendations on what should change include:

An Improved Compliance Initiative: In 2013, Orange Cameroun for example created the Compliance function, an initiative
to protect Orange Cameroon against the increasing risk of non-compliance with laws and regulations. Compliance includes
diverse areas such as prevention of corruption, compliance with international and local economic sanctions or embargoes,
protection of personal data, and banking compliance. The goal of the Chief Compliance Officer is to design, deploy, and
coordinate Compliance programs.

Create a reporting system; whereby reporting abuses by customers be a civic act that should be encouraged, and should
not be considered a betrayal justifying retaliation.

REFERENCES

Karina Tama – Rutigliano, (un 24, 2019); How To Draw The Line On Unethical Marketing:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2019/06/24/how-to-draw-the-line-on-unethical-
marketing/#2152dab55736

M.T. Wroblewski (November, 2018): Unethical Activities in the Field of Marketing:

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/unethical-activities-field-marketing-65705.html
Law No.2006/018 of 29 December 2006 to regulate advertising in Cameroon;
https://www.prc.cm/en/multimedia/documents/5776-law-n-2006-018-of-29-12-2006-to-regulate-advertising-in-
cameroon?album_id=121