Ethics in Service Marketing

Marketing ethics is an area of applied ethics which deals with the moral principles
behind the operation and regulation of marketing. Some areas of
marketing ethics (ethics of advertising and promotion) overlap with media ethics.
Ethical Marketing is a philosophy that focus focuses on honesty, fairness and
responsibility. Though wrong and right are subjective, a general set of guidelines can be put
in place to ensure the company’s intent is broadcast and achieved. Principles of this practice
include:
 A shared standard of truth in marketing communications
 A clear distinction between advertising and sensationalism
 Endorsements should be clear and transparent
 Consumers’ privacy should be maintained at all times
 Government standards and regulations must be adhered and practiced by
marketers. There are 6 ethical values that marketers are expected to uphold,
and these are:
 Honesty: Be forthright in dealings and offer value and integrity.

 Responsibility: Accept consequences of marketing practices and serve the needs of

customers of all types, while being good stewards of the environment.
 Fairness: Balance buyer needs and seller interest fairly, and avoid manipulation in
all forms while protecting the information of the consumers.
 Respect: Acknowledge basic human dignity of all the people involved through efforts
to communicate, understand and meet needs and appreciate contributions of others.
 Transparency: Create a spirit of openness in the practice of marketing through
communication, constructive criticism, action, and disclosure.
 Citizenship: Fulfill all legal, economic, philanthropic and societal responsibilities to
all stakeholders as well as giveback to the community and protect the ecological
environment.
Marketing refers to the dissemination of information to the public about the products or
services a business offers. As a service-oriented business, a firm may want to inform the
public about its services and entice them to patronize its business. To do that, it may boast of
the benefits a person would receive from its services. However, ethical issues could arise if a
person accepts its invitation to use the services, and the firm do not deliver as promised.
False Advertising
A lawyer serves clients by representing them on various legal issues. The highly regulated legal
services field actually has a code of ethics by which lawyers must abide. Failing to abide by this
code of ethics can land a lawyer in a disciplinary action. Therefore, when marketing his
services, a lawyer should ensure that he can deliver the type of services he has been advertising.
A potential ethical issue can arise when the lawyer cannot do so. For example, if a lawyer
markets himself to doctors as a medical malpractice law expert, yet he has not had any medical
malpractice cases, he can be subjecting himself to future disciplinary action.

Misleading the Public

The field of personal training offers services to individuals who want to get into better physical
shape. A good way for a personal trainer to market his services is to inform people of his
education and credentials as a personal trainer. If he specializes in a certain segment of the
population, such as women, he can market to women who want to lose weight. On the other
hand, if he puts out an advertisement featuring one of his best female clients as a success story,
he can be crossing the line. The trainer may mislead potential clients into thinking that their
results will mirror those of that particular client.

Exaggerations

Around the first of the year, TV viewers find their screens inundated with weight-loss
commercials. These services offer meal plans that supposedly enable people to shed pounds. The
ads also usually feature an out-of-work actress who has recently shed pounds on the weight-loss
program. An ethical issue can arise if the weight-loss company uses a middle-aged celebrity
who recently gained tons of weight carrying twins. Months after giving birth, the company
features her in these commercials in a midriff-baring outfit. The company boasts that she
regained her figure by using its program when in actuality she had a mommy-makeover, which
included a tummy tuck.

Importance of Ethics

Organizations need to abide by ethics or rule of law, engage themselves in fair practices and
competition; all of which will benefit the consumer, the society and organization.

Primarily it is the individual, the consumer, the employee or the human social unit of the society
who benefits from ethics. In addition ethics is important because of the following:

1. Satisfying Basic Human Needs: Being fair, honest and ethical is one the basic human
needs. Every employee desires to be such himself and to work for an organization that
is fair and ethical in its practices.
 2. Creating Credibility: An organization that is believed to be driven by moral values is
respected in the society even by those who may have no information about the working
and the businesses or an organization. Infosys, for example is perceived as an
organization for good corporate governance and social responsibility initiatives. This
perception is held far and wide even by those who do not even know what business
the organization is into.

3. Uniting People and Leadership: An organization driven by values is revered by its

employees also. They are the common thread that brings the employees and the
decision makers on a common platform. This goes a long way in aligning behaviors
within the organization towards achievement of one common goal or mission.

4. Improving Decision Making: A man’s destiny is the sum total of all the decisions
that he/she takes in course of his life. The same holds true for organizations.
Decisions are driven by values. For example an organization that does not value
competition will be fierce in its operations aiming to wipe out its competitors and
establish a monopoly in the market.
5. Long Term Gains: Organizations guided by ethics and values are profitable in the
long run, though in the short run they may seem to lose money. Tata group, one of
the largest business conglomerates in India was seen on the verge of decline at the
beginning of 1990’s, which soon turned out to be otherwise. The same company’s
Tata NANO car was predicted as a failure, and failed to do well but the same is
picking up fast now.
6. Securing the Society: Often ethics succeeds law in safeguarding the society. The law
machinery is often found acting as a mute spectator, unable to save the society and
the environment. Technology, for example is growing at such a fast pace that the by
the time law comes up with a regulation we have a newer technology with new threats
replacing the older one. Lawyers and public interest litigations may not help a great
deal but ethics can.
Ethics tries to create a sense of right and wrong in the organizations and often when the
law fails, it is the ethics that may stop organizations from harming the society or
environment.