ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

STUDENT DETAILS

Student name: Mai Thuy Dung Student ID number: B1112014719

UNIT AND TUTORIAL DETAILS

Unit name: ACADEMIC ENGLISH Unit number: BUS301

Friday, Nov 27th
Tutorial/Lecture: Individual Essay Class day and time: 12PM - 3:15PM
Lecturer or Tutor name: Michael Griffin

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Title: Evaluate the importance of marketing ethics (ethical marketing) in doing business.
Length: 1383 words Due date: December 27th Date submitted: December 27th

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Evaluate the importance of marketing ethics (ethical marketing) in doing business.

In industry 4.0 of fierce competition among businesses today, marketing is an indispensable

activity and plays an integral part in the marketing process and the entire economic and social life.
Customers gradually become more preferred in ethical companies, and it has been an upcoming trend
in the market. By creating customer value, businesses also create value for society with activities
aimed at the community and the environment. Therefore, marketing ethics is one of the issues that
marketers must consider when implementing marketing activities.

Ethical Marketing (or ethics in marketing) is a process where businesses not only specialize in
marketing products to increase sales and get many profits but also bring customers real benefits,
quality and help society and the community develop stably. To put it simply, ethical marketing is the
application of ethics to the marketing process, to scrutinize specific marketing issues as they relate to
ethical assessment. This problem sounds simple, but in fact, it is difficult to identify it correctly. For
example, some US major tobacco companies were getting prepared to launch an advertising
campaign in their home country to encourage young people not to smoke (Marketing News, 1991),
but at the same time, those companies were investing intensely within the improvement of Asian and
African market in an unacceptable way by offering free cigarettes for teenagers from 13 to 14
(Business Week, 1991; Levin, 1991). It is such a complex ethical issue in marketing. That is why
“Of all the management fields, the field of marketing is undoubtedly that which raises the most
controversy when it comes to the question of ethics.” (Nantel & Weeks, 1996)

Marketing ethics hold an essential position in doing business. Marketing ethics will build
credibility and create a good public image of the company. The actions of the company and
employees reflect the company culture. When the company follows the marketing ethics on a
consistent and continuous basis in all its marketing and promotional campaigns, it will slowly and
gradually build its distinctive rank in the market as an authentic brand. Ethical principles can help
build a positive corporate image that will help the business succeed in challenging times, even in a
slow economy, to survive the stiff competition. Ethical business practices are, therefore, vital to the
company's future. Besides, it also helps the company win the trust and loyalty of its customers on a
long-term basis. In fact, in an exceedingly bad economy, consumers often want to place their faith in
businesses they find ethical. This is because customers often make ethical decisions, and these
judgments are likely to affect the consumer's approval or disapproval of a business's goods. As

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mentioned by Laczniak and Murphy (1993, p. 5), “Consumers over time will normally recognize the
organizations that attempt to be responsive to various ethical and social factors in the marketplace.”

Besides, as it gains the recognition and the trust of customers, marketing ethics also helps the
company increase sales and profits. Some believe that doing ethical business can not make a profit,
but in fact, many brands have proven it wrong. Let’s take Everlane, for example. The garment and
clothing industry can be considered as one of the most ethically controversial industries. Workshops
are packed with overtime workers or clothing that uses animals on the red list, for example.
Recognizing the impact of business ethics and business, Everlane was born with a commitment to
care about ethics in its fashion production activities. The homepage of the company emphasizes how
businesses ensure the rights of workers in their factories. The company does not hesitate to reveal
how much it costs to produce a shirt in its factory. This may seem like a taboo to any business, but it
is nothing to do with a brand that cares about the development of the community like Everlane.
(Shewan, 2020)

The ethical issue in marketing nowadays is complex. “Doing marketing or business must be
ethical.” Such advice is often mentioned a lot in classrooms but easily forgotten in the real world.
The pressure of getting the brand's attention has caused businesses to exclaim, even exceeding the
threshold of ethical behavior in advertising programs. A simple example is that every holiday, many
stores display all kinds of promotional signs: “50 - 70% off ”. At first, it may sound very attractive
and interesting, but when the customers come to the store, there are only a handful of old and bad
products selling 50% off. Other products are sold at normal prices or with minimal discounts. Surely
many people have fallen into that situation that is not to know whether to laugh or cry. The sad thing
is that such "He cries wine and sells vinegar" situations like this occur in daily life so much so that
people often blame it on bad luck and forget that the business is violating business principles and
they are seriously violated of their benefits. As a result of the fact that consumers usually ignore and
refuse to speak up, ethical violations in marketing are encroached upon.

Ethical principles work like an oil filter in a marketing machine: they filter impurities so that the
oil can make the machine work. All companies need principles ethics to filter out the bad nature of
the competitive marketplace so that it can target, attract, and retain good customers for the company.
“There is no standard as to how brands promote the fact they are ethical. For some, being ethical is
the primary message, while others focus on other attributes.” (Centaur Media USA Inc, 2005) Ethical
marketing is not only a specific marketing strategy. It can be considered as a business motto of the

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business. An ethical business enterprise does not consider delivering valuable communication
messages a must but should be done for the strength of the business and the communities in which it
influences. The sustainable development of business and community is the main reason why
marketing ethics is so important. A business that desires to achieve success, if it wants to travel far,
must be an ethical enterprise. A business that focuses only on profit is never sustainable because it is
like a tree that wants to grow without strong roots. In any case, the lack of ethics can even cause the
brand's reputation to plummet. The customer is not a donkey, so that can be fooled twice. They will
immediately turn their backs, even fiercely protest if they know their beliefs and money are
deceived. Any slight lack of honesty will put your brand at risk.

It is difficult to determine whether today's customers are more annoyed by marketing than they
used to be or whether today's customers are ready to express their opinion when discontented. It is
just known that, in any case, lack of ethics causes the marketing department to suffer a bad
reputation. This bad situation will certainly reduce the return on investment for marketing. Therefore,
one of the challenges of marketing is to improve the public's confidence in marketing
communications. The most effective way to achieve that is to ensure that all types of customer
support for sales, advertising, pricing, and all use of information conform to a high ethical standard.
The challenges described in this way have important implications. Three of them - keeping promises,
evaluating and accountable, and behaving ethically - are challenges within the company and
managers' and employees' control. These difficulties will be solved if everyone is taking them
seriously. Other challenges are outward and more difficult to solve through direct action. For
example, a company alone cannot change the fact that the communication between them and its
customers is increasingly saturated, nor can they eliminate the advertising and sales clutter that
hinders marketing communications. However, many difficulties can be overcome with an effective
and innovative marketing strategy.

In conclusion, it is more than simply generating a positive effect on the people around. Creating
an ethical marketing model will do more than that. As firms are helping to make things a safer
environment, it also has implications for the world in general. It may take a long time and a lot of
work to enforce an ethical marketing model, but after all, it is worth working for, especially when
uncertainties are pervasive among all industries.

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 References list

Centaur Media USA Inc (2005). ETHICAL MARKETING: A question of ethics.

Levin, M. (1991). US tobacco firms push eagerly into Asian market, Marketing News, Vol. 25 No. 2,
p. 2. 

Laczniak, Gene R., and Murphy, Patrick E. (1993). Ethical Marketing Decisions: The Higher Road.
Allyn & Bacon, Boston.

Marketing News (1991). Tobacco industry says it wants to halt kid’s smoking, Vol. 25 No. 2, p. 2.

Nantel, J., & Weeks, W. A. (1996). Marketing ethics: is there more to it than the utilitarian
approach?, European Journal of Marketing.

Shewan, (2020). Ethical Marketing: 5 Examples of Companies with a Conscience. Retrieved from
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/09/20/ethical-marketing