ETHICS IN MARKETING

By Dr. Desai.
introduction
• Marketing consists of performance of
business activities that direct the flow of
goods & services from
producer/manufacturer to
consumer/user.
• A number of distinct functions under
marketing are product development,
distribution,pricing, promotion & sales, &
all these are addressing issues of ethics
& public ethics.
Marketing ethics & consumer
rights:
The laws & regulations are generally
designed to protect the consumer from
unethical practices by businesses.
These laws recognize that consumers have
certain basic rights in the market place.
Some unethical practices are just one step
short of being unlawful & are therefore
overlooked by the regulatory agencies.
Contd.

In reality each marketer,must rely on

his/her own value system to
determine what is/what is not
ethical & also the value system
should recognize consumer rights
to safety, to full information , & to
value for the price paid.
Contd.
• American Marketing Association [AMA]
has established a codes of ethics to
provide guidelines for ethical conducts.
• It says, “Marketers shall uphold &
advance the integrity,honor,& dignity of
the marketing profession,by being
honest in serving consumers,clients,
suppliers, distributors & the public.”
Marketing Mix codes:
• Products & Services:marketers have
the responsibility to ensure product
safety to disclose all product risks, & to
identify any factor that might change
product performance.
• Advertising:Marketers must avoid
deceptive & misleading
communications,must avoid
manipulating consumers to buy their
product.
Contd.
• Distribution:suppliers should not
coerce their intermediaries into taking
unwanted products they should not
create false shortages to drive up prices
of their products.
• Pricing:marketers must not engage in
price fixing/predatory pricing & must
disclose all prices associated with the
purchase including service, installation &
delivery.
Contd.
• Further,to insure consumers rights,
AMA code states that marketers should
provide the means to hear customer
complaints & to adjust them equitably.
• Many actions stated by AMA code as
unethical,at, some are also illegal.
• Yet, some are not unethical, like, a
manager to approve of buying a
competitor’s product,analyzing it & then
duplicating it.
Ethics Concept &
Consequents:
• For the marketers, whose promotional
activities render them, as very visible
agents in society,two acute problems
emerge from the definition of ethics.
• 1] Society is by no means homogeneous
in its ethical values.
• 2] Ethical values though defined at a
given time,are not fixed & unalterable.
They cahange over time.
Criticisms of ethics in
marketing:
• 1] Opposed to the whole
marketing system, attacking the
goals, methods & results of the
marketing activities.: promotion of
morally “bad” values,such as the
excessive consumption of private
rather than public goods & services,
is one such example.
Contd.

• Specific practices in marketing,

without questioning the ethics of
the system as a whole:[these
practices include]: 1] Visible
institutions & practices,2]
Advertising, 3] Personal Selling,4]
Public relations,5] Packaging &
labeling practices.