A634.5.4.RB - Is Marketing Evil?

Do you feel ethical guidelines make a difference to marketers? Personally, I feel marketers have a different view of what is ethical and what is not ethical.  Ethical guidelines in business and our personal lives can be interpreted differently depending on the product.  As mentioned in the "Is marketing evil?" article, there are many companies whose mission it is to abide by and follow ethical practices, while there are others who take ethics lightly.  Take Camel cigarettes for example, from its origination to the early 90’s the company is well known and highly successful for advertising by using the Joe Camel image which appealed to teenagers.  The question is how far is too far when it comes to advertisement.  Anyone who has an in-depth appreciation of business history clearly understands that business ethics is a complicated and contentious subject.  The connection between doing the right thing by society standards and the ability of the business to make a profit has been studied by both academics and business leaders for years with very little consensus reached.  So exactly how should we define unethical advertising?  Well according to the website Marketing-Schools.org, some of the typical unethical practices include:

o   Surrogate Advertising –Surrogate advertising finds ways to remind consumers of these products without referencing them directly.

o   Exaggeration –Some advertisers use false claims about a product's quality or popularity.  A Slogan like “get coverage everywhere on earth” cannot be delivered or justified.

o   Puffery – When an advertiser relies on subjective rather than objective claims, they are puffing up their products. “The best tasting coffee” cannot be confirmed objectively.

o   Unverified Claims –Products that promise to deliver results without providing any scientific evidence. Shampoo commercials that promise stronger, shinier hair do so without telling consumers why or how.

o   Stereotyping Women – Women in advertising have often been portrayed as sex objects or domestic servants; trafficking negative stereotypes and contributing to a sexist culture.

o   False Brand Comparisons – Any time a company makes false or misleading claims about their competitors they are spreading misinformation.

o   Children in Advertising – Children consume huge amounts of advertising without being able to evaluate it objectively.  Exploiting this innocence is one of the most common unethical marketing practices.

How can companies balance the need to win with being ethical?  This goes back to the old adage of the end justifies the means or the means justify the end.  I believe that companies need to think about the impact of their advertising on society.  Are they really being a socially responsible organization if they place profit over ethics and the well-being of society.  Business ethics is dependent upon culture in which you live.  In Middle Eastern countries, bribery is considered an everyday practice while in the United States it is considered illegal.  In European countries, advertising partial nudity on public television and in newspapers is an everyday practice while in the United States, it would cause public outrage.  I do not feel as if there is a correct answer for this question.  We as a society would like for companies to focus on advertising a product for the consumer’s needs and by doing so develop an ethical strategy in which the company will have a win-win situation.  However, reality tells us it is not that simple.  It’s hard to stay competitive when the competitors are playing by different rules; especially in a global economy. 

Is it ethical to track your buying habits or web visits to target you for marketing purposes? Wow, what a question.  This is the type of question that can open Pandora’s Box.  Are we talking about an invasion of privacy like the situation with Edward Joseph "Ed" Snowden, an American computer professional who leaked classified information about the National Security Agency tracking telephone calls or about Facebook’s criticism of tracking site usage for marketing usage?  I think we as consumers have to be more aware of putting ourselves in positions to be tracked.  I do believe it is unethical, but I also believe there are actions you as a consumer can take.  Very few of us want a company tracking our website usage, but let be honest, many of them already do it.

As a leader, how will you manage the ethical aspects of your marketing efforts? As a business manager, I would try to keep in perspective that the customer is the most important factor for my business to survive.  I just don’t need the customer to purchase from me once; I need them to keep coming back.  If they find out that my business is unethical, they may leave forever.  One should never try to take for granted consumer intelligence or try to take advantage of them.  I will try to offer a good product.  I would only back something that I truly believe in so that when I market any product or service I can truly represent what that product does.  Authenticity goes a very long way with the consumer.