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Ethics in International Marketing

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REGION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, DEVELOPMENT 983

A scientific paper
Katja Rakušić Cvrtak, Ph.D.
University Department of Professional Studies
E-mail address: krakusic@oss.unist.hr

Senka Borovac Zekan, Ph.D.

University Department of Professional Studies
E-mail address: sborovac@oss.unist.hr

Josip Hampovčan, M.Sc.

E-mail address: josip.hampovcan@gmail.com

ETHICS IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

ABSTRACT

Over the past 20 years, ethics as a discipline has become increasingly important for
international business organisations. An increasing number of companies build their strategies
on ethical principles and corporate social responsibility. Thus, ethics and corporate social
responsibility are no longer purely business concepts; moreover, they represent a necessity for
companies that need to implement them in policies and strategies if they want to go
internationally. This paper emphasises the importance of ethics in companies marketing
activities. This paper aims to show the international environment's ethical and unethical
practices related to the international marketing mix. This article's scientific methods are the
method of description, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, classification, and
comparison. The paper presents positive and negative examples of ethical business practice.
Ethical companies include the environmental issue and human health in their activities.
Unethical companies caused material damage not only to their business activities but to human
health overall. Ethical and moral values define good and bad behaviour in the business world.
Business success and profit-making are in the very essence of any business, but such success
can also be achieved through permeated business activities based on ethical values and
principles. Ethical behaviour needs to be implemented through company culture and overall
business practices.

Keywords: International Marketing, Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility.

1. Introduction

Marketing plays a significant role in the business of any company. Marketing experts create
communication and interaction with customers and all other stakeholders, thus creating the
preconditions for successful product market placement. Ethics as a discipline is becoming
increasingly recognised by the public, and during past decades its importance is growing in
business organisations. An increasing number of companies build their business strategies on
ethical chiefs and socially responsible business because this is what all stakeholders expect
from them. On the other side, there are still business that are criticized because of their negative
ethical lines according to product liability, personal selling tactics, false or misleading
advertising, product dumping, price gouging, marketing to low-income consumers, foreign
984 10th INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIUM

child labour, green issues, and more other ethical areas (Dunfee, Smith, Ross, 1999.; Chonko,
L. B., Wotruba, T.R., & Loe, T.W., 2002; Laczniak, 1999; Lund, 2000. in Nill and
Schibrowsky, 2007). Although much progress has been made in marketing ethics, there are still
many opportunities for improvement. Thus, ethical business will become the only correct and
sustainable way of doing business.

2. The concept and significance of ethics

Ethics (Greek Ethos, custom) is the science of moral and morality. Sophists together with
Socrates in the 4th st. B.C. began a period in ancient Greek philosophy where man and his
morals are placed at the centre of events. Plato, a student of Socrates, made a great philosophical
contribution to shaping ethics as a science. Furthermore, Aristotle, Plato's student, is considered
the first and true founder of ethics as a philosophical discipline (Anić, Domović, Klaić, 2002).
Ethics is a philosophy that studies and evaluates moral values: what is good or what is bad,
what should be or what should not be (Kangrga, 2004). Ethics as a science is not focused on
acquainting people and social communities with moral and ethical values. Its task is to occupy
a certain attitude towards others' actions, and actions on the issue align with morality (Buble,
2006) or use a third party. To better understand the term ethics, it is necessary to compare it
with the law and freedom of choice. Namely, certain behaviours are regulated by states, and
people must behave by laws and regulations. Contrary to legally regulated areas, there is also
an area where individuals and organisations have freedom of choice. There is ethics as a set of
moral principles and values. For example, the selection of confidential information about a
company's business (in the case of illegal actions) can be interpreted as an ethical action even
though the business organisation is performed. Ethically acceptable action and the action should
be acceptable to the wider community (Buble, 2006).

2.1. Business ethics

There are two perspectives in business ethics: ethical and business (economic). An ethical
perspective starts from moral values such as honesty, justice, reliability, trust, rights, and duties.
meaning everything is possible to indicate as "good" or "right" in a moral sense. However, from
a business perspective, there are other basic categories: competitiveness, wages, profits, prices,
efficiency, etc. A significant problem that arises in ethics is how to align ethical parameters
with legal parameters. The law also attempts to incorporate what the community defines as
good or bad, rules that must be followed or otherwise followed by sanctions. Ethics deals with
responsibilities arising from the law, i.e., legally legal but unethical situations (Babić, 2002).
Since the moral criterion is universal, any business activity may, under certain conditions,
become morally suspicious or immoral. Business practice is articulated in the form of
established practice as a set of actions and activities that are already largely established by forms
and levels of expectations. Business ethics focuses on already established forms of business
life. It is conceived as a theory that concentrates on those business places where offences usually
occur and where an action's morality is expected to be tested for some reason (Miljević, 2010).
Business ethics is closely related to marketing. It comes to the centre of every business strategy
and becomes the subject of many discussions. In addition to its presence in business
organisations, it also introudes other areas such as consumers and consumer rights, mass media
and non-governmental organisations (Crane, Matten, Glozer, Spence, 2019). Although business
ethics has become increasingly important in the last twenty years, it is still considered a
relatively young discipline of ethics. As ethics is the science of morality, it is important to
recognise how much morality is intertwined with economics, how much morality is present in
everyday business today. Accordingly, we conclude that the history of morality in business is
REGION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, DEVELOPMENT 985

as old as business itself. Interest in business success and wealth acquisition has always been
incorporated in people with strong will and desire, ready to invest effort, capital, time, and
decision-making. It could become a justification for certain actions that they would not justify
in ordinary life (Babić, 2002).

3. International marketing

Doing business internationally has changed significantly in recent years. International

marketing is a combination of business activities related to the flow of goods and services to
end-users in more than one country. Marketing concepts, processes and principles are largely
universally applicable. The goal of the business is to make a profit with a combination of
marketing mix activities, i.e., promotion, distribution, pricing and sales of products or services
(Cateora, Ghauri, 2009). A group of elements such as competition, legal restrictions,
government controls, weather conditions and consumer changing habits belong to a group of
non controllable elements. As such, they can influence the marketing plans outcome. The
implications of international marketing activities have a great impact on our lives and offer a
wide range of new opportunities and challenges (Horská and Berčík, 2014). The marketing team
cannot control or influence on those activities.

3.1. Ethics and socially responsible business in international marketing

The fact is that marketing ethics, like legal and medical ethics, are present in our everyday life.
Marketing decisions address some specific issues such as selling cigarettes to teens, selling
products with a theme of violence, advertising that manipulates consumers, etc. Behaviour and
business governed by ethical principles include all employees of the marketing sector:
management, sales, distribution, customer service, advertising, and public relations. Ethical
problems occur in small and medium enterprises, non - governmental organisations, non - profit
organisations, as well as in multinational companies conducting international marketing
(Murphy, Laczniak, Harris, 2017.) International business puts a challange for business ethics
for two reasons: first, in international business, there is no complete regulation of business, and
laws between countries. The second reason relates to the complexity of determining an action
immoral. Moral requirements in internal business are smaller and clearer (Babić, 2002).
Business entities are expected to behave in business relations that will be assessed as good in
the business world. The Ethic Code adopted in Croatia in 2011 still sets only "general
definitions" which represent only guidelines and simplified framework (Učur, 2014). Never the
less, the corporate social responsibility is not a new term, especially in marketing and
management. With increasing competition in the global economy and international
management, the socially responsible business has gained more importance than before
(Altinbasak-Farina, Burnaz, 2019). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an awareness of
the new position and importance that companies have in modern, global society and the
responsibility which arises from it. It is, in fact, a process in which companies align their
relationships with a wide variety of social stakeholders who may, although they do not have to
influence their business. CSR practice covers the whole sphere of influence and scope of
activities of a company: what it produces, how it buys and sells, whether it complies with the
law, how it employs and influences human resources development, how much it invests in the
local community and respect for human and labour rights; how it contributes to the preservation
of the environment (Atanacković, 2011). Awareness of the need for socially responsible and
ethical behaviour is increasingly becoming an integral part of many companies' policies and
strategies. Nevertheless, different stakeholders are placing increasing demands, and purposeful
social interaction standards which are constantly rising (Albaum, G., Duerr, E. 2011).
986 10th INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIUM

Companies that have embraced business ethics understand that they need to manage their
effects on society and the environment just as they manage their economic or financial
performance, because, doing so, they can reap many benefits such as increasing reputation,
increasing market share, better risk management, increasing employee satisfaction, increased
innovation, easier access to capital and better financial results (Babić, 2014).

4. Methodology

The authors conducted qualitative research. Data on marketing activities of the observed
companies were collected using available websites. Through available internet sources, the
authors collected data analyzed, compared, synthesized, and interpreted. Secondary data
sources consist of both scientific and professional literature in the field of international
marketing. To better understand the role of ethics in marketing, especially from individual
companies' managerial perspective, the following positive and negative examples of ethical
business in international marketing are presented. Some of the most common ethical issues in
international business include working standards and conditions, outsourcing, workplace
diversity and equal opportunity, trust and integrity, child labour, supervisory oversight, human
rights, the political arena, religion, the environment, bribery, and corruption. The research
sought to answer key questions (Murphy, Laczniak, Harris, 2017) such as: what general factors
should managers consider when challenged by questions about ethical behaviour in
international business? Are their marketing practices perceived as "good" or "bad" for society?
How can marketing managers assess whether their products are being sold morally and fairly?
Which policies and actions of a marketing organisation that wants to operate at the highest
ethical level should be implemented in their companies?

4.1. Positive examples of ethical business in international marketing

Consumer expectations are continuously changing, and companies are aware that quality and
affordability are not the only product characteristics that customers consider. Companies’ social
and environmental practices represent a category that consumers are increasingly considering.
Brands need to adjust to their stakeholders’ expectations through finding their collective
purpose and communicating it well (Gonçalves, 2019). Therefore, companies are nowadays
judged by how they treat workers, customers, communities, shareholders, and the environment.
In this section, examples of positive ethical business will be presented. These are companies
that take care of the environment and human health in their activities.

4.1.1. Levis

The fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters in the world. Today's mass production of
clothing and footwear requires many natural resources, especially water, which is the source of
life on earth. Industry, with high consumption of scarce resources, produces 92 million tons of
waste per year. The so-called "fast fashion" endangers the health of the planet because it
involves the constant purchase of new footwear collections or clothing. There is an irrational
waste of scarce resources and environmental pollution. The key raw material used in the
manufacture of clothing not listed on the label is water. Levi Strauss & Co. is one of the world's
largest clothing companies and a global leader in jeans' production. With their innovative design
and production method, Levi's WaterLess products reduce water use in the finishing process by
up to 96%. The appearance, feel, and quality of the product remains the same. Since launching
the WaterLess program in 2011, Levi's has saved more than 1 billion litres of water in the
production of Levi's Strauss & Co. products, including saving more than 30 million gallons of
REGION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, DEVELOPMENT 987

freshwater through reuse and recycling. Furthermore, the company follows ways to reduce its
carbon footprint by switching to less intensive ways of moving products from factory to store,
including rail and container ships. They have also reduced energy consumption in shops and
distribution centres through more efficient lighting and air conditioning. We analyzed whether
these actions influenced Levis branding position. The Reputation Institute declared how
companies that experienced increased scores in the last few years mostly did so by enhancing
the perception of their corporate social responsibility. We used the Global RepTrak™ 100 that
looks after company reputation, which is based on a global survey with more than 100,000
participants. The Global RepTrak™ 100, an annual study conducted by Reputation Institute,
surveys how stakeholders perceive companies and how those perceptions affect purchasing
behaviour (CSR). The Reputation Institute1 states that companies that experienced increased
scores in last few years largely did so by enhancing the perception of their corporate social
responsibility (CSR). This shows shows that reputation is impacted more by what you stand for
than what you sell.

Table 1: The comparison of Levis rankings on last five years.

Year. Global RepTrak 100
By Reputation Institute
2020 6
2019 13
2018 14
2017 14
2016 20
2015 21
Source: http://levistrauss.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Levi-Strauss-Annual-Report-2016-1.pdf

Table 1. shows perception of the apparel retailer and brand’s citizenship rose significantly,
aligned with active support of social and environmental issues.

4.1.2. Amazon.com, Inc.

Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon) is the world's largest Internet store, founded in 1994 by Jeff
Bezos. Amazon was originally known for selling books through its website (later they introduce
a digital versions). Amazon has shown that its organisation respects competition rules and does
not tolerate behaviours that are not in line with ethical principles. This was manifested through
the Covid 19 pandemic and the case of the price of face masks and other hygiene supplies.
Amazon has restricted vendors selling health and sanitation products such as face masks,
disinfectants, and the like through the Amazon platform. The reason for such restrictions is
Amazon's fight against price escalations of these products and the deceptive marketing
associated with the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic. The company removed millions of products
that spread false claims about the coronavirus and removed hundreds of thousands of ads and
offers inflated prices. There were also bans on vendors raising prices on health products such
as the masks and disinfectants. So, they tried to prevent rapid capitalisation and profit by greedy
traders who wanted to make as much money as possible on vulnerable consumers who were in
fear of a pandemic.

1
https://risnews.com/most-reputable-companies-2020-list-sprinkled-retailers
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4.1.3. Dalsey Hillblom Lynn International GmbH

Dalsey Hillblom Lynn (DHL) is a German company offering logistics services. It is one of the
leading logistics companies in the world. Their strategy for 2020 is based on corporate
responsibility. They call it a "responsible life." They want to contribute to creating economic,
social, and environmental values for stakeholders and the planet. Green logistics is logistics that
performs its tasks efficiently while paying great attention to the increasingly current issue of
the environment. It seeks to ensure sustainability so that today's decisions will not negatively
impact future generations. Green Supply Chain seeks to reduce the negative impact of
distribution system management and return logistics to eliminate any inefficiencies,
unnecessary relocation of goods and packaging disposal. The goal of green logistics is to
minimise the negative impact of logistics on the environment. DHL is one of the pioneers of
green logistics. Their GoGreen environmental program is very interesting since it is also an
expression of a strong sense of responsibility towards stakeholders and the environment. The
program's main goal is to reduce and/or avoid greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants. By
2050, all logistics-related activities will not pollute the environment, and greenhouse gas
emission will be zero. The GoGreenas environmental program has accomplished so much since
its beginning. Starting from the optimisation of transport routes, electric vehicles,
environmentally friendly climates, smart lighting in their centres, logistics solutions that enable
a circular economy, i.e., recycling, and reusing resources. DHL has joined the fight to preserve
the planet and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through its environmental program. The
GoGreen program resulted in a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2007.

4.1.4. Worldwide Fund for Nature (hereinafter WWF)

The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organisation

founded in 1961. The international headquarters of the organisation is in Gland. They operate
in more than a hundred countries working for a future in which people will live in harmony
with nature. They want to secure a positive future: for the living world, rivers, forests, and seas,
by working to reduce carbon emissions, avoid catastrophic climate change, and push for
measures to help people live sustainably within the confines of a planet. The work of WWF is
based on science, and they bring international experience to local communities. The
organisation cooperates with various non-governmental organisations, local authorities, local
population. It also works with the World Conservation Community and has formed a
partnership with the United Nations, the World Bank, and the European Union. WWF's mission
is to halt the degradation of the planet's natural environment and build a future for people to
live in harmony with nature by conservation of world biodiversity, sustainable renewable
natural resources, and the promotion of pollution reduction wasteful consumption.

At the end of this article three are three images presented with pictures 1., 2. and 3.
demonstrating how organisation designs its promotional campaigns. These are advertising
messages that point to our planet's state and seek to raise everyone’s awareness about their own
behaviour and impact on the environment. Marketers who are not truthfully oriented in ethical
behaviour might look for legal loopholes. In practice, it is possible to find numerous situations
where the law and self-interest are too inconsistent with marketers' instructions. The role of
non-governmental organisations that could provide competent advice and examples of
exemplary marketing ethics practices is of utmost importance.
REGION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, DEVELOPMENT 989

4.2. Negative examples of ethical business in international marketing

In this section, we will analyse the negative examples of ethical business. These are companies
that have caused material damage to their activities but also endangered human health. Those
examples can serve as indicators of undesirable business practices condemned by the public
and relevant institutions.

4.2.1. Takata Corporation

Takata is a Japanese corporation engaged in the production of automobile parts. Namely, this
company is involved in one of the largest cars recalls in the industry's history. Takata has
officially admitted to hiding evidence of a potential fault in their airbag inflating system. As it
is one of the world's largest manufacturers, whose cushions are installed by many manufacturers
worldwide, the number of potentially affected vehicles is significant. At the heart of the problem
is an airbag inflator or a metal insert full of drive plates. Due to its strong explosive force, in
some cases, it caught fire but also explode. Metal debris would pierce the airbag and seriously
injure passengers. This error was associated with 16 deaths and 180 injuries. So, the device that
allegedly serves to save lives endangers him even more (Burrows, 2018). The U.S. Highway
Traffic Safety Agency expected the recall of 49.5 million inflators in the U.S. and over 100
million globally. It is estimated that the recall and repair of any vehicle with a faulty airbag will
take until 2023. Takata estimated the recall cost at $ 24 billion in 2016, but that number
continues to rise. The company went bankrupt in 2017. and was acquired by Key Saftey
Systems (Burrows, 2018). This critical evidence of customer safety and its pro foundation is
when it comes to safety-critical components. The question is whether it exists something much
more safety-critical than an airbag. The conclusion leads to the importance of health-related
and safety concerns in marketing. Picture 4. at the end of this article is presenting an airbag
rupture.

4.2.2. Wanadoo

Predator is a dominant company that sets prices so low that competitors must leave the market
after a while, and others do not want to enter a particular sector. For a predatory strategy to be
rational, there must be an expectation that these current losses (or lost profits) will be recouped
by future gains. This, in turn, implies that the company has some reasonable expectations about
gaining market power after the predatory and that the profits of that later period will be large.
Predatory pricing is illegal in many parts of the world, but the problem is proving predatory
behaviour because it is difficult to distinguish it from competitive pricing. However, some
prosecutions have proved successful (Baker, 2009). Wanadoo, an Internet service provider
majority-owned by the French company Télècom, charged below-cost retail prices between
March 2001 and October 2002. In this way, they wanted to take a large share of the market
based on the offer of high-speed internet. The company was operating by a loss, but its market
share increased from 46% to 72%, and at least one of the competitors left the market. The
European Commission considered serious violations of competition and imposed a fine of 10.3
million euros. The predatory pricing strategy is risky due to the possibility of incurring large
losses if competitors prove more resilient than expected. It is also an abuse of a dominant
position and is not in line with legal regulations. Gaski (1999) researched marketing ethics
literature according to the category of „obeying the law“ and „acting in your interest“. he
concluded that marketers tend to end up acting ethically as long as they look after the law and
proceed in their self-interest. Despite the prevailing perception that companies will act in the
990 10th INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIUM

best of intentions and adhere to ethical principles, this study demonstrates the importance of
enacting rolling legislation.

4.2.3. World chocolate industry

In recent years, the world public has become increasingly preoccupied with protecting the
environment on which human life quality depends. A significant place is occupied by protecting
the environment, which has the task of preserving natural communities, reducing the risk to
human life and health, and rational using natural resources and energy. There is no doubt that
the degradation of Earth's ecosystems is an unstoppable process, and the result is the extinction
or even complete extinction of many groups of plant and animal species. The global chocolate
industry is to blame for the catastrophic destruction of rainforests in West Africa, where forests
are being cleared for cocoa production. Traders (re) sell illegally produced cocoa in Ivory Coast
protected areas, where rainforest areas have been reduced by more than 80% since 1960. Illegal
cocoa in the supply chain is mixed with legally sourced cocoa, meaning that some of the most
famous chocolates contain more than 40 per cent of the cocoa that comes from the Ivory Coast.
Ivory Coast and Ghana are the world's two largest cocoa producers and the biggest victims of
deforestation. Ivory Coast is losing forest areas the fastest among African countries. Currently,
less than 4% of the country is covered by rainforest, while rainforests occupy 25% of the
country's land area. Growing demand for chocolate in the world means that if nothing is done
by 2030 more, there will be no forests on the Ivory Coast, according to the environmental
organisation Mighty Earth, which published an investigation into the deforestation due to
chocolate. Large companies said they were aware of deforestation problems for cocoa
production and said they were committed to solving the problem. A Mars spokesman said the
company wanted to "find the best ways to end deforestation and deforestation in the global
cocoa supply chain but added that sustainable cocoa was too much of a challenge for each
company individually, which is why Mars is teaming up with others in the industry. It would
help solving the problem. Nestle stated that it "opposes the destruction of rainforests worldwide
because it believes that this is one of the biggest environmental challenges that the world is
facing. A representative of Mondelez, which, among other things, produces chocolates of the
famous Milka brand, said that the company is actively working on preventing deforestation.
The chocolate industry largely depends on the natural resource of cocoa. The production of the
mentioned resource requires the destruction of forests, which destroys the ecosystem. Causally,
in the future, the price of chocolate and cocoa-based products will be higher.

4.2.4. Sony Ericsson, Shell

Covert marketing is the conduct of product marketing activities without providing any
information about the product or brand. In 2002, passers-by were stopped by actors (advertisers)
hired by the advertising agency (Fathom Communications) for Sony Ericsson. The actors
stopped passers-by, pretending to be tourists, asking for help with taking photos with their
mobile device, which they claimed was recently purchased (Baker, 2009). Sony Ericsson spent
$5 million on this campaign to encourage people to talk about their mobile device. The
campaign lasted 60 days and involved 60 actors. It took place in 10 different cities, and the
company was pleased with the results (Baker, 2009). Wall Street Journal discovered the fraud,
and Sony Ericsson's marketing director defended such practices, saying such interactions are
normal. (Baker, 2009). Covert marketing has now shifted to the digital platform. For example,
companies hire retailers for e-commerce to positively evaluate and review their products. Thus,
influencing product purchase decisions (Chaudhary, 2020.) Another example is Shell company
Ltd. Oil giant Shell received a significant number of complaints about an advertisement
REGION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, DEVELOPMENT 991

showing flower petals coming out of one of the refineries' chimney. Along with that photo,
there was a claim: we use our CO2 waste to grow flowers (Baker, 2009). Association Friends
of the Earth has also had complaints about such advertising. They felt that Shell was thus
misrepresenting the impact of its own activities on the environment. Allegations such as the use
of carbon dioxide to grow flowers and the use of sulfur to produce strong concrete have also
been disputed. The Advertising standards authority (ASA) said that due to the lack of
qualifications, most readers misinterpreted the statement: "We use our CO2 waste to grow
flowers." This means that Shell uses all, or at least most, of their CO2 waste to grow flowers,
while the actual amount was very small, relative to Shell's global activities (Tryhorn, 2007).
This example has become one of the most famous examples of the green image abuse (Baker,
2009). In the picture 5. at the end of this article is the commercial of the Shell company with
chimneys going fowers through.

5. Survey results

Table 2. summarizes information on each company's activities regarding an environmental

issue and human health and whether these activities are ethical or unethical. Companies that
operate ethically include environmental and human rights issues in their business activities. On
the contrary, unethical companies cause material damage to their business activities and
endanger people's health.

Table 2: Company's activities regarding an environmental issue and human health and
whether these activities are ethical or unethical

Company Environmental Human Ethical Unethical

Issue Health Activities Activities
Levis x x
Amazon.com, Inc. x x
Dalsey Hillblom Lynn x x
International GmbH
Worldwide Fund for Nature x x x
Takata Corporation x x
Wanadoo x x
World chocolate industry x x
Sony Ericsson x x x
Shell x x x
Source: Authors

6. Conclusion

Ethical and moral values define right or wrong behaviour in the business world. Today, many
companies are striving to increase their sales volume, market share and profit overall.
Sometimes this kind of greed leads to an unethical behaviour like applying aggressive sales
methods, hiding information about the product or information about business activities. As
presented in analysed case studies, the way managers operate their business affects long-term
survival at international markets. When a company is transparent in its business and acts
ethically, it creates a positive picture in the public's eyes. Thus, companies and organisations
should care about the population and the environment in which they operate. In the essence of
every business is profit and market share, but such could also be achieved through business
activities that are permeated and based on ethical values and principles. The marketing mix
992 10th INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIUM

represents the basic framework for the development of further companies marketing strategies.
Advertising and pricing policies implementation are the most common areas in which unethical
practices take place. A section on ethical issues needs to be added to the marketing mix for its
activities and processes to align with ethical principles. Ethical behaviour needs to be
implemented through company culture and overall business practices. For organisations to act
socially responsible and ethically, they must accept ethics as a significant marketing
component. Companies that have embraced business ethics in their overall business understand
the need to constantly evaluete their effects on whole society and the entire environment just as
same as they manage their economic or financial performance because they can achieve the
numerous benefits.

Picture 1: WWF – an advertisement presenting defosteration consequences

Source: https://ethicalmarketingnews.com/favourite-ethical-ads (accedded 14.07.2020)

Picture 2: WWF – an advertisement shows the consequences of ocean levels rising

Source: https://ethicalmarketingnews.com/favourite-ethical-ads (accedded 14.07.2020)

REGION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, DEVELOPMENT 993

Picture 3: WWF – an advertisement appealing to people not to buy animal souvenirs

Source: https://ethicalmarketingnews.com/favourite-ethical-ads (accedded 14.07.2020)

Picture 4: Airbag rupture

Source: http://www.kojiauto.hr/priprema-se-najveci-opoziv-automobila-u-povijesti/ (accedded 14.07.2020)

994 10th INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIUM

Picture 5: Shell company and the chimneys with the flowers coming out of it

Source: Tryhorn, C. (2007) No bouquets for Shell press ad. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/nov/07/asa.advertising (accedded 4.07.2020)

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