Ethical Issues in

Marketing
Team Member:
Muhammad Apriandito Arya S.
Riva Ayu H.
Akbar Berzha B. Ibrahim
Philip Anugrah Raskita
Darien Theodric
Teddy Gunawan
Misleading Ads
Diet Coke
Case Overview
The suits allege that the companies use of the word “diet” in the
beverages can be misleading marketing to “reasonable
consumer” think that the drink are diet aid.

Based on the consequentialism-Utilitarianism theory, the

consequences of this kind of misleading ads can be interpret by
consumer to buy more diet coke to help them diet which is not
true because a report published in July that year found that
artificial sweeteners didn’t lead to any significant weight lose in
more than 1000 participants in seven clinical trials.
Case Overview (Cont.)
Based on our previous chart, we can categorize Diet
Coke case as unethical marketing because their
campaign distort the truth and abuse specific
segment of the market (people with special needs
to reduce their calorie intake)
Side Effect

● Diet soda is associated with

weight gain
● Diet soda may cause insulin
confusion, thus increasing
the risk of type 2 diabetes
● Diet soda may change your
brain’s reaction to sweetness.
Making our body addicted to
sugar
Legal Concern
Praxis Project filed a lawsuit, alleges Coca-Cola (KO)
“deceives consumers about their health impact.” Praxis
Project further alleged American Beverage Association,
a trade group that Coke and other beverage companies
fund, assists in the effort to purportedly mislead the
public about the health implications of soda, which
some studies have linked to type 2 diabetes and
obesity.

This case ended with Coca-Cola as the winner. The

case was dismissed
Misleading Ads
Sweetened Condensed Milk products
(Susu Kental Manis)
The Messages Behind The Commercial
● Sweetened condensed milk (SCM) is a
replacement for ‘real milk’.
● SCM is healthy and full of nutrition.
● SCM target market is kids (usually portrayed with a
cheerful and intelligent child.)
● SCM creates the impression of happy family.
BPOM Statement
National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM)
filed a complaint about promotional video about
sweetened condensed milk. The organization stated
that the video assumed the condensed milk as
healthy, full of nutrition, and recommended to be
consumed every day, without stating precautions
about the consumption

Condensed sweetened milk cannot be used as milk

replacement. It is not recommended to consume
condensed sweetened milk on a daily basis.
Ethical Problem
● Giving message that sweetened condensed milk can replace milk powder with the same
consumption lifestyle.
● SCM exaggerates the information (nutrition) about the product or safely to say that they distort the
truth (it contains so much sugar).
● Visualize the wrong way to consume the product.
● Does not contain information about the risks of using SCM.
The Dilemma – Stakeholder Theory
● This theory stresses the interconnected relationship between a company and consumer.
● The company should create value for the consumer, not just shareholders.
● Consumer as an external stakeholder and also the primer group deserve to get well informed about
the product they use.
● Consumer also entitled health assurance for the information displayed through the commercial.
● But if company provide or display the actual ingredients, there’s possibility that consumer dislike the
product and the product became unsold in the market.