Marketing and Advertising

Ethics

Sumeet Bihani
 Meaning

Marketing ethics is the area of

applied ethics which deals with the moral
principles behind the operation and
regulation of marketing.
 Arguments
ARGUMENTS FAVOURING ADVERTISING:
1. Provides information
2. Encourages a higher standard of living
3. Creates jobs and helps new firm to enter a market

ARGUMENTS AGAINST ADVERTISING:

4. Creates needs and wants among consumers
5. Promotes materialism and greed
Ethical issues in advertisement
Advertising is untruthful and deception
Advertising is manipulative
Advertising is offensive and in bad taste
Advertising creates and perpetuates
People buy things that they don’t really need
Advertising plays on people’s fear and
insecurities
 Unethical Advertisement
When it has degraded or underestimated
the substitute or rival's product.
When it gives false or misleading
information on the value of the product.
When it fails to give useful information
on the possible reaction or side effects of
the product.
When it is immoral.
Ethical Dilemmas in Marketing
Undercover Marketing
In this kind of marketing the subject doesn’t
know that he is being marketed a certain product
because the approach used by the marketers is
unconventional.
Example: In 2002, Sony ericsson started its ‘Fake
tourist’ campaign in New York, where hired actors
posed as tourists and asked by-passers to click their
picture with the companies new camera phone, once
the picture was clicked the actors would start talking to
the person and causally mention the phone’s features
hereby marketing the product.
 Using the word free
A common practice in marketing is using the
word free for product promotion. Many
companies place advertisements claiming to
provide free services along with a product or a
complimentary product or service along with a
given product. Most of these advertisements
however fail to mention the conditions applied
for the availability of the said free product.
 False Advertising:
Example: In the year 1998, BPL claimed
to have the longest lasting alkaline batteries in
the world, a claim which was challenged by
Duracell who sought the help of MRTPC for the
same. Duracell filed a complaint against BPL’s
advertisements to be misleading and
misrepresentations of facts. An independent
international laboratory at Sweden was selected
to perform the tests and it was proved that
BPL’s claims were false.
 Price Skimming:
Price skimming is a technique as per which the
launch price of a product is set relatively high to take
advantage of the enthusiasm of the customers to own the
product. This high price is temporary in nature and over
a relatively small period of time the price of the product
reduces substantially coming back to the normal range
of price along with its competitors.
Example: most high-end gadgets indulge in price
skimming. Sony Play Station 3 was initially launched at
a price of $599, though within a span of 6-8 months the
price dropped to $299.
 Conclusion

Advertising is not unethical if its done in the

right way.