Well All's Well's There has to be Someone Doing Something Wrong
Marketing ethics is the area of applied ethics which deals with the moral principles behind the operation and regulation of marketing. Some areas of marketing ethics overlap with media ethics.
Unethical practices in marketing - examples
1. Pricing lack of clarity in pricing
2. Dumping – selling at a loss to increase market share and destroy competition in order to subsequently raise prices
3. Price fixing cartels
4. Encouraging people to claim prizes when they phoning premium rate numbers
5. “Bait and switch” selling - attracting customers and then subjecting them to high pressure selling techniques to switch to an more expensive alternative
6. High pressure selling - especially in relation to groups such as the elderly
7. Counterfeit goods and brand piracy
8. Copying the style of packaging in an attempt to mislead consumers
9. Deceptive advertising
10. Irresponsible issue of credit cards and the irresponsible raising of credit limits
11. Unethical practices in market research and competitor intelligence Unethical practices relating to products - examples
12. Selling goods abroad which are banned at home
13. Omitting to provide information on side effects • Unsafe products
14. Built in obsolescence
15. Wasteful and unnecessary packaging
16. Deception on size and content
17. Inaccurate and incomplete testing of products
18. Treatment of animals in product testing
19. Selling a sub-par product or service.
20. Contacting people without their consent.
21. Deliberately misrepresenting what a purchaser will get/achieve/become with a product or service.
22. Refusing to respond to and correct customer complaints.
23. Not having a clear and easy-to-understand privacy policy.
24. Sending spam emails.
25. Overusing auto responders.
26. Hiding pricing.
27. Providing fake or incomplete contact information.
28. Delivering less than your best.
29. Puffery means to make exaggerated claims about the product, which can not be proved.
30. The advertisements in bad taste are those which offend people
31. Stereotyping refers to portraying men or women in a particular role, with a negative image.
32. Advertisements of dubious products targeted at children are considered unethical as children are not capable of processing the given information.
33. In subliminal advertising, the viewer is exposed to product messages and pictures in such a way that he is not aware of watching them.
Take a look at the following case:
Nestlé had a serious image problem because of its on-going aggressive marketing of baby foods. Nestlé invests heavily in Public Relations (PR) initiatives intended to divert criticism. But Nestlé makes demonstrably untrue claims which have resulted in further damaging publicity, such as the cover shown right.
Nestlé’s Chief Executive Officer, Peter Brabeck-Letmathé, launched another offensive in April 2005 with his Commitment to Africa report pictured here. Health campaigners have succeeded in keeping Nestlé’s baby food marketing malpractice in the public eye. In a global internet vote for the world’s most irresponsible company, coinciding with the World Economic Forum in January 2005, Nestlé received 29% of the vote, more than double the second-placed company. And national groups have launched boycotts against Nestlé in 20 countries because of its unethical and irresponsible marketing of breastmilk substitutes.
Nestlé is singled out for boycott action because independent monitoring conducted by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) finds it to be the largest single source of violations of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent, relevant World Health Assembly Resolutions worldwide. Nestlé also takes the lead in attempting to undermine implementation of these measures by governments.
Views from UNICEF [/b][/b]
"Marketing practices that undermine breastfeeding are potentially hazardous wherever they are pursued: in the developing world, WHO estimates that some 1.5 million children die each year because they are not adequately breastfed. These facts are not in dispute." he introduction of the International Code in 1981 should have ended the malpractice, but companies continue to violate it today. An increasing number of governments have introduced legislation implementing the provisions of the International Code and Resolutions.
Nestlé pushes for unenforceable voluntary codes in place of laws. It even took legal action against the Indian Government in an attempt to have the law there revoked after the company was taken to court for not putting warning notices in Hindi on labels. art of Nestlé’s PR strategy sometimes includes claiming health campaigners are trying to ban the sale of breastmilk substitutes. This is totally untrue. The aim s to ensure breastmilk substitutes are marketed appropriately.
Other bogus Nestlé’s claims are exposed inside. Our position on Nestlé arises from the evidence of malpractice. We are seeking to protect infant health and mothers’ rights. Nestlé’s claims do not stand up to scrutiny. When the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) conducted a two-year investigation into claims Nestlé made in an anti-boycott advertisement, it found they could not be substantiated. Nestlé was warned by the ASA not to repeat the claims. Yet it continues to make similar claims in public relations materials which are not subject to the same regulations as advertisements.
Marketing ethics is the area of applied ethics which deals with the moral principles behind the operation and regulation of marketing. Some areas of marketing ethics overlap with media ethics.
Unethical practices in marketing - examples
1. Pricing lack of clarity in pricing
2. Dumping – selling at a loss to increase market share and destroy competition in order to subsequently raise prices
3. Price fixing cartels
4. Encouraging people to claim prizes when they phoning premium rate numbers
5. “Bait and switch” selling - attracting customers and then subjecting them to high pressure selling techniques to switch to an more expensive alternative
6. High pressure selling - especially in relation to groups such as the elderly
7. Counterfeit goods and brand piracy
8. Copying the style of packaging in an attempt to mislead consumers
9. Deceptive advertising
10. Irresponsible issue of credit cards and the irresponsible raising of credit limits
11. Unethical practices in market research and competitor intelligence Unethical practices relating to products - examples
12. Selling goods abroad which are banned at home
13. Omitting to provide information on side effects • Unsafe products
14. Built in obsolescence
15. Wasteful and unnecessary packaging
16. Deception on size and content
17. Inaccurate and incomplete testing of products
18. Treatment of animals in product testing
19. Selling a sub-par product or service.
20. Contacting people without their consent.
21. Deliberately misrepresenting what a purchaser will get/achieve/become with a product or service.
22. Refusing to respond to and correct customer complaints.
23. Not having a clear and easy-to-understand privacy policy.
24. Sending spam emails.
25. Overusing auto responders.
26. Hiding pricing.
27. Providing fake or incomplete contact information.
28. Delivering less than your best.
29. Puffery means to make exaggerated claims about the product, which can not be proved.
30. The advertisements in bad taste are those which offend people
31. Stereotyping refers to portraying men or women in a particular role, with a negative image.
32. Advertisements of dubious products targeted at children are considered unethical as children are not capable of processing the given information.
33. In subliminal advertising, the viewer is exposed to product messages and pictures in such a way that he is not aware of watching them.
Take a look at the following case:
Nestlé had a serious image problem because of its on-going aggressive marketing of baby foods. Nestlé invests heavily in Public Relations (PR) initiatives intended to divert criticism. But Nestlé makes demonstrably untrue claims which have resulted in further damaging publicity, such as the cover shown right.
Nestlé’s Chief Executive Officer, Peter Brabeck-Letmathé, launched another offensive in April 2005 with his Commitment to Africa report pictured here. Health campaigners have succeeded in keeping Nestlé’s baby food marketing malpractice in the public eye. In a global internet vote for the world’s most irresponsible company, coinciding with the World Economic Forum in January 2005, Nestlé received 29% of the vote, more than double the second-placed company. And national groups have launched boycotts against Nestlé in 20 countries because of its unethical and irresponsible marketing of breastmilk substitutes.
Nestlé is singled out for boycott action because independent monitoring conducted by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) finds it to be the largest single source of violations of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent, relevant World Health Assembly Resolutions worldwide. Nestlé also takes the lead in attempting to undermine implementation of these measures by governments.
Views from UNICEF [/b][/b]
"Marketing practices that undermine breastfeeding are potentially hazardous wherever they are pursued: in the developing world, WHO estimates that some 1.5 million children die each year because they are not adequately breastfed. These facts are not in dispute." he introduction of the International Code in 1981 should have ended the malpractice, but companies continue to violate it today. An increasing number of governments have introduced legislation implementing the provisions of the International Code and Resolutions.
Nestlé pushes for unenforceable voluntary codes in place of laws. It even took legal action against the Indian Government in an attempt to have the law there revoked after the company was taken to court for not putting warning notices in Hindi on labels. art of Nestlé’s PR strategy sometimes includes claiming health campaigners are trying to ban the sale of breastmilk substitutes. This is totally untrue. The aim s to ensure breastmilk substitutes are marketed appropriately.
Other bogus Nestlé’s claims are exposed inside. Our position on Nestlé arises from the evidence of malpractice. We are seeking to protect infant health and mothers’ rights. Nestlé’s claims do not stand up to scrutiny. When the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) conducted a two-year investigation into claims Nestlé made in an anti-boycott advertisement, it found they could not be substantiated. Nestlé was warned by the ASA not to repeat the claims. Yet it continues to make similar claims in public relations materials which are not subject to the same regulations as advertisements.