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Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

Marketing research has received criticism for alleged invasions of personal privacy. People today value their individual identities more strongly than ever before. Personal privacy is important to most consumers, so it has become a public issue. As databases have proliferated and marketers have more freely rented address lists and other information, public concern about threats to personal privacy has increased. Gathering marketing information in exchange for money or free offers creates another ethical concern for market researchers. Recently, California-based marketing research company Free-PC.com offered consumers a new desktop PC in exchange for their agreeing to reveal personal information, such as age, income, and spending habits. In just the first four days, over 500,000 people responded. Critics, however, feel that consumers’ privacy is being compromised and that some companies will inevitably sell this information to direct marketers and others interested in gathering demographic data.32
Privacy issues have grown as rapidly as companies on the Web, and consumers are fighting back. In a recent move by banks to collect information about customers’ individual bank transactions, more than 250,000 consumers e-mailed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation demanding that this practice be outlawed.33 However, Internet consumers can find some assistance in protecting their privacy through several agencies. The Federal Trade Commission’s Web page at www.ftc.gov/privacy is a good place to find information on how to stop junk mail and telemarketing calls.34 The Direct Marketing Association also offers services, such as the Mail, Telephone, and E-Mail Preference Services, to help consumers get their names removed from marketers’ targeted lists. UnlistMe.com and Junkbusters are free Web services that also help consumers remove their names from direct mail and telemarketing mailing lists.

Marketers face many diverse social issues. The current issues in marketing can be divided into two major subjects: marketing ethics and social responsibility While the overlap and classification problems are obvious, the framework provides a foundation for systematically studying these issues.
Environmental influences have directed increased attention toward marketing ethics—marketer’s standards of conduct and moral values. Ethics concern matters of right and wrong: the decision of individuals and firms to do what is morally right. A discussion of marketing ethics highlights the types of problems individuals face in their roles as marketers. Each element of the marketing mix has its own set of ethical questions that must be answered.
Considerations of such issues should precede any suggestions for improvements in the marketing system. Increased recognition of the importance of marketing ethics is evident from the more than 600 full-time corporate ethics officers in firms as varied as Dun & Bradstreet, Dow Corning, Texas Instruments, and even the Internal Revenue Service. Ensuring ethical practices means promising customers and business partners not to sacrifice quality and fairness for profit, and in exchange it hopes that customers and partners increase their sense of loyalty toward the company. Some issues involving marketing ethics are not always clear-cut. The issue of cigarette advertising, for example,
has divided the ranks of advertising executives. Is it right for advertisers to promote a product that, while legal, has known health hazards and to make a huge profit from that promotion? Should the industry self- regulate its advertising to prevent encouraging kids to smoke?
In recent years, charges of unethical conduct have plagued the tobacco industry. But advertising executives are divided on where the lines should be drawn. In the largest civil settlement in U.S. history, the tobacco industry agreed to pay $206 billion to 46 states. Four other states—Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Texas—had separate settlements totaling another $40 billion. The settlement frees tobacco companies from state claims for the cost of treating sick smokers. In addition to the
monetary settlement, cigarette makers can no longer advertise on billboards or use cartoon characters in ads, nor can they sell branded merchandise. The downside to all this litigation is that it has not discouraged smoking. Harvard School of Public Health researchers reported a 28 percent rise in smoking among college Students over a recent 5-year period. They also pointed their fingers at cigarette marketers. But teen smoking is rising even in California, a state considered aggressive in its antismoking advertising programs. Joe Camel may be dead, but the Marlboro man is still riding high and NASCAR still runs the Winston Racing series. Says one analyst, “Tobacco is still a highly profitable business and companies are going to remain competitive with each other. You may not be able to put up a 50-foot sign on the street, but you can still send it in the mail to smokers. I would expect to see more emphasis on direct-to-consumer marketing.”
People develop standards of ethical behavior based on their own systems of values. Their individual beliefs help them to deal with ethical questions in their personal lives. However, a work situation may generate serious conflicts with those beliefs. Individual ethics may differ from an employer’s organizational ethics. An individual may strongly favor industry participation in developing a recycling program for industrial waste, but his or her firm may dismiss the venture as an unprofitable expense.
How can these conflicts be resolved? In addition to individual and organizational ethics, individuals may also be influenced by a third basis of ethical authority—a professional code of ethics. These standards should derive from a concept of professionalism that transcends both organizational and individual ethics. A professional peer association can exercise collective oversight to limit a marketer’s individual behavior.
Any code of ethics must anticipate a variety of ethical problems that marketers will likely encounter. While promotional matters tend to receive the greatest attention, ethical issues also relate to marketing research, product strategy; distribution strategy, and pricing.