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Chapter 3 Ethical Issues

This document discusses several ethical issues related to marketing communications, including targeting of children and teens, obesity, stereotypes, manipulation, materialism, fears/insecurities, public relations, packaging/branding, sales promotions, online privacy, and regulation. Specifically, it addresses criticism of targeting high-calorie foods to children, portraying groups in narrow stereotypes, exploiting consumer fears, prioritizing materialism over character, misleading labels, unsafe packaging, and unregulated data collection online. Overall regulation is presented as beneficial for informing consumers and improving quality/lowering prices.

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684 views

Chapter 3 Ethical Issues

This document discusses several ethical issues related to marketing communications, including targeting of children and teens, obesity, stereotypes, manipulation, materialism, fears/insecurities, public relations, packaging/branding, sales promotions, online privacy, and regulation. Specifically, it addresses criticism of targeting high-calorie foods to children, portraying groups in narrow stereotypes, exploiting consumer fears, prioritizing materialism over character, misleading labels, unsafe packaging, and unregulated data collection online. Overall regulation is presented as beneficial for informing consumers and improving quality/lowering prices.

Uploaded by

Barakz Javid
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Ch 3: Ethical Issues

Muhammad Sufyan

Ethics in our context involves matters of right and wrong, or moral, conduct pertaining to any aspect of marketing communications.

Targeting to Children and Teens: one study has estimated that U.S. businesses spent $15 billion in a recent year advertising and marketing their brands to children ages 12 and under 7. Critics contend that many of the products targeted to children are unnecessary and that the communications are exploitative.

The Ethics of Targeting

The issue of childhood obesity and the marketing of food products to children is an especially hotly debated topic. Obesity is a major problem with Americas children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 1 in 6 children is considered obese, a rate that compares to only 1 in 16 cases of childhood obesity only about 25 years ago.

Marketers also have been criticized for targeting adult products to teens and college students. there is considerable concern regarding the marketing of beer and other alcoholic beverages to teens and young adults. A study by a watchdog group at Georgetown University reported that one-quarter of alcohol advertising was more likely seen by youths than adults.

Roughly two-thirds of Americans think that advertising often is untruthful. Advertising Is Manipulative: The criticism of manipulation asserts that advertising has the power to influence people to do things they would not do if they were not exposed to advertising.

Ethical Issues in Advertising

Subliminal perception occurs when stimulus is below the level of the consumers awareness. Embeds: figures that are inserted into magazine advertising by using high-speed photography or airbrushing. Subliminal auditory perception: sounds, music, or voice text inserted into advertising.

Subliminal Perception
2-9

Advertising tends to portray certain groups in a very narrow and predictable fashion.

For example, minorities have historically been portrayed


in working-class roles rather than in the full range of positions they actually occupy; women have been stereotyped as Show piece.

Advertising Creates and Perpetuates Stereotypes:

A frequently cited criticism suggests that advertising causes people to buy items or services they do not need.
Marketing system creates too much interest in material possessions. People are judged by what they own rather than by what they are.

To be considered successful, people must own a smart-

looking house or apartment in a prime residential site,


expensive cars.

False Wants and Too Much Materialism

Some advertisements appeal to the negative consequences of not buying and using certain products. rejection by

others, bad breath, failure to have provided for the family


if one should die without proper insurance coverage, not saving starving children in third world countries, and so on.

Advertising Plays on Peoples Fears and Insecurities

Publicity, the aspect of public relations that relates primarily to marketing communications, involves disseminating positive information about a company and its products and handling negative publicity when things

go wrong.

Ethical Issues in Public Relations

Consider, for example, the case of Tylenol capsules. Seven people in the Chicago area died after purchasing

Tylenol capsules. The publicity people at Johnson &


Johnson (J&J), the makers of Tylenol, have claimed that the problem was not of their making but rather was the fault of an isolated lunatic in Chicago.

Four aspects of packaging involve ethical issues: (1) label information, (2) packaging graphics, (3) packaging safety, and (4) environmental implications of packaging.

Ethical Issues in Packaging and Branding

Label information on packages can mislead consumers by providing exaggerated information or by unethically suggesting that a product contains more of desired attributes (for instance, nutrition) or less of undesired

attributes than is actually the case.

Label information

Packaging graphics are unethical when the picture on a package is not a true representation of product contents (as when a childrens toy is made to appear much bigger on the package than it actually is). Another case of unethical packaging is when a store

brand is packaged so that it looks virtually identical to a


well-known national brand.

Packaging graphics

Unsafe packaging problems are particularly acute when packaging is not tamper-proof and contain dangerous products that are unsafe for children.

Unsafe packaging

Environmental issues in packaging are when such


material is used which is dangerous for environment.

Environmental issues in
packaging

Salespeople are sometimes accused of high-

pressure selling that make people to buy goods


that they dont need or not thought of buying.

Ethical Issues in Sales Promotions

Privacy is probably the most important ethical issue that is unique to the online medium. Because online marketers are able to collect voluminous information about peoples personal characteristics, online shopping behavior, and

use of information.

Ethical Issues in Online Marketing

The history of the past century has shown that regulation is necessary to protect consumers and competitors from unethical, fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair practices

Regulation offers three major benefits.


First, Consumers are better informed in the marketplace.

Regulation of Marketing Communications

A second benefit of regulation is that when consumers become better informed, product quality tends to improve in response to consumers changing needs and preferences.

A third regulatory benefit is reduced prices resulting from a reduction in a sellers informational market power. For example, prices of used cars undoubtedly would fall if dealers were required to inform prospective purchasers about a cars defects, because consumers would not be

willing to pay as much for automobiles with known


problems.

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