Ethical Aspects of Marketing

Ethical aspects of marketing

Ethical behaviour implies conforming to a standard of behaviour that is acceptable in relation to the standards of the community, the group or the organisation. The implication is that in carrying out their activities, an ethical person would do nothing that would cause harm and distress to individuals and the community as a whole, and would do nothing to gain an advantage at the expense of others.

Marketing is the aspect of business that is most visible, so it generates a large number of complaints about unethical and irresponsible social behaviour.

Truth, accuracy and good taste in advertising

Marketing ethics are the marketer’s standards of conduct and moral values. If organisations demonstrate an ethical approach towards marketing then the objectives of generating a profit, satisfying customers and contributing to the wellbeing of the society can be met. However, some organisations respond to the competitive nature of the market by behaving unethically. Such responses may include adopting misleading and deceptive pricing, placement, promotion and product management strategies in order to persuade customers to purchase the product.

Unethical product management might include selling drinks in bottles with concave bases that give the impression of holding more than they do, and producing ‘copycat’ products that trade on characteristics established by competitors. Unethical practices relating to pricing strategies include charging customers more just because they live in remote areas or failing to inform customers in advance of price increases. The failure of an organisation to distribute a product in a marginally profitable area that will have little or no alternative supply is an example of an unethical approach taken by an organisation in regard to place/distribution. The use of fear-based selling implying