Ethics & Product Consumption

Ethics & Product Consumption

Dawn Fisher

MKT/431 Small Business Marketing

January 18, 2016

Glenna Twing

Ethics & Product Consumption

Ethics and moral values will take an organization a long way. The most successful organizations and leaders are respected by their commitment to their highly ethical standards. TOMS shoes has conquered in the shoe industry and are one of the respected organizations based upon their highly ethical standards. TOMS shoes is known as “The One for One Company”. “At TOMS, we believe we can improve people’s lives through business.” It started with every pair of shoes that was purchased by customers TOMS would match that pair and give a new pair to a child in need. Today TOMS shoes has expanded to not just selling shoes. TOMS now sells shoes, bags, and eyewear. Now TOMS matches each purchase of shoes, bags and eyewear. This ethic marketing technique works well for TOMS. It allows the consumers to participate in charity work just by purchasing products from TOMS.

Six Pillars of Marketing Code Ethics

TOMS has been a leading company when it comes to ethics. Since 2006 TOMS has given over 15 million pairs of shoes and over 250,000 pairs of eyeglasses in over 70 countries. TOMS has worked with over 100 partners in these 70 countries who are helping give. (Ellett, 2014) The first pillar is honesty. An organization should never be dishonest with the consumer to persuade them to purchase their product. It will destroys the organizations integrity as well as aid in failure. Gaining the consumers trust is most important when marketing. TOMS has used honesty as a core for the organization. They have showcased honesty throughout their website and history as a business.

The second pillar is responsibility. TOMS corporate responsibility is improving the world through business. (CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AT TOMS, 2015) They have done so by donating their time and resources to helping those in need. By doing this they have shown both responsibility and caring the second and third pillars. TOMS has also added to their list of giving, aiding in giving the people in Ethiopia clean water, coffee, and tools for the women to give safer birth.

The fourth pillar of the marketing code of ethics is respect. TOMS has shown this pillar in many different ways throughout the years. Just to name a few TOMS has gained respect for the environment, other countries and cultures as well as the people. In respect for the environment TOMS is developing an environment friendly practices used to operate day to day. TOMS uses vegan materials such as organic cotton, natural hemp, and/or recycled polyester for the shoes given to the children. TOMS also does business globally. The organization’s shoes are made in China, Argentina and Ethiopia. TOMS does an annual analysis on their suppliers in each country making sure they’re complying with the laws of the country.