Marketing Ethics - King’s Glory Education

King’s Glory Education (KGE), one of the largest education corporations in Hong Kong, is a Cram school that offers secondary school students tutorial classes. It mainly focuses on two major local public examinations, namely Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) and Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE), and teaches students the techniques of answering questions in the examinations. Despite the huge profit this institution generated, its marketing activity is often being criticized as unethical in providing fraudulent or misleading information on their advertisements and promotions. The following essay will examine the ethicality of this firm’s marketing activity regarding the promotion of tutorial courses.

Firstly, according to the marketing ethics code, corporations should be honest to tell the truth in all situations and at all time. However, some promotions of KGE’s tutorial courses do not follow this standard. Their leaflets fail to disclose tutors’ education level clearly. Instead, their titles are written likely as professionals. Students, who are the targeted customers, are often not well informed and acknowledged that these tutors do not posses the corresponding qualifications. Students who lack information may easily fall into the trap of these counterfeit promotions as they hold the belief that these tutors working in such a famous company are experienced in teaching them. Take F Shum, the owner of KGE, as an example. In the official websites and leaflets, his titles are stated as “the Chief consulter of English Subject” and “Doctor of The University of West Alabama and he claimed that he possess 20-year-experience in teaching. It seems that Mr. Shum is a professional and experienced tutor. Nevertheless, Mingpao (2007) stated that F Shum is neither a degree holder nor a registered teacher from the education Bureau. It turned out that the number of students enrolling in his course decreases by 30 percentages.

KGE should give buyers the fact and be honest. This unethical action not only tarnishes the corporation’s image, but also undermines the confidence of customers, resulting in serious long-term consequences. Provided that one possess the teaching skills and meets the needs of customers, he or she will gain the support of and maintain a long term relationship with customers even without certain education degree. No one can deceive customers in the long run.

Also, although marketing is a multifaceted function, its fundamental purpose is to create value by developing a variety of offerings, like services.

It is not surprising that a profit-making company charges administration fees. However, students as their target customers generally do not yield any income.