Contents

What is Marketing Ethics?

Factors influencing ME
Unethical practices in marketing
Ethical Issues & the Marketing Mix
Social Criticisms of Marketing
Advertisements
What is Marketing Ethics?
Marketing ethics is the area of applied
ethics which deals with the moral principles
behind the operation and regulation
of marketing
Factors Effecting Marketing Ethics
Unethical Practices in Marketing
Misrepresenting ones own company in sales
dealing
Discriminating buyers on basis of age, sex, country
of origin, caste, etc
Disclosing Premature offerings
Violating patents and copyrights
Unethical Practices in Marketing
Question mark on Product safety
Using confidential information for any benefit
Duplication of original brands
Unauthorized manufacturing of hazardous products
Artificial scarcity
Deceptive advertisement
Ethical Issues & the Marketing Mix
PRICING
Price fixing
Price discrimination
Price increases
Deceptive pricing
DISTRIBUTION
Exclusive territories
Dumping
Dealer rights
Predatory competition
PRODUCT
Planned Obsolescence
Product quality & safety
Product Warrantees
Fair Packaging & Labeling
Pollution
PROMOTION
Bait and switch advertising
False & Deceptive advertising
Promotional allowances
bribery
Ethics in Pricing
Price Discrimination
Predatory Prices
Deceptive Pricing
- Low price offer
- Inflated Price

Price Fixing
-Horizontal Price fixing
-Vertical Price fixing
Social Criticisms of Marketing
High Prices
Caused by:
High costs of distribution
High advertising and promotion costs
Excessive markups (greed & profit pressures)
Why do branded products cost
more than generics (i.e. store
brand)?

The cost of advertising?
Deceptive Practices
Deceptive Pricing
Falsely advertising factory, wholesale, clearance or
other seemingly large reductions from a phony high
original retail (list) price.
Deceptive Promotion
Overstating a products features or performance, running
rigged or fraudulent contests
Bait-and-Switch advertising
Deceptive Packaging
Exaggerating package contents through slick design,
misleading quantity or quality imagery and misleading
labeling
High-Pressure Selling
Salespeople are trained to deliver smooth,
canned talks to entice purchase
High-pressure selling persuades people to buy
goods they neither need nor want
Driven by compensation structures (i.e. high
bonus potentials)
High-pressure selling ultimately destroys customer
relationships and goodwill
Includes
Poorly made products
Products that do not perform well
Products that deliver little benefit
Harmful products (cause bodily harm, illness, even death)

How it happens
Undue focus on profit, increased production complexity,
poorly trained labor, and poor quality control
New products without safety track records
Outsourcing of production often leads to quality issues

Shoddy or Unsafe Products
McDonalds and Obesity
A 2002 lawsuit unsuccessfully sued McDonalds on behalf of
obese children, claiming McDs marketed food that is high in
fat, salt, sugar, and cholesterol.

Planned Obsolescence
Refers to:
Products needing replacement before they should
because they are obsolete (computers and software)

Producers who change consumer concepts of
acceptable styles (clothing and fashion)

Intentionally holding back attractive or advanced
functional features, and introducing them later to
make the old model obsolete (electronics)
Examples
The poor are forced to shop in smaller stores
where they pay more for inferior goods.
The poor receive worse service (or no service) at
stores.
Poor are targeted for rapid refunds and other
quick-money swaps
Poor Treatment of Disadvantaged Consumers
Deceptive Advertising
Gives false information or misleads
consumers about the benefits of the
brand.
Common deceptive Practices in
Advertising
False and misleading presentation of facts
Deliberate omitting of required information
Implying a benefit that hardly exist
Exaggerated claims
Using unnecessary technical jargons
Creating Cultural degeneration
Persuasive role models for inappropriate products
Open criticism of competitors
Advertising Critics
It is wasteful
It increases consumption which is not a
blessing
It increases monopoly power
Creation of consumer desires
Marketings Impact on Society as a Whole
Marketing creates false wants
and needs
Marketing makes people
materialistic
Marketing promotes poor quality
products

5 Unethical Practices you must avoid
1. Dont Try to Force Your Customers into Buying
2. Dont Try to Sell Crap
3. Avoid Not Having a Good Customer Support
4. Always Over Deliver Never Under Deliver
5. Dont Give Customers Something Different This Will
Only Worsen The Situation
THE VEDANTA CASE
http://prezi.com/5u9dssbkgmap/unethical-
practices-in-marketing/