MARKETING ETHICS

Marketing Ethics

Marketing Ethics

In this paper, I would like to discuss about a situation related to marketing of a product. I had joined XYZ marketing firm that was engaged in marketing of finished food products such as edible oils, corn flakes, biscuits etc. I was given the responsibility of marketing Energy biscuits, a newly launched product by the XYZ firm.

At the initial stage of the marketing process, I was told that an adequate amount of $100,000 was allocated for the marketing purpose. It was during the marketing campign that I came to learn about a sudden cut in marketing budget, thus I was left with no choice but to initiate the compaign with half of the promised allocated amount. It was such a shocking experience and really it was a setback for me or rather one can say very difficult for me to believe myself when I came to know about the decision.

I launched a protest against the company because I thought that it was not right to take an important decision without taking any concerned personnel into confidence regarding that particular decision. But all my efforts went in vain and I was forced to carry out my marketing assignment within the stipulated amount and time or otherwise the consequences would not have been better.

I knew that the decision to cut down the marketing budget for “Energy Biscuits”, from $100,000 to $ 50, 000 was not going to pay the dividends for which I had worked so hard to allign my team to carry out the task.

I had very sound plans for marketing the “Energy Biscuits”, aimed at covering the most of children population in the New York City Disctrict but my efforts regarding publicity and marketing were hampered by inadequate funding and finances in the wake of sudden decision efforced by the management regarding the marketing of the product.

Another instance of common ethical concern involves products that create problems for the physical or natural environment. Examples would include product packaging that is not biodegradable; products that use inordinate scarce resources such as food stuff when improperly disposed of; and medical wastes that are sometimes dumped into oceans or lakes because the proper disposal of such material is burdensome for the user (Schlegelmilch, 2007).

Contributing further to all this is an increasingly “disposable lifestyle” in many developed countries that generates waste-handling problems, a residue of the convenience-oriented mentality—fueled by marketing. For example, the average American generates approximately 4 pounds of garbage a day of which 30% represents product packaging. The fundamental ethical issue connecting all these ecological examples is that of externalities. Basically, externalities are costs that are imposed on the society as a whole that are not paid for by the original producer or consumer. To take an obvious example, when beer bottles and soft drink cans are littered in public parks or recreational areas, the cleanup of that packaging represents an “externality.” As a response to all this, a “green marketing” movement has developed, which puts a ...