For example, hidden fees and misleading pricing might be manipulative. Leaving out important details -- such as a need to purchase separate components to use a product -- leaves customers essentially misinformed. If they learn about unexpected costs after purchasing a product or service, you may have breached an ethical limit by effectively cheating them from their point of view, even if you have not technically broken any law. Controversy:Some businesses intentionally choose controversial themes to market their products or services because they want to target a specific clientele. For example, a lingerie shop might use provocative advertisements to draw customers.
Erich Hatala Matthes, professor of moral philosophy, says, “Cultural appropriation can often seem morally problematic. When the abstract schemas above are filled in with details from actual events, we often find misrepresentation, misuse, and theft of the stories, styles, and material heritage of people who have been historically dominated and remain socially marginalized” (Matthes 343). When dominating groups of people (i.e. white people) misuse and twist the history of other groups, it is harmful and offensive. The people who are being misrepresented are often those who have been discriminated against in history.
Therefore, lying in order to achieve something, such as marketing goals, would be considered unethical in accordance to the universal approach. Kant expands this approach: “Whenever you manipulate others for your own ends, you are using them as a means to get your way, not treating them as uniquely valuable individuals” (Ch. 3 Duties, p. 40). I am uncertain if one can assess the work of a PR or Marketing specialist as unethical, because they are not telling the truth (lying) to potential buyers – Companies do not necessarily recreate the truth. However, they sure do manipulate people’s buying decisions by persuading them of a/the truth through the use of strategic communication.
They induce the consumers to buy products that are not even on there needs list or surpass the basic needs. (778) The marketers are of the view that every consumer has the power to evaluate and choose what he wants. It is very difficult to persuade any consumer to buy something which they don’t need. With this excessive advertising which is fully supported by the marketers, consumer expectations about the product also increase. Here advertisers tend to often misquote in there advertisements and when the consumer expectations are not meet it creates a negative image regarding the authenticity of the company’s
One of the most important elements of marketing your business is being able to create effective marketing campaigns that do not cross the line from ethical to unethical. While there are some strategies that straddle that line and are open for debate, there are some that clearly fall on the unethical side of the scale. Business ethics is a topic that has received a ton of press and attention over the last several years. In today’s business environment where government is continually cracking down on those that do not play by their rules, it is in your best interest to play nice. The last thing you want is to become a poster boy for unethical business behavior.
In many cases, the security vulnerabilities in computers and Information Technology software can be and are exploited by the “Black Hats” or cybercriminals as they are known, to invade people’s privacy, and steal people’s identity. We know that computers have no moral compass; they cannot make moral decisions for themselves. Essentially, people make moral decisions that affect others positively or negatively depending on how they use computer technology. Some of the biggest ethical issues facing people in the computing environment include privacy concerns on the web and identity theft. Privacy concerns and identity theft are two ethical issues that increase with the rapid advancement of computer and cyber technology.
The research also says that involvement of consumer is directly proportional to skepticism, if the former increases the latter must also increase. Naturally a customer/consumer with high skepticism will always be pretty doubtful and will conduct more research on the good being advertised rather than simply buying it. (Rizvi, Sami and Gull, 2012) says that if a skeptic consumer gets satisfied with the goods/services advertised, he will surely become a long term customer to the product/service or brand that has been advertised. The research gives another dimension which is that if companies use the concept of corporate social responsibility in their advertisement then this will contribute to lower skepticism for the general audience or customers; however the corporate responsibility should be honest and meaningful. (Rizvi, Sami and Gull, 2012) further says that choosing the right leaders will also contribute towards declining skepticism of course towards
An advertisement needs to be able to grab our attention in order to be successful. But in doing so, are these advertisements lying in order to grab our attention or perhaps even lying about the product or service itself? It all depends on what we perceive lying to be and how we define it. We need to define what lying and advertising are in order to answer the question “is advertising lying?”. It is clear that advertising is lying when we look at how many similarities there are between them.
Nevertheless, for human resource functions, it is of particular importance because this department deals with the external people directly. Due to the direct dealing with people, there may be many ethical pitfalls in the practices of human resource that may severely damage the repute of an organisation in terms of its core business and as an employer brand as well. Any unethical practice in this regard may lead towards a legal action against the company that will particularly damage its reputation in the market. Thus, the overall financial structure of the organisation will be affected as repute in the market decides the profitability of the firm. In this regard, the professionals in the human resource must be trained to avoid any unintentional ethical problem and proper code of conduct must be in place (Trezise,
Learned attitudes can be deep-seated, emotionally charged feelings that dictate behaviors which can even baffle the person exhibiting those attitudes. When marketers encounter customers with learned negative attitudes, they usually write off those groups as not worth the time and effort to target for marketing parlay as. Positive Learned Attitudes Customers who have positive learned attitudes are an automatic consumer franchise for marketers. They tend to exhibit loyalty and purchase frequently as well as defend the product or service to others who may criticize it. They take demerits as a negative reflection of the individual from whom they learned the attitude.