Coretta Brown
Assignment 4: Legal and Ethical Considerations in Marketing, Product Safety, and Intellectual Property
LEG500
August 25, 2014

Write an eight to ten (8-10) page paper in which you:

http://www.insidebusiness360.com/index.php/ethical-issues-faced-by-marketers-18696/

Legal and ethical situations have been a topic in the business world since day one. Legal and ethical can sometimes be confusing in the work place if there are not rule and regulation to abide by in the organization. Legal is an act according to law, not in violation of law or anything related to the law. Ethical involving questions of right and wrong behavior relating to ethics and following accepted rules of behavior that are morally right and good.
1. Research three to five (3-5) ethical issues relating to marketing and advertising, intellectual property, and regulation of product safety and examine whether PharmaCARE violated any of the issues in question.
Marketing is the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer. Advertising is the act or practice of calling public attention to one's product, service, need, etc., especially by paid announcements in newspapers and magazines, over radio or television, and on billboards. According to Mathenge,“Over the years, advertising and marketing communication messages have created a lot of debatable ethical issues, due to the public belief , that advertisements nowadays deeply affect the way people perceive themselves and the world surrounding them, including crucial actions and behaviours.”
• Ethical Issues relating to Marketing and Advertising:
1. Stereotyping
Marketing campaigns often cast particular groups in stereotypical roles, such as washing powder advertisements that show women as housewives preoccupied with their laundry, or do-it-yourself marketing that seldom portray anyone other than men as being “handy” (Sandilands). In addition, the stereotypical impression created by much commercial marketing is that having an abundance of possessions will lead to fulfillment and happiness, but the opposing message is that the consumer will not be part of the happy group if he does not purchase the product (Sandilands).
2. Subliminal Messaging
Inserting subliminal messages in marketing material is an effort to manipulate the thinking of the consumer (Sandilands). An advertisement promoting George W. Bush’s campaign during the presidential elections of 2000 flashed the word “rats” for 1/30th of a second during its criticism of Al Gore’s prescription medicine plan (Sandilands). The purpose of this, although hotly denied by the maker of the ad, was to cause viewers to associate the Gore with a rodent (Sandilands).
3. Exploiting Social Paradigms
Cultural and ethnic sensitivities may cause certain groups to find some types of marketing offensive (Sandilands). For example, marketing for a luxury car that shows the driver as a man who is able to charm an attractive woman makes a number of social statements that could offend (Sandilands). These include the suggestion that a woman only cares about financial success, the idea that a man needs a luxury car to attract the woman of his dreams, and the promise that if the consumer buys such a car, he will immediately become desirable (Sandilands).
4. Vulnerable Audiences
In the same way that the use of racial or ethnic groups in advertising can serve to stereotype them, the absence from using these groups in marketing in a multiethnic society can create image and identity problems among those that are excluded (Sandilands). Marketing aimed at children, in particular, is fraught with the risk of causing ethical implications (Sandilands). The targeting of children with fast food and unhealthy snacks can lead children to not want to eat anything else and result in childhood obesity (Sandilands).
5. Post-Purchase Dissonance
What you see is often not what you get. Post-purchase dissonance occurs when the consumer buys something marketed through mail order, for example, and finds on receipt of the goods that the quality is inferior to his expectations (Sandilands). He can usually return the product for a refund, but the marketer counts on the fact that sending the item back and incurring the cost of postage and insurance may cause buyers not to bother (Sandilands).
Intellectual Property (IP) is a very debated thing, as we have seen so far. It is not the idea that is so touchy, but the use of it (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). The Four Areas Covered by Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks and Trade Secrets (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). IP comes in vaguely two forms: industrial property and copyright (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Industrial property includes patents, trademarks and industrial designs (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Copyright includes literary and artistic works (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). All of these things are tangible items. Music, sculptures and novels can all be copyrighted, but ideas cannot (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). IP is a constructed protection of the physical form of people's ideas (The Ethics of Intellectual Property).
• Ethical Issues relating to Intellectual Property
1. Patents:
Of the four areas, patents are the most common (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Although they are difficult to obtain, they hold the strongest protection(The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Patents are grants from the government giving exclusive rights to ``make, use, and sell a product for 20 years'' (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Their attributes include providing strong protection, and total exclusivity (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Their downsides include long expensive, technical processes, and inventors must make all the details of their product known to the public (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). One must apply to the Federal government for a patent (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Patents protect ``novel, useful, non-obvious and intangible'' ideas (The Ethics of Intellectual Property).
2. Copyrights: Copyrights are the most common form of protection (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). The reason for this is that copyrights are very easy to obtain (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). As soon as one finishes writing a piece, the piece has been copyrighted (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Under United States Code 18, § 2318 and § 2319, infringement of a copyright is punishable by law (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Copyrights protect all written pieces including, but not limited to: books, periodicals, songs and music, theatre productions including all accompanying music, movies and all accompanying music, letters (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Copyrights are important because they protect the First Amendments rights of freedom of speech and of the press (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). The right to speak freely is the right to ensure that what ones says or writes belongs to them and not hundreds of others (The Ethics of Intellectual Property).
3. Trademarks:
Trademarks are protected under United States Code 18 § 2320, which ``bans trafficking in counterfeit goods or services (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). '' This means that anyone who infringes upon the trademark of another counterfeits a good or a service (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Trademarks are the easiest are to infringe upon (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). This is due to the fact that persons trademark everything (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). The benefit of trademarking something is first to ensure that one creates something that speaks of their product (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). If one produces an item and then a certain slogan or picture can be automatically linked to the product, more consumers will purchase it (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). For example, one is more likely to buy Band-Aid brand band-aides than any other brand (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). The second benefit is that if anyone wants to use another's trademark, they must pay the owner (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). If for example, if one wanted to use three stripes on the design of their new running shoes, they would have to get permission from and compensate Adidas (The Ethics of Intellectual Property).
4. Trade Secrets:
Trade secrets are the riskiest of the four areas (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). If one can keep a trade secret, he or she will have exclusive rights to that product forever (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). However, the trick is to keep a trade secret (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Reverse engineering has made it so that almost every product can be replicated (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). If one tries to use a trade secret, the benefit is great, but the downfall is huge (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). If one's trade secret is discovered, the inventor loses everything (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). They will have no further claim on the product (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). An example of trade secret is the formula for Coca-Cola (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). In 1886, a pharmacist named John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). The Coca-Cola Corporation never applied for a patent (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). They relied on their trademark secret (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). Although many companies have reverse engineered the product, none have obtained the particular flavor of Coke (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). With a patent, Coke would have had to give up its secrets, but would be protected no matter what (The Ethics of Intellectual Property). With a trade secret, the information stays theirs, but if their secret is ever discovered, they will be sorely out of luck (The Ethics of Intellectual Property).
• Ethical Issues relating to Regulation of Property Safety
Every business wants to ensure that they have quality products and social responsibility is practiced to represent their ethical code. Regulation of Property Safety has laws put in place to determine products safety, products receive a certificate to verify the certification, and products be examined and tested according to the standards of the law. Individual’s ethics can be tested at this point so it is best if he/she use their judgment wisely.
In the CompCARE scenario the safety personnel’s were aware of the issues involving the product safety. In return as some companies do CompCARE management ignored the risks of their unsafe product for the high rewards and profits that PharmaCARE received for the product. Ethical issues continue because managers’ and other personnel’s in authority continue to ignore safety issues with the regulation of product safety. Even in other countries we are looked at as sweatshop because of the lack of stressing the topic for regulation of product safety.
2. Argue for or against Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) marketing by drug companies. Provide support for your response.
I am for the Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) marketing by drug companies. DTC is a way to make the consumers aware of the drug on the market that is available to the public, the drug many side effects that may be caused, and what the drug purpose is regarding the human body health. The ads are broadcast on TV and radio, and published in magazines and newspapers. Making consumers’ aware of a drug that may be able to help or harm in the short or long run is very important. For example Product Claim Ad for Arbitraer (misvastatium): help relieve seasonal allergy symptoms such as running noise, sneezing, and itchy, watery eyes (FDA).
3. Determine the parties responsible for regulating compounding pharmacies under the current regulatory scheme, the actions that either these parties or the FDA could / should have taken in this scenario, and whether PharmaCARE could face legal exposure surrounding its practices. Support your response.
State boards of pharmacy will continue to have primary responsibility for the day-to-day oversight of state-licensed pharmacies that compound drugs in accordance with the conditions of section 503A of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). The parties responsible for regulating pharmacies under the current regulatory scheme are the licensed pharmacist, a licensed physician, or outsourcing facilities. Mixing, combining, or altering a drug to tailor to an individual patient is an unsafe compound of drug. Compound drugs are not FDA approved which states that FDA does not believe compounding is safe. In order to avoid FDA interruption of business CompCARE was established by PharmaCARE to operate as a compounding pharmacy to sell certain formulations to individuals on a prescription basis. The parties involve and FDA should have made sure appropriate steps to product safety were taken before any prescribed drugs were released to individuals. PharmaCARE could face legal exposure surrounding its practice. I do not believe that it would affect PharmaCARE like exposer would expect it to because PharmaCARE made a subsidiary CompCARE for a specific reason and that is compounding drugs. PharmaCARE did not state that CompCARE was an outsourcing facility to avoid FDA inspections but did a renovation for their benefit.
4. Analyze the manner in which PharmaCARE used U.S. law to protect its own intellectual property and if John has any claim to being the true “inventor” of AD23. Suggest at least three (3) ways the company could compensate John for the use of his intellectual property.
John has claim to being the true “inventor” of AD23.
Three ways the company could compensate John for the use of his intellectual property are:
A. Stock options: See will John be willing to be a shareholder in the company.
B. Recognize at banquet, luncheon, or dinners with a plaque and/or certificate: Recognitions in front of others make people feel more appreciated for their hard work.
C. Monetary bonus: A check for more than $10, 000 for Johns research and time would be nice.
5. Summarize at least one (1) current example (within the past two [2] years) of intellectual property theft, and examine the effect on that company’s brand.
6. Analyze the potential issue surrounding the death of John’s wife and other potential litigants against PharmaCARE as a result of AD23.
7. Specify both the major arguments that John can make to claim that he is a whistleblower and the type of protections that he should be afforded. Justify your response.