...Unethical Marketing of Prescription Drugs: Misleading Direct-To-Consumer Advertising and Disease Mongering. October 3, 2011 Unethical Marketing of Prescription Drugs Introduction The purpose of this ethical paper is to investigate the marketing tactics being used by pharmaceutical companies and discuss the ethical issues involved. The primary source of information discussed in this paper was gathered from analysis of business and scholar journals, case studies, and current news articles. The main focus of my research was placed on the unethical practices of pharmaceutical companies and the current marketing regulations in the United States. The unethical practices primarily covered in this paper include disease/fear mongering, and the misuse of direct-to-consumer & physician-directed marketing to increase the profits of pharmaceutical firms. But before we get into the unethical practices taking place in today’s pharmaceutical industry, let’s take a look at the idea of ethics. So, what exactly is ethics? Merriam-Webster defines ethics as “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation,” and “a theory or system of moral values” (Merriam-Webster, 2011). As you can see, this is a complex but vague definition to say the least. In today’s world of international business where firms operate across cultural boundaries and face stiff competition in the fight for profits, it’s even more difficult to clearly define the meaning of...
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...Introduction Unethical marketing contributions have played a role in many trials around the world. The American Marketing Association (AMA) has made many regulations, all of which are expected to be followed. These regulations ensure that the public is safe and aware of the risks associated with products being sold. Societies need assurance that the products being marketed are not harmful and that the products are completely true to what is being presented. “Marketing of defective, unsafe, and deceptive products has generated hundreds of product liability suits with increasing compensatory and punitive damages claimed and awarded.” (Boedecker and Morgan 1986; Morgan 1982) With product liability lawsuits on the rise, marketers understand the risks and consequences associated with unethical marketing behaviors. Unethical marketing behaviors could potentially cause such extreme damage to a company. So much damage, that the name or image of the company could be negatively impacted forever. Dow Corning Corporation (DCC) is just one of many corporations that have gone to trial and unsuccessfully fought cases against the public in regards to product liability. DCC is the leading global silicone supplier based out of the United States. DCC offers many products and services, but we will be discussing the use of silicone gel-filled breast implants. “In December 1991, a San Francisco jury awarded a California woman $7.34 million in retributive damages.” (Journal of Marketing, pg. 44) ...
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...Unethical Conduct Michael Roberson RES/351 April 17, 2014 Deborah Levin Unethical Conduct The ability to report unethical conduct has flourished in the business research community. In Marketing, salespeople among groups demonstrated the lack of personal ethical judgment when unethical conduct was linked to personal, ethical perspectives. The purpose of this essay is to discuss unethical behavior as it affects a salesperson. Individuals have a different approach to marketing because of its blinding effect on the points of levels. The personal, ethical perspective of a salesperson is philosophical. In an organization, unethical behavior is a rule that is administered by the organization for the purpose of communicating marketing strategies. This rule applies under a code of ethics that involved taking surveys from the organization, the individual, and society. The survey is designed to simulate the unethical behavior situations that grow over the amount of sales a salesperson receives from merchandise discounted without management approval. The importance of the survey identifies the salesperson in the organization, but in an organization, society portrays each as a component. The salesperson encounters the decision that stems from unethical behavior. Ethical pressure is mostly the work group that becomes the next level. The unethical behavior could be avoided by not following the organization's rules (Ferrell, Johnston, & Ferrell, 2007)...
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...Q 1: Discuss and analyze the ethical issues reflected in the case. The case is about British American Tobacco (BAT), London-based tobacco firm, which is involved in doing unethical activities and hence breaking their marketing code in Africa. BBC had investigated and found BAT is trying to attract more young African buyers of its product by adjusting marketing strategy to meet young people's needs. They are actually promoting and selling cigarettes in form of “single sticks”, which is attractive to young people of poor African countries like Nigeria, Malawi and Mauritius, who cannot afford to buy a whole packet of cigarettes. Now, there is nothing wrong with marketing one's product to target an audience of possible consumers. However, in this case, BAT allegedly targeted African children as young as 11 by aggressively marketing single sticks' to them. The company also hosted events that targeted young people despite their publicly stated commitments. Now, we know that most ethical issues concerning business consumer relations refer to the ‘marketing mix’, ethical issues in product policy, marketing communications, pricing and marketing strategy. Ethical Issues in marketing management – Product Policy At the most basic level, manufacturers should exercise due care in establishing that all reasonable steps are taken to ensure that their products are free from defects and safe to use as well as effective and fit for the purpose. Cigarette may be effective as they claim...
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...INTROUDCTION 1. What is Marketing? 2. Marketing Mix 3. Advertising 4. Ethics in Advertising and self Control. 5. Marketing Scenario in India at Present. 6. Aims and Objectives of the study 7. Significance and Relevance of the study 8. Definitions 9. Hypotheses of the study 10. Assumptions of the study 11. Limitations of the study 7 CHAPTER – I INTROUDCTION The present study is titled “ Study of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and its role in curbing unethical marketing communication with specific reference to the portrayal of women by the advertisers.” To begin with , it is felt that it would be appropriate to state what is marketing, what is the present marketing scenario in India , what is advertising , what kind of marketing communication and advertising is taking place and how the women are portrayed in the advertisements. 1. What is Marketing? There are a number of definitions and a huge amount of literature available on marketing . According Philip Kotler , world renowned marketing expert, the simplest definition states “Marketing is managing profitable customer relationships”. The process of marketing aims at growing current customers by delivering satisfaction and attracting new customers by promising superior values. Yet another definition as per Philip Kotler is “Marketing is the process by which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return”. The American Marketing Association defines...
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...Chap 8 EE 1. Is marketing tobacco products to younger consumers unethical? a. It is unethical to market tobacco products to younger consumers that are under the legal age to purchase their products. The Marlboro Man worked for when cowboys was relevant and cool so that worked because everyone wanted to be a cowboy but it was still unethical then and Joe Camel worked as well because they made him look cool during the time the ads were running but they were unethical also. 2. Many are beginning to argue that fast-food companies, such as McDonald's and Burger King, are knowingly marketing unhealthy food to consumers. Is it unethical for fast-food companies to market kids' meals to children? a. Its not unethical because kids are a part of the market, they actually have their own market designated just for kids with companies such as McDonald’s and Burger King. It up to the parents to say whether they want their children eating fast food meals or not, also these restaurants also have healthy foods it’s by choice by the consumers that choose to buy the unhealthy foods. 3. What does the AMA Statement of Ethics have to say about marketing unhealthy or harmful products to consumers, particularly children and young adults? Go to the AMA Web site at www.marketingpower.com to review the statement of ethics (www.marketing-power.com/AboutAMA/Pages/StatementofEthics.aspx). Write a brief paragraph summarizing where the AMA stands on this important issue. a. From the Statement of ethics...
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...Section 1: Introduction In marketing, issues such as price discrimination, cheating of customers, bribes, dishonest advertising, price collusion posed by competitors, overselling and unfairness to employees especially in prejudiced hiring and unfair remuneration, all present big ethical problems in business. These discrepancies are bound to happen since they occur during interactions among humans which is inevitable in marketing. The issue then is how to manage them and suppress them and their accrued consequences. A researcher is mandated to get accurate and reliable information from the respondents. They are at times lured into deceiving the respondents into not what the actual research actually entails. The act of lying or even cheating is ethically unacceptable. On the other hand, they may be too considerate about the interests of the respondents, thus collecting insufficient information that is not fit for the research. In this case it will be unethical in that they did not accomplish what they were mandated to do. •Section 2: Analysis of the situation Methodology In order to curb the problem of unethical behavior in marketing, we need to identify the major setbacks and situations during which ethics are not adhered to. With these then we can identify possible solutions for every one of it. The first one to consider is the credibility of a marketing research. The integrity of a research is usually hampered by activities such as deliberate withholding of information...
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...Ethics in Marketing Research Introduction: Today, it is far too easy to begin practicing marketing research. But unethical research practice relying on poor information to make major decision has resulted in loss of market share, reduction in profits, and, in some cases, bankruptcy. Ethics are moral principles or values generally governing the conduct of an individual or group. Ethics behavior is not, however, a one-way relationship clients, suppliers, as well as field services, must also act in an ethical manner. Ethical questions range from practical, narrowly defined issues, such as a researcher's obligation to be honest with its customers, to broader social and philosophical questions, such as a company's responsibility to preserve the environment and protect employee rights. Unethical practices by some suppliers include abusing respondents, selling unnecessary research, and violating client include requesting bids when a supplier has been predetermined, requesting bids gain to free advice methodology, marketing false promises, and issuing unauthorized requests for proposals. Marketing research field services have used professional respondents, which I unethical. Respondents have certain rights, including the rights to choose whether to participate in a marketing research project, the right to safety from physical and psychological harm, and the right to be informed of all aspects of the research task. They should know what is involved, how long it will take...
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...Parker Gross MKTG 495 Case #3 – Monsanto I: Situation Analysis Monsanto is a company that some people may not be explicitly familiar with on a first name basis. However, the work that the company has done over the last century, with a larger emphasis on its most recent ventures, have been deeply engrained in our lives, our food, and our economy. Monsanto has those who advocate on their behalf in addition to their naysayers. While Monsanto has made huge strides in terms of biotechnology over the last couple of decades, their accomplishments, and the relevant methods, have not been free of criticism and controversy. In order to analyze Monsanto’s corporate environment, it is important to first explore their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats through conducting a SWOT analysis. <Insert Exhibit 1 Here (See end of file)> Now that Monsanto’s internal and external environments have been analyzed through the SWOT analysis featured in Exhibit 1, it is necessary to determine what information is still necessary, and what assumptions might need to be made in order to be better-informed to make a decision. II: Assumptions and Missing Information The first piece of information that comes to mind that is only briefly mentioned in the case but that is very important to know about is the availability of alternatives and the presence of competitors. Considering that Monsanto held a considerable market share and sold a staggering majority of GMO crops at the time...
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...Marketing Industry Effects Rebecca Segall (2000) expressed her concern with advertisers and marketers targeting children, stating advertising to children is difficult to prevent because it contributes to such a large financial flow in the marketing and advertising industry. According to Segall (2000), in just 36 months, from 1997 to 2000, advertising efforts concentrated at a youth target audience increased so rapidly that American youth spent more than $24 billion, while their parents spent nearly $200 billion on goods which were directly marketed through child-targeted advertising. Segall (2000) also stated child-targeted advertising accounted for over 50 percent of all financial returns directly related to marketing and advertising. If marketing to children has become unethical, and it has been proven unethical by various business ethic commissions, sociologists, and psychologists, then the question arises to why does the practice continue. Segall (2000) stated, while companies have become dependent on large revenues related to child advertising, they will need to continue with a blind eye to the issue because they have become so financially dependent on the youth market, that they fear making an ethical change could collapse their business financially....
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...Analyzing Ethical Issues in Marketing Kari Bertrand MKT/554 November 11, 2013 Sandra Payne Analyzing Ethical Issues in Marketing There are three areas of ethical concerns for marketing flavored cigarettes. The first concern is the marketing to younger consumers or minors, that are not legally able to purchase tobacco products, (Layton, 2010). The second is the ban on favored cigarettes other than menthol, but there is no ban in regard to flavored cigars or blunts. The third and final concern is the marketing company’s responsibility to their contractual obligations with The Exotic Smokes Company. These three concerns are essential to the success of the marketing strategy and plan. The Target Market There is a ban that prohibits the advertising and selling of tobacco products to minors. The Exotic Smokes Company wants to reach a demographic that is perilously close to the ban of advertising to minors. The marketing has to be specific targeting the college age consumer or young business professionals to avoid costly litigation. Ban on Flavored Cigarettes The marketing company must advise the Exotic Smokes Company as to the ban on flavored cigarettes. The marketing company must not advertise a banned tobacco product. With full knowledge that the product is in direct violation and continuing to market the product is unethical and will potentially open the marketing company up to litigation. The marketing company is ethically obligated to discuss the Exotic Smokes...
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...Ethical Challenges in Marketing Communication Ethics play an integral role in the development and sustenance of any personal or business relationship. Ethics determine the acceptable behaviors within a society and the overall behaviors of a business. Marketers must understand the impact ethics have on marketing communications and develop Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) strategies accordingly. This paper will discuss various ethical challenges facing marketers today, identify internal and external factors on IMC, and formulate two ethical questions based upon the analysis. Ethics in Marketing The practice of ethics within an organization is an important but difficult concept to understand and practice. The reason ethics are difficult to manage is that the concept is so subjective (Duncan 2002, pp. 671). Ethical values differ between societies and individual relationships, therefore a company must decide on an ethical communication strategy and portray it as consistently as possible. Duncan (2002) describes three ethical considerations companies must understand when developing marketing communications and relationships with customers. Stereotyping Stereotyping plays a significant role in developing marketing strategies that are both effective and ethical. "The challenge for brands is to develop messages that strike a chord with targeted audiences without reinforcing negative stereotypes" (pp. 672). Companies must ensure that their marketing tactics are not...
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...Agoda.com Arguable Unethical Marketing Behaviours Agoda.com is a Singapore-based online hotel booking company specializing in the Asia Pacific market with a global network of more than 200 thousands hotels worldwide. After being merged in 2007 by the Priceline.com, one of the largest online travel-related services providers, Agoda.com was on its way of rapid expanding globally however, with its controversial marketing strategy of pricing, which is under heated debate. Therefore, this essay intends to examine the reasonableness and unethicality of its pricing promotion. With the support of advanced customer database, Agoda.com could efficiently promote their “attractive prices” to individual customers according to their demands differently. For example, once a consumer has searched or booker some hotels within a target location, Agoda.com will send promotion email to those consumers with “special offers” according to the consumer’s searching history. This promotion practices seems to be consistent with the customer-driven marketing strategy since this allows the company to explore differentiated market segmentations with different consumers’ needs for different hotels (Woodruff, 1997). However, behind the successful strategy, it is likely to be ignored that the contents of its promotion should be considered as unethical issues, which would violate the code of AMA. These controversial issues in those promotion emails mainly involve two aspects, misleading information and...
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...American Intercontinental University Unit 2 Individual Project MGMT 230- Electronic Business September 2, 2012 Abstract Ethical and unethical laws of the internet can be complex. With email scams and blog spam just to name a few are the unethical ways people are falling into the trap of fraud. In truth email and blogs are not bad when the ethical laws are applied; in most cases they can be very helpful to an e-commerce business. . Unit 2 Individual Project Introduction Having your own website can be complicated, with so many scams and frauds in the internet world; it makes it difficult to form a trust with possible customers. A website that follows the ethical laws of the web will have a chance to earn trust and possibly have a productive e- business. Research on Ethics of Online Marketing Spam Email, Page Cloaking, Spam Blogs, Keyword Stuffing and Irrelevant Keywords are just a few unethical marketing techniques used in e-business. Spam Email is a way of advertising to people without having their permission to do so. According to Google page cloaking “refers to the practice of presenting different content or URLs to users and search engines” (Goggle) Goggle has a service called goggle bot a search engine that directs people to places they need to go . Well page cloaking takes advantage of this service. Instead of giving a legit URL to Google BOT it gives it a dummy one, so if you search a child friendly site you might end up with an adult site or a site...
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...1. What is marketing ethics? To what extent do you believe marketing practices to be unethical and how might unethical practices in marketing be restricted? Marketing ethics are moral principles and values that guide behaviour within the field of marketing, and cover issues such as product safety, truthfulness and marketing communications honesty, pricing issues, impact of marketing to environment and society. Might be restricted by law (EU, national, voluntary bodies set up by industries) and also by customers. They can decide not to support these kinds of activities that they don’t buy product of these companies. To what extent are marketing practices unethical? 2. What are the key responsibilities of corporate social responsibility and to what extent do you believe businesses should accept them? Economical responsibilities (profitability, efficiency, effectiveness), legal responsibilities (law reductions), ethical responsibilities (reasonable salary, good work environment, testing on animals, child labour), philanthropic responsibilities (charity, support, sponsorships) To what extent? At least economical and legal responsibility is important. They should accept some rules from ethical responsibilities. If it is a very big company they should care also about philanthropic responsibilities because they are expected to do that. 3. Describe the five dimensions of corporate social responsibility. Evaluate marketing’s response to the issues underlying each dimension...
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