The Importance of Ethical Marketing
In this brief article, you should appreciate the problems marketers often face in deciding what is ethical or simply doing the right thing. Marketers must often pause, consider, and perhaps reconsider their actions and offers made to customers from an ethical standpoint. These decisions can be difficult at times.
The subject of ethics has become increasingly important in today's modern economy. Most business schools today require that ethics and ethical concepts are threaded throughout business disciplines within the curriculum. The rationale is rather clear,
as we only need to observe ethical violations reported through the news media, which seem to occur all too often.
When considering the importance of ethical marketing practices, we must first consider the significant importance of the marketing function. The job is challenging. The responsibility of marketing is to create consumer interest and satisfy consumer needs and wants. Fundamentally, marketing is responsible for bringing in money through the organization's front door. In other words, make the cash register ring! So, marketing management is a huge responsibility. Marketers are often faced with serious financial demands of the organization, such as sales quotas and strategic demands in terms of getting products to the market timely.
For example, a sales representative selling to a purchasing manager could suggest that the purchasing manager buys more copy paper this month than what is needed. The sales representative would meet his quota and earn a trip to Mexico by making this sale. The sales representative says to the purchasing manager, "Don't worry, you can simply return the unneeded paper for a full refund after I return from Mexico. This way, I get to go on my trip, and your company will not pay for any more paper than you need."
Is this situation ethical? On the one hand, it could seem that neither party is harmed. On the other hand, it appears that the sales representative is abusing the incentive system of his company. The reason that this example is given is that marketing is based on relationships. Both parties want to maintain a relationship, and this often requires give-and-take from each party. Where do we draw the line?
Most companies today rely on a written code of ethics to enforce the proper conduct of their employees. However, a written policy cannot cover all situations that will occur in the real world. Therefore, written policy on marketing, ethics, or otherwise is meant to provide guidelines, and managers and employees must exercise good judgment and managerial discretion within the policy guidelines. Sometimes these decisions, as they apply to marketing, are difficult and require additional thought and reflection by marketing practitioners.
Source: Saylor Academy
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