Learn the various ethical and unethical dilemmas in marketing and the various ethical and unethical advertising practices that are carried out in the marketing world.

1. ETHICS DILEMMAS IN
MARKETING AND ETHICAL
AND UNETHICAL
ADVERTISING
MARKETING GROUP-
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3. How Far Can You Go in Stealth Marketing?
Scenario: An actor hired by a particular
company poses as an ordinary Joe and strikes
up a conversation with a potential consumer to
praise the company’s product or service. Is this
fair?

4. Case Study: Don’t think this could actually happen?
Think again, says Hartman, who wrote about Sony
Ericsson hiring actors posing as tourists to go to the
Empire State Building to ask other visitors to take
photos of them with the brand’s cameras. Then, the
actors talked up the product. She cites other
examples such as companies having publicity hires
write recommendations for goods and services on
various Web sites without disclosing their employer.
These maneuvers, known as stealth marketing, are
a hotly debated topic in the industry. Where should
you stand?

5. Plan of Action: With an ever more sophisticated
clientele, companies are quickly learning that
transparency rules today’s marketplace.
Therefore, experts say your only choice is to be
honest and forthright. If you want consumers to
sample your product in a natural setting, you
can still have them do so. Just let them know
who you are and why you’d like to talk to
them. If the product is a good one, then your
honesty should in no way diminish it.

6. Ethical Dilemma: Can You Sell Customer
Information?
Scenario: When customers shop your online
store, they leave an electronic trail that
provides lots of information -- from their name
and address to the types of goods that interest
them when they search the site. A partner
company would like to buy the data from you.
Should you make the sale? Do you even have
the right to use that information in house?

7. Case Study: Telemarketers and junk email are a
part of everyday life. There’s no question that
someone is passing around contact information.
Companies are always looking to get in touch
with customers and find out about purchasing
patterns, says H. David Hennessey, professor of
marketing at Babson College. Using consumer
information is a privacy and fairness issue if not a
legal one, he adds, because many people think
their purchases are anonymous or somehow
protected.

8. Plan of Action: Consult the company’s code of
ethics to determine if standards have already
been set about how much information you can
use internally and externally, says Hennessey. He
suggests you put together a group to create a
policy about the acceptable ways to use
information consumers share with you. Consider
privacy law and the American Marketing
Association’s set of standards when determining
your code of conduct, say experts. Sometimes,
the easiest and most effective way to confront
such questions is simply to put yourself in your
client’s shoes. Would you consider the use an
invasion of privacy or betrayal?

9. Ethical Dilemma: Should You Recall a Flawed
Product?
Scenario: You discover a flaw in one of your
products, but telling the public might affect
sales. What should you do?

10. Case Study: Many a company has had to grapple
with this problem. Think of what must go into
the decision to recall cars. Pet food makers had
to react to the fact that some food was tainted
and killing beloved cats and dogs. In 2006, some
consumers of Bausch & Lomb’s ReNu with
MoistureLoc contact lens solution suffered from
a fungal eye infection, and the company’s
marketers were criticized for reacting slowly
and being close-lipped. Although extreme, these
examples highlight the importance of gaining
and maintaining consumers’ trust.

11. Plan of Action: Marketing 101 taught you that your
main priority should always be to focus on the
positives of the products and services you offer.
However, you have to remember that stakeholders
in your company aren’t just the financiers who
birthed the enterprise but are also the consumers
who keep its heart beating. “If profit maximization
is going to lead the decision maker down the wrong
path, that’s not right,” says Kirk Davidson, professor
of corporate social responsibility and marketing at
Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg,
Maryland. “You can achieve satisfactory profits and
do the right thing.”

12. Ethical Dilemma: What’s Appropriate in
Comparison Marketing?
Scenario: You’d like to put out an ad for your
client that compares his product to the
competition. How far can you go?

13. Case Study: Once you start looking for examples
of comparison marketing, you will find them
everywhere. Makers of acne medication pit an
image of a client using one product, say Proactiv,
versus photos of the same person using a rival
product to show which zaps more zits. Phone
companies are notorious for comparing their
services and charges to those of a rival in
television ads.

14. Plan of Action: There’s nothing wrong with wanting to
show up the competition -- as long as you don’t step
over the line. Be sure that everything you are
publicly saying in favor of your company or product
and against your competitor is actually true. Test the
goods yourself before committing to any promotional
materials. Double and triple check the facts. The
bottom line is that inaccuracies in such comparison
marketing undoubtedly lead to a courtroom, where
your rivals will call you out on your errors. You could
lose the big bucks, not to mention the respect of an
otherwise trusting public

15. Kendall Jenner Pepsi Ad fail:
In a year fraught with political and social tension,
brands were leaning into marketing that shoots for
resonance — sometimes through humour, more
often by tackling tough issues — resulting in
spectacular fails like the Kendall Jenner Pepsi Ad,
along with a handful of campaigns that deliver the
proper emotional impact while remaining true to
brand.

17. Dove's body-positive packaging was a fail
The promotion involved limited-edition body wash
packaging presenting diverse representations of
female bodies, but comparing women's figures to
largely shapeless, abstract soap bottles ultimately
sent the wrong message and was met with both
joking and genuine concern on platforms of social
media.

19. Types of unethical
advertising
• Exaggeration
• Puffery
• False brand comparisons
• Stereotyping women
•Unverified claims
• Children in advertising

20.  Puffery/Fraudulation
 Untruthful or Deceptive
 Offensive or in Bad Taste
 Creating Materialistic Demand

21. Buy things which are not needed
Comparative Advertising
Stereotypes Based
Advertising With Gender
Improper
Excessive

22. False advertising is misleading with claims that
aren't substantiated by evidence.
• Financial loss
• Broken trust
• Investigation

23.  Consumers suffer
 Employees suffer
 Business suffers
 Distorted competition

24. Misrepresentation
Unrealistic Expectations
False Images
Environment Threats

25. Corrupting the Youth
Political Influence
Promotion of Harmful Products