A634.5.4.RB – Is Marketing Evil?
While I
have no background on marketing in any way, I believe that marketers would
indeed benefit from learning about ethical guidelines. For instance, having the
proper education and learning your own ethical perspectives could potentially
provide feedback on how you will do your next job. More importantly, knowing
what you stand for makes your contribution to those who follow you more valid.
But what are we referring to with ethical guidelines? “A code of ethics is a
written, formal document consisting of moral standards and guidelines intended
to help guide employee or corporate behavior” (Giorgini et. al., 2015, para.
3). Believing on the product you are selling is as important as selling it. Nevertheless,
ethical guideless provide an array of options and can be interpreted in
different ways according to the individual’s background. According to Ingy El
Ghazaly and Hala El Sayed, “making the consumer want the product and then
influencing him to stay loyal to it is definitely not an easy job to do, but
it's the main reason why companies exist (to deliver products to the end
consumer); and thus a lot tend to take the view that marketing is simply the
guarding angel of the organization, without that angel, the whole body of the
organization will collapse” (n.d., para. 4).
Being
ethical is a skill not many individuals portrait and most companies try to win
over time. In order to balance both, the need to be ethical and sell products,
companies need to place a standardized normative practice. Moreover, the
company employees need to come into terms with the implied normative. A good
example I can relate to is my job. I work for a podiatrist office, and
although, we treat patients, we also use our marketing skills to contribute
more money to company. Needless to say, we really need to be careful how we
approach this type of sell when it comes to patients, as some of them may get
offended. Therefore, when someone gets an avulsion done, which is a small
in-office procedure to remove an ingrown toenail side partially. We generally
provide two options, either an old fashioned way of taking care of the
incision, or buying a kit for the price of $35, which is not covered by the
insurance. My job is to explain what the difference is between option one or
two, and with that I present data to back up my marketing. I explain patients
that the kit will save them thirty minutes of their day since they do not need
to soak their foot in water twice daily. Additionally, I mention that based on
our studies, we have found that patient tend to heal much faster with the kit,
instead of following the old-fashioned way instructions. And last but not
least, obviously, the price is different but if the patient needs to get
Band-Aids, Neosporin topical, gauzes, cling wraps, and coban wraps, it almost
evens up the kit price. More often than not, patients end up taking the kit but
such sells are never imposed and that is how we balance the need to win being
ethical.
On a side
note, is it ethical to track your buying habits or web visit to target you for
marketing purposes? Truth be told, I do not find any wrong in doing such data
research on your consumers, as in order to succeed in the business, there needs
to be some type of statistics to support the company’s advancement. However, I
think maybe organizations should offer an options for those who are against
having their information been recorded. Perhaps, having a disclaimer window pop
out whenever someone visits the website and clicking on the option would help
avoid ethical misunderstandings. Nonetheless, I find no harm or unethical behavior
from recording people’s buying habits in any way. While working in the medical
field, we do laser treatment for toenail fungus. At the patient’s first
treatment, we take pictures of their toenails to later demonstrate the
improvement they have made. Then, we make them sign and read a disclaimer
notice of the anticipated risks the patient is taking while treating his or her
toenails. Although the risks are considered implausible, there is a slight
chance that patient could have a plausible reaction and we just rather cover
any slippery slope argument as possible. Additionally, at the very bottom of
that disclaimer, we ask patients if they would like to share their picture
publicly for educational purposes. In the end, most patient sign the document approving
for us to share their pictures without their personal information, but the
options is given and not enforce once again.
As a
leader, I would create an organization mindset where we place our consumers as
a high priority. In other words, I would invest time researching about what
customers like and what would make them come back for our product. Minimizing
the consumer manipulation provides customers a sense of ownership to their own
thoughts and beliefs. As it is suggested by the Ethics-Based Marketing article,
learning the consumers’ needs applying the four p’s: “product, price, place and
promotion - develop a strategy to satisfy the consumer is what marketing is all
about. It is in this organizational function, where all the efforts need to be
made most efficient, and it is in this function, where the essence of the organization
and its existence lies” (El Sayed & El Ghazaly, n.d., para. 4). Following
ethical guidelines as a leader makes followers copy the same behavior, as it
all starts at the management level. Therefore, to manage the ethical aspect of
the marketing efforts at an organization level, I would treat consumers as
family, with honesty, and never pushing to sell a product but letting them
chose what they want. Some marketing professionals are set on selling what they
think a consumer likes, when in reality, if you follow that rule, you will only
sell that product once to that person. Instead, if you give the consumer space,
and let them see in their own, most likely, you will have a returning costumer,
which is the ultimate goal for marketing.
References
El Sayed, H. & El Ghazaly, I. (n.d.). Is Marketing Evil?
Marketing Viewed as a tool. Retrieved from
http://www.ethicsbasedmarketing.net/2.html
Giorgini, V., Mecca, J. T., Gibson, C., Medeiros, K.
Mumford, M. D., Connelly, S., & Devenport, L. D. (2015). Researcher perceptions
of ethical guidelines and codes of conduct. Accountability
in Research: Policies and Quality Assurance. Vol. 22, Iss. 3. Doi: 10.1080/08989621.2014.955607
LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics.
Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
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