Marketing Law and Ethics Essay

Being respectable as a marketer has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. The negative advantages are obvious, all of which halt to personal and business gain. However, to say that one must act unlawfully to be wrong would be false. The provided statement is completely factual and is particularly applicable to marketing and, much accurately, business, in the fact that ethics are not, by definition, counter intersection pointive to profit, but whitethorn be beneficial to profit.Hypothetically, a marketer would imply to accept the above statement as bible in reference to the marketing mix, or rather simply, the four Ps (price, product, promotion and placement). The simplistic fundamentals of marketing and business, the marketing mix is essential to the success of a business and their respective products, so it is appropriate that it also be applied to some opposite quintessential factor of business in ethics.The first and arguably most important aspect of the marketing mix, price can pose kinda a few ethical dilemmas and has done so in the past. One example of this is price collusion or price-fixing. This is where a product or service is designate at an unreasonable price with knowledge that the consumer cant afford not to purchase the product or service. One such instance of this occurred in America when leading toy chain Toys R Us violated federal trade laws by colluding with manufacturers to keep prices for Barbie, Mr. Potato Head and other touristy toys artificially high. While it was unlawful, it was also an unethical act as well as a form of extortion.The second factor of the marketing mix, product, is also subjected to ethical dilemmas. Planned product obsolescence is a prime example of an unethical act in relation to product. This is where at that place is a planned life-span of a good, producing a product so that it will wear out inside a period of time, most often beyond its warrantee. To say such an act is unethical is to question how much disclosure of information is truly enough. In my personalopinion, it is a wrongful act and one that I consider unethical. On the other end of the spectrum, acting ethically and creating a reliable product would be just as beneficial to a company and its reputation, if not more so.Promotion can also be unethical. Attempts to persuade someone that a product is needed by them when it quite obviously is not is wrong, especially when there are so many influential consumers in the market. Intrusive marketing is unethical as well. Alternately, promoting a product responsibly and ethically can be quite beneficial to a business, particularly when the highest standard of moral conduct has been reached, which makes a business appear conscious of unethical behaviour. One example of this is the consistence Shop which is the benchmark in ethical business practices in Australia.Product placement is often quite deceptive. Some may consider the come forth of placing products on certain ey e-levels on a shelf as well as promoting impulse buying via product placement as unethical. Such acts are primarily taken for granted in todays consumer-driven society and are not seen as a disadvantage to the consumer, though some people, particularly parents, may be more vulnerable to this unethical practice.If I were faced with an unethical dilemma in my workplace I would have to consider a compartmentalisation of matters. Having done so, there is a set variety of steps that would need to be looked at taking before resolving the issue or issues.The outside factors of price deception, product deception, fairness and honesty may come up as being ethical dilemmas. These issues would make consumers view my place of work in a negative way and would need to be dealt with quite thoroughly. The reputation of the workplace and that of myself amongst my peers, family and the industry would need to be taken into account when acting upon such issues. I would probably have to mention it to someone of a higher authority though and help them to decide whether it would be beneficial to act upon these matters.The external issues of bribery and, confidentiality, are two other mattersone may come across in the workplace. These are both very real and very bare-ass matters that can destroy a company from the inside. I would consider taking the matter to the police if it were seriously affecting me personally or the company quite badly. I would also consider confronting the offender/s, though this is a very unlikely option.In all of the above cases, the options are quite clear though the steps that can be performed or should be vary. It depends on the situation as to whether one should keep the issues secretive and internal or the consumers should know closely the companys ethical wrong-doings. To ask this is to ask whether society would be better off if information is disclosed. On a personal level, one must consider his or her own reputation and financial and social well -being. It is a very complicated matter and one with no set procedure.The first issue I chose from the advertisements scrutinized by the Advertisement Standards Bureau was that of the Just Jeans advertisement. The ASBs decision to uphold the complaint is one which I agree with in some respects. The military group and Health and Safety factors are quite disturbing and are justifiably held up. There is an aura of horror in the description of the advertisement which can be distressing to fragile people influenced negatively by that sort of thing. It is also quite dangerous and gratuitous.The complaint regarding portrayal of sex, sexuality and nudity is quite around the bend I believe. Though it might seem a bit risqu to the untrained eye, society should have learned to gradually accept the aspect of sex sells by now. Soap operas, billboards and even teenage reading publications use sex, nudity and sexuality to market their various products and services, its become a way of life and t o deal against it would be to be taking on something much too dominant and widely accepted to be warranted.The Advertiser Code of Ethics is ridiculous in this sense, not taking into account the changes in our culture and the acceptance of sex, sexuality and nudity by the wider population. Having said that, I believe that industry self formula is weak in this aspect. The wider social acceptance of thelevel of gratuity an advertiser can use should be taken into account and as long as there are so few people setting so many rules, I doubt this will ever occur.