Business ethics in promotion of alcohol based products - Essay Example

?Business Ethics Table of Contents Business Ethics Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Analysis and Discussion 4 Conclusion 11 References 13 Bibliography 15 Introduction The age of globalisation has virtually put organizations into head on competition against each other. Firms are trying to outpace each other using a mix of different strategies and varying products to understand the needs of the consumers and deliver them accordingly. Firms are essentially trying out various strategies in order to not only attract new consumers but to also retain the existing ones. The role of marketing communication and advertising assumes prime importance in this regard with the former being a media for transmitting the message from the companies to the target customers (Weitz & Wensley, 2002, p.321). The advent of multiple channels including the online channels has led to greater importance and scope of this aspect in marketing of goods and services (Warner, 2010, p.306). The aspect of marketing communications has however been a subject matter of debate with regards to the aspect of ethics in advertising. It has been stated that marketers in an attempt to outpace their competitors and to generate greater attractiveness often indulge in unethical activities. The present study would analyse the ethical aspects that are into consideration in case of marketing of alcohol based products. The aspect of ethics in case of alcohol based products assumes considerable significance as the product is perceived as a threat for the health and there are various social stigmas attached to alcohol based products. This makes the promotion of these products a matter of debate. There are many nations like India that have completely banned any form of promotions with regards to alcohol or tobacco based products using any form of communication. However protagonist state that there is nothing unethical in marketing alcohol based products as they generate revenue and the livelihoods of a large number of individuals depend on the profitability of these companies. They argue that these are one of the most highly taxed products and hence it is nothing unethical about these companies unless they violate the aspect privacy of individuals. Business organization on their part state that they have various community development programs that can help provide them with a socially responsible image. Companies are also putting up statutory warnings on products and commercials in order to make individuals aware of the ill effects of drinking. Critiques however slam this move and state that in spite of all such efforts and tall claims the business organizations are only engaged into profit making and do not have any other motive. Given the size of this industry they state that it has a lucrative opportunity to gain billions of dollars for the industry. They state that advertisements are normally made for promoting products among the customers and given the ill effects and the nature of alcoholic beverages it is not justified to have these products being promoted so as to pull customers and make them indulge into this habit. The effect of these commercials on students and kids along with the growing number of use of alcohol among kids has also been stated as an example to showcase the unethical aspects in the promotion of alcohol based products. The present essay will try to give a critical analysis of the aspect of ethics in promotion of alcohol based products so as to have a comprehensive analysis of the topic. Analysis and Discussion The aspect of marketing and advertising of alcoholic products has been a subject matter of debate over the years. The issue amounts significance considering the fact that alcohol is considered injurious to health and worldwide organizations like WHO have effectively stated that alcohol consumption is injurious to health. Alcohol also has other bad effects including the fact that alcohol consumption has led to major accidents. Various studies conducted in this aspect have shown that the consumption of alcohol and its after effects are not only responsible for havoc on streets but also increase the severity of accidents. In addition to this overdose of alcohol also results in fatalities that are increasing over the years. Medically also it has been proven that consumption of alcohol has negative impacts over the functioning of vital organs leading to deaths. Alcohol as a product is known to affect the sensory, motor as well as cognitive aspects of the human body (Institute of Alcohol Studies, 2010, p.3). All these aspects along with the social stigma attached with drinking have led to a section of individuals protesting against marketing campaigns by companies manufacturing alcohol. They have termed this as unethical as it spreads a bad habit in the society that not only adversely affects the individual but the entire society as a whole. The advocates promoting against promotion of alcohol products have also stated that promotions of these products has increased the curiosity of the younger generations who have not achieved the legal drinking age. However critiques advocating for the alcohol marketers state that they have indulged in ethical marketing of these products. They state that they tend to only promote positive drinking and responsible consumption. However the critiques have slammed this as baseless and have stated that one cannot control the exposure of children to these advertisements and generates risky behaviour among the students and the youth. They also state that individual indulge in alcohol consumption because of gaining pleasure however irrespective of the intention, alcohol consumption cause ill effects to health and that advertising only tends to increase this aspect and tries to make individual habitual drinkers. Marketers have countered this move by stating that their advertisement campaigns focus on the brand and not on the product. This makes them ethical as brands can be used for many products and hence cannot be pin pointed with any specific product. Experts have also pointed out that there has been no evidence for the fact that advertising has a direct impact on consumption levels. Marketers state that advertising is done not to promote drinking as a habit but the core focus is on comparing between the various brands. They cite the example of many developing nations where there is no advertising of alcohol based products but still there are a significant number of consumers. Marketers argue that advertising is only done for the sake of comparing brands as there are a large number of competitors in the market (International Centre for Alcohol Policies, n.d., p.3). There are a considerable number of nations that have banned advertisement of alcohol based products. India is one such example where the government realising the cultural and social beliefs associated with drinking has banned commercials or any other form of direct promotion for alcohol based products. However marketers are still advertising their band by innovative means such as promoting music CD’s and DVD’s in the name of the brands. This marketer’s believe is very ethical as it would only affect the individuals who have a habit of drinking and would not induce non drinkers to take up this habit. Indirect promotion of this type also does not indulge in promoting drinking among the youth and other individuals who have not acquired the drinking age. Marketers therefore quite this as an instance to show that advertising does not have any linkage with the perils of drinking and is only in purely business sense that companies have to adopt this route in order to differentiate and segregate their products offering from the rest of the competitors in the market (Business Standard, 2011). Critiques advocating against the campaign of alcohol state that in UK alone a total of 880 million pounds are spent towards advertisement of alcohol based products. This includes direct as well as indirect forms of marketing. Experts point out that only a fraction of this goes into direct marketing and the rest is used for indirect marketing. Sponsorships are a major promotional channel for the alcohol based product marketers. Examples of this in UK include Carling Lager sponsoring the England Football League cup, John Smith’s sponsoring the racing events, Magner’s Irish sponsoring rugby football teams and Johnnie Walker sponsoring McLaren formula one sporting events. Experts point out that considering the fact that these events are more popular among children and youth hence official sponsoring of these events by alcohol marketing firms can have a considerable impact on the usage of these products. In a report published in BBC UK it has been pointed out that doctors and other medical practitioners have demanded a complete ban on all commercials and other forms of promotion with regards to the consumption of alcohol based products. They state that alcohol is the second largest habitual aspect of people after smoking that result in the maximum number of human fatalities in the nation. Other than this there are also serious questions raised about the promotional aspects of bars and pubs that are also directly linked with consumption of alcohol based products. Aspects like happy hours where drinks are served at rock bottom prices and other such offers tend to increase consumption of liquor among individuals especially the youth and school goers. Experts advocating against promotions of alcohol based products state that these firms should be taxed higher and that such promotional offers like happy hours should be either curbed or controlled or else these can culminate ill habits into youngsters. Authorities on the other hand plead helplessness as they say it is against corporate policies and would not help generate free and fair code of conduct in the industry. Authorities state that UK already has the highest tax rate for alcohol and related industry or associated services but that has not held any suitable response with regards to its linkage on the consumption levels among the individuals in the nation. The marketers of the alcohol industry state that they have been sponsoring campaigns so as to prevent individuals from over indulging in acts of drinking. Bar and pub owner’s have also stated that they have taken up many steps to ensure that only individuals in legal drinking age. This includes preventing entry of children or school goers so as to change the drinking patterns. Advertisers have stated that banning or stating alcohol promotions as unethical would not affect the consumption levels, but co-ordinated efforts can help bring down the ill effects of the aspect of consumption of liquor (Triggle, 2009). The advent of social marketing has also raised many questions about the aspect of ethics in promotion of alcohol based products. The wide range and large number of audiences for the social marketing sites has also ensured that commercials are beamed to a wider audience. Considering the fact that there is no control over screening and viewership, it has been argued by advocates that promotions for alcohol based products using this channel can be even more unethical as marketers are fully aware of the fact that these social networking sites are used by students and teenagers and promotions of alcohol based products would be easily accessible among these audiences. This makes the promotions highly unethical and also makes them socially irresponsible (Andreasen, 2001, p.88-89). Another aspect of alcohol based promotions that has been severely criticised is the content of the advertisements that are aired in the market. It has been observed that many companies are using abusive and sexual contents in their advertisements. The contents of the advertisements try to popularise binge drinking among the target market audience. This not only induces teenagers and other individuals towards consuming alcohol but also promotes development of poor behavioural traits especially among the individuals in a lower age group. The proponents protesting and terming alcohol promotions as unethical state that this aspect refutes the tall claims made by marketers that they only tend to promote their brands in order to keep up with the pace of competition in the markets. The advocates argue that the advertisements are largely being aired with the intention of promoting and inculcating the habit of drinking. They accuse marketers for portraying negative culture in a manner that it becomes the style icon. Considering the immaturity among the teenagers it assumes threatening consequences for the overall society. Realising the debate over ethical issues and also considering the marketing needs of business organizations, a seminar conducted pressed for certain approaches that could culminate greater ethics into marketing of alcohol based products. The forum stated that a feasible solution lies in conducting a teleological analysis of the cost and benefits that would largely measure different psychological aspects including the aspect of sociological, health factors etc. This measurement would help determine whether societal controls can help induce greater ethics into marketing of the business of alcohol based products. It would also help determine the best statutory requirements that should be kept so as to help control the spread of the drinking habits into individuals below the legal drinking age (Kline, 2010, p.157-158). Protesters also state that commercials of alcohol based products have violated all forms of social welfare needs. The marketers have also been accused of racism and have been stated of using abusive language and gestures that tend to hurt the sentiments of the individuals. However the companies have largely refuted these claims and stress that no abusive contents were used and that none of the advertisements are designed to generate a racial disharmony among the individuals or the society (Frederick, 2002, p.184-185). Marketers refute the claims of protagonists stating that children are targeted by stating that it is ultimately the responsibility of parents to ensure that their children are not exposed to advertisements for products like alcohol. They state that banning advertisements would interfere with the freedom of speech of individuals and that cannot be accepted in a modern society. They state that all their promotional campaigns have statutory warnings associated with them and it is the parent’s duty to ensure that children do not view these advertisements. They also state that there are many movies that also contain content that are not suitable for child viewership and since these are also not banned hence it would not be correct to single out the alcohol based industry by banning their advertisements and promotions from being aired in the market. Industry critiques have however stated that children are perhaps the most influenced by advertisements and considering the fact that these promote bad habits among individuals, hence there should be a ban on the se advertisements. They state that with the present generation of working parents it is not possible to monitor child viewership. Moreover with kids getting exposed to the internet this issue has even taken a magnanimous turn. They critiques point out that internet being a free for all and easily accessible medium for communication, it is very easy for children to get attracted to these advertisements and it is not possible for guardians to control the aspect of accessibility of the internet among children. Critiques comment that marketers are fully aware of this fact but still do not take any steps because they are just concerned with increasing their sales volumes. The marketers according to them do not have any interest in social ethics and are only concerned with improving bottom line profitability. They also argue that the business prospects of these firms can only grow when people culminate the habit of drinking and hence they rubbish the claims of the marketers that they only try to promote the brand and not the product (Boone & Kurtz, 2011, p.555-556). The claim of these critiques have also been strengthened by the findings of the Centre of Alcohol based Marketing at USA. The research conducted led to facts that underage individuals are being increasingly targeted by advertisements. The report also states that some of the magazine based advertisements and other commercials are specifically targeting youth and teenage individuals in an attempt to increase the volumes of their business. The study also further report that marketer’s are openly flouting rules laid down by government authorities and are only trying to increase the market size for their products. Various educational institutions in this regard have stopped alcohol manufacturing firms from sponsoring college fests and other such events. Marketers on their part have stated that they are also aware of the ill effects of alcohol usage among children. Firms like Anheuser-Busch have created commercial campaigns that try to resist youngsters from taking up this habit of drinking (Belch & Belch, 2008, p.752). Conclusion The analysis of the topic reveals a great debate between the marketers on one side and critiques o the other side. The aspect of ill effects of alcohol on individual health and beliefs of the society cannot be refuted as these have been reported to be elements that have caused maximum damage to health of individuals after smoking and are the root cause of many diseases as well as community aspects. Rash driving after drinking is one of the main reasons for road accidents that have taken a severe toll on the society (Alters & Schiff, 2009, p.201). Marketers however argue that banning promotions is against the spit of free competition and also violates the freedom of speech. They also state that in order to remain competitive they need to advertise and that they only try to communicate and promote the brand and not the habit of drinking. The aspect has even led to more widespread criticism as it is believed that children are being more adversely affected due to these advertisements that are being aired freely. However a mutual solution for the two sides lies in ensuring greater ethical considerations by the marketers. This includes having advertisement contents that do not directly promote drinking. Examples include promoting the brand through related products like CD’s so that children and under age individuals are not adversely affected. Initiation of community welfare and other aspects can also help generate greater ethics into their promotional campaigns. The aspect also requires involvement and collaboration of the government agencies. Stringent norms should be placed on alcohol marketing firms to ensure that greater ethics are being introduced into these marketing campaigns so that there is a collective well being in the society and that the interests of the marketers are also marinated so as to have a responsible promotional campaign benefitting everyone. References Alters, S. & Schiff, W. (2009). Essential Concepts for Healthy Living. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Andreasen, A.R. (2001). Ethics in social marketing. Georgetown University Press. Belch, G.E. & Belch, M.A. (2008). Advertising And Promotion, 6/E. Tata McGraw Hill. Boone, L.E. & Kurtz, D.L. (2011). Contemporary Marketing. Cengage Learning. Business Standard. (2011). Pernod Ricard: The big screen way. [Online]. Available at: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/pernod-ricardbig-screen-way/434853/. [Accessed on January 10, 2012]. Frederick, R. (2002). A companion to business ethics. John Wiley & Sons. Institute of Alcohol Studies. (2010). 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