Ethical Issues in Packaging practices - Research Paper Example

? Ethical Issues in Packaging practices Introduction Whenever the topic of business comes up, marketing is not far behind. It is stated that the success of any business is majorly reliant on the marketing effort put into the business idea. The concept behind this is as simple as the fact that until people know about what you can offer them, having even the best product/service is of no use. The main aim of any business is to maximize their profit margin and for this they adopt any strategy available. The main unethical steps taken by entrepreneurs’ to mislead the customer to achieve their motive are taken under view. The marketing efforts made the consumers aware about what a certain company or organization can offer them. When talking about marketing, the first concept that is imparted is that of the 4 Ps. These Ps all signify a separate area; product, price, placement, promotion. However, the more modern teachers of the marketing concept talk about a 5th P, which is the packaging. The fact that packaging has been included in the P goes on to show how important a part of the marketing effort really is (Ayub, 2013). Probably no words are required to explain what packaging is but simply put into words, it is the material use to pack the final product. When talking about packaging in marketing context, it refers not only to the material that is used for packaging but also how that packaging appears to consumers. The outlook of the final product in most cases is dependent on the packaging rather than the product itself. In that aspect, packaging is very important because there are a large proportion of the consumers that buy a product based on how it looks. Ethics are the moral principles or bases that guide the decision making for anything. Before the buyer uses the product what makes him purchase is the packaging of the product which motivates him to pay for it leaving the other same purpose serving products. The article discusses the various ethical issues found in packaging practices by business practitioners. Environmental Paradigm It is a clear fact that not all business fully comply with the societal and environmental ethics that exist in a society. These issues could be local or international and affect the businesses as well as their workplaces. Since there are no specific guidelines for business ethics, it becomes difficult for companies to actually satisfy the customers’ and the workers’ needs related to ethical issues. Every person, every organization or every entity has different ethical standards and sometimes they are so vague that it becomes difficult to meet and understand them. In order to meet these standards, organizations often suffer from losses or minimize their profits so as to create a balance between the two factors that are business ethics and business profits (Bone & Corey, 2000). Compromising on profits in the short run has never proved detrimental for any business; it always provides the company with doubled revenues in the long run. Some of the major issues include bribery, gender discrimination, child labour, not paying enough to workers and product packaging etc. The issue that will be focused in this essay is of product packaging. A number of companies intentionally remove the details of the side effects of their product packages while there are some companies that run certain environment specific tests such as animal testing etc. for example; The Body Shop sells only those products that are not animal tested. According to them they sell only vegetarian friendly i.e. natural products. This has created a competitive advantage for the company and ethically sensitive people prefer it over other cosmetic brands. However, a number of other companies are indulging in such practices in order to maintain their customer base (Laczniak, 1983). Packaging Canvas According to a research analyst, the packaging issues of different products are different for the three important groups that are related to the product. First being the packaging professional, second being the brand manager and third, the ethical customer. The level of ethical sensitivity is different for all of these people. Also a difference exists between the pragmatic and moral values of consumers and business people. It has been observed that many business practitioners emanate little to almost no level of ethical sensitivity. Many people in the field of business feel that the severity of the negative consequences that results from using low quality packaging materials is way too high especially where the ethically-interested customers are concerned. Finally, it has also been seen that many business practitioners do not differ from their consumer base with respect to their moral values (Bone & Corey, 2000). Many of the problems in packaging are related to understated or misleading information on product packet about the actual things present or used in the final product; these could be harmful to consumer and may lead to serious problems. According to Shrimp (2003) there are four main ethical issues in packaging: label information, packaging graphics, packaging safety and packaging environmental issues. As has been mentioned in the highlighting ethical issues that a company can probably face, one of the most important and most neglected issues is that of product packaging, the main issue being the packaging material used. Nowadays, a lot of importance is being given to the type of packaging material used to carry products. This awareness has basically increased after the conduction of ‘green environment’ awareness programs. Companies are trying their best to use such packages that are easy to handle and do not have any harmful effects on the environment. This practice is majorly being followed for the purpose of attracting customers and gaining for themselves a competitive advantage that is impossible to emulate. It needs to be understood that the environmental factor and the preservation of protecting the environment has become such an important factor that extremely old and brand loyal customers shift from one product to another because the packaging material is harmful. Providing incomplete label information is a common practice by producers all over the world, they may state untrue, understated or exaggerated information about their product. Food labelled as ‘low-calories’, ‘low-fat’ or for ‘sugar - free’ might not so and diabetic or any other health problem patient will consume them freely without realizing the negative impact of them on their health. Fruit juices labelled as 100% pure or ‘preservative less’ is a false statement used very easily by companies. Bone and Corey (2000) states that Businesspeople feel that the likelihood and severity of negative consequences resulting from a packaging practice is low. However, the packaging material that is used is not the only ethical concern of the packaging. Packaging many a times is what attracts customers to buy the final product. Even the best tasting product will remain on the shelves, if the packaging resent an image of a disgusting or a non-edible product. The packaging at all times needs to compliment the product and not be different from what the product is offering. A prime example of it is the commercials for fast food outlets such as McDonald’s or burger kings. Many a people have experienced extreme dissatisfaction when buying a product from these outlets. Marketing Impact The major reason behind the dissatisfaction remains when they see a commercial or a billboard displaying the products, the burger seems twice the size of what the outlets originally have to offer. The product that is bought does not even remotely resemble what it looked like in the commercial. The customers also notice the colours of the product in the advertisements and once they open the package the dull thing inside makes them unhappy. This example can also be used in the context of packaged products. There are a number of situations in which a product looks great on the outside, almost picture perfect because of its packaging, but when the packaging is opened, the final product is totally different from what it was depicted outside. Marketers often use attractive package graphics to attract customers towards their product which doesn’t represent actual good under the packet. The final product under the packet might not be as nice and the consumer loses confidence in the producer, this leads to confusion and an unsatisfied consumer might not want to try the product again. The customer loses trust in the company and gains a negative reputation even if the other products of the same producer are better or the company improves the quality of the product later. Getting again the lost goodwill will be problem for the company as the famous proverb goes ‘Once bitten, twice shy’. Producers don’t consider the package hygiene or safety for the consumer; they want to get the maximum possible gain for their stakeholders. This could be harmful for the consumer as plastic or rubber packets for certain goods like kids' products or food items are dangerous. Harmful chemicals are used for these packets, food items may lose nutrition value and bacteria may form in them. Tamper. Proof high quality safe materials should be used in packaging. Another serious problem with packaging arises when marketers label their products as environment friendly although they are not so. The packages are not degradable and can stay in landfills for a long time, waste dumped in sea are threatening to marine life and the gases emitted from certain types for plastics are poisonous for animals and humans. The poisonous substances produced from manufacturing of these bags are a danger to the biological environment and causes pollution. The main problem with this is that the consumer throws the wrapper in garbage but the cost has been incurred to the environment during its production. Many a products are often purchased sight unseen just on the way their packaging looks. The consumer unknowingly assumes that the description and the picture of the product depicted on the packaging are an honest and true representation of the final product. The phrase that applied here is ‘Truth in Advertising’. A company who constantly misrepresents its product offerings by covering their product with a fancy looking box will eventually lose out on its customers for a customer can be only fooled once by the packaging and shall always try and buy an alternative the second time. The fact is that companies can be charged with the allegation of false advertising. Often these charges are difficult to prove but they do accumulate an extremely bad reputation for the company. People will begin to view the company as untrustworthy and will perhaps never trust the product again even if the quality improves in the future. This will automatically result in low sales and bad company image which will affect the company’s profits severely. These companies need to work on the prospect of proper advertising which does not keep the customer in dark and portrays the original product to the customer. The concept of ethical packaging concerns that firms rightly portray the correct information about a product. Recently there have been a number of customers who are extremely health conscious. For these consumers, there needs to be an exact portrayal of health nutrients on the packaging. Similarly there are people out there with severe allergies. The packaging needs to clearly tell consumers about the ingredients used in a product so people who are allergic can avoid them. Today’s world is extremely over-packaged (Holmgren, 1988).  The unnecessary use of this excess amount of packaging materials raise a lot of eyebrows and makes one stop and wonder about the intensity of the disposable culture.  It is not always the packaging material that causes problems to the environment but also the amount of packaging material that is used. A classical example of what ethical packaging entails and how it needs to be implemented is that in cigarette boxes. The debate about how smoking is extremely injurious to health or whether this is all fabricated is never ending. However in the mean time, cigarette companies in many countries have been told explicitly told that in order to sell their product the cigarette box must contain health warnings these warnings range from several verbal messages like ‘smoking kills’, ‘smoking is injurious to health’ as well as pictorial messages that include gross imagery of what mouth cancer looks like (Holmgren, 1988).  This is a prime example o how a company is selling a product that is not great but they are not hiding their product in some fancy box. Perhaps there can be nothing more detrimental to a company’s image than selling a product that kills or nothing is more useful in de-motivating customers than pictures of sickness, but it works for smoking companies because at least, they are not lying to their customers (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2013). Core Ethical Concerns There are a number of ethical issues that exist in the society. These issues are an important part of the business. They need to be tackled properly in order to make the business successful. Some of these issues are very common among different business practices, some of them arise on daily basis whereas there are a number of issues that are very uncommon and are not very popular. It becomes difficult to handle such problems since the solutions are not so clear. As mentioned above, ethical issues are not clearly mentioned in any work environment, it becomes thorny for the company to find them out and solve them. The company has to go through the process of making ethical choices which is considered a very complicated task. This is because these problems do not have a solid existence but if not taken into account can result in losses or bad profits. Further these issues don’t require any legal actions but they ruin the company image if not properly addressed (Guardian, 2013). It is a known fact that it becomes difficult for businesses to sacrifice the profits in the short run for the greater good. No doubt the greater good provides amazing long term benefits but it is hard to watch the profits go down even for a shorter period. Such organizations try to work for the betterment of the humanity and the environment and in return are provided with greater customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. It is important for companies to look out for their existing ethical concerns because this helps in retaining their market share and also maintain their customer base. Since advertising is an important part of the company business, it should be heavily regulated because the company’s image is portrayed through advertisements. And packaging is a part of advertisement. Proper packaging material should be used and not only proper hygienic material but also the quantity of the material should be checked as to whether it is badly affecting the environment in some ways or not (Buzzle, 2013). Critical Analysis It is true that profits in the short run are minimized while improve in the long run, but the dip in profits even for a short period of times often a very hard pill to swallow. It is extremely hard to lose out on business merely for the sake of the greater good or for the goals of benefitting the humanity or the environment. However, the concern for ethical issues is at all time high and companies need to consider their ethical stance at regular basis if they at all wish to retain any of their consumers. If the businesses only consider the current profits they are earning and maintaining their current production procedures, and continue t ignore the environmental aspect, the business could be losing out on more than just customers but also the future opportunity of increasing their consumer base. Losing out on all this is man and his society (Buzzle, 2013). Considering all the ethical issues while doing business as well as finding the optimal solutions for these ethical issues by adopting a well-thought plan of action and rational decision making skills after considering all the possible parameters of business as well as the environment will eventually help everyone, the business, the society, consumer, and the overall environment. References Ayub, A. (2013). Packaging - "5th P" of Marketing Mix. Retrieved Apri 14, 2013, from EzineArticles.com: http://ezinearticles.com/?Packaging---5th-P-of-Marketing-Mix&id=5164218 Bone P.F, Corey R.J (2000). Packaging. Journal of Business ethics, volume 24, number 3, 199-213(15). Retrieved from: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/busi/2000/00000024/00000003/00237424 Bone, P. F., & Corey, R. J. (2000). "PPAckaging Ethics: Perceptual differences among Packaging Professionals, Brand Managers and Ethically-interested Customers". Journal of Business Ethics , 119-213. Buzzle. (2013). Ethical Issues in Business. Retrieved April 12, 201, from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ethical-issues-in-business.html Guardian News and Media Limited. (2013). Cigarette plain packaging laws come into force in Australia. Retrieved April 11, 2013, from guardian.co.uk: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/01/plain-packaging-australian-cigarette-tobacco Holmgren, R. B. (1988). "CAP improves shelf life.. but be careful." Packaging , 55-57. Laczniak, G. R. (1983). "Framework for Analsing Marketig Ethics". Journal of Mcromarketing , 7-18. Shimp, T. A. (2003), Advertising, Promotion & Supplemental Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, Sixth Edition, Thomson South-Western Read More