Ethical Issues in Packaging - Research Paper Example

Ethical Issues in Packaging This paper is examining ethical issues in packaging. There are a number of problems andother issues regarding graphics, labels, environment and safety. According to Shimp (2003), there are four aspects that involve the ethical issues in packaging. The issues include packaging graphics, packaging safety, label information exaggeration, issues of the environment and so on. Packaging decisions can play a role that is so significant in the satisfaction of a firm’s moral responsibilities towards a number of its stakeholders. This paper discusses inventory issues and packaging, views regarding how a sample company and some authors regard how ethical a number of packaging issues in the contemporary sense are, and identify various areas that have the existence of ethical gaps in packaging. Packaging is the protecting, handling, and delivering or presenting a processed good or a raw material in items like boxes, crates, pallets, containers, bags, sacks, and plastic bottles. In case an item is intended for sale to consumers and is packaged, it is considered to be safe and healthy to the consumers. For instance, a brush of mascara that forms the closure of the container part is packaging also (Shimp, 2003). Marketers can make proper use of information for labeling to mislead consumers and exaggerate their product attributes. There are several cases in which they use pictures in packaging that do not show the real or actual product that they are selling to their customers. A number of marketers label their products as friendly to the environment even at times when they do not actually have attributes that are environmentally friend. There are various issues related to ethics of packaging that affect the manner in which products are relayed to the clients. They put labels that mislead the buyers of the products. For instance, information related to nutrition like cholesterol free, low fat, and 100% pure juice can be attributes on the label of a given product. Another case can be Johnson & Johnson’s Acuvue that labels its products for use every day and different labeling. The company sells similar products in different diversified labels. There are many issues that marketers use pictures for packaging that fail to represent the actual or the real product. The product label can make it look nice and attractive to customers while in the real sense the content does not reach the exaggerated appeal. When consumers open the well-labeled product, they do not find the expected product in the same. It addition, some brands of the store or other small brands make imitations of big brand packaging of their products leading to confusion o n the side of the customers (Newton, 2013). More so, environmental issue relating to labeling information always play a role or have space in the packaging world. The labels might carry misleading information in case manufacturers label the products as environmentally friendly in cases where they are not as friendly as denoted on the labels. Other marketers label their products as green, environmentally, and so on. The customers fail to achieve the attributes of the products as stated. For instance, they may label a product like trash bags as degradable that actually remain undamaged for years in the landfill. Packaging is a unique element in the marketing of any product. The casing that the product comes in plays a massive role in ensuring that the product gains fame in the eyes of the customers. After a product is advertised and promoted, and customers go picking up the products, it is the packaging that they smell, see, and touch (Shimp, 2003). It is consequently awfully significant for the marketer to ensure that probable customers like what they see. The packaging should be suitable to the product, and persuade customers to buy it. Unfortunately, ethics have a massive role to in the packaging and labeling. Many of the ethical issues are related to the environment, labels, graphics, and safety. Packaging needs to make available an exact amount of information to the consumer, depending on the type of product. For instance, a beverage needs to provide information on the name of the product, its size, and its nutritional content. In disparity, the packaging of toys needs to give the range of the age suitable for children to play with. Packaging and labeling also manufacture a lot of surplus waste that just gets thrown out once the consumer has purchased the product. In addition, the energy and commitment that goes into produce the labeling and packaging the moment the consumer has made purchase of the product. It goes into the rubbish and is never seen of or considered to be in existence again (Jedlicka, 2009). Ethical issues also include, the usability of the products, real weight as indicated, an amount of cash related to the weight of the product. For instance, if one considers McDonald’s, and Wendys Burger King, they show a hamburger that looks cool, but when one actually buys the same, it is pretty different from what is shown on Television. The same thing happens with products that are packaged. They appear smart and enticing to the eyes but after a customer opens the box, they find content that is completely different from the expected or the appearance or the image that the packaging created to the customers. Many customers purchase products from the way they are packaged. The packaging material or container either can attract customers or fail to. The customer makes an assumption that the packaged products and the picture on the labels are a perfect representation or have a co-relation. In case of cases where the packaging does not tell the reality in the content, people tend to lose trust in all of their products even after the mess is corrected. If a product is packaged in wrong or unattractive containers, consumers will fail to purchase basing on the failure of representing the reality in store. This is because the first instance changed their perception of the products of that specific company (Brenkert, 2008). It is not ethical to mislead the customer and the consumer; the company can face charges, depending on the severity. There is modest doubt that manufacturers and consumers are changing to be more environmentally conscious about packaging. An indication is provided of a number of trends in packaging from the points of view of the legislators, consumer, and the manufacturers. The opportunities open to the dealer are analyzed as the new consumer group emerges and gives an analysis of the need for the companies involved to concentrate on the entire issue of their own ethical packaging standards within the company. The packaging issue and that of waste relate in a number of ways. Roughly fifty percent of the 10 million tones waste that was from packaging in the UK in 2006 was from food and drink. Using recycled materials and packaging cuts costs, reduce depletion of natural resource. It also eases pressure on land fill and reduces emissions from greenhouse. However, packaging plays a massive role in storage and transportation of stuff. It is a powerful marketing tool to make differences on products and ensure that they meet legal requirements of labeling. More so, use of plastic in packaging has led to a new era in the industry. From the time of their introduction, they have become part and parcel of most packaging materials. The properties of plastics have played a significant role in enhancing the packaging of products (Jedlicka, 2009). Products packaged in plastic materials have eaten up the market and the packaging of food products for instance. The only big issue is the pollution of the environment. The product may be environmentally friendly but the packaging material if not properly disposed. Packaging is the principal end use market segment, accounting for 40% of the overall plastic produced. Not unpredictably, since this is a product that can be disposed easily, it has turned out to be environmentally pollutant. Most products that are packaged in plastic are soft drinks or other things that are corrosive. The issue of using packaging materials that are healthy to humanity is also a turning point in the packaging world. Consumers tend to forget the fact that it is right to dispose the packaging remnant well and this poses as a challenge to organizations that fight for environmental friendly packages. More so, there are other issues that relate to the packaging products. These are planned obsolence, safety and deceptive packaging. The safety of the products is what comes out firm and stands out from the cloud. This is mostly with the consumable products. Other areas of product safety concerns are the fat or cholesterol level of products, to ensure that the consumers do not fall victim of obesity issues and heart complications, and the sugar level in soft drinks, for instance, to curb tooth decay. The media does influence a lot the way consumers view a product. It can exaggerate the reality in check and make the customers to resort in purchasing of the same product from the pictures or images of a well packaged product shown in an advert (Newton, 2013). Companies are moving towards being cautious with the manner in which they package and label their products to ensure that they are not stigmatized by the consumers Nestle and tobacco companies for instance state the risk of misuse or general use of their products, to the consumers. Nestle reduced sugar levels in their products and notified the customers via the labeling of the products. They have also worked on the elimination of artificial colors and flavors. Another ethical issue is obsolence that is planned; given the fact that a product will not last forever but putting in place the fact that a product will not last for long or forever. It is really ethical for the marketers and the manufacturers to state when a product will become obsolete. Most at times, some companies do not look at this issue with utmost keenness and plan the dates that they feel fits their satisfaction (Newton, 2013). The final issue in ethics that this paper will analyze is packaging that is deceptive, which occurs when a product comes in oversized packs with an intention of creating an impression to the consumer that they are buying more yet that is not the case. This is called slack packaging and has the ability to deceive consumers and change their perception towards a given product or even the company. Labeling may fail to include information about ingredients that are modified genetically resulting in consumers purchasing what in real sense, they would not wish to purchase. Some products produced and packed outside the UK for instance, can come with labels like a “Produced in the UK” This, in real sense has no ethics at all. The customers fail to achieve the attributes of the products as stated. For instance, they may label a product like trash bags as degradable that actually remain undamaged for years in the landfill (Brenkert, 2008). In conclusion, various ethical issues as discussed in this paper need to be considered by the manufacturers, the marketers, the government and the customers. The government must ensure that all products are certified for quality and tested for obsolesce and validity of labeling information. Most products that are packaged in environmentally friendly containers are food stuffs and other consumables like soft drinks or other things that are corrosive. The idea of using packaging materials that are healthy to human life is also a turning point in the packaging world. Consumers always fail to consider or take seriously the fact that it is right to dispose the packaging remnant well and this poses as a challenge to organizations that fight for environmental friendly packages. Companies look at what they make out of failing to package well or using deceptive mechanisms when labeling items they sell to consumers. The facts that matter in the real sense are the effects that the packaging affects customers (Shimp, 2003). Reference Brenkert, George G. Marketing Ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2008. Print. Shimp, T. A. (2003), Advertising, Promotion & Supplemental Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, Sixth Edition, Thomson South-Western Newton, Lisa. Business Ethics in the Social Context: Law, Profits, and the Evolving Moral Practice of Business. Dordrecht: Springer, 2013. Internet resource. Jedlicka, Wendy. Packaging Sustainability: Tools, Systems, and Strategies for Innovative Package Design. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print. Read More