Ethics in Marketing - Essay Example

?CASE ANALYSIS al Affiliation) Preliminary Summary The article is based on the concept of applying ethics and social responsibility in marketing of tobacco products in developing countries. It begins by providing a summarized advantage of the use of strategic decision making in various companies. Moreover, it describes the four fundamental principles that managers should apply while managing the operations of their companies; these principles are based on the ideologies of Mark Pastin. The author begins by discussing the state of cigarette export in the United States of America. Consequently, it provides a discussion of the dilemmas presented by the advertisement of cigarette in third world countries. Government involvement on issues ascribed to production and consumption are also discussed as one of the main points of the article. The article also provides comprehensive discussions regarding the efforts the efforts that have been put in place by various bodies to campaign against cigarette consumption. Information regarding assessments of ethics and decision making in the production and consumption of cigarette is also discussed in the last paragraphs of the article. Ethical and Social Responsibility Implications of U.S Cigarette Export There are four fundamental issues that should be taken into consideration when making decisions that affects the society. These issues include; individuals, economy, business as well as the society. However, owing to the high rate of decreasing cigarette consumption most industries especially, cigarette producing companies have take unethical measures and decisions making processes that do not take into consideration the four fundamental issues. The article indicates that, cigarette producing countries have stepped up their modus operandi and have managed to modify the decisions made by governments and journalists to create awareness among the public on the negative effects of smoking. These companies have gone to an extent of bribing journalists in most African nations to avoid publishing information that may reduce the rate of cigarette consumption in Africa. Ethical and Social Responsibility of Cigarette Advertisement in Third World Countries Most cigarette manufacturing companies such as British American Tobacco, with large shares in the Third World Countries have taken improved measures to promote effective marketing of their cigarette products. The advertisements have taken a direction whereby; health issues ascribed to smoking have been neglected as the companies are striving to make the public informed of the benefits of smoking. The use of elegant persons, properly dressed men and women to advertize cigarette have shifted the minds of most people especially in the developing nations from the consequences associated with smoking. This form of marketing some of the fundamental issues indicated in the Decision Tree Model; specifically, such advertisements focus majorly on profits made by the companies while neglecting the society as well as individuals. Ethical and Social Responsibilities of the Focus on Developing Markets Owing to the increasing rates at which governments and other institutions formulate and implement strict rules and regulations, most of cigarette producing companies have shifted their focus of markets where such laws are limited or less active. Cigarette producers like PMI have shifted their focus on third world countries where such laws may be manipulated through corruption. Moreover, such companies have also developed more advanced technologies geared towards improving the quality of their products for instance; addition of sweet smelling products on the cigarette in order to convince the public and the government that such products are not harmful to human health. This strategy focuses on the benefits of the company while ignoring the social and the individual negative effects that may occur from smoking. Ethical Issues of Anti-smoking Campaign Cigarette producing industries have taken prerogatives to ensure that youths are made aware of the side effects associated with smoking; this has been conducted by use of Television adverts geared towards discouraging smoking habits among the youths. Despite these efforts, the rate of cigarette smoking among the youths has been experiencing tremendous increase on an annual basis. In countries like Brazil, the legal authority has implemented various strict legal tools to control the production and consumption of cigarettes; however, these efforts have not been successful as the numbers of youths that smoke keep increasing each year. The failure of such efforts have not been properly identified however, limited research has shown that youths tend to emulate smoking patterns of their parents. Such kinds of campaigns are also not holistic in nature as they do not incorporate other pertinent issues like the economy. Alternative Strategies to Tobacco Companies In order to promote an effective production and marketing strategies; tobacco producing companies should formulate measures that are holistic in nature in that: They take into consideration legal measures, societal needs, economic facets as well as environmental factors. The other alternative that should be applied by cigarette manufacturing companies is promoting research geared towards identifying cigarette products with minimum or no health side effects. Alternative Strategies to the Governments The most imperative strategy that should be applied by most governments in the reduction effects of smoking among the youths is incorporation of training programs geared towards creating awareness among the learning groups on the effects of smoking on human health in to the formal learning programs. Incentives may also be provided to persons who have made greater efforts in avoiding cigarette consumption, especially those who have been affected by past effects of smoking. Price of Ethical Behavior Despite the fact that ethical behavior is ascribed to positive societal values, there are costs or prices that emerge when a person attempts to take into consideration ethical modes of behavior. The first price of ethical behavior emanates from the fact that ethical behavior may lead to an aspect where and individual avoid activities associated with leisure such as smoking. Additionally, strict adherence to rules of ethics may lead to low income especially when one is engaged in any business that operates in areas of high legal restrictions. US Government Support on External Tobacco Industries The US government should support US tobacco industries based in other countries; this support can be conducted through the provision of government loans to promote expansion of such businesses as well as promoting negotiations with external governments geared towards promoting efficient business operations. Banning Production of Legal Products Companies should not be forced to stop producing legal products; however, these productions should be conducted in a manner that the society, environment and economic status are not harmed. Reference Gene, R. (2005). Making Socially Responsible and Ethical Marketing Decisions: Selling Tobacco to Third World Countries. New York: Cambridge University Press. Read More