Marketing Ethics of Mecca Cola - Essay Example

Marketing Ethics in the Political Marketing of Mecca Cola Today's market is characterized by highly competitive organizations which are all vying forconsumer's loyalty. Firms are faced with the challenge to maintain their own competitive edge to be able to survive and be successful. Strategies are carefully planned and executed to gain the ultimate goal of all: company growth. However, external factors are not the only elements which influence growth (Hofstede, 1997). There are also internal factors, components working within the organization which shape the direction of the company. The value and importance of customers is not something that should be set aside by companies (Kim et al, 2002). Marketing plans and strategies would be incomplete without paying much consideration to the customers. Customers will and should always be a part of the agenda in any marketing plan of any company. Because of the implications for profitability and growth, customer retention is potentially one of the most powerful weapons that companies can employ in their fight to gain a strategic advantage and survive in today's ever increasing competitive environment (Lindenmann, 1999). Marketing involves the buying, selling, and trading of goods and services and the subsidiary activities that make these exchanges possible. It is a social process, as well as an economic activity and a collection of physical tasks. Marketing takes place only in societies. Even a rather large, primitive family unit may engage in extensive production and consumption on a self-sustaining basis without becoming involved in activities that can be described as marketing. In organized societies, marketing activities are themselves important features of the social milieu, and changes in marketing practices may carry implications extending throughout the social structure. For example, the location of trading centers affects the modes and routes of transportation (Kotler and Armstrong, 200); advertising affects popular conceptions of tastes and life styles; and changes in distribution channels create and eliminate employment opportunities and ways of life. Appraisals of the performance of marketing activities within our society are commonplace. Marketing is said to be inefficient because there are "too many" gasoline service stations. It is said to be unfair because some firms are "making it impossible" for others to continue to exist in the market place. It is said to be unproductive because "too much" money is spent on advertising (Lun and Gupta, 2001). Generally comes off very well indeed. Businessmen do not hesitate to spend large sums in marketing their wares, and consumers show no great reluctance to pay the resultant charges embodied in what they buy The fundamental economic criterion for appraising marketing activities is the efficiency with which they are performed. Efficiency, or productivity, involves a relationship between effort and effect, sacrifice and reward, input and output. Efficiency is a relative concept (Neumann and Sumser, 2002). When we describe an activity as "inefficient," we mean that too much effort is being expended with too little effect; in other words, that the ratio of effort to effect is higher than necessary. And when we describe an activity as "efficient," we mean that the ratio of effort to effect is about as low as can be achieved. In general, economic activities that are more efficient are preferred to those that are less efficient and for a very simple reason. If there are two methods of accomplishing the same task and one of them requires a smaller expenditure of time, effort, and resources than the other, then by using that method one can accomplish the task and have time and materials left over. One may then either use these surplus resources to accomplish the task another time, or in a superior fashion, or may transfer these resources into some entirely different activity (Ohmae, 1990). So long as one's time and resources are of some value in some use including their use in leisure or in saving for the future one will be better off by economizing, that is, by using any given amount of productive effort as efficiently as possible. By contrast, there are many activities entertainments, hobbies, or pleasurable activities carried on for their own sake for which an efficiency goal is irrelevant or meaningless. Nor do we wish to shorten the time required to eat a picnic lunch at the beach or take a walk in the park. Any attempt to make these activities more efficient would probably reduce their value or even destroy them entirely. It is generally agreed that the time, money, buildings, and managerial and creative skill devoted to marketing activities could be used in other productive ways and, therefore, that individual firms and industries, and society at large, will generally be made better off if marketing tasks are accomplished as efficiently as possible. However, agreement is not so general as to the specific marketing tasks that are required and the way in which efficiency is to be measured (McCracken, 1988). Many firms engaged in marketing see their own operations as essential and attempt to perform them efficiently. Their suppliers or customers may view these same activities as inessential and strive to eliminate them entirely in their own search for superior operating methods. Similarly, advertisers may regard as highly efficient those large-scale promotion campaigns that influence consumers to purchase their products, whereas the consumers involved may (rightly or wrongly) view the bulk of advertising expenditures as inessential to their own enjoyment of the merchandise. Even within the firm, there is the problem of identifying the particular costs and results relevant for comparison in an efficiency analysis. In addition, there is considerable difference of judgment as to the importance of aspects of marketing activity that constitute pleasures in themselves, and for which an efficiency analysis is therefore irrelevant. The purpose of marketing activity has been described as the delivery of a standard of living, and our concept of living standards includes the quality of life as well as the quantity of physical goods available. Thus, a final question with respect to the social role of marketing is its impact on the conditions of human existence. Does marketing activity because people to spend their money and live their lives in ways that are less satisfactory to the individuals involved than other ways available Is an abundance of consumer goods purchased at too high a price in terms of working hours, or authoritarian regimentation, or social conformity induced by mass communications Does the effectiveness of the private economy in marketing items suitable for private purchase and use yield an imbalance between private and public goods; for example, are there too many automobiles and not enough beautiful drives These questions may be turned into trivial clichs or fruitless debates over differences in personal tastes. However, at bottom they represent a serious inquiry into the effectiveness of marketing in accomplishing the highest purpose the improvement of the condition of life (Hofstede, 1997). It may be, as many believe that marketing in the enterprise economy contributes importantly to the creation and enjoyment of higher living standards and increased opportunity for personal development. On the other hand, there may be something to the contention that marketing activities tend to retard the spread of available benefits among the consuming public, to exact too high a price for the benefits received, and to persuade individuals to adopt consumption patterns and styles of life that prove, at least in retrospect, to be less rewarding than others they might have chosen. It is admittedly difficult to untangle the role of marketing activities from among the many forces shaping individual tastes and determining human welfare in a social environment. In addition, it is difficult to find a middle ground between criticisms based on individual tastes or specific instances of deception or damage and thoughtless bromides attributing incredible benefits to the power of salesmanship or advertising. Recent attempts to assert the consumer interest through official government action are also described and discussed. This is a 'conviction' product created by French entrepreneur, Tawfik Mathlouthi, and it represents a new type of social protest using the system of commercial product market signification. It would appear to embody in an extreme form the ideas of Mary Douglas about products and purchases functioning as a kind of social protest; that is, we have a more clearly formed idea of our dislikes-what we are against-than our likes, and the products we buy reproduce this idea. Like Death Cigarettes, Mecca Cola could be merely a fad, a one-time purchase, or it could signify a permanent trend and a harbinger of more, such as Muslim Up, or the promised Halal Fried Chicken. Indeed, many iconic American products could be given the Mecca make-over, by which Mecca, the name of the holiest city in Islam, is being appropriated as a commercial brand. Mathlouthi conceives his brand as entirely political in inspiration, claiming it is about combating 'America's imperialism and Zionism by providing a substitute for American goods and increasing the blockade of countries boycotting American goods'. Coca-Cola accuse him of exploiting the sensitivities of the Middle East for commercial ends. He blames the US government: 'It is not my problem; it is the problem of the US administration. If they want to change anti-US sentiment they must change their policies and their double standards on human rights and politics' (www.news.bbc.co.uk). The entire, and brief, history of Mecca Cola is an exercise in symbolism. Coca-Cola itself is of course the ultimate symbol of Americana, banned by Dr Salazar in Portugal, and following the US army around the world as bottling plants was established to pep up troop morale during the Second World War. But Coke also has content created by generations of advertising, meanings connected with ideas such as freedom, youthful hedonism and the unity of all peoples under the Coke banner ('I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing'). It is therefore ironic that such a resonant symbol should be stolen and its signification reversed (though such hijacks are common in propaganda, as, for example, in the British General Election of 1997, when the Labour Party annexed that old symbol of high Tory England, the bulldog). As Mathlouthi says, 'We are taking the best in American culture and we are fighting them with that. ' We may admire the imagination or the irreverence by which the meaning of a universal symbol is reversed in the service of a politicized entrepreneurship, exploiting a market niche for consumption that is also a social and political protest. Beyond this, it is actually quite difficult to 'read' the real message of the protest. It could be interpreted as a gesture of rejection, but, also, as a symbol of inclusion, one that is not overtly hostile. It may of course be seen as endorsing anti-US Islamic terrorism or just support for the Palestinians, or not even that. Mecca Cola is not as alienating as might first appear, since the message is actually that we like your culture (its modernity), we simply reject aspects of your politics. It fuses rather than separates Muslim identity, and in particular neatly articulates the identity ambivalence of Europe's Muslims, of whom there are four million in France. While there is a social symbolism in this purchase-to buy it is to make public expression of adherence to a cause-it is also an imprecise expression: the purchase could be read as a perverse endorsement of the American culture and values, or simply as an affirmation of Islam. The subtext is more ambiguous than it might appear on the surface, the product representing a political rather than a cultural antagonism to the United States. The fit with Islamic perspectives is helped by the assimilation effect: when views are close to our own, we believe them to be even more so, and vagueness is useful here (Murphy, 2003). But Mecca Cola is already beginning to make an impact in the marketplace, following on from the success of the Iranian drink Zamzan Cola and such related phenomena as the 40 per cent drop in US exports to Saudi Arabia in the first quarter of 2002. The drink is exported to the Middle East and to five European countries and retails in their supermarkets: at the time of writing fourteen million bottles have been sold with orders for many more (two million for the UK). The psychology of association might help to illuminate the character of the market for this product, since the degree to which associations are effective may depend among other things on exploitation of feelings of solidarity with others. This product does so visibly: in buying Mecca Cola, you create a special, public connection with all its other consumers. You remind yourself, and those from the non-Mecca public, of your collective power (Eva, 2003). You contribute to the sustenance of your cause every time you drink it. In fact 10 per cent of profits go to charities in Palestinian lands (though in goods, not cash) and 10 per cent to European NGOs. Consistency theory may also explain the phenomenon of Mecca Cola; the explicit message of the product is: if you feel this way, why don't you do something about it The message is expressed in the slogans: 'No more drinking stupid, drink with commitment' and 'Don't shake me, shake your conscience'. It is at least a solution, at the symbolic level, to our need to reconcile beliefs with behavior. References Cahen, Eva, (2003) 'Soft Drink Politics: Mecca Cola Takes off in France', www.cnsnews.com. Chow, S & Holden, R 1997, "Toward an understanding of loyalty: The moderating role of trust" Journal of Managerial Issues, vol. 9, pp. 275. Hofstede, G 1997, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. Kim, J, Forsythe, S, Gu, Q & Moon, SJ 2002, "Cross-cultural consumer values, needs and purchase behavior", Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol.19, no.6, pp. 481-502. Kotler, P & Armstrong, G 2001, Principles of marketing, 9th edn., Prentice Hall, London. Lindenmann, W 1998, "Measuring relationships is key to successful public relations", Public Relations Quarterly, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 18+. Luna, D & Gupta, SF 2001, "An integrative framework for cross-cultural consumer behavior", International Marketing Review, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 45-69. McCracken, G 1988, Culture and Consumption: New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities, Indiana University Press,Bloomington, IN. Murphy, Verity, (2003) 'Mecca Cola Challenges U. S. Rival', www.news.bbc.co.uk, 8 Neumann, E & Sumser, R 2002, "Marketing Communications: A Vital Element of Achieving Change", The Public Manager, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 9+. Ohmae, K. (1990). The Borderless World, Harper Business, New York. Read More