Ethical issues in Packaging Practices - Research Paper Example

Ethical issues in Packaging Practices s The world today has progressed towards being more consumer-oriented. One of the most important aspects of marketing is packaging basically since it portrays the origin of a particular product. From a marketing perspective it is important to ensure that the packaging is such that it allures the potential customers and increases the sales of the product. It is important to present sufficient information about the product on its package so that the customers have enough information before deciding to buy a particular product. However, several ethical issues surfaces with the aspect of packaging since in order to ensure proper sale values several factors are compromised with leading to unethical practices. Ethical Issues Shrimp (2003) present four different ethical issues that are involved with packaging. The four issues primarily include representation graphics, information present on the cover or the label, safety of the packaging material and environmental issues. Graphics for starters, is the key factor which represents the product meant for sale. Some producers and marketers utilize pictures on the packaging case which do not appropriately represent the actual product and in most cases maybe misleading and present a false representation of the product. Labeling and providing information on the labels is another vital aspect of packaging a certain product. The information printed on the body is meant to provide sufficient details to the potential customers. The ethical problem involved here is that in order to increase the sales, marketers often provide false information to the customers to exaggerate upon the features of the product inside. Safety of the packaging material is yet another important aspect of the packaging industry. Today consumers are increasingly concerned with the safety of the materials that are used for packing. The concern rises in cases the product is meant for babies and children and also for food products. The most important ethical concern regarding the packaging material is not only utilization of environment friendly materials but also using materials whose production is done in an environment friendly manner. Moreover, another important thing to take into account is ensuring proper disposal of the packaging materials as well since most of the packaging materials today are either non-biodegradable or a toxic to the environment. The ethical problem arises here since many of the producers and packagers label their material as recyclable or biodegradable when in reality the packaging material may not be degradable or environment friendly at all. PACKAGING GRAPHICS AND ETHICAL CONCERNS Graphics are capable of altering the perception of consumers and potential buyers. The graphics on a package is usually a depiction of what one may find upon purchasing and opening the product however, since a customer is unable to see the product beforehand, the entire perception of the person is built upon the graphics on the box. For example a product may seem bigger on the box than its real size or the color of the product inside is completely different to what the graphics on the package shows and all such false depictions are highly unethical since they not only misguide the customers into purchasing something that is untrue but also depicts that graphics play a pivotal role in either enhancing or diminishing sales. For example, in Australia, the Government directed cigarette packaging to be completely plain i.e. no graphics were allowed to appear on the boxes. Since, the boxed were absolutely plain, they had no appeal to the buyers and a rapid declination in smokers was seen (Wakefield et al, 2013). Similar studies were done in countries like Indian and other south Asian countries where smoking is a menace and lung cancer owing to smoking is highly prevalent. The results of all these studies vindicate the fact that graphics have a huge impact on the mind of the consumers and are capable of affecting the success of a particular product in the market. Another notorious unethical practice is production of false graphics which look almost similar to an international brand. This practice is very much prevalent almost everywhere. Cheap and often bad products are packaged and labeled with labels similar to well-known products and the difference between the two is often not easily noticeable. This is in fact misleading to consumers who assume that they are purchasing the better brand when in reality the product is completely false. LABELLING AND ETHICS Labeling of products is an extremely crucial part of packaging. From a sellers view point packaging helps to allure customers and from the customers’ viewpoint labeling helps them acquire appropriate knowledge before making a purchase therefore it can be said that labeling describes the products, its compositions, date of manufacture, expiry date and other relevant details which enables the potential customer to understand everything about the product before purchasing it. Misleading or labels that provide inaccurate or false information is highly unethical. For example a product maybe labeled “low fat” or “organic” but may not be so in reality however, such misleading labels helps enhance the features of the product and increase sales as well. According to a study conducted in the U.K. not all products stored in the supermarket and marked “with added vitamins and minerals” etc are actually meant to mislead consumers. One of the most debated topics today involves labeling of genetically modified food. Not everyone today is on an equal footing and many have not yet accepted GMO crops or other food products. It has been mandated by the government that producers of such GMO food products need to label the products to help people understand difference between non-GMO and GMO products before selecting whatever they prefer. However, some producers do not follow the mandate and do not necessarily provide appropriate information about the genetically modified organisms used in the procedure etc. “The emergence of agricultural biotechnology has created social and ethical contradictions” (Behrokh & Ali, 2011)and the ethical problem that arises here is that many consumers are not yet open to buying GMO products and it will be highly unethical on the part of the sellers to sell GMO food products without informing the consumers beforehand. SAFETY OF PACKAGING MATERIAL The average consumer today, is much more aware of the safety of packaging materials especially if the products are meant for children. However, the demand of packaging is such that the products need to maintain the standard and quality but should at the same time be safe. The most important aspect of safe packaging is that the material used should be safe not only as a packing material but should not have ill-effects on the consumers either. The extent to which consumers have become aware about the needs of safe packaging is evident from the fact that they are ready to pay extra amount of money to ensure that the products that they are purchasing especially if it is a food products or a product meant for babies. In such cases the quality of the product, the shelf life etc must not be compromised either. However, inspite of such awareness, some marketers and produces are not really concerned about the safety of the packaging material. However the FDA is critically concerned about the safety of packing materials used in food and drugs. Plastics are mostly used for packing food products however research has shown that different plastic materials interact with the food products stored inside them and may render the food unhealthy for consumption.PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) is used as packaing material for cosmetic products such as oils, shampoos and conditioners and bottles of vinegar etc. Research studies shave shown that in high temperatures phthalate which is known to be an endocrine disruptor, leaches from the PET packing bottles and mixes with the products and hence enters our bodies as well (Rustagi et al,2011). Thus even though phthalate is not directly sued as a packaging material it leaches at high temperatures and there are chances that it enters the body of the consumers causing health problems. In countries such as the U.K., a number of companies used recycled cardboard as food packaging material however studies focusing on the efficiency of the recycled cardboards showed that there is a high chance that the recycled packaging material might contain mineral oil concentration which is above permissible limits. The presence of the mineral oil has a bad impact on the products that were packed using the materials. It was suspected that such minerals oils came from the ink that is used as printings in the newspaper and since the disposed newspapers were recycled to make cardboards without proper treatment, the mineral oils remained in them in very high concentration. The Food Standard Agency of U.K. therefore prohibited the use of recycled cardboards especially in the process of packing of food products. PACKAGING AND ENVIORNMENTAL ISSUES From a holistic perspective, it is true that the environment is most affected by packaging materials. Not all packaging materials are environment friendly at all however some products are still marketed as being “eco-friendly” or “green product” even though the attributes of the packaging material might not be so. However, the consumer today has a greater deal of knowledge about the need for being environment friendly and therefore most of the choices of consumers is often based on the “eco-friendliness” of a product. This means the greener the product the more appealing it is to the consumer or the buyer. It is this demand of eco-friendly and green packaging materials that actually gives rise to the unethical practices surrounding environmental issues. A concept known as sustainable packaging has crept in to help deal with the ethical issues raised with the ill effects of packaging on the environment. Sustainable packaging aims to meet the packaging needs of today without compromising on the needs of tomorrow. This involves using of materials which has low or negligible negative impact on the environment and has low carbon footprint as well. One of the most important industries whose packaging has tremendous impact on the environment is that of the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry relies on strong, tamper-proof, protected and good quality packaging materials (Zadbuke et al,2013). It is but obvious that until usage of the drug the packaging material needs to store and protect the drug and upon usage the same is disposed off without hope of recycling. Environmental issue therefore creeps in here and the concept of sustainable packaging is also challenged. Environmental consciousness is more prevalent today and people often look for biodegradable packaging materials. However one must be aware that the real problem lies in overuse of packaging materials and not in the packaging materials solely. In fact 1/3 rd of municipal waste in the U.S and Mexico comprises of packaging materials. All packaging materials even the biodegradable ones reach the landfills and owing to lack of oxygen most materials are often not degraded. SOLUTIONS TO EHICAL CONCERNS Ethical issues will always be present as long as profit and consumerism exists. However it is possible to keep certain aspects of these practices within limits. With regard to labeling practices, agencies need to be more vigilant and see that the product is labeled properly. For this frequent auditing maybe required ensuring proper labeling practices. It should also be ensure that true and appropriate information is printed on the labels such that the consumers are not misguided. Graphics should also be monitored to ensure unethical usage of graphics on packaging only since graphics are an important part of product success. Moreover safety aspects of materials sued for packing needs to be considered as well. There should not be any compromise either on the quality of the product packed or on the safety of the material used. For this research needs to be done to check what packing materials maybe used with minimum danger. Lastly, the ethical problem of environmental issue needs can be solely tackled by vigilant agencies. Producers should not be allowed to depict their products as being “green”, if their products have ill-effects on the environment. CONCLUSION Packaging is undoubtedly an important aspect for sellers, marketers and consumers alike. In fact it is not wrong if I say that it is an indispensible part of our life since we need packaging for almost everything today starting from the food we eat, clothes we wear to medicine and drugs we intake. It is true that in spite of some regulation upon the need for proper labeling on the package etc, producers are often successful in finding a loophole in the mandates of governmental agencies and engage in unethical practices which misguide consumers. The sole way to tackle the wide spread problem of unethical practices in packaging is to revise the rules and regulation of the packaging industries and monitor the working of the industries strictly. REFERENCES Behrokh,M.M.,& Ali,M.A.” Genetically Modified food and social concerns”.Avicenna Jourmal of Biotechnology,3(2011),p109-117.Print. Rustagi,N. et al.” Public health impact of plastics: An overview”. Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine,120(2012),p232-237.Print Shimp, T. A. (2003), Advertising, Promotion & Supplemental Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, Sixth Edition, Thomson South-Western. Wakefield,M.A. et al. “Introduction effects of the Australian plain packaging policy on adult smokers: a cross-sectional study”.BMJ,3(2013).Web.Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3710988/ on 10/4/2014. Zadbuke,N. et al.” Recent trends and future of pharmaceutical packaging technology”. Journal of Pharmacy & Bioallied Sciences,5(2013),p98-110.Print. Read More