Ethical Marketing - Case Study Example

Running Head: essay Ethical Marketing of the of the of the Introduction Advertising plays a pivotal role in deciding the success of a marketing strategy. At the same time, it remains under the scanner of governments, media and public groups. Therefore it is difficult to believe that any dishonesty on the part of the advertiser, would remain a long terms secret. Every advertising plan has to be build upon the consumers’ trust in its honesty (Ronald 2005, p.721). This paper seeks to delve deep into new practices that have emerged in marketing arena and have raised the brows of ethical marketers due to the violation of ethical frameworks applicable. The paper addresses in particular the stealth marketing case of Sony Ericsson whereby directly or indirectly the consumers were made to participate in the promotional gimmicks of the company. While positive aspects of this move have been seen, the ethical considerations form the major crux of the paper and helps future marketers and advertisers to learn from these malpractices and seek new solutions to such problems. Criticisms There is rich variety in criticisms that advertising has been facing. Critics often argue that even in its most basic form, advertising can never be free from ‘bad’. Considering the grammar, Apple Inc. says “Think Different” whereas the correct grammar suggests that it should be phrased as think differently. On a more social note, as critics claim, advertising advocates stereotyping. It often categorizes society into various groups without a substantial rationale but on the basis of certain presumptions. A dark complexion colored girl always looks for fairness beauty/ cosmetic products, and a healthier person would always look for slimming products. Another criticism lies in the argument that advertising generally ends up in selling a product or a service that would not otherwise qualify, as a requirement for the buyer. But the persuasion is an essential part of the business. Every organization has to be profitable to sustain the ever growing competition. Now the question that remains to be answered is how important are the ethics in advertising? Surrogate marketing Surrogate marketing (Kaynak 1996, p.3) is another approach where lot many criticisms have been recorded. It has been defined as the promotional tool, where the purpose of promoting the original brand is met via exhibition of an ostensible purpose to popularize a different product. Any possibility of surrogate marketing is a direct consequence of the extent of liberty offered by the legislation of a particular country. For example, in a country like India where judiciary sticks to the written law instead of the ‘merit of case’ basis, surrogate marketing flourishes. There is clear ban over the advertising of alcoholic beverages in the country, so all the liquor companies have been pushing their brands up by promoting their carbonated drinks (soda water). Irony lays in the fact that all the parties: the consumer, advertiser, the channel (television or radio) and the regulators understand that laws are being bended and social values are being compromised, nothing can be done. Stealth marketing Stealth marketing (Dacko 2008, p.497), however, is most controversial mode of promotion and is usually avoided by all the organizations. It directly targets the psychology of human behavior, where word of mouth publicity, attracts much serious attention of the people around the speaker (the promotion agent). Viewpoint of a third person, who has been using a product for a considerable period of time, ought to be reliable. Before discussing a real life example, a look at the conceptual model of advertising would be useful. The traditional model of AIDA (figure 1) suggests that the series of steps that are necessary for successful communication of a marketing message, act as a funnel throughout the process where number of prospects is reduced at each step. (Clemente 2002, p.26) Figure1. THE AIDA model Source: http://www.guerrillaonline.com/data/up-editor_1254654669976.jpg While discussing the ethics, one needs to focus on two steps in particular namely, Attention and Desire. The initiation of the communication process (at attention stage) obviously decides the quantity (in numbers) of customers that would ultimately take a favorable action of buying a product or service being promoted. It is completely a company or marketing team’s prerogative to decide whether it would focus on effectively communicating with smaller target group, or it would target a larger mass for generating larger pool of prospects at the initial stage. Ethics come into play right at the moment when ‘Attention’ process is initiated. The values of an organization are reflected at this point, and if they do not meet the acceptance level of the contemporary society, ethics are bound to be questioned. Another important level from ethical point of view in the AIDA model is, ‘Desire’ level. Marketer’s tried out various methods and tools to invoke the necessary level of desire among the prospects. In search of those methods, there are instances when they appear to be more desperate. The Sony- Ericsson Case The Introduction It was in the year 2002 that one of the marketing campaigns launched by Sony – Ericsson turned out to be a classic example for discussing sense and importance of ethics in marketing. Instead of hiring sales executives to market its camera phones, the company decided to try an entirely different, yet debatable approach. It recruited around sixty actors who were asked to travel around various cities in the country and asking passing - by peoples (or travelers) to use their phones and take their pictures. This was done under extremely normal situation. They would simply ask “Sir, if you don’t mind, could you please take a picture of us? We are on honeymoon. We would really appreciate it” (Weisberg, Pfleiger & Friedberg n.d). After the person being targeted is done with the process of taking snaps, the actors would promptly speak about the details of the various unique features of the mobile phone. The impression over the target person in such case is generally positive and extremely effective. This subtle manner, in which this product was being introduced to the people, was extremely natural. Another noteworthy feature about this campaign was that Sony - Ericsson did not put a single notice about the initiative. Neither on its websites, nor a single banner at public places was placed. These actors were later labeled as ‘fake tourists’ by the critics and the concept was identified as Stealth Marketing. Stealth marketing is not marketing in true sense because it leaves no choice for consumers to participate or not to participate. With disproportionate increase in number of advertisements on every possible channel of communication, stealth marketing is a deceptive method to target the full population, even the reluctant one. The positives – Company’s perspective Basically, any marketing plan that has been devised by a company is meant primarily for benefit of the company itself. We cannot ignore the positive sides of this approach that it offers to Sony – Ericsson. The campaign by Sony – Ericsson, which is better known as ‘fake- tourist’ campaign by the marketing society, has redefined the concept of ‘Guerilla Marketing’. Instead of looking for various media channels for placing expensive ad’s, Guerilla marketing offers an opportunity of interacting with the customers on a more personal level, with better effectiveness and establishing more meaningful connection with them. Instead of feeling forced to pay attention on an ad campaign, this approach being natural, leaves customer feeling naturally ‘stumbled’ upon the product. Another benefit lies in the fact that instead of only one product being promoted, whole brand gets its share of fame. Sony – Ericsson might have been criticized for their modus operandi, but they ultimately gained public attention. Ethics Ethics is a philosophy that deals with questions pertaining to morality, and judging an action being right or wrong on moral basis (Kimmel 1988). Certainly, in an attempt to justify this campaign by Sony-Ericsson, no one can afford to ignore the moral responsibility that a company has for the benefit of the society around it. There have been certain compromises for that matter that would surface in an honest evaluation of this campaign. Does a company have any right to influence a customer by hiding relevant information? The answer is NO. Any information related to a product must be delivered only if a customer is ready to accept it. How different is it from breaking into a house without informing the owner of the house, just to sell a house- security system? Every customer deserves to have full information about what is being sold to him and who is selling it. It just does not fit in the framework of ethics, if either of the information is not being provided by the company. If it is stealth, it has to be based on deception. The Utilitarian concept Target a customer when he is not ready for it, and you will be best placed to exploit his vulnerability. Utilitarian philosophy (West 2004) would judge the same on the basis of outcome. They would say, that if an outcome can be categorized as ethical, whole action has to be ethical and vice versa. It makes things much simpler, as customers need not be motivated or encouraged enough to take a particular action. Such ineffective campaigns, though stealth, do not do any harm to the customer. Pierce Brosnan might endorse thousand products as James Bond, but if it does not have any effect over the viewer, all the money spent for making him do so matters for nothing. But, if there is no result, another question arises. Obviously as in case of Sony – Ericsson, one cannot monitor or track the final action of the customer if they actually bought a particular mobile phone. There are many actions that usually have no significant outcome, and hence how to categorize such actions into either category? The Virtue-Based Framework If we apply Virtue- Based framework (Rhodes 1986, p.40) for ethics, Sony – Ericsson would be found guilty. This framework is more towards idealism. It judges an action based on the assumption that the individual would act with the same level of honesty and integrity in every scenario he is put into. Reason why we have discussed the perspective of the company in the earlier part of this work comes from the fact that every business has to earn profit in order to sustain itself. Hence innovation is inevitable in almost all the departments. Marketing is one of them. The Deontological Framework In the process it might commit some mistakes. But the final framework that can be most useful here is the ‘Deontological Framework’ (Callcut 2009, p.248), which is based on the duty. Duty of an organization and its respective departments towards the society in which they are operating, would probably put things in right perspective. It not only encourages it to maximize the shareholders value, but also compels them to think about the customer. Not only promote a product or brand but at the same time respect the privacy and trust of a society. Conclusion Sony – Ericsson might consider themselves quite lucky that their action did not have any severe consequence on the future of the company. The revelation that it was a planned incident might have surprised quite a few customers when they had recalled the chain of events. Few would have laughed but few would have felt cheated. It does not help an organization to build a clean brand image. If you lose the customers trust, it is the hardest thing to rebuild. Violation of ethics is a matter of realization. If a company does not find its action against the prevailing norms of the society, it would repeatedly do the same again and again. The fact that Sony – Ericsson never launched any such campaign after that incident proves that they have learnt from their mistake. Stealth marketing is growing fast, but its outcomes are getting more insignificant with time as the customers have got more aware of such tactics. References Callcut, D. (2009). Reading Bernard Williams. Routledge. Clemente, M.N. (2002). The marketing glossary: key terms, concepts and applications. New Jersey: Clemente Communications Group. Dacko, S.G. (2008). The advanced dictionary of marketing: putting theory to use. Oxford University Press. Kaynak, E. (1996). Marketing in the Third World. USA: The Haworth Press. Kimmel, A.J. (1988). Ethics and values in applied social research. Sage Publications. Rhodes, M.L. (1986). Ethical dilemmas in social work practice. USA: Routledge and Kegan. Ronald, L.W. (2005). Kleppner’s advertising procedure. 16th Ed. Prentice Hall. Weisberg, A, Pfleiger, A & Friedberg, J. (n.d). The ethics of stealth marketing [online] available from < http://www.ethicapublishing.com/confronting/5CH11.pdf> [accessed January 12, 2011]. West, H.R. (2004). An introduction to Mill’s Utilitarian ethics. Cambridge University Press. Read More