Ethical Marketing Issues with British Petroleum - Essay Example

Some examples of ethical marketing include that products should meet safety standards and that dangerous products should be removed (Beamish and Ashford, 2007 p.20). Promotion should be transparent and clear and it should be ethical in practice. For place, environmental issues and transportation concerns are considered (Beamish and Ashford, 2007 p. 21). Organization British Petroleum (BP) is an oil and gas company that is involved in finding, and extracting oil and gas. Besides making fuels and products, BP sells fuels and fuel products in several countries. The strength and spread of BP can be understood from the fact that it employs 83,400 employees as of 31 December 2011 (British Petroleum, 2012).

The BP’s Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil and gas pipeline project did not give sufficient compensation to Azeri, Georgian, and Kurdish local people who were affected by the project and while promoting the BTC project, the BP did not inform the International Finance Corporation (IFC) (Hopkins, 2012).

Many NGOs accused BP of violating dozens of the principles including human rights, ethical, environmental, and legal standards. BP did not give adequate compensation to the local people. As a result, it was considered to be a socially and ethically irresponsible act on the part of BP. As the BTC project was going to directly affect the local people of these regions, BP should have considered them while acting upon the seven Ps of the marketing mix. Moreover, BP did not act ethically while promoting the project with the financiers and other regulatory bodies instead BP misled them.

It was the consequence of unethical marketing practices that led to hearings by a special committee in the UK parliament on the issues of BTC funding (Hopkins, 2012). As a result, BP’s Ethics and Compliance team developed and organized the creation, publication, and distribution of a code of conduct in 2005 (Ferrell and Hartline, 2005 p. 556). Also, the BTC project utilized IFC’s public consultation Good Practice Manual (IFC, 2012). Both steps were taken and incorporated into the marketing strategy of BP.

Research Method The secondary research method was employed to complete the paper requirements. First, the concept of ethical marketing was researched through online and offline sources. A particular focus was given to the 7 Ps of the marketing mix. 

Reasons for Selecting the Ethical Issue The highlighted ethical issue affects almost everyone. The unclear BTC project description and its legal, ethical, and environmental issues were not only taking away the rights of the local people, but they were also harming the physical environment. Reflective Review General Overview Business and marketing ethics have obtained central importance in the corporate world. Many events have indicated that unethical marketing has very severe repercussions not only for the marketers but also for the customers.

For example, if a company sells a product for more than its standard market price, this act is not only unethical but it has long-term business ramifications. The customers, who purchased the product from the company, may decide to avoid purchasing from the company as it does not apply standard market price. As a result, the company will continue losing its customers if it continues to sell the product more than the standard selling price. Research Method The secondary research method has many limitations.

The researcher is required to rely on the pre-existing information and the chances of bias cannot be ruled out as many companies prefer to use display their positive image instead of the real image. The preference should be given to primary research which gives first-hand information. Ethical Marketing- Reflection Ethical marketing brings durability to the customer-business relationship. The customers know that the company is charging a standard selling price and strictly follows the norms of ethical marketing.

Future of Ethical Marketing The future of ethical marketing is promising. The recent trend indicates that marketing ethics are spreading globally. Customers, suppliers, producers, and manufacturers are realizing that their stakes can only be served when ethics are applied to the marketing activity.