Critical Problems and Scenarios Before Marketing a Product - Essay Example

Some situations lead to ethical dilemmas for organizations mainly because at times the factor that leads to such a situation was purely unintentional or if that attribute is left out or modified then the product would lose its essence or original image. The main reason behind this is the lack of market research or assuming that a single factor won’t make a lot of difference for example name, color, slogan, ingredients, advertising, etc considering if the product is made right.

We have numerous experiences on paper where such factors lead to failure of products or were termed in violation of local ethics. For eg famous British shoemaker UMBRO was tagged as “appallingly insensitive” when it named its shoes meant for running as ZYKLON, the reason for such a response was later found out that ZYKLON was the same gas used in Nazi extermination camps. Similarly, when Ford introduced PINTO in Brazil, it rather attracted quite a cold response and flopped. After research, it was found that PINTO is Brazilian slang for ‘tiny male genitals. Later on, Ford changed the name to Corcel meaning Horse. Also, the slogan for brands like Electrolux in America ‘ Nothing sucks like Electrolux’ and introduction of new products by brands who don’t keep the cultural difference in mind’  Coors Bear having slogan ‘keeping it loose’ in Spanish the slogan meant ‘ you’ll suffer from diarrhea’. All the fore mentioned examples are of scenarios or experiences which resulted in products and brands being deemed as ethical violators only because of the lack of effort. 

But at the same time, there are certain intentional moves are made by organizations to cope with their global strategies, objectives and to keep themselves making a profit even if meant digressing from the ethical code of conduct. If we review moves made by various multi-national companies in the past few decades till now we can easily come to conclusions that they came face to face with situations where they were ethically responsible for covering up losses that were a result of their negligence.

Cadbury a few years back came under the fire facing an exactly similar situation. A batch produced by Cadbury of Dairy Milk was found to be infested by worms. The initial discovery came when a few bars of chocolate were tainted with worms in the business hub of India, Mumbai. The news spread like fire in the country and sales rapidly declined. The timing of the controversy couldn’t get any worse as it was Diwali season in which sweets are purchased in large quantities by scores of people. Following this event customers lost trust in the quality & hygiene of the product and their perception of the brand got affected negatively. But Cadbury remarkably displayed an act of professional business ethics and took the responsibility for the negligence while a few months back a similar ethical dilemma was faced by a cola company in India but instead of taking the responsibility at first they tried to act like an ostrich. This positive attitude shown by Cadbury and the efforts displayed to resolve the situation turned the wheel of sales again and a hike was seen in sales again after a few weeks.

Another example is Nestle which in the ’70s went against the ethical code of conduct set by WHO by promoting artificial baby milk feed on a large scale by getting ordinary and untrained saleswomen to dress up as nurses and recommending them to women. After this act was condemned all over Europe and America, it turned its attention towards Asia and Africa turned its attention there. As a result of this unethical display, an INGO was established against Nestle by the name of Baby Milk action which started the Boycott of Nestle products completely causing massive falls in sales for them as consumers became aware of heinous steps taken by Nestle so as to keep its sales from declining globally. As a derived result of Nestle’s act infants, metabolism and defense mechanism became weak and diarrhea was suffered in scores.

Other examples include the Pepsi Cola case in India, Lays chips in Pakistan, Tata Nano in India, Ford motor company, and firestone controversy.