Ethics in Marketing - Essay Example

Ethics in Marketing Marketing is a difficult business, and there are occasionally ethical issues that arise from it. One of the most significant issues in recent years has been how cigarette companies market their products. Governments are very wary of cigarette companies because tobacco products have been proven to increase the rates of lung cancer and are highly addictive. They cost the public purse a lot of money in terms of healthcare. That is the reason that advertising of cigarettes is restricted.

For those who work in the advertising world, cigarette ads can cause a great deal of angst. The product is one that can ruin lives: how can it be ethically advertised at all? Cigarette companies do not want children smoking their product. Their goal is to sell their product to people who enjoy smoking tobacco. They don't mind if people are addicted, but they don't want anyone to die from using their product (or else they would lose a customer). The goal in such marketing campaigns is to avoid all talk about the negative effects of cigarette smoking.

Such companies want to focus on the independence of smokers, on the taste and pleasure of the products. They want to make smoking look attractive. For marketers this can be a real ethical challenge, since the results of cigarette smoking are indisputable: negative health consequences. They must walk a difficult line between obligations toward their industry and to their client. It is not always easy to be in marketing because you are sometimes at the mercy of your customer's desires, even if that customer peddles cancer sticks.