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Ethics has been designated the philosophy and study of human behavior with an emphasis on the determination of right or wrong, influenced by personal ethics (family, genetics, religion and values). Ethics in marketing examines those ethical problems that are specific to the domain of marketing, explaining that an organization must take decisions by considering Important points such as consumer’s wants, company’s needs and society interests, always using moral principles to define if a particular behavior is ethical or unethical.
It is important when approaching Marketing Ethics to acknowledge that it should be examined from an Individual, organizational and societal with deferent points of view. ETHICAL MARKETING For marketers, ethics in the workplace refers to principles and standards, determining the conduct of members of an organization and the consequences of marketing decisions; however marketing ethics do not’s require only an attempt to make ethical decisions but also avoid unintended consequences of marketing activities by identifying issues, gathering information and evaluating alternatives.
This requires consideration of the key stakeholders and their relevant interests (Farrell, 2010). Many marketing organizations have codes of ethics for their members, as an for example, the American Marketing Association (AMA) ethics code is presented in the following: 1. Marketers must do not harm 2. Marketers must foster trust In the marketing system (do not mislead), good faith and fair dealing. . Marketers must embrace, communicate and practice fundamental ethical values that will improve consumer confidence in the integrity of the marketing exchange system. These basic values are intentionally aspirations and Include honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency and citizenship. American Marketing Association, 201 3) The link between ethics and corporate social responsibility describes the voluntary actions taken by a company to address ethical, social and environmental impacts of its business operations and the concerns of its stakeholders, for a company to act In a social responsible manner the employees within the company must also maintain high ethical standards (Grew and Levy, 2013) GREEN MARKETING An example of Ethical Marketing well known nowadays is the Green Marketing which Is mainly focused on the natural environment.
The Green Marketing stands for conservation of resources, reuse, redesign and recycling products, energy saving, elimination of non CEO friendly-CEO-friendly products, a slowing of economic growth and protection of natural environment and endangered species. There are I OFF Wide Fund for Nature (WFM)), Friends of the earth, Body Shop among others. These groups have common interests or attitudes; they exert pressure on organizations, people or government for their own specific purpose, looking to influence government’s decisions on changes and making new laws.
The Greenback is a non- governmental organization with its headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands is one the most powerful active pressure groups, founded in 1969 with the objective of defending the world nature, promoting peace by investigating, exposing and challenging abuse of environment, supporting environmentally responsible solutions and helping people understanding the world ecology and the natural environment importance to our quality of life. Greenback official website, 2013) SOCIAL Ethical Marketing is not only linked to the natural environment but has also a strong social side, there are also a several pressure groups helping people to have a better quality of life especially in the third world countries. These groups will deal with labor issues, pursuing Justice for workers, helping children through health care, education and economic opportunities, such as International Labor Organization (ILL), Save the Children, and Amnesty International among others.
The International Labor Organization (ILL), established in 1919 is an United Nations agency has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and deals with labor issues as suggested by the name, their main aims are to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities and enhance social protection. International Labor Organization, 2013) The world coffee market is an example off big challenge for the ILL, for many years the Kenya market was extremely unfair to workers due to poor working conditions, long hours of work and low pay levels, however it seems to be hanging for better, The Kenya Coffee Growers and Employers Association in conjunction with the Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union have agreed to discussed terms and now workers have higher standards for health and safety in the workplace, better pay levels, limited to 46 hours per week of work and on top of that the overtime pay of one and a half times the hourly rate is applied for normal days and double for holidays and provision of at least one rest day per week. (Meredith, L. P, 2008) ETHICS IN MARKETING THROUGH THE YEARS Ethics standards has changed through the years, in the ass’s the company R. J. Reynolds Tobacco from United States of America used to advert on TV medical doctors smoking to make a good impression as doctors are respected professionals, well paid, “healthy’ and have high social status towards society,. This unethical way was used to increase sales of one specific brand, Camel using the motto “More doctors smoke camel than any other cigarette” (Camel Cigarette Advert, 1949).
Today a smoker doctor advertising a cigarette brand would be not only unethical but also illegal as tobacco adverts on TV were banned in the United States of America in 1970 and in 1989 in the European Union countries. According to World Health Organization (2013), tobacco kills up to half of its users, which is around 6 million people per year, and more than 600. 000 people die indirectly as second hand smokers, it is one of the biggest public health threats the world ever faced. Nowadays there are organizations especially directed to tell the world what independent centre of research, best practices and thought leadership that promotes best practices in corporate ethics and compliance. , The institute every year draw up a list of the World’s most ethical companies ORAL’S MOST ETHICAL
COMPANIES which had 145 companies on sass’s Lilts. The ABA GROUP Group was one of them, founded in 1988 through merger of SEA (Sweden) and Brown, Bovver & Ice (Switzerland) is a multinational robotics company with its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland that operates in five global divisions with over 145. 000 employees. The group is the world’s largest supplier of power transformers, industrial electric motors, drives and recently developed the highest-voltage DC transformer ever. The ABA GROUP Group believes that sustainability is about balancing economic success, environmental management and social progress to benefit all its stakeholders.