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Ethical Challenges in Marketing Marketing is an organizational function that encompasses all of product planning, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services that satisfy both individual and organizational objectives. Lately, as our economic system has become more open and successful at providing for needs and wants, there is an increased pressure on organizations' adhering to ethical values rather than simply providing products. However, drawing a clear line between normal marketing practice and unethical behaviour isn't easy. Delving right into the theme and looking at the product itself from the point of view of being ethical, the main issue on hand for every marketer is to ensure that the product is safe and that the user is aware of all the risks associated with the product or service. New age marketing is increasingly moving towards the philosophy “Let the seller beware” forcing the seller to take responsibility for the product. But, is safety the only ethical concern at the stage of product development? Ethics is essential to other aspects such as direct marketing as well, where the business and its reputation become an integral part of the brand. Taking it forward, it is imperative to address the issues concerning pricing as well. Practices such as price fixing, price discrimination, giving deep discounts over increased prices or low product prices with increased service costs are not uncommon today. But these cannot be considered right in the collective perception of the society. If these are not ethical, is ethical pricing all about pricing the goods in a way that represents superior value delivered vis-à-vis competitors’ offerings or is it something else? Advertising ethics affect our lives and also the practice of business in many subtle as well as prominent ways. The main purpose of advertising is to persuade the customer to consider the brand favourably by creating awareness or reminding him of its existence periodically. However, is it the right approach for an advertisement to get noticed among a clutter of others through exaggeration or false and misleading ideas? Has increased competition and declining profits blown good intentions out of the boardroom? The market researcher also faces many ethical dilemmas. He has direct responsibilities to several stakeholders namely the client, the firm, (the general) public and particularly the respondents. Issues such as piggybacking, intrusive data recording methodologies and deliberate biasing of the questionnaire have long been the bane of market research. What needs to be debated here is whether there really is a binding requirement for ethics in this segment of marketing or is the concept of ethics more complex in this particular segment since the potential for ethical wrongdoing stretches from research methodology to reporting and its further uses. Can marketing ethics and building of ethical capacity be cultivated by having a corporate culture that values ethics and has a system to institutionalize and integrate ethical thinking in marketing? This session “Ethical Challenges in Marketing” aims to address these ethical issues and also propound new and innovative ways of marketing, while keeping the ethical code of conduct intact.
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