Ethical Issues in

Marketing
Presenters:
Md. Nur-Al-Ahad
Vinnilaa Aurumugam
Faezah Samsudin
Faeeza Noor Mohd Jaafar
Nurul Izzati

PBS1311084
PBS 1331380
PBS 1331386
PBS
PBS

Ethics in Marketing
Marketing ethics is the systematic study of
how moral standards are applied to
marketing
decisions,
behaviors
and
institutions (Ameer, 2013).
Since marketing is one of the core functions of
any business, there are ethical issues to be
faced
while
performing
marketing
activities.

Ethical Issues in
Marketing
(Reddy, 2014) has identified 4 ethical issues in
marketing

Ethical issues in Product

Ethical issues in Pricing

Ethical issues in Promotion

Ethical issues in Channel

(Singh, 2013) has identified that there is also a

growing question of ethics when it comes to
marketing research.

Ethical Issues in Product

Harmful products for example cheap wine
targeted to alcoholics and homeless
people.
Low quality products- selling and
promoting low quality products.
Counterfeit Products selling and
promoting counterfeit products for
example selling counterfeit medicines.
Using animals in product testing.

Ethical Issues in Pricing

Price discrimination charging different prices to
different people.
First Degree - assume that a seller knows the

maximum price that every consumer willing to pay

(eg: car sales, sporting-event concert)
Second Degree - price varies depending on the

quantity demanded (eg: bulk discount)

Third Degree - selling the same product at different

prices to buyer segment (eg: seniors, students, price

per country and business vs. residential telephone
service)
Price Discrimination. (2014). Retrieved September 24, 2014, from http://digitaleconomist.org/pd_4010.html
What is price discrimination and is it ethical? (2014). Retrieved September 20, 2014, from https://
econsultancy.com/blog/64068-what-is-price-discrimination-and-is-it-ethical#i.1elz6hozfodkhz

Price skimming Price of a product is

first sold at a very high price and then
gradually lowered. (eg: in tech industry for
cell phone like Apple )
Price dumping country exports or sells
products in a foreign country for less than
either (1) the price in the domestic
country, or (2) the cost of making the
product. (eg: television manufacturer in
the U.S. sells televisions domestically for
dollars
(and
it costs
them
$300
Price Skimming: Is$500
It One of the
Best Product Pricing
Strategies?
(2014). Retrieved
September
20, 2014, from http://
www.more-for-small-business.com/price-skimming.html
Dumping in Economics:
Definitionto
& Effects
| Education
Portal. (2014).
Retrieved
September
24, 2014,
from http://
dollars
make
each
one),
and
sells
them
education-portal.com/academy/lesson/dumping-in-economics-definition-effects.html#lesson
in France for $250

Developing Ethical Pricing Strategies

Issue
Issue statement
statement
of
of ethical
ethical practise
practise

Include
Include a
a
statement
statement
-when
-when company
company
can
raise
can raise prices
prices
-by
-by how
how much,
much,
-how
-how this
this pricing
pricing
should
should be
be
communicate
communicate

Ethical Pricing Strategy. (2014) Retrieved September 20, 2014. from http://
smallbusiness.chron.com/ethical-pricing-strategy-2726.html

Should
Should be
be
reviewed
reviewed
periodically
periodically

Ethical Issues in Promotion

Truth & Honesty
False Brand
Comparisons
Exaggeration
Unverified Claims

Taste &
Controversy
Taste & Controversy

Violence, Sex &

Profanity
Stereotyping Women

Negative Advertising
Suggrogate
Advertising
Children in
Advertising

What We Can Do?

New promotion campaign
Market research, guide the
design of ads, monitor
performance, negotiate deals
with advertising buyer

Revise

Implement

Corporate Social
Responsibility

The Company
The customers
The market

Analyse

Choose

Honest Claims
Avoid marketing to children
Falsely criticizing
competitors

Ethical Issues in
Promotion
False and misleading advertising
Creating demand for unwholesome or vice
products- for example promotion tobacco,
fattening foods, sexually explicit materials
etc.

Ethical issues in
Channel
Use of child labor : Sometimes child labor is used for
performing jobs for the distribution functions.
For example: Nike has used Child labor in Thailand for cheap
cost of production.
Production in sweatshops : Sometimes companies exploit
cheap labor for higher profits. The companies do not provide
good working conditions for them.
For example: Nike Sweatshop in Malaysia in 2008.
Violation of basic rights of employees : Employees work for
the company. And company is dependent on them.
Sometimes it happens that companies do not care about the
employees. The companies exploit them of basic rights like

ETHICAL ISSUES IN MARKETING RESEARCH

Honesty
in collecting,
analyzing
Privacy and
Confidentiality
Responsibility
of researchers
and presenting
data

Privacy and Confidentiality

In marketing research, privacy and confidentiality
generally involves:
the participants right to decide whether to obey

with the investigators request,

their right to be debriefed about what is involved in

their participation,
the extent to which personal information is

collected,

the disclosure and retention of personal

information,

HONESTY IN COLLECTING, ANALYZING AND

PRESENTING DATA
Analyzing results is the procedure of assessing,
illustrating, and reviewing data by using statistical and
logical techniques.
To curb the misleading of marketing research and
errors of statistics, its necessary for researchers to
honestly present and analyze results.
However, in order to avoid unreliable information,
researchers need to consider the specification and
methodology used, the dependability of the source
must be seen, the status of the data whether it is
current or not, and whether it apply to the time frame.

RESPONSIBILITY OF RESEARCHERS
Researchers who are working on a project
need to have the responsibility in
conducting the research, ensuring the
outline is on the track, protecting the
confidential data, and also recording any
events.
Researchers have overall responsibility for
the project and accountable to the
employer of the research; therefore, they
are required to provide appropriate
management to all working, ensure all the
date is appropriate, and report any of
misconduct.