Ethical marketing practices is a trend that is on the rise in the expectation of businesses around the globe. That being said, the inclination to market ethically is not always something that goes hand in hand with the pressures to meet sales goals. Where a company has to strive their balance with ethics and marketing is through providing an accurate representation of their products overall. By doing this, the company can protect themselves from negative press and even potential lawsuits, (Olenski, 2015). One company that has major issues with marketing practices is the coffee giant Starbucks. Starbucks, although a company that has a very positive public relations reputation for the treatment of their in-store employees within the United States, also has a reputation of misleading marketing in regards to their relations with foreign coffee suppliers and coffee picking employees around the globe.
An example of Starbucks’s misleading marketing can be seen from a recent campaign poster in which they show a Latin family in the third world having access to children’s education and high quality of life by picking their coffee beans. While this is a very effective marketing effort to quell suspicion of bullying foreign distributors and paying low wages to their coffee growers in the third world, Starbucks is arguably violating their company ethics statement by engaging in marketing campaign options such as this, (Business Ethics and Compliance, 2016).
Within Starbuck’s ethics and compliance policy they greatly discourage marketing that blurs the line of what is factual and what is not, (Business Ethics and Compliance, 2016). This policy brings up a greater issue in the field of marketing in that it can be very difficult for a business executive to ascertain when the line has exactly been crossed with regards to ethics. It begs the question of how far is too far with marketing? When considering this ethical line, one has to look to whether the end consumer would be negatively affected by the false result.
Relating this principle back to Starbucks, their recent advertisement showcasing the family in the third world benefited by Starbucks is truly on the line of the ethical standards that are practiced in the marketing world, (Olenski, S., 2015). The reason for this is that ethical marketing standards are becoming more commonplace and accepted in the business community. For example, by looking at this Starbucks advertisement, it is possible to get a misleading impression. Whether it rises to the level of false advertisement is a whole other debate; however, it does give the consumer the idea that Starbucks is socially responsible and sustainable when there are other reports indicating that they surely are not.
Granted, that Starbucks is one of the largest corporations in the world and that their success did not come by accident. It is for this reason that this poster really does blur the line of what Starbucks may actually be doing in Latin America in the regions where they are obtaining their famous coffees. By utilizing this poster with the family that looks like Starbucks is promoting the child’s education while the father goes to pick coffee beans, it gives the end consumer the impression that Starbucks is the reason why the child may now be going to school, which may not always be the case.
When marketing, there has to be a line of ethics that is pondered quite carefully because it is difficult to come back once a firm has been accused of crossing the ethical line in marketing. Marketing professionals have to exercise the utmost caution when creating an image for the brand because they have to make sure that the message is truthful and well received by their targeted audience. By utilizing ethical principles to their advantage, the average marketing professional will save their company a great deal of liability later on pertaining to the overall reputation of their brand, which is one of the most important investments that a marketing professional can make.
References
Business Ethics and Compliance. (2016). Starbucks. Retrieved from: http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information/business-ethics-and-compliance
Olenski, S. (2015). Three Ways to Kill It With Socially Responsible Marketing. Forbes. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/01/01/3-ways-to-kill-it-with-socially-responsible-marketing/#79a005f73af6
