ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS
Marketing is not all about advertising, promotions, setting of prices and product development as a lot of people think out there. Marketers deal with various issues as they design their marketing strategies. This includes the ethical and legal concerns in the marketing plan. These help in avoiding trouble with the law as well as creating a company’s good corporate image. Though not considered illegal, ethical concerns mostly have to do with societal norms, culture and customer expectations (Cohen, Illingworth, Schuklenk, 2006, p. 57) . Legal concerns on the other hand guide marketers on the length of conducting their activities of marketing. When a marketer fails to consider these considerations, then they could lead to unfavorable effects on the image of the company as well poor sales of the commodities. These effects are versatile and may affect the customer, community as well as other businesses in the market.
In the American Marketing Association, legal and ethical issues are considered. The elements of ethics and legal are applied here are; Unfair marketing practices. These practices are often done by other competitors. The unfair competition is done buy the competitors so to out do the competition. These practices include extremely lowering of the prices of products as far as going below the market. The competitors often do this so as to drive other competitors out of the market. This is usually considered as unethical.
The other unethical marketing tactic is when a company displays the products of another company as substandard. This really unethical since it not only chases customers away it also destroys the image of the company. For instance when one cosmetic company displays another company’s as substandard. It is also unethical when one company attacks the competitors’ premises.
There is also the stereotyping aspect in the marketing research. Customers are human beings and the more one treats or sees customers as individuals the more reliable they will be to your business. For instance when one considers all the retirees as gardeners or when they consider all the men as sports-crazy. Research states that stereotyping of mass groups does not apply in the marketing and development of business ideas. Though many companies still try to benefit from stereotypes, this line is not effective to a business approach. The other aspect of marketing research is the invasion of privacy. This is for instance, when one company invades the privacy of another company (Gower, 2007, p. 43)
. For instance the invasion of the celebrities’ lives and their businesses, this is unethical and also illegal can be charged in the court of law.
The other marketing issue is the targeting the danger points which is the market audience. For instance, the marketers target the vulnerable groups like children or the elderly. This is unethical since it is excludes potential consumers from the market; this is used by marketers to put off demand from unwanted market sectors.
The legal effects of the business or marketing are those concerns that are controlled by law and they can be one can be charged in the court of law. For instance one company invades the privacy of another company. The media has always found itself on the wrong turn when it comes to this. The case of U.S Washington-Based according to CNet, the group of public interest research and the Digital Democracy asked the Federal Trade Commission to restrict and review an online business model that attacked them wherever they went. They created data profiles which were used in more personalized and sophisticated. This rendered them defenseless to the sophisticated group.
The other legal issue is selling of hazardous products. The marketers should make the customers aware of the probable risks (Gower, 2007, p. 47). If the company sells dangerous products to the customers and the customers get affected, then the law will intervene. For instance when hotel sales contaminated food and the customers get sick from food poisoning, the customer can go and sue the hotel and then it will be forced to pay for any damages caused by the hotel to the consumers.
The other legal issue in marketing is the interference of the weighing scales. For instance a marketing establishment using scales to measure products and to make more profits it tempers with the weighing scale. This is usually found in the butcheries where meat and other meat products are weighed before they are sold to the customers. They do so to gain more profits by selling less or under weight products. That is not ethical and it is illegal too. One can be sued in the court of law.
Attorneys and the law can be very helpful advisors to the marketing sector and businesses. The trick is to know and understand their considerations, take note to their advice and then make a decision on what to do with it. This is for marketers are selling more stuff with limited amount of legal risks and ethically too. The American Marketing Association forms those legal and ethical laws so as to help both the customers and the marketers.
REFERENCES
Cohen, J., Illingworth, P & Schuklenk, U. (2006). The Power of Pills: Social, Ethical and Legal
Issues in Drug Development, Marketing and Pricing. London: Pluto Press.
Gower, K. (2007). Legal and Ethical Considerations for Public Relations. New York:
Waveland press.
