The Ethical Responsibility of Marketers

Jake Wernick
jw912314@ohio.edu

As a business and marketing major, the "Principles and Practices for Advertising Ethics" is something that is particularly important to me. Though oftentimes marketing and sales can be seen by some people as deceptive or dishonest, I consider being an honest person as not only one of the most important principles of my personal code of ethics, but also as one of my biggest strengths. Being an honest person has been important to me since I was a child and, over time, I realized that I was also particularly good at it. This means that even an unfortunate truth is something I am able to deliver, as to me, it is doing more good than any sort of lie would be doing.

Despite my own personal code of ethics, there are people in the marketing field (or any field for that matter) that do not abide by the same principle. At the end of the day, they feel that it is their only goal to sell the product or service that their company offers, and hope to do it enough time or for a high enough price that they can personally profit from these sales. Dishonesty can occur in multiple ways in sales and marketing. The most common way is by making a product or service out to be something it is not, otherwise known as deceiving the customer. Another way is by charging an unfair price for a product or service due to either the naivety of the buyer, or a strong supplier advantage due to the inelastic demand for the product or service that they sell. It is for these, and multiple other reasons that people are often skeptical of advertisements that they see or hear.

Perhaps one of the most common deceptions in advertising is in food commercials. Restaurants and food companies often portray their items to look much more appetizing on the advertisement than they do in person. Food advertisers often use things such as motor oil, hairspray, deodorant, and multiple other non-edible products in order to make food appear more fresh and appetizing. "The Art of Deceptive Advertising: Quick Review of False & Misleading Tricks Used In Ads" discusses some of the common practices both food companies and multiple other industries use in order to make their product seem more attractive than it actually is. Other common industries for which tricks are used to make a product seem more attractive include: hotels and resorts, swimming pools, and beauty products to name a few.

With deception being as common as it is in advertising, sales, and marketing, it may be cause for concern that I will be unable to be successful in this field. However, oftentimes the most successful salespeople and marketers are those that are able to remain honest. For example, if a salesperson at a company is able to land a large deal, for which they were dishonest and charged an unfair price, they may be successful for that moment. However, if a second salesperson lands a deals for a lesser amount, but a fair price, they may have less money for that moment, but they will likely have gained the buyer's trust to the point where they become a loyal customer to that salesperson, and continue to do business with him or her regularly in the future.