A634.5.4.RB - Is Marketing Evil?

After reading the article by El Sayed and El Ghazaly (n.d.), discuss your views on the following:

Do you feel ethical guidelines make a difference to marketers?

To determine if ethical guidelines make a difference to marketers, it is important to first understand what is considered an ethical way to sell things. (Sojka & Spangenberg, 1994) According to the American Marketing Association, ethical norms are considered to be the following: 1. Do no harm, 2. Foster trust in the marketing system, and 3. Embrace ethical values.  (n.d.) What is ethical and what isn’t, I feel, shifts through the decades as we have new social issues and ethical dilemmas in our everyday life.  I find that with this shift, there is a definitely a test of just how far marketing can push our ethical standards.  Especially now, I think that marketing agency are walking a fine line between ethical and unethical within advertising products.  There has been a handful of times companies have apologized for their marketing campaign or product – so I think at this point in history, ethical guidelines do make a difference in terms of pushing the boundaries.  Companies want to be ‘edgy’, but not offensive.  With the growth of the internet and social media, it is much easier to determine how your messages are being read in the public eye, so I believe marketers want to see how far they can go in order to be discussed and talked about without being placed in a negative light.

How can companies balance the need to win with being ethical?

Transparency is becoming increasingly more important and with that, comes having a certain level of ethical standards.  “The expectations for corporate behavior are constantly evolving…conduct that would have been ethically acceptable in one era becomes unacceptable as expectations rise.” (Paine, 2002)  The ever-evolving expectation for corporate behavior has made the need for a balance between what companies need and what is ethical even more important.  A company can completely fall apart with one misguided campaign.  To balance a need to win with being ethical, I think it is important to revert back to the ethical norms that were stated in the AMA.  First, do no harm, which essentially means avoiding harmful actions or omissions by embodying high ethical standards in the choices we make.  This is important because you are keeping not only your employees in mind, but also the consumer in mind.  Second, foster trust in the marketing system.  It is important to strive for good faith and fair dealing.  This shows the consumer that the marketing company pays attention to other aspects of the business as well, and not just making money.  Third, embrace ethical values.  Building relationships and enhancing consumer confidence in the integrity of marketing by affirming these core values: honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency, and citizenship. (AMA, n.d.)  Keeping these standards in mind, while still maintaining an “up-to-date” and current campaign is equally as effective.

Is it ethical to track your buying habits or web visits to target you for marketing purposes?

In my opinion, it is not ethical to do this without the consent of the consumer.  It infringes on our personal rights and encroaches on our privacy.  While the idea of having products marketing specifically for you in not inherently unethical, by not informing the consumer about this is.  Some people may argue that it is the consumer’s responsibility for asking more questions when giving out personal information, but to be fair, this seems to be a newer tactic with the advances in technology.  I just recently found out that companies only need your name and zip code or phone number to get everything they need.  The selling of this information feel likes we, as consumers, are becoming the products. 

As a leader, how will you manage the ethical aspects of your marketing efforts?

While I haven’t had to deal too much with developing my own marketing strategies, when thinking about the ways I market myself, whether for an interview, making friends, etc., I always consider honesty to be the most important aspect.  When you lie about something, whether it is a product or a personal fact, the truth will eventually come out and you will lose trust in those around you.  Trust is so hard to build, so I find it is most important to be upfront about your product.

References

Sojka, J., & Spangenberg, E. (1994). Ethical Concerns in Marketing Research. NA - Advances in Consumer Research, 21, 392-396.

Sollie, P. (2007). Ethics, technology development and uncertainty: An outline for any future ethics of technology. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 5(4), 293-306.

Statement of Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2015.

Paine, L. (2002, November 18). Where Morals and Profits Meet: The Corporate Value Shift [Online interview].

A634.4.4.RB - Is Affirmative Action Ethical?

Use Chapters 5 and 6 (LaFollette, 2007) as the foundation for your reflections regarding if affirmative action is ethical. Be sure to include external sourced content. Present your opinion, support your opinion, and opposing viewpoints.

Affirmative action is something I see as a short-term answer to a long-term problem.  We live in an incredibly diverse world, and America has an unfortunate history involving minorities.  As a young adult in my mid 20’s, I feel like I am not exposed to racism the way my parents and grandparents were.  I have lived, gone to school,  and work with a variety of different minorities and have seen the progress that we have gained.  Steven Yates discussed at a college presentation on affirmative action that affirmative action brings about tension between groups and more clearly distinguishes the differences in people. (Yates, 1994) I tend to disagree with this opposing view of affirmative action.   When looking at history, we have really come a long way, from the freedom of slaves, to women voting, to the acceptance of the LGBT community, the strides we have made in the past century are not something to ignore.  While we still have a ways to go, affirmative action could be one of those short-term answers that help to solve a long-term discrimination battle. 

            Affirmative action has potentially made an impact in the way we handle discrimination in our daily lives.  While LaFollette noted some people opposed to affirmative action believe it is reverse discrimination, I disagree because if we look at history and understand the implications of it, we can understand better how some groups have had a much more difficult time than others.  By giving the groups who have a less chance of succeeding more opportunities, we give them opportunities that would once have been out of reach.  They are then able to grow and learn through each generation of that family.  This is why I think affirmative action is a great short-term answer.  I do not necessarily think it would a necessity in the long run because by that point, hopefully the effects of the previous generations opportunities would have trickled down to help balance out the overall opportunities that life should provide to each person. 

            In my opinion, it doesn’t seem like reverse discrimination if one group is place in a situation where it is much more difficult.  That is like taking two runners of the same athletic abilities race against each other, but giving one runner a 1-minute head start.  It will be nearly impossible for the disadvantaged runner to catch up, let alone win.  By giving people equal opportunities to succeed, we are setting everyone up for a better ending.

References

Andre, C., Velasquez, M., & Mazur, T. (1992). Affirmative Action: Twenty-five Years of Controversy. Ethics, 5(2).

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Pub.

Yates, S. (1994). The Ethics of Affirmative Action : The Freeman : Foundation for Economic Education. Retrieved April 17, 2015, from http://fee.org/freeman/detail/the-ethics-of-affirmative-action

A634.3.5.RB - The Harder They Fall

Life is full of trials and tribulations that we all face day-to-day.  Many of us have goals and dreams and want to be successful in our own ways in life.  We are faced with a multitude of choices that can either lead us down the wrong path or the right one, but knowing what path is best for us is the most difficult.  As leaders working toward a goal, the path can sometimes be one that is filled with potential barriers to hold you back from reaching your potential.  We are then faced with the challenge of actually reaching our goal and knowing what the next step is.  Kramer discussed how leaders can either allow power to change them, or allow power to positively contribute to their lives. 

The Harder They Fall (Kramer, 2003) focuses on both the opportunities that come with power and the negative impact that power can have on someone.  I have seen both scenarios play out throughout my life, work, and in society.  The easiest example for the negative impact can be felt when looking at celebrities today.  Many turn to methods of coping with the power that end up destroying their image, career, and life.  Sukhvinder Obhi, a neuroscientist at Wilfried Laurier University in Canada believes that “power fundamentally changes how the brain operates.” (Benderev, 2013)  This idea, I feel, can be seen in so many aspects of our lives, from small situations to big one.  Even in sporting events, I think about when I am rooting for my favorite team and they lose, you notice a change in the opposing teams fans.  People gain confidence and a sense of power, even if it is not their own gained power; they share some parts of it.  Obhi notes that in one of his studies, “when people were feeling powerful, the mirror system signal was not very high at all.”  So essentially, when people feel power, they generally have more trouble getting inside another person’s head.  Power ends up diminishing varieties of empathy.  I can think of a time when I was at a hockey game and my team was losing.  I remember hearing a variety of hurtful comments and mean things that people would say to me just because the team I was going for lost.  I know these same people probably would not act this way in their normal lives, but when placed in a situation where they feel more powerful than someone else, some of them are incapable of understanding the feeling of loss and overall empathy towards other individuals. 

References

Benderev, Chris. "When Power Goes To Your Head, It May Shut Out Your Heart." NPR. NPR, 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.

Kramer, Roderick. "The Harder They Fall." Harvard Business Review 81.10 (2003): 58-66. Print.