UNETHICAL PRACTICES IN MARKING

                         Meaning of Unethical Practices in Marketing

Ethical marketing is a process through which companies generate customer interest in products/services, build strong customer interest/relationships, and create value for all stakeholders by incorporating social and environmental considerations in products and promotions.

          Different means to Adopt Unethical Practices In Marketing

Accuracy in text or advertising:- sometimes goods on the market are not worth buying.online marketing often uses photography and writing techniques to mislead.

Under delivering and over charging:- When you don’t deliver the full order or charge exorbitant prices, you are very likely to turn off customers. Many marketers adopt the unethical practice of promising the customers a lot of things within a package. 

Doctoring:-  Photos or using photos that are not authentic representations. Most people expect professional photographers and videographers to make the most of lighting and close-ups.

       Some recent examples of Unethical Practice by the Company

An increasing trend these days is diet drinks, some of which are lower in calories than regular soft drinks or even calorie-free altogether. However, just because these drinks have the label “diet” on them, does not mean that you should jump to the conclusion that they are healthier for you.

Loaded with aspartame, cyclamates and saccharin, artificial sweeteners in diet drinks have been determined to cause cancer in laboratory animals. Diet Coke is an example of unethical marketing where the company, Coca Cola is making false advertising claims. One particular marketing campaign that Coca Cola launched was endorsed by karl Lagerfeld, the Chanel designer who claimed to have lost 80 pounds on a diet composed mainly of Diet Coke. Karl says “I drink Diet Coke from the minute I get up to the minute I go to bed … I drink nothing else.”

Targeted towards women, Diet Coke has become an ultimate fashion trend with a world-renown fashion designer as the face of the product. Since inception of the product 30 years ago, Diet Coke cans have been showing up in “every model and celebrity’s manicured hand.”

By using stick thin models and fashion designers who are obsessed with body image only makes the situation worse because it is giving women, especially young women, the wrong message. They are being told that obsessive dieting is acceptable and that Diet Coke is the key to being thin and beautiful. This is very detrimental to young girls as it has negative impacts on their self-esteem and body image.

Coca Cola should not be using Karl Lagerfeld’s radical dieting ways as a means of promoting their product. Rather, they should limit such extreme statements and use regular everyday people in their ads so as not to give the wrong message about Diet Coke being directly correlated to a “healthy” body.