Ethics in Advertising and

Marketing

Abhilash Gowda
Adarsh Prabhu
Gowtham Reddy
Aarti Kulkarni
Charan D
Dhrupad M
Aravind Aliveli
Chitra TK
Ajmal

Presenting By:

ETHICS
IN

MARTEKING
What is ethics?


Ethics is the art and science of determining
good and bad or right and wrong moral
behavior.

What is MARKETING?


Marketing is the
science and art of exploring, creating,
and delivering value to satisfy the needs
of a target market at a profit.

Marketing Ethics:

Marketing ethics is an area
that deals with the moral
principles behind
marketing. Ethics in
marketing applies to
different spheres such as in
product, pricing, Placing
(Distribution), promotion &
advertising etc...

Why we need Ethics in Marketing?

We can give many reasons but will notify some:
When an organization behaves ethically,
customers develop more positive attitudes
about the firm, its products, and its services.
To create Values or trust with key
stakeholders
To build good image about the organization
in the minds of customer, employees,
shareholders and the society.
Unethical practices in marketing - examples

Lack of clarity in pricing
Dumping
Price fixing cartels
Encouraging people to claim prizes when they phoning premium
rate numbers
Bait and switch selling
High pressure selling
Counterfeit goods and brand piracy
Copying the style of packaging in an attempt to mislead consumers
Deceptive advertising
Irresponsible issue of credit cards and the irresponsible raising of
credit limits
Unethical practices in market research and competitor intelligence
Unethical practices relating to products - examples

Selling goods
abroad which are
banned at home
Omitting to
provide
information on
side effects
Unsafe products
Built in
obsolescence
Wasteful and
unnecessary
packaging
Deception on size
and content
Inaccurate and
incomplete testing
of products
Treatment of
animals in product
testing
Advertising
In this era of globalization and deregulation,
advertising has acquired a new status.

As a matter of fact, advertising creates
employment opportunities, provides
information regarding the developments taking
place in the society, contributes to economic
growth, and provides information about
products and services available in the market
which helps in taking buying decisions.

HOW ETHICAL ISSUES ARISE IN
ADVERTISING
An advertisement of Nestle India Ltd (Maggie healthy
soup) claimed that Happy Heart Healthy Soup.
The claim created an impression that consumption of
Maggie soup leads to better heart and health, while
on testing by independent agency, it has been found
that it contains high levels of salt which releases
sodium into body which in turn, causes hypertension
and high blood pressure instead of good heart and
health.
Therefore, on complaint, ASCI declared the
advertisement as case of misleading by implication
and ambiguity. Therefore, Nestle India Ltd assured
ASCI to modify its advertisements.

Advertisement is considered unethical in the
following situations:
o When it has degraded or underestimated the
substitute or rival's product.
o When it gives false or misleading information
on the value of the product.
o When it fails to give useful information on the
possible reaction or side effects of the product. And
o When it is immoral.
Unethical advertising
Basic Principals of ADVERTISING
Decency
Honesty
Social Responsibility
Truthful presentation
Comparisons
Imitation
Safety and health
Avoidance of Harm
Environmental behavior
Surrogate advertising is prominently seen in cases
where advertising a particular product is banned by
law.

Advertisement for products like cigarettes or alcohol
which are injurious to heath are prohibited by law in
several countries and hence these companies have to
come up with several other products that might have
the same brand name and indirectly remind people of
the cigarettes or beer bottles of the same brand
Common

examples include: Fosters and Kingfisher beer brands,
which are often seen to promote their brand with the
help of surrogate advertising.
Puffery ADVERTISING
Puffery as a legal term refers to promotional
statements and claims that express subjective
rather than objective views, such that no
reasonable person would take literally.
A two-year old might believe that polar bears
enjoy sipping Coca-Cola, but we know better .
What do you think on this one? There are two instances of puffery
here: "Serving the Best" and the actual brand of "Seattle's Best."

Actually Starbucks is a leading Coffee manufacturing
company in SEATTLE. Even though they are leading coffee producers,
they cant advertise that, we are the best in Seattle.
Another one Serving the best.
EXAGGERATION
Using false claims in the advertisements about the
product.
For example:-Ghari detergent - Pehle Istemaal kare
phir vishvaas kare., Tide detergent White ho to
Tide ho., Vodafone Essar Wherever you go our
network follows.

White ho to
Tide ho.
One Drop Challenge Wherever you go our
network follows.
Unverified Claims
It includes advertisements of energy drinks which
tells us about the number of vitamins and how they
help children to grow strong and tall.
There is no way of verifying these false claims.
For example:-Horlicks, Maltova, Tiger biscuits.
WOMEN IN ADVERTISING
Women are generally associated with household works
and is not supposed to be a good decision maker which
contributes to women stereotyping.
Women stereotyping
Women shown as doing domestic work which
reflects stereotype image of women.
Women in advertising used as sex symbols
Axe dark temptation
Colgate Vs Pepsodent
Complan Vs Horlicks
Coca cola Vs Pepsi
Children in advertising
Children are easily
persuaded and have a
large pull on today's
markets, as is known by
all advertisers, even ones
who do not intend for
their products to be
consumed by children.

Children's TV Watching Behavior
Children ages 2-11
watch an average of
22 hours of TV per
week and see 30,000
commercials per year

80% of all advertising
targeted to children
falls in four
product categories:
Toys, cereal, candy &
fast food restaurants
Children and adolescents as target groups
The childrens market where resistance to advertising
is weakest is the pioneer for ad creep.
Kids are among the most sophisticated observers of ads.
They can sing the jingles and identify the logos,
and they often have strong feelings about products.
What they generally don't understand, however, are the
issues that underlie how advertising works.

Advocates Argue That Children:
Marketers Argue Children:
Lack the knowledge and skills
to evaluate advertising claims
Cannot differentiate
between programs and
commercials
Must learn through
socialization
Must acquire skills needed to
function in the marketplace
PERSPECTIVES ON ADS FOR CHILDREN
Newspaper ads
A wine bottle that is considered ethically wrong because the lorry may have to move
to certain places where drinking is unethical
AXE ADVERTISEMENT
Another Example of AXE a product of HUL, Vaibhav Bedi had
been using AXE Deodorant for the past seven years, but
didnt able to grab the girls attention.
Axe advertisements suggest that the products help men in
instantly attracting women.
In what could prove to be a major marketing and legal
embarrassment for Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a 26-
year-old man has filed a case against the FMCG company,
which owns the Axe brand of men grooming products, for
cheating and causing him mental suffering.
Vaibhav Bedi, the petitioner, also surrendered all his used,
unused and half-used deodorant sprays, perfume sticks and
roll-ons, anti-perspirants, aftershaves, body washes,
shampoos, and hair gels to the court, and demanded a
laboratory test of the products and narcotics test of the
brand managers of Axe
RECKITT BENCKISERS DETTOL KITCHEN AD
TAKES ON HULS VIM
Reckitt Benckiser, the launching commercial for
its Dettol Kitchen dishwashing and kitchen
cleaning gel shows rival Hindustan Unilevers Vim
dishwash liquid clearly, in a move that may
trigger a new advertising war between the two
European multinationals. Skirmishes between
the two firms have been veiled in the past,
although both have repeatedly taken each other
to court and advertising watchdog Advertising
Standards Council of India (ASCI).
Such ads gives a very strong message
psychologically that its not just another product
and they can compete with the market leader.
While HUL almost has a monopoly in the
segment, there could be more action now in an
otherwise dull segment, In general, the
consumer complaints council code allows ads to
show a rival brand as long as the claims made in
the ad are fact-based,. Reckitt Benckiser has
positioned Dettol Kitchen as a complete kitchen
cleaner, for use as a dish-washing gel and
cleaning other kitchen surfaces like sinks and
slabs.
Horlicks Vs Complan
The ad started with a scene inside the classroom
where the teacher is taking the attendance.
The teacher calls out " Calcium" then a group of
students raise their hands, then she calls out " Iron
" another group raises their hands.
Then the voice over talks about the deficiency of
nutrients seen in kids.
Then comes the critical part, a Doctor ( model)
comes to the picture and talks about 23 vital
nutrients that is necessary for the growth and
claims that these nutrients are present in HORLICKS.
Horlicks is trying to negate the core
differentiation of Complan .
Complan since its inception has been
harping on the 23 vital nutrients. Now
Horlicks is trying to create parity by claiming
the same property.
Complan has never been so aggressive and
blunt.


Rin Vs Tide
This is the first time that HUL has directly
compared Tide with Rin. The Ad even have the
tagline "Rin offers Better whiteness than Tide".
P&G has took HUL to court over this ad. This ad
was timed to coincide with the long weekend so
that HUL could play the ad before the Court
hearing.
Unethical Advertising in Case of RIN
Now the outcome of the ad war will be that HUL will
be retrained by ASCII or the Court from further
playing the ad .

It means that Rin had adapted an unethical means
against the competitor which will cause an
unwarranted blemish on the brand reputation.

Second outcome is that it will encourage Tide to be
more aggressive in the market. Tide now has been
officially and publically acknowledged as the
competitor for Rin.
Coke Vs Pepsi
Both made fun of their respective
advertisements. (Eg: Main Youngistaan se aaya
hun)
Pouching of Employees from both sides
Making fun of celebrities used in advertisement.
(Eg: Official Drink & Not an Official Drink)
Mostly in advertisement of Sprite & Mountain
Dew.

PROMOTION (ADVERTISING
&BRANDING)

Promotion is one of the four elements of
marketing mix (product, price, promotion, place).
It is the communication link between sellers and
buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing,
or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing
decision.
To present information to consumers as well as
others
To increase demand
To differentiate a product

Thank you