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Louise Ripley

 
Introductory Marketing
Marketing & Society
Chapter 3 Armstrong/ Kotler Marketing: An Introduction

Sustainable Marketing, Social Responsibility, and Ethics
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I.Sustainable Marketing
It's up to all of us, consumers and companies, to reach a more sensible way of consuming, socially and environmentally.

II. Social Criticisms of Marketing

Marketing's  Impact on Consumers

High Prices
Deceptive Practices
High Pressure Selling
Shoddy, Harmful, or Unsafe Products
Planned Obsolescence
Exercise
Obsolescence
Is it harder to sell products with built-in obsolescence on the Internet? (Another of those questions we don't have a  "correct" answer for) What do you think? 
Post your answer in the Moodle Discussion Group.

Marketing's Impact on Society as a Whole

Creating false wants and too much materialism
      (Recall the discussion of the difference between needs and wants
Too few social goods - making manufacturers pay money to correct things they cause, such as pollution
Cultural pollution

Marketing's Impact on Other Businesses
Mergers of huge companies into fewer and even bigger companies and acquisitions create barriers to entry that discourage healthy competition

Exercise
Impact on Society
Give some examples of "cultural pollution" from your own experience, from what you observe in your day-to-day living.
Post your answer in the Moodle Discussion Group.


III. Consumer Actions to Promote Sustainable Marketing

Consumer Activism

Environmentalism

Exercise - Plan
Environmentalism
Where in your Marketing Plan might you make room for some environmental concerns?
Post your answer in the Moodle Discussion Group.

Public Actions to Regulate Marketing


IV. Business Actions Toward Sustainable Marketing

Sustainable Marketing Principles

   Customer-Oriented Marketing
   Customer Value Marketing
   Sense-of-Mission Marketing
   Societal Marketing

Exercise
Marketing at Work
Read Marketing at Work 3.2. What are your feelings about companies that engage in this kind of social and community action? Is it out of genuine care for the community or just another way to increase sales?
Post your answer in the Moodle Discussion Group.

Marketing Ethics

Ethical Concerns
Three Possible Frameworks for Making Ethical Decisions:
Consequences Emphasizes considering what does the most good for the most people, or the least harm to the fewest people
Rules Emphasizes the rules in various forms from "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" all the way to specific laws, codes, ethical guidelines
Socio-Cultural Norms Emphasizes what is important in a particular culture as the guide to behaviour; this is especially important when dealing with international marketing issues

Realize that most business decisions will have an ethical component to them. Realize too that most business  people tend to be honest and ethical, at least on an individual basis. In making ethical decisions, you must at the very least consider each stakeholder and how they are affected, how they might react, and how that reaction might affect your outcomes. To begin to get an understanding of your own ethical frameworks, answer this question: 

Exercise
Ethical Frameworks
What is it in you which pushes you toward one of these three frameworks? Is your main concern net consequences, following the rules, or fitting in?  
Post your answer in the Moodle Discussion Group.

These problems are challenged by 

Consumerism  
consumers getting better educated and demanding better treatment
Exercise
Education
How has your increasing education in business helped you be a wiser consumer? (It's not guaranteed; I have a PhD in Marketing and I'm still a sucker for ads and sales).
Post your answer in the Moodle Discussion Group.
 Environmentalism
the organized movement to force our society to take a closer look at how we treat the physical world we live in
Enlightened Marketing
The best solution for any company in any kind of marketing, e-commerce or regular, is to make marketing decisions taking into consideration the best interests of consumers, the company, and society

Professional Marketing Ethics

Exercise
Professional Marketing Ethics
Check out the --> American Marketing Association's Code of Ethics ; what parts do you agree with? Are there any parts you would find difficult to agree to?
Post your answer in the Moodle Discussion Group.

A Marketing Ethics Exercise

Exercise
UnHip Fries
Answer the two questions in the UnHip Fries Case and post your answers to the Discussion Group.
Post your answer in the Moodle Discussion Group.

Other Units

Introduction Strategy Society Environments Research Buyers
Segmentation Product Price Place Promotion The Marketing Plan

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AP/ADMS 2200 3.0 Introductory Marketing
York University, Toronto
© M Louise Ripley, M.B.A., Ph.D.