Unit III

PHI 6301, Professional Ethics 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit III Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Analyze the application of ethical principles to business. 1.1 Determine the need to study ethics in business. 1.2 Explain a contribution that a current article has made to the knowledge of business ethics.

5. Analyze ethical obligations related to consumer protection.

5.1 Examine an ethical issue involved in product pricing. 5.2 Analyze the strategy of target marketing.

7. Critique the ethical approaches used in contemporary business marketing techniques.

7.1 Assess a contribution to knowledge regarding targeted marketing ethics.

Required Unit Resources Chapter 8: Marketing Ethics: Product Safety and Pricing Chapter 9: Marketing Ethics: Advertising and Digital Marketing

Unit Lesson One of the most complex issues in business is how to apply philosophical ethical principles to business marketing. Hence, much of this lesson will demonstrate how ethical theory can be applied to the marketing arena. Marketing involves responding to the needs of the consumer, which can sometimes conflict with ethics. Consumers frequently find false advertising or price gauging problematic. We all have heard terrible things in relation to pressure selling, false advertising, or even discriminatory pricing practices (Nantel & Weeks, 1996). According to Nantel and Weeks, joint authors of a paper called Marketing Ethics, is there more to it than the utilitarian approach? As one may gather from the readings and assignments completed so far in the course, applying the concept of ethics in business is in business is often complex and difficult. In the context of business marketing, normative ethics falls into the following three categories:

• The virtue ethics approach which focuses on the moral character or goodness of individuals involved in the transaction process,

• the utilitarian approach which endeavors to produce the least amount of negative value or greatest amount of positive value for those individuals affected by the transaction process, and

• the deontological approach which does not examine the consequences of the transaction, but rather the way in which the transaction has been performed (Nantel & Weeks, 1996).

For this lesson, we will focus on the latter two approaches to marketing ethics. It is important to discuss some aspects of the deontological approach to ethics in the context of marketing. Deriving from Kant’s categorical imperative (Kant, 1993), the deontological approach to marketing says an action or practice is ethical if all individuals would follow the same moral principle. In marketing, for example, the transaction between a buyer and seller could include the promise by the seller to be honest, respectful, and trustful in relation to the buyer, not treating the latter as a means for outrageously high profit, but rather as an end, valuable in themselves. By doing so, the dignity, well-being, and humanity of the individuals involved

UNIT III STUDY GUIDE

Consumer Protection and Marketing Ethics

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in the transaction of the commodity would be preserved. Hence, this approach to ethics is based upon the more fundamental premise not to treat a person as a means to an end, but rather as an end in and of themselves (Kant, 1993). One could make the claim the definition of marketing is a type of engagement aimed at satisfying the desires and needs of an exchange between two parties. What is most striking about this definition is its appeal to the utilitarian model of ethical theory. Since the aim of marketing is the satisfaction of consumer needs, one would accordingly assume it is indeed utilitarian. A utilitarian would make the claim an action is only ethical if it maximizes the largest sum of positive consequences for the largest sum of people while simultaneously minimizing the negative consequences for the least sum of people (Nantel & Weeks, 1996). However, a contrary claim against utilitarianism utilized in marketing is given as an example in the case of sea salt. On the one hand, it is true that sea salt is a commodity responding to a gustatory need, though what about the medical effects it produces? How do modes of marketing and production of sea salt benefit the largest sum of people when nearly half of adults in America have hypertension because of high sodium intake (Nantel & Weeks, 1996)? Many managers appear to justify marketing practices based on a utilitarian outlook and assume their activities in the process are ethical. What often underlies this premise is that they take for granted a utilitarian approach to ethical theory (Nantel & Weeks, 1996). One approach that could make business marketing more ethical is to subscribe to a deontological approach rather than assuming a utilitarian approach to marketing. This is where a prima facie duties approach to marketing could come into play. Although DesJardins (2024) had touched upon prima facie duties in relation to marketing in this unit’s introduction, it would be beneficial to examine and elaborate upon this approach with more depth. W.D. Ross was a twentieth-century analytic philosopher who coined the expression “prima facie duties.” Prima facie duties are quite similar in some ways to Kant’s deontology (Kant, 1993). Prima facie is a Latin phrase that literally means “at first sight”. Ross had in mind the following duties toward human beings:

• gratitude,

• honesty,

• justice,

• self-improvement,

• charity, and

• not to harm others. Additionally, Ross claimed an action was ethical if it adhered to each of the duties given above. Nantel and Weeks claim the above duties are conducive to and may be aptly applied to the management arena of marketing actions and transactions (Nantel & Weeks, 1996). To give a few examples of how Ross’ prima facie duties could be implemented in the management arena of marketing, consider the following:

• The duty towards gratitude suggests one should consider the gratitude they have towards others that have treated them well. An example of how this duty would be violated is when a manager tells an employee of unexpected policy changes with respect to workload or productivity requirements, raising such requirements nearly out of reach for the employee to maintain during normal working hours of a given week (Nantel & Weeks, 1996).

• The duty to honesty means one should honor one’s word and keep promises with respect to the products sold to the consumer. False or misleading advertising or not honoring a warranty, however, would clearly violate this ethical duty (Nantel & Weeks, 1996).

• The duty not to harm others could imply the manager of employees should not place the latter in any types of harmful or dangerous situations (Nantel & Weeks, 1996). How often do we hear about workers being hurt on the job as a result of employer negligence?

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The list of examples implementing Ross’ prima facie duties set into the management arena of marketing and the transaction process could in fact be endless. The above examples are merely just a few of the ways in which this could be done. Although marketing ethics is a difficult and complex topic, there are ways it can be approached so that all individuals in marketing management and the transaction process could be benefited. One way to do this would be to implement Ross’ prima facie duties into the marketing arena.

References DesJardins, J. (2024). An introduction to business ethics (7th ed.). McGraw-

Hill. https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781265678449 Freepik. (n.d.). Hand drawn business ethics (Illustration). https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/hand-drawn-

business- ethics_11189389.htm#query=business%20philosophy&position=12&from_view=search&track=ais

Kant, Immanuel. (1993). Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. (J. Ellington, Trans.) Hackett Publishing

Company. (Original Work published 1785) Nantel, J., & Weeks, W. A. (1996). Marketing ethics: Is there more to it than the utilitarian

approach? European Journal of Marketing, 30(5), 9-19.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090569610118713

Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. The following paper examines how marketing ethics and social responsibility research are in need of a new direction(s), especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Issues for areas of future research is also touched upon. Ferrell, O. C., & Ferrell, L. (2021). New directions for marketing ethics and social responsibility

research. Business Source Ultimate 29(1), 13-22. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dire ct=true&db=bsu&AN=149149279&site=ehost-live&scope=site

The article below provides a research agenda in relation to fake news and the ethical issues confronting marketing research. Speculation is given on future areas/avenues of endeavor.

Di Domenico, G., & Visentin, M. (2020). Fake news or true lies? Reflections about problematic contents in marketing. Business Source Ultimate 62(4), 409- 417. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx ?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=144617809&site=ehost-live&scope=siteDiscussion