Question

Recognize unethical and irresponsible consumer behavior and marketing practices.

Answer 1

To be socially responsible is when the organization is concerned about people, society and environment with whom and where it conducts business. In it’s most basic form, socially responsible marketing is taking moral actions that encourage a positive impact on all the company’s stakeholders, including employees, community, consumers, and shareholders. The main responsibility of marketers in this aspect is to package and communicate the organization’s decisions that will impact the various communities with which they interact. Consumers have the right and power to decide which companies succeed or fail; so marketers have a major responsibility to ensure their practices are seen as philanthropic without being phony.

Social scientists have presented different lists of what constitutes areas of social responsibility :

1. Increasing the efficiency of marketing operations, so as to lower distribution cost and selling prices.
2. Properly interpreting and anticipating consumer demand
3. Refusing to do business with unethical suppliers
4. Reducing the marketing problems of low income consumers
5. Increasing product safety
6. Minimizing defective products
7. Developing more informative packaging and labelling
8. Supporting consumer education
9. Supporting the cause of social justice
10. Reducing environmental pollution and hazards
11. Maximizing long-run profits
12. Maximizing job content and satisfaction for the workers
13. Participating in community welfare and improvement
14. Efficient (or economic) use of energy and natural resources
15. Removing all forms of discrimination against women, old people and minority groups.
16. Instituting a programme for hiring and training the disadvantaged and the unemployed.

SIGNS OF UNETHICAL AND SOCIALLY IRRESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOUR

It is simple to say that once a behaviour is against acceptable business and social norms, it is unethical and socially irresponsible Marketers/salespersons should watch their behaviours if

• Customers complain against such behaviour
• The company is not happy with the behaviour
• It causes ripples in professional circles
• It causes increased customers and or society resistance.
• It leads to warnings and or sanctions from the company, professional bodies or government
• It leads to protests and boycott of the company products by the consumers
• It increases or causes an uncomfortable level of consumer activism or consumerism

CONSEQUENCES OF UNETHICAL AND SOCIALLY IRRESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR

Consequences of serious dissatisfaction on the part of the customer, consumers and the society at large are better imagined than experienced. Salesperson must remember that marketing cannot survive without two factors: ​

1. Customer attraction
2. Customer retention

However, customer retention is more critical than customer attraction. That is why we say that marketing survives on the Oliver Twist syndrome, “Always asking for more” (Adirika, 1997) Kotler and Armstrong (2010) summarised the consequences of unethical and socially irresponsible behaviour of salesperson or marketers as follows:-

• Dissatisfied customers or consumers
• Dissatisfied society and government
• Loss of business
• Loss of market share
• Damage to company’s image
• Loss of goodwill
• Increase in consumerism or consumer activism
• Legal actions
• Sanctions
• Possible business failure