Ethical Considerations in Marketing: Facebook & Coca-Cola Analysis

This report delves into the ethical considerations within the marketing communication strategies of Facebook and Coca-Cola. It examines the application of integrated marketing communication (IMC) and the importance of ethical practices, honesty, and transparency in building consumer trust. The report highlights specific ethical concerns faced by both companies, including privacy issues and data security challenges for Facebook, as well as misleading advertising, environmental impact, and labeling information problems for Coca-Cola. The analysis covers the use of deceptive advertising, unrealistic content, and the importance of providing reliable information. Recommendations are provided to address these issues, emphasizing the need for ensuring consumer privacy, accurate advertising, and transparency in all marketing efforts to maintain ethical standards and build strong relationships with consumers.

INDIVIDUAL PORTFOLIO

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

Table of Figures
Figure 1 Elements of Marketing Communication mix.................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION
Now-a-days, with the internationalization of business operations and stiff competition in
the corporate world, marketing plays an inevitable role in the corporate success. Effective
marketing strategies and tactics can bring establishment to a high level of success; however, poor
marketing even with high quality products may be a reason for corporate failure. Marketing
Communication (MarCom) is regarded as a procedure of planning, developing, integrating and
implementing distinctive or diverse kind of marketing techniques so as to boost sales & business
return (Goebel and Weißenberger, 2017). Ethics in MarCom comprises marketers conduct
pertaining to the advertising and other marketing practices i.e. homesty, integrity, virtue and
others so as to not mislead the actual users and build consumer trust. Facebook is a leading
multinational business based in America whereas Coca-Cola delivers different carbonated soft
drinks to the consumers. The thrust of the current research is to investigate Ethical issues in the
marketing communication practices of Facebook & Coca-Cola.
MAIN BODY
According to the views of Schlegelmilch. and Öberseder (2010), Integrated marketing
Communication (IMC) comprises different means that marketers uses to convey information
about their products and services to the consumers spreaded all over the world. In today’s era, it
is important for the companies to successful advertise and promote their delivering in the market
so as to convey essential messages to their consumers using varied means i.e. print media,
television, direct e-mail, personal selling, online advertisement, social-media marketing and
others. The main focus of the company’s marketing planning is to persuade customers to buy the
offerings.
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Figure 1 Elements of Marketing Communication mix
[Source: Marketing communication, 2014]
Targeting different consumer segments is vulnerable in designing marketing
communication mix of the enterprise and raise ethical consideration. Using different words,
phrases to make advertisement effective and attractive is very common in the real world.
However, providing misleading and misstating information, facts and figures to the consumers
may lose consumer trust & faith and cause legal issues. Goebel and Weißenberger (2017),
defined ethical marketing as a process of applying or incorporating marketing ethics in the
integrated marketing and promotional mix of the enterprise. The focus of the marketing ethics is
to promote fairness, honesty, trustiness, credibility and responsibility in varied forms of
promotional techniques. However, on the other side, Singhapakdi and et.al., (2013), presented
that ethical marketing is a philosophy that informs about all marketing conducts and efforts of an
enterprise. It comprises values or morals and business conduct regarding marketing activities.
Despite this, in the study of Edmusan (2015), American Marketing Association (AMA)’s
ethics statement presented that marketers need to employ such marketing policies and strategies
that do not harm users, embrace ethical value and foster trust. It comprises various ethical
aspects such as honesty, truth and fairness, respect, responsibility and transparency as well. It is
essential for the marketers to incorporate ethical principles & values in their promotional plan i.e.
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advertisement, sales promotion, personal selling, point-of-sale, public relations and others to
make sure socially responsible as well as culturally sensitive communication.
Carrington, Neville and Whitwell (2010) enlightened number of ethical concerns in the
marketing practices of the entity i.e. untruthful and misleading information, deceptive
advertisement, stereotypical & persuasive advertisement. In the advertisement, Puffery is
regarded as use of vague or subjective statement which is not actually true. However, deception
refers to the consumer believe in false information. Hartman and Hartman (2016), demonstrated
that now-a-days, companies also appeal consumer through online advertisement although it
significntlay contributed to attract larger audience base from all over the world, still, it resulted
several ethical concerns i.e. breach of privacy & confidentiality aspects, spam, lack of
transparency and so forth. In despite of this, Broni, Velentzas and Papapanagos (2017), noted
that in the branding, there is a possibility of providing material misstatement and unauthentic
information to the consumers and raises ethical issues.
Referring online social media company, Facebook, it is appealing its global audiences
using different marketing mediums i.e. advertisement, print media, online advertisement and
others. Palmer (2017), presented that in the digitalized age, Facebook is connected with the
multi-billion users through its social-media presence. However, at the same time, it also raise
privacy concern ethical problems for the company. SMM proven as a successful effort made by
the marketers to promote their offerings, still Facebook has received lots of criticism just due to
lack of privacy concerns for the target audiences. Now-a-days, privacy & confidentiality of the
personal information gains considerable importance for the user in technological age, thus, it is
an ethical issue that Facebook is facing currently because hackers are extracting private
information of the social media users for their personal benefits (Aguirre and et.al., 2017). Thus,
just making a promise to the user of not spamming is considered enough and marketers must take
initiatives to ensure proper safety & confidentiality concerns for the user. They must request
permission from the user before data collection and follow data protection legislation to keep
user data confidential.
Besides this, showing true, valid, reliable and prudent information is also necessary so as
to not harm or mislead the final users otherwise it may lose consumer trust and faith in the
organization. Therefore, honesty is an issue raised for the Facebook which makes it essential for
the company to focus on the validity and truthfulness of information placed on social-media
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platform to boost their sales. In addition to this, privacy concerns came into force with the
evolution of Consumer Relationship Management (CRM) programme. The strategy is based on
collection of consumer specific information. Although, the focus of Facebook’s CRM strategy is
to deliver benefit to the user, still, there are ethical issues exist regarding the quantum of data
gathered about consumers. Apart from this, Goebel and Weißenberger (2017) reported that
irresponsible & unrealistic content-specific information conveyed to the user breach the
principles of ethical marketing in the Facebook’s IMC. Many-times, social-media marketers
places unauthentic content and material misstated information to mislead users and thereby
encourage them to buy the item by violating the ethnicity aspect. It negatively affects its brand
image and market reputation and lose consumer faith & trust in the company.
However, on the other side, lack of transparency in the marketing communication also
results in violating ethical aspect of marketing. Thus, being transparent is a key essential for the
Facebook to consider ethical aspect. Siems, Bruton and Moosmayer (2010), stated that in today’s
period, continued rise of mobile technology make it as a key affiliate marketing trend for the
establishments to advertise their delivering. Besides this, it is an ethical responsibility for the
marketers to not disclose inaccurate & misleading information to the consumer regarding data
collection, warehousing and protection (Rubin. 2015). Facebook allegedly allowed all the users
to access photos & videos even after deleted their account. In this regard, Federal authority stated
that Facebook needs to obtain privacy affirmative consent statement prior to overriding privacy
settings of customer accounts. Moreover, it is the liability of the company to not misrepresent
data security and privacy aspect of the information through implementing a comprehensive data
security programme and auditing initiatives.
Another selected organization, Coca-Cola serves their drinks in more than 130 countries
all over the world with having 44% market share. It is highly committed towards maintaining
ethical responsibilities towards the community in all the nations and across different marketing
channels. As per the study of Staff (2017), it follows responsible marketing, more importantly,
for the marketing to children under the age of 12 years. It do not advertise those products and
delivering which targets children who are below 16 years. It means that if 25% of the overall
audiences are under 16, then such brands ads are not placed on TV, print-media, social-media
platform and print media as well.
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It excessively promote their items in their product portfolio through TV ads thus, content
reliability and trustworhiness is the main ethical concern for the company. It is essential for its
marketing manager to make sure that users are conveyed with highly realistic and trustworthy
information to not lose their trust and faith in the organization otherwise it may have a significant
impact on its brand reputation. Moreover, company is striving to maintain health & safety need
of the people by adhering with the health & safety laws.
Besides this, Trefis (2015), Coca-cola is extremely facing environmental issues in their
marketing practices due to harmful impact on the environment such as wastage, improper
disposal and others. Company also mislead their target consumers by advertising unrealistic and
misleading content. Evidencing the same, Coca-Cola has mislead their users in 2015 by
suggesting an apple-flavoured soft drink named Sidral Mundet containing 60 gms in 600 ml. It
advert the product with the slogan “with pasteurized juice” & “with Apple Juice” and printed
juicy apple slice images across billboards, vens and bus stops in Mexico. It also placed more than
70 videos on YouTube. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accused the company on the basis
of intentional misleading the customers regarding content. At the same time, authority also
accused the organization due to the use of term pasteurized which was actually applied for fruit
juice not sodas. Profeco asked the company to clarify that how much apple – juice the drink
contained and also clearly explain the use of the term pasteurized (Coca-Cola’s irresponsible
marketing, 2016).
In addition to this, labelling information printed on the product, packaging graphics,
packaging safety and environmental implications are several ethical issues of Coca-Cola’’s
marketing communication. FDA alleged the company in July 2015 regarding its advertisement
that stated that it’s artificially sweetened soda that mitigate, prevent or treat obesity which is not
actually true. Coca-cola’s news release announced that its low-calorie or no-calorie containing
drinks helps audiences to fight obesity however, there was no evidence of such statement. In
addition to this, it has been reported that US based Science Public Interest claimed the company
to reduce the amount of cancer causing chemical substance in the drinks because the level of 4
methylimidizole was reported above the acceptable limit in Kenya and raises the possibility of
cancer risk for the user.
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CONCLUSION
From the carried investigation, it becomes clear that marketers has to consider ethical
aspects before designing their promotional mix plans and integrated marketing communication
programes. The report founded varied ethical aspects i.e. honesty, integrity, transparency,
privacy, truthfulness and others so as to provide authentic and reliable content to the public about
their offerings and do not mislead users just to promote their sales. The outcome of the study
inferred that unrealistic & misleading content, packaging graphics, environmental wastage,
labelling information are the main ethical issues faced by the Coca-Cola in their marketing mix.
However, Facebook mainly faced privacy & data safety & security issues of the personal data of
the user and breach or violation of data safety resulted public criticism.
RECOMMENDATIONS
 Privacy should not be compromised in any way, therefore, it is the main responsibility of
both the Facebook and Coca-Cola to ensure proper safety of private or confidential
information of the consumer so as to maintain ethnicity in their integrated marketing
communication.
 Reliable, authentic, valid and correct information in the advertisement placed either at
website or in TV ads, print media, newspaper and other marketing channel is also
essential in order to deliver correct information to the public and do not mislead them. It
will help the entity to build trust and faith among the public and foster sound relationship
with the user.
 All the information must be transparent and credible for the user and provide them
accurate information about their product contents, characteristics and features so that
buyers can obtain authentic information and make prudent buying decisions. Company do
not publish any false information without any evidence and factual information to the
buyers otherwise it will result in violation or breach of the ethical principle or conduct.
By showing true and authentic information to the existing as well as prospective
consumers, both the company’s marketing experts will be able to foster trustworthy
information and sound relationship with the buyers, which in turn, build sound corporate
image and market reputation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aguirre, G., and et.al., 2017. Teaching ethics to marketing and logistics majors: A transformative
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Broni, G., Velentzas, J. and Papapanagos, H., 2017. Marketing Ethics and Communication
Strategy in the Case of Enron Fraud. In Advances in Applied Economic Research.
Springer, Cham. pp. 269-278.
Carrington, M. J., Neville, B. A. and Whitwell, G. J., 2010. Why ethical consumers don’t walk
their talk: Towards a framework for understanding the gap between the ethical purchase
intentions and actual buying behaviour of ethically minded consumers. Journal of
Business Ethics. 97(1). pp.139-158.
Goebel, S. and Weißenberger, B. E., 2017. The relationship between informal controls, ethical
work climates, and organizational performance. Journal of Business Ethics. 141(3).
p.505.
Hartman, A. E. and Hartman, A. E., 2016. Transparency of hope: Ethical issues in marketing
cross border reproductive care: a multi-region content analysis of clinic websites.
Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 34(7). pp.943-963.
Inoue, A., 2016, July. GENDER DIFFERENCES IN CONSUMING FOOD PRODUCTS
BASED ON ETHICAL ISSUES. In 2016 Global Marketing Conference at Hong Kong.
(pp. 1625-1628).
Palmer, D. E., 2017. Conceptions and Misconceptions of Virtue in Marketing. In Handbook of
Virtue Ethics in Business and Management. Springer Netherlands. (pp. 1027-1035).
Schlegelmilch, B. B. and Öberseder, M., 2010. Half a century of marketing ethics: Shifting
perspectives and emerging trends. Journal of Business Ethics. 93(1). pp.1-19.
Siems, F. U., Bruton, J. and Moosmayer, D. C., 2010. Integrating core marketing ethical values
into relationship marketing. Journal of Relationship Marketing. 9(2). pp.68-82.
Singhapakdi, A., and et.al., 2013. The influence of love of money and religiosity on ethical
decision-making in marketing. Journal of Business Ethics. pp.1-9.
Online
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Coca-Cola’s irresponsible marketing. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/companystories.aspx?
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http://smallbusiness.chron.com/ethics-marketing-communication-40554.html>.
[Accessed on 29th June 2017].
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Rubin. K., 2015. Ethical issues in Marketing. [Online]. Available through: <
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Staff, J., 2017. [Online]. Responsible Marketing. [Online]. Available through: <
http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/about-us/responsible-marketing>. [Accessed on 29th June
2017].
Trefis, 2015. Coca Cola’s advertisement and Marketing Efforts. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/09/26/coca-colas-advertising-and-
marketing-efforts-are-helping-it-to-stay-on-top/#20aa465028d7>. [Accessed on 29th June
2017].
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