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    Principles of Islamic Business Ethics (MS 1111) Essay

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    joanksp
    This document discusses marketing and advertising ethics from an Islamic perspective. It begins by defining marketing and advertising, noting that marketing involves a mix of activities to meet customer needs while advertising brings products and services to customers' attention. From an Islamic view, marketing and advertising should adhere to Shariah guidelines by being truthful, avoiding exaggeration, and not exploiting groups. All aspects of the marketing process, from research to pricing, should be implemented ethically. While Islam does not prohibit these tools, there are guidelines around integrating Islamic values of transparency, fairness and goodness.

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    Principles of Islamic Business Ethics (MS 1111) Essay

    Uploaded by

    joanksp
    112 views5 pages
    This document discusses marketing and advertising ethics from an Islamic perspective. It begins by defining marketing and advertising, noting that marketing involves a mix of activities to meet customer needs while advertising brings products and services to customers' attention. From an Islamic view, marketing and advertising should adhere to Shariah guidelines by being truthful, avoiding exaggeration, and not exploiting groups. All aspects of the marketing process, from research to pricing, should be implemented ethically. While Islam does not prohibit these tools, there are guidelines around integrating Islamic values of transparency, fairness and goodness.

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    Islamic Business ethics homework done in Sem 2, Yr1

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    IBE 2

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    This document discusses marketing and advertising ethics from an Islamic perspective. It begins by defining marketing and advertising, noting that marketing involves a mix of activities to meet customer needs while advertising brings products and services to customers' attention. From an Islamic view, marketing and advertising should adhere to Shariah guidelines by being truthful, avoiding exaggeration, and not exploiting groups. All aspects of the marketing process, from research to pricing, should be implemented ethically. While Islam does not prohibit these tools, there are guidelines around integrating Islamic values of transparency, fairness and goodness.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    112 views5 pages

    Principles of Islamic Business Ethics (MS 1111) Essay

    Uploaded by

    joanksp
    This document discusses marketing and advertising ethics from an Islamic perspective. It begins by defining marketing and advertising, noting that marketing involves a mix of activities to meet customer needs while advertising brings products and services to customers' attention. From an Islamic view, marketing and advertising should adhere to Shariah guidelines by being truthful, avoiding exaggeration, and not exploiting groups. All aspects of the marketing process, from research to pricing, should be implemented ethically. While Islam does not prohibit these tools, there are guidelines around integrating Islamic values of transparency, fairness and goodness.

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    Kiung Siang Ping 06B1127

    Principles of Islamic Business Ethics (MS 1111) Essay

    5. Write an essay on marketing and advertising ethics from Islamic perspective.

    Businesses in today’s ever-changing market face incredible competition from


    their counterparts for market shares. More often than not, businesses are forced to come
    up with various company strategies to keep up with the pace of the market and survive in
    the market. There are many integral components within these strategies, but for some
    businesses, the marketing and advertising strategies are perhaps the most important ones.
    Consequently, the ethics on these marketing and advertising strategies are scrutinized
    under many perspectives, including from the Islamic point of view.

    First and foremost, marketing and advertising has a need to be defined in detail.
    The two terms are widely mistaken to have the same meaning, whereas they are actually
    different-but also similar in some ways. Advertising can be deciphered as bringing a good
    or service to the attention of a customer through the use of persuasive messages. Different
    products will have different qualities being highlighted on which results in different
    advertising plans for each product. Typical advertising tools are television or radio
    commercials, brochures, direct mailings, e-mail messages, signboards, etc.

    Marketing is the planning and implementation of a mix of activities involved in


    making sure that the business is continuing to meet the needs of customers and getting
    value in return. Marketing can also be described as a pie that contains advertising, market
    research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer
    support, sales strategy, and community involvement. All of the components must not only
    work independently but also collaborate together to make the final goal a success.
    Marketing is a tedious and long process that often requires long research hours. However,
    if a marketing plan succeeds then a business has a higher chance of generating higher
    sales and retaining customer loyalty.

    From the Islamic perspective, marketing and advertising practices that adhere to
    Shari’ah guidelines can lead to a raise in the standards of businesses conducted
    worldwide. Not only will the customer benefit from the truthfulness and respect shown
    by ethical businesses, businesses will also benefit from gaining customer trust. In reality,
    many businesses are only beginning to realize the importance of ethics in these two
    aspects in the wake of complaints from consumers and institutions regarding
    advertisement fraud. A more recent of one such case would be blackcurrant cordial
    Ribena claiming to contain four times as much Vitamin C as oranges when in actually
    fact the drink does not contain any detectable hint of Vitamin C. The company now faces
    charges of fraud and misleading consumers with false advertisements.

    It is hence important for businesses to practice ethical marketing and advertising


    strategies while promoting their products. From the Shari’ah perspective, there is a need
    for businesses to be aware at all times to observe the Shari’ah standard based on the Five
    Shari’ah Values. The five values are obligatory, recommended, reprehensible, prohibited
    and permissible. Marketing and advertisement campaigns should always be based on
    these values to ensure that there is a standard which the business is qualifying.

    Businesses should also be wary of anything doubtful as well as prohibited. This


    can be clarified on the principle of “seeking halal is a duty, not an option”. A Hadith that
    sounds:
    On the authority of Abu ‘abdullah Nu’man the son of al-Bashir (RA) who said: I heard
    the Messenger of Allah (SAW) say:
    That which is lawful (halal) is plain and that which unlawful (haram) is plain and
    between the two of them are doubtful (shubhah) matters about which not many people
    know. Thus, whosoever avoids doubtful matters clears himself in regards to their
    religion and honour. But he who falls into doubtful falls into which is unlawful, like the
    shepherd who pastures around a sanctuary, all but grazing therein. Truly every king has
    a sanctuary and truly Allah’s sanctuary is His Prohibitions. Truly in the body there is a
    morsel of flesh which, if it be healthy, all the body is healthy and which, if it be
    diseased, all of it is diseased. Truly it is the heart (soul)”.

    [Bukhari and Muslim]

    This shows that all that is doubtful and prohibited should be avoided in order for
    one to remain that of goodness.

    Shari’ah values also encourage businesses to adhere to the principle of “the end
    cannot justify the means”. This means that, for however good the end product of a
    business transaction is intended to be, the process or means of going through with the
    transaction should also be good and just. There should be no justification for a rotten
    means or process to generate a good end product. Profits that are donated to charity are
    bad if they are obtained using unlawful means. Henceforth businesses are encouraged to
    pursue ethical marketing and advertising by applying the Shari’ah Parameters. This
    means that businesses also need to ensure that there is transparency, accuracy and
    prevents any element of cheating and misrepresentation in advertisement at all times.
    Many classic examples of unethical advertising appear in slimming advertisements or
    detergent advertisements. Businesses should not resort to exaggeration, overstatement
    and false gimmick in advertisements or packaging. On the other hand, if there is a need to
    let consumers know about the good qualities of the product, the information should be
    put on the packaging or displayed clearly, although not exaggeratedly. Useful information
    such as the ‘Halal’ certification of a product should be put on the label of a product.

    Goodness, virtues and meritorious qualities such as honesty should be blended into
    advertisements to create some awareness to people of these qualities. Also, the Islamic
    perspective urges businesses to take meticulous care of sensitive issues that are related to
    religion, culture, language as well as that of gender. Islam frowns upon the portrayal of
    women as the weaker gender. ‘Healthy’ and legitimate techniques are encouraged without
    any exploitation of women, children and under privileged group while advertising
    products. Not only is the exploitation of these groups discouraged under Shari’ah
    guidelines, it is also in some countries illegal to exhibit women, children and under
    privileged people as victims in advertisements. There are also many pressure groups that
    demand for equal treatment of all groups, which makes it difficult for businesses when
    devising marketing and advertising campaigns. Lastly, businesses are to leverage on
    existing best practices which are harmonious to the tenets of the Shari’ah.

    Consecutively, the marketing process has many components within it. These
    components, other than advertising, need to be planned and implemented ethically too.
    For instance, market research for a product needs to be conducted thoroughly to ensure
    that the data are correct. Some businesses take the fast route to reduce the time needed to
    conduct research. It would not be ethical to present inaccurate data to consumers based
    on the Islamic perspective on ethics. Media planning and public relations would also need
    to be implemented carefully, for any flaw might lead to accusations on false gimmicks or
    exaggerations on products.

    Product pricing poses as an important part of marketing. This is because the price
    of a product can generate reactions from the market as well as the customers. Predatory
    pricing or using price as a competitive weapon to force competitors out of the market is
    prohibited. Businesses must not abuse their market power by restricting profit for other
    people. The business must be considerate and exhibit the goodness as according to
    Islamic teachings.

    Essentially, Islam does not prohibit the use of marketing and advertising as tools
    to generate sales for a business. There are, however, some guidelines that one should
    follow through while planning and implementing these tools to ensure that Islamic ethical
    values are integrated and implemented well. The growing global market for businesses
    means that there will be even goods and services vying for the consumers’ attention.
    More marketing and advertising will have to be put into action and it would ultimately
    depend on the consumers themselves to determine the quality, worth in addition to the
    ethical level of the marketing and advertisements campaigns portrayed by businesses.
    References:

     [Marketing vs. Advertising: What's the Difference?]-


    http://marketing.about.com/cs/advertising/a/marketvsad.htm

     [Schoolgirls rumble Ribena claims]-


    http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2043450,00.html

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