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    M1A2 - The Dark Side of Marketing

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    1. Marketing can both create and satisfy consumer needs by planting ideas of need for products in consumers' minds and ensuring products meet consumer expectations. 2. The "dark side" of marketing is when it is used to deceive or mislead consumers, such as hiding negative product aspects or creating need for unnecessary products. 3. Three examples of companies that compromised ethics for profits are Kashi misleading consumers about "all natural" products, Airborne making unproven immune boosting claims, and Dannon making false digestion-boosting claims about Activia yogurt.

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    M1A2 - The Dark Side of Marketing

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    zb83
    299 views3 pages
    1. Marketing can both create and satisfy consumer needs by planting ideas of need for products in consumers' minds and ensuring products meet consumer expectations. 2. The "dark side" of marketing is when it is used to deceive or mislead consumers, such as hiding negative product aspects or creating need for unnecessary products. 3. Three examples of companies that compromised ethics for profits are Kashi misleading consumers about "all natural" products, Airborne making unproven immune boosting claims, and Dannon making false digestion-boosting claims about Activia yogurt.

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    Lists out the negatives associated with Marketing

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    1. Marketing can both create and satisfy consumer needs by planting ideas of need for products in consumers' minds and ensuring products meet consumer expectations. 2. The "dark side" of marketing is when it is used to deceive or mislead consumers, such as hiding negative product aspects or creating need for unnecessary products. 3. Three examples of companies that compromised ethics for profits are Kashi misleading consumers about "all natural" products, Airborne making unproven immune boosting claims, and Dannon making false digestion-boosting claims about Activia yogurt.

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    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    299 views3 pages

    M1A2 - The Dark Side of Marketing

    Uploaded by

    zb83
    1. Marketing can both create and satisfy consumer needs by planting ideas of need for products in consumers' minds and ensuring products meet consumer expectations. 2. The "dark side" of marketing is when it is used to deceive or mislead consumers, such as hiding negative product aspects or creating need for unnecessary products. 3. Three examples of companies that compromised ethics for profits are Kashi misleading consumers about "all natural" products, Airborne making unproven immune boosting claims, and Dannon making false digestion-boosting claims about Activia yogurt.

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    Examine whether marketing creates or satisfies consumer needs.

    Before I can start my examination of whether marketing creates or satisfies consumer needs, I believe it is very important to baseline and understand the definition of marketing. Within our text book, marketing is defined as, the identification, creation, communication, delivery, and monitoring of customer value. I, however, simply refer to marketing as the process of, not ONLY, creating value for any given product in the eyes of the consumer, but also, doing it better than the competition. Based on my understanding of marketing, I believe it does both; creates as well as satisfies consumer needs. Let me explain. The key point in my definition of marketing is creating value of any product in the eyes of the consumer. As a marketer, it is our responsibility to develop strategies to change the consumer perception by planting an idea of need, associated with our product, in their hearts. However, for this idea to grow, as marketers we also have to understand the consumer expectations of our product and ensure that these expectations are met. The bond between the consumer and a product can only sustain if the consumer can identify the product as their need along with knowing that if they do acquire this product, their needs will be satisfied. This relationship between the need and satisfaction creates the value of the product, which is what marketing is all about. Describe the dark side of marketing. We all have come to know marketing as a very powerful tool. As is the case with any tool, we can either use it for good, or we can use it for bad. Lets take an ordinary hammer as an example. It can be used to, both, build things and also destroy them. In the case of marketing, I define the dark side as the practice of using marketing as a tool to deceive or mislead the consumer. Lets revisit my initial definition of marketing where I see it as the process for creating value for any given product in the eyes of the consumer. Now, what if the product in question is not good for the consumer? Marketing strategies are often used to hide the negative aspects of the product from the consumer or to create need for a product which the consumer has no actual need for. Some marketers even take it a step further where they associate false positives with the product to make it more desirable to the consumer. Take the tobacco industry as an example. There are known and documented negative health impacts of tobacco use on the consumer. However, with the help of the tobacco industrys lobbyists and their clever marketing strategies, the bond between these products and the consumer remain strong. In USA, according to one source, in 2011, about 43.8 million (or 1 in every 5) adults currently smoke cigarettes. Cite examples of companies that have compromised their ethics or values for increased sales and profits. Even though while researching I found a plethora of companies that have compromised their ethics or values for increased sales and profits, I have chosen the top 3. These are in no particular order (or severity) of their crimes:

    1)

    Kashis All Natural products: Kashi markets its products as all natural to increase their revenues by catering to the health-conscious consumer and charging a premium for their product. However, in 2011, a federal class action lawsuit was filed against the Kashi Co. and the Kellogg Company for misleading the consumers by claiming their products to be free of artificial ingredients. According to the lawsuit, some of Kashis products composed almost entirely of synthetic and unnaturally processed ingredients and some of these synthetic ingredients are even listed by the FDA as prescription drugs and federally declared hazardous substances. Airborne: The makers of Airborne market their product as tablets to help boost consumers immune system. However, according to a recent filed federal action lawsuit, Airbornes claim of helping to boost immune system is not backed by any scientific evidence. Due to the lawsuit over Airbornes false advertising, Airborne has agreed to pay $23.3 million in a refund to its consumers. Activia and DanActivia Yogurt: Since 2008, Dannon, the makers of Activia and DanActivia yogurt, have been marketing their products as "clinically" and "scientifically" proven to regulate digestion and boost immune systems. They also created a marketing strategy of casting known female actress in their TV ads, making the same claims, to reach out to more consumers. However, despite their claims, in 2010, a judge in Cleveland ordered Dannon to pay up to $45 million in damages under the terms of a class action settlement, reached in federal court. The agreement also calls for Dannon to change its health claims for Activia and DanActive since the company was making claims it simply hadn't proven". Again, these tactics were adopted by the company to simply increase their sales by charging premium price for their product due to these false claims.

    2)

    3)

    Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (14th edition), Marketing Management Retrieved from http://digitalbookshelf.argosy.edu/books/9781256313281/id/ch01lev1sec2 American Cancer Society, Questions About Smoking, Tobacco, and Health Retrieved from http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/questionsaboutsmokingtoba ccoandhealth/questions-about-smoking-tobacco-and-health-how-many-use Pierce, S. (2011), Top Class Action, Kashi False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit Retrieved from http://www.topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuitnews/1344-kashi-false-advertising-class-action-lawsuit National Public Radio (NPR) (2008), Airborne Settles Suit over False Claims

    Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87937907 MCMULLEN, T. (2010), ABC News, Dannon to Pay $45M to Settle Yogurt Lawsuit Retrieved from: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/dannon-settleslawsuit/story?id=9950269

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