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|646 PART 4 Extending Marketing

|Table 20.1 Some Morally Difficult Situations in Marketing

1. Your R&D department has slightly changed one of your company’s products. It is not really “new and improved,” but you know
that putting this statement on the package and in advertising will increase sales. What would you do?

2. You have been asked to add a stripped-down model to your line that could be advertised to pull customers into the store. The
product won’t be very good, but salespeople will be able to switch buyers who come into the store up to higher-priced units. You
are asked to give the green light for the stripped-down version. What would you do?

3. You are thinking of hiring a product manager who has just left a competitor’s company. She would be more than happy to tell you
all the competitor’s plans for the coming year. What would you do?

4. One of your top dealers in an important territory recently has had family troubles, and his sales have slipped. It looks like it will take
him a while to straighten out his family troubles. Meanwhile, you are losing many sales. Legally, on performance grounds, you can
terminate the dealer’s franchise and replace him. What would you do?

5. You have a chance to win a big account in another country that will mean a lot to you and your company. The purchasing agent
hints that a “gift” would influence the decision. Such gifts are common in that country, and some of your competitors will probably
make one. What would you do?

6. You have heard that a competitor has a new product feature that will make a big difference in sales. The competitor will
demonstrate the feature in a private dealer meeting at the annual trade show. You can easily send a snooper to this meeting to
learn about the new feature. What would you do?

7. You have to choose between three advertising campaigns outlined by your agency. The first (a) is a soft-sell, honest, straight-
information campaign. The second (b) uses sex-loaded emotional appeals and exaggerates the product’s benefits. The third
(c) involves a noisy, somewhat irritating commercial that is sure to gain audience attention. Pretests show that the campaigns are
effective in the following order: c, b, and a. What would you do?

8. You are interviewing a capable female applicant for a job as salesperson. She is better qualified than the men who have been
interviewed. Nevertheless, you know that in your industry some important customers prefer dealing with men, and you will lose
some sales if you hire her. What would you do?

marketing behavior might well be described as immoral or even amoral. If they refuse to
go along with any of the actions, they might be ineffective as marketing managers and un-
happy because of the constant moral tension. Managers need a set of principles that will
help them figure out the moral importance of each situation and decide how far they can
go in good conscience.

But what principle should guide companies and marketing managers on issues of eth-
ics and social responsibility? One philosophy is that the free market and the legal system
should decide such issues. Under this principle, companies and their managers are not
responsible for making moral judgments. Companies can in good conscience do whatever
the market and legal systems allow.

However, history provides an endless list of examples of company actions that were
legal but highly irresponsible. A second philosophy puts responsibility not on the system
but in the hands of individual companies and managers. This more enlightened philosophy
suggests that a company should have a social conscience. Companies and managers should
apply high standards of ethics and morality when making corporate decisions, regardless
of “what the system allows.”

Each company and marketing manager must work out a philosophy of socially re-
sponsible and ethical behavior. Under the societal marketing concept, each manager must
look beyond what is legal and allowed and develop standards based on personal integrity,
corporate conscience, and long-run consumer welfare.

Dealing with issues of ethics and social responsibility in an open and forthright way
helps to build and maintain strong customer relationships based on honesty and trust. For
example, Graco—maker of strollers, car seats, and other children’s products—relies heavily
on parental trust to keep customers loyal. In early 2014, after receiving reports of stuck
buckles in a dozen different car seat models, Graco quickly recalled some 3.8 million units,
making it the biggest car seat recall in history. But the company didn’t stop with the official
recall. Instead, it swiftly launched a proactive campaign to alert parents of the problem,