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Chapter 10
Marketing and Advertising
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The ethics of marketing is concerned chiefly with how producers treat their customers. What
goods to produce and how to sell them are among the most basic decisions that businesses
make, and the impacts of these decisions on the well-being of consumers are many and
varied. However, the interactions between producers and consumers take place primarily in
a market, and so much of the ethics of marketing is the ethics of the buyer–seller
relationship, in which honesty and fair dealing are the main moral requirements. Much of
this chapter deals with marketing practices in which sales techniques and the pricing,
labeling, and advertising of products are manipulative, deceptive, or otherwise unfair to
consumers. In addition, marketing, especially advertising, has social consequences that
producers must handle responsibly.
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
10.1: Explain how principles of fairness, freedom, and well-being are challenged by
marketing practices and why an ethical framework is necessary
10.2: Analyze unethical sales practices, the difficulties sales personnel face in avoiding
them, and issues with the sufficiency of information on product labels
10.3: Evaluate the nature and effects of unethical pricing and distribution practices on
consumers and the fairness of markets
10.4: Identify the ethical issues with product development and market research and
how companies can conduct these essential marketing tasks responsibly
10.5: Describe the difficulties in defining what constitutes deceptive advertising and how it
interferes with consumers’ ability to make rational choices
10.6: Recognize how different advertising practices use irrational persuasion techniques to
influence consumers’ choices and the ethical arguments against these practices
10.7: Assess the potential harm advertising poses to individuals and society and the
responsibility of companies to consider the consequences of their marketing efforts
10.8: Examine how Internet advertising and the online collection and use of personal
information challenge the rights of individuals to privacy, autonomy, and fair
treatment
10.9: Summarize the significance of social advertising and the ethical issues associated with
it
SUGGESTED DISCUSSION PROMPTS
1.
Are there any other cardinal marketing values besides well-being, fairness, and
4.
Is the FTC correct to hold truth in advertising to a standard of an
5.
What is wrong with subliminal persuasion that is not an issue with other forms
1.
The need for fairness in marketing arises from the need for .
A.
transactions to be beneficial to everyone
B.
transactions to not harm anyone
C.
information to be freely available to anyone
D.
consumers to get what they want
10.1: Explain how principles of fairness, freedom, and well-being are challenged by
marketing practices and why an ethical framework is necessary
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understanding
2.
Identify a poor description of effective social advertisement.
A.
Creators of social advertisement must aim for outcomes that are aligned with
the overall advertisement message.
B.
Social advertisement topics are those of importance to the public at large.
C.
Creators of social advertisement realize the limits of social advertisement
because social problems sometimes require a political remedy.
D.
Social advertisement must manipulate individuals to engage them.
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understanding
3.
Truthful labeling is essential to the ethical marketing concept of
________
.
A.
well-being
B.
fairness
C.
freedom
D.
health
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Correct Answer: B
10.2: Analyze unethical sales practices, the difficulties sales personnel face in avoiding
them, and issues with the sufficiency of information on product labels
Topic/Concept: Sales Practices and Labeling
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Analyze
4.
Pricing has to remain competitive so that
A.
companies can maximize their profits
B.
workers get paid fair wages
C.
consumers are free to choose the best exchange
D.
consumers get as high-quality products as possible
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Evaluate
5.
Full-line forcing by a manufacturer to a retailer is ethically questionable because
.
A.
it drives prices higher
B.
it limits consumer choice
C.
it makes consumers dependent on one brand
D.
it prevents consumers from obtaining adequate information
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Evaluate
6.
Advertising is considered to be unethical is if it is _______.
A.
untruthful
B.
expensive
C.
harmful
D.
tacky
Difficulty Level: Easy
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Skill Level: Understanding
7.
By what measure is it determined whether an ad causes a false belief?
A.
if it deceives an ignorant consumer
B.
if it substantially interferes with a decision to buy
C.
whether it contains any factually incorrect information
D.
whether it is a product a reasonable person would want to buy
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understanding
8.
The
dependence effect
is an ethical danger zone because .
A.
prices may end up artificially high
B.
wants are created by the producer instead of the consumer
C.
there is insufficient competition between producers
D.
products may end up being marketed to the wrong people
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understanding
9.
A strong argument in defense of advertisement is that it ________.
A.
does not negatively affect cognitive development
B.
has little impact on children’s emotional development
C.
is not solely responsible for marketing orientation
D.
does not create negative self-image
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Evaluate
10.
A significant ethical issue facing Internet consumers is the inability to ________.
A.
sell personal ads
B.
track other consumers’ information
C.
create online accounts
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D.
identify how personal data are collected and used
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understanding
Essay Questions
1. Why is freedom an important ethical issue in marketing? Describe how the
10.1: Explain how principles of fairness, freedom, and well-being are challenged by
marketing practices and why an ethical framework is necessary
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understanding
2.
What kinds of laws have been passed to protect the consumer from unethical