Presentation point of view
- 1. z The Social Responsibility of Ethics in Marketing BY: SUSANE RODRIGUES
- 2. z “Don’t find customers for your product. Find products for your customers.” -Seth Godin
- 3. z What exactly is “ethical marketing?” According to The Wordstream Blog (www.wordstream.com), “ethical marketing refers to the process by which companies market their goods and services by focusing not only on how their products benefit customers, but also how they benefit socially responsible or environmental causes.” Further, ethical marketing goes a step beyond, say, automotive smart selling or on-trend, innovative makeup packaging: it takes into consideration the long-term impact of product use and how that product is sourced. This is especially true for companies that are focusing on thinking green—that is, designing products that not only have little to no harmful impact on the earth, but also are made from safer packaging and ingredient materials.
- 4. z Socially conscious companies are thinking ahead, asking themselves how they can best reach their target market while leaving an ethical stamp in the process. An example of this is how McDonald’s has been using recycled and repurposed materials in their food and drink packaging. Not only are they aesthetically designing the french fries and Big Mac boxes, they are ethically doing so as well. Reusing paper, plastic, and other materials is a forward thinking manner of considering that the earth’s resources are not infinite. Socially conscientious consumers will not only enjoy their favorite McDonald’s meal, they will likely feel good about how the company designs and markets its product line with the message that with good food comes ethical presentation of that food.
- 5. z One of the website’s examples of an ethical marketing brand is Dr. Bronner’s, the #1 selling organic soap in the US. With the myriad soap brands available today, few stand out the way this name brand does. The first eye catching element of the brand is that a 30K word philosophy can be found on each bottle! Known as “Cosmic Principles,” company founder and doctor Emanuel Bronner spoke these words while touring the US’s lecture circuit in the 1940s. Attendees of the lectures received a complimentary peppermint liquid soap.
- 6. z The company is known as a Benefit Corporation (B-Corp), meaning, this type of company must be a for-profit firm that presents a positive influence on society and the environment based on “legally defined goals” (Wordstream.com). Moreover, Dr. Bronner’s is invested in multiple goals, such as creating awareness of the importance of USDA-certified fair-trade ingredients, as well as fair compensation implements that “limit executive pay to five times that of lower-level employees” (Wordstream.com). Dr. Bronner’s overall B Impact Report score is a 149, with 80 being the minimal score to be eligible for certification. The brand stands tall among other B companies with respect to the following: (1) environment, (2) workers, (3) community, and (4) governance. The environment ranking alone - at 47 - is nearly seven (7) times that of the median environment score.
- 7. z The above example illustrates how business marketing can be successful both monetarily and ethically. Making a sizeable profit is ultimately what determines the corporate stature and net worth of a company, but there is something to be said for companies that give back—that work just as diligently at delivering a socially responsible message as making a “hit product.” Ethical marketing companies like McDonald’s and Dr. Bronner’s have embraced the idea that socio-environmentally aware marketing strategies are just as appealing as producing a highly functional, popular brand. Consumers who care about the mountingly precarious, vulnerable state of the earth look for brands that incorporate similar core values of sound ingredients, sustainability, waste control, etc.
- 8. z Ethical marketing is about “helping consumers make better, more conscious choices about the products they buy and the stores they frequent” (Wordstream.com). It is about pro-environment and pro- people activism and progress. Ethical marketing teaches us to be more choosy in our purchases and more thoughtful in our comparitive shopping. For every popular brand, there is another awaiting discovery — another that believes that intelligent harvesting of resources is just as important as “the bottom line.” This is especially crucial for the younger and yet-to-be generations, for they will inherit the environment that we leave behind as part of our human legacy. Teaching young people to look for key brands, ingredients, and pro-earth business philosophies can transform the way they act as a consumer and seller, alike. Options are important, and conscious buying is everything as we all face uncertainties living on this much depleted planet. Our children and children’s children will have the ability to alter their consumer footprint and thus leave the environment healthier than the state in which they came to know it. Our legacy need not become theirs.
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