4.01D ACQUIRE A FOUNDATIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF PROMOTION TO UNDERSTAND ITS NATURE

AND SCOPE.PERFORMANCE INDICATOR

(D). Describe the use of business ethics in promotion

EXPLAIN ETHICAL ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH FEAR-BASED

ADVERTISING.

1. Fear-Based Advertising defined as:

A proven set of marketing strategies and tactics used to motivate target audiences to take massive action quickly.

Desired outcomes are achieved quickly through persuasive techniques that tap into powerful emotions.

The objective is to focus attention on the painful consequences of inaction contrasted with the hope of a desired future.

These marketing techniques are best used when credible threats are combined with uncertainty and doubt.

FUD = Fear, uncertainty, and doubt

Gene Amdahl after he left IBM to found his own company: “FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM sales people instill in the minds of potential customers who might be considering [Amdahl] products.” The idea, of course, was to persuade them to go with safe IBM gear rather than with competitors' equipment.

Fear-based advertising s upon a potential customer’s fear of missing out, to stimulate them into purchasing a product before they’re ready to do so.

Fear is also used as a way to suggest that, if you don’t purchase the product, all sorts of bad things will happen to you. You won’t make a million in 30 days, you won’t be able to quit your day job, people won’t like you, etc.

2. Begin with three-powerful words: "In my experience..." For instance, "In my experience, I wouldn't be here today without the help of (fill in the blank) drug, car, doctor, etc."

3. Then take message frequency and pair it with something relevant, and youhave fear-based advertising.

TARGETING - finding and reaching the maximum number of qualified prospects at the lowest possible cost - in part by leveraging proven high-tech marketing systems that enable you to measure and manipulate every aspect of your online marketing campaigns in seconds at the click of a button; and,

POSITIONING - persuading the maximum number of your prospects to buy from you by using high-touch sales techniques that tap into the most powerful motivating emotions - FEAR and HOPE.

4. Tapping into our fear is a huge marketing tool. Why?

Because we humans respond to bad news, situations, stories, etc. The fear factor causes us to act. It’s basically the “fight or flight” response.

5. Fear is the strongest human motivator.

Parents use fear to get their child to act or react to situations from when they were an infant. Here are a few favorites:

"Don't play with (interject any long, slim object) or you will poke your eye out." It must work, because I have never met anyone who has actually ever poked his or her eye out.

"If you make a face like that it will stick like that." Yep, we all know a few people this has happened to.

"If you fall out of that tree and break your legs don't come running to me." Makes sense.

"Don't sit so close to television or you'll go blind." I still don't sit close to the television.

6. Effective use of fear in advertising when:

They provide (1) high levels of a meaningful threat or important problem

(2) high levels of efficacy or the belief that an individual’s change of behavior will reduce the threat or problem. That is, fear appeals work when you make the customer very afraid and then show him or her how to reduce the fear by doing what you recommend.

7. Fear-based advertising is unethical when:

engendering perceptions or attitudes that are negative or unethical, e.g.,

overly dramatic and graphic, lacks social responsibility, exploitative, stimulates unneeded demand, and involves inappropriate manipulative

techniques

Discuss sexism/stereotyping in advertising.

How ethical it is to do so? Three areas of focus

(1) if sex actually sells and if so, when and where is it being used in advertising,

(2) the use of men and women in ads of a sexual nature,

(3) the role that ethics plays in the use of sexual appeals in advertising.

What can Advertisers do to ease public concerns: (1) targeting commercials as carefully as possible to

avoid unnecessary conflict and to minimize the viewing of sexual appeals by people who might be disconcerted by them,

(2) heightening their own awareness of the impact of their sexual appeals on the public at large as well as on their target market,

(3) testing the effects of their commercials, not only on their target, but also on other members of the public who might see their commercials, and

(4) considering the effects of their commercials in prompting individuals, whether in their target or not, to take actions that have negative consequences

Children are an important marketing target for certain products.

Why are children vulnerable: Because their knowledge about products, the media, and

selling strategies is usually not as well developed as that of adults

Children are not aware of marketing tactics and messages. For example, studies linking relationships between tobacco and alcohol marketing with youth consumption resulted in increased public pressure directly leading to the regulation of marketing for those products.

The use of the Internet to market to children also raises ethical issues. Sometimes a few unscrupulous marketers design sites so that children are able to bypass adult supervision or control; sometimes they present objectionable materials to underage consumers or pressure them to buy items or provide credit card numbers. When this happens, it is likely that social pressure and subsequent regulation will result.

In the United States, marketing to children is closely controlled. Federal regulations place limits on the types of marketing that

can be directed to children

ETHICAL ISSUES IN MARKETING TO MINORITIES

Concerns: Ethical issues arise when marketing tactics are designed

specifically to exploit or manipulate a minority market segment.

Offensive practices may take the form of negative or stereotypical representations of minorities, associating the consumption of harmful or questionable products with a particular minority segment, and demeaning portrayals of a race or group.

Ethical questions may also arise when high-pressure selling is directed at a group, when higher prices are charged for products sold to minorities, or even when stores provide poorer service in neighborhoods with a high population of minority customers. Such practices will likely result in a bad public image and lost sales for the marketer.

When targeting minorities: Firms must evaluate whether the

targeted population is susceptible to appeals because of their minority status.

The firm must assess marketing efforts to determine whether ethical behavior would cause them to change their marketing practices.

Discuss the ethical issues associated with sales promotion sweepstakes, samples, rebates, and premiums.

In the area of promotions:

• avoidance of false and misleading advertising;• rejection of high-pressure manipulations, or misleading sales tactics;• avoidance of sales promotions that use deception or manipulations. (AMA Code of Ethics)

Explain the use of stealth marketing.

In stealth marketing people are paid to use or pitch products in public settings without disclosing the fact that they are being paid to do so.

FTC states that "the failure to disclose the relationship between the marketer and the consumer would be deceptive unless the relationships were otherwise clear from the context."

Four areas of concern: 1) it's deceptive, 2) it's intrusive, 3) it can take advantage of the kindness of

strangers (like the camera phone example), and 4) it can turn family and friends into corporate

spokespeople, eroding bonds of trust.

Discuss ethical issues associated with use of customer information

obtained on the Internet. Privacy

Information collected from customers should be confidential and used only for expressed purposes. All data, especially confidential customer data, should be safeguarded against unauthorized access. The expressed wishes of others should be respected with regard to the receipt of unsolicited e-mail messages.

Ownership

Information obtained from the Internet sources should be properly authorized and documented. Information ownership should be safeguarded and respected. Marketers should respect the integrity and ownership of computer and network systems.

Access

Marketers should treat access to accounts, passwords, and other information as confidential, and only examine or disclose content when authorized by a responsible party. The integrity of others’ information systems should be respected with regard to placement of information, advertising or messages.

Describe ways that businesses use socially responsible promotions.

Socially responsible companies are increasing their charitable contributions and committing to making the world, or their community, a better place.

What is CSR? CSR is short for corporate social responsibility, a concept whereby businesses and

organizations perform a social good or take responsibility for the impact of their activities.

Examples:

A company investing in responsible drinking and not just in promoting their alcoholic beverages.

Tyson Foods launched a campaign in Austin in which it agreed to donate 100 pounds of chicken to the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas for every comment posted on its blog. They received 658 comments in two hours and loaded up two trucks filled with chicken for the hungry

Haagen-Dazs: Honeybees are disappearing at an alarming rate — and that’s bad news for the global food chain. Haagen-Dazs decided to create a microsite to raise awareness about the issue: “Honey bees are responsible for pollinating one-third of all the foods we eat, including many of the ingredients that define our all-natural ice creams, sorbets, frozen yogurt and bars.” Again, smartly tying it back to the company’s core mission.

The company is donating a portion of proceeds from its Haagen-Dazs honeybee brand to research on the topic, and it launched a modest Twitcause campaign through the #HelpHoneyBees hashtag, raising $7,000 in two days last November (“Bee Buzz generated: 643,748 tweets”).