Ethical Marketing ~

In the current times of ferocious competition and capricious markets, it is not exceptional to witness brands and companies strive to maintain their so called ‘regular customer base’ but also perpetually hunt for new clients.

Balancing ethics to profits ~

The rat race of being ahead of the game all the time along with tossing any new competitor who is as fierce to get to the top has become a status quo for any business in the market. No wonder there’s barely any time left to toil on the ideas of honesty, transparency, moral ethics and responsibility.?The present time landscape of companies in the local and global market looks rather scattered when it comes to ethical marketing practices (greenwashing, inaccurate advertising, etc.)

Not a lot of companies balance ethics to profits when engaging with their customers. It is imperative to note that even established giants might mostly not have any motivation to bring a change in their existing marketing practices to step towards more ethical practices than previous years.

Leading companies run scandals ~

One of the prominent examples to remember is the classic case of a leading car manufacturer that installed a software in its diesel cars to manipulate the emission tests. Jumping on an even scarier scandal was when an American bank created reportedly 3.5 million fraudulent accounts to meet their sales target. What could be more controversial than a bank being fined for fraudulent activities?

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Yet, other companies set standards ~

However, it will be unfair to generalise that the entire industry runs loose on the ethical landscape. Warby Parker, a relatively new American startup stunned the world with its ‘Buy a Pair, Give a Pair’ program, where the focus was not just on selling stylish and affordable glasses to the masses but also donating one pair of glasses for every 1 pair sold. Only because of this initiative,15 million glasses have already reached needful eyes that can now enjoy the experience of seeing better than ever.

When taking a look at Indian companies, a startup named The Whole Truth is turning heads with their ethical marketing campaigns. With the motto of supplying only real facts in addition to clean food products, the startup is aiming to gain the confidence of masses. An honest and bold revelation of food items produced and sold by them has for sure created quite a stir in the market and started to give a tough time to the leading established brands already.?

Nevertheless, it is a subject of utmost significance that companies promote the products in a way that aligns with their reality. With a few studies already conducted on the matter, it has been observed that companies following ethical marketing practices by ensuring honest, transparent and responsible campaigns end up earning higher profits in the longer run and have a firmer grip in the industry. Maruti Suzuki earned higher Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs. 37.112 Billion with its Customer Service Index at 906 points in 2014-15, when compared with a PAT of Rs 12.187 Billion with Customer service Index at 819 points in 2008-09.?

As consumers, we need to ask questions ~

Therefore, it is crucial to understand that a company will only grow in the longer run if the customer is certain that she is informed transparently and accurately about the product that she was prompted to buy and can rely on the claims that the company makes in the public eye.

It is important that we question ourselves, as consumers, what is it that we want to believe in? Is it our responsibility to really dig up the fancy claims made by companies and research our way to the truth? Are established brands really selling the right products? And, can we really trust them because they’re established?