1. Sustainable Marketing
Social Responsibility and Ethics
Chapter 3 - Duane Weaver

2. Sustainable Marketing
Socially and environmentally responsible marketing that meets the present needs of consumers and businesses while preserving or enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
LO 1: Define sustainable marketing and discuss its importance

3. Take a minute…
….and write down on a piece of paper one example of a time you purchased something that you felt was unfairly marketed or promoted to you… i.e. the product broke down, quality was poor, was found cheaper elsewhere, “over-sold” on the product, etc.

4. Social Criticisms of Marketing
Marketing’s impact on individual consumers has been criticized in terms of three factors that are cited as leading to high prices:
High costs of distribution
High advertising and promotion costs
Excessive markups
LO 2: Identify the major social criticisms of marketing

5. Social Criticisms of Marketing
Marketers may be accused of deceptive practices including:
Pricing: falsely advertising “wholesale” or “factory” prices or large reductions from phony high retail list prices
Promotion: misrepresenting a product’s features or performance, or luring consumers to store for out-of-stock items
Packaging: exaggerating package contents through design, misleading labeling, or size
LO 2: Identify the major social criticisms of marketing

6. Social Criticisms of Marketing
Deceptive practices have led to legislation and other protective consumer actions:
Competition Bureau acts as a watchdog to prevent deceptive practices
Use of puffery is legal, but may harm consumers in subtle ways
LO 2: Identify the major social criticisms of marketing
Puffery is innocent exaggeration for effect.

7. Social Criticisms of Marketing
Salespeople can be accused of using high-pressure selling tactics
LO 2: Identify the major social criticisms of marketing

8. Social Criticisms of Marketing
Criticisms of shoddy or unsafe products:
Poor product quality or function
Products deliver little benefit or are harmful
LO 2: Identify the major social criticisms of marketing

9. Social Criticisms of Marketing
Planned obsolescence causes products to become obsolete before replacement by:
Using materials and components that break, wear, rust, or rot before they should
Continually changing acceptable styles
Intentionally holding back functional features, then introducing them later to make older models obsolete
LO 2: Identify the major social criticisms of marketing

10. Social Criticisms of Marketing
Marketers are accused of poorly serving disadvantaged consumers:
Forced to shop in smaller stores, paying more for inferior goods
National chain stores, insurers, and health care providers practice “redlining” and refuse to open businesses in poor neighborhoods
LO 2: Identify the major social criticisms of marketing

11. In small groups…
….discuss and share your original examples you came up with. Can you think of other examples? Are social criticisms of marketing common – if so, which ones are most common?

12. Impact on Society
Marketing’s impact on society has been criticized as:
Creating false wants and encouraging materialism that benefits industry more than consumers
Creating cultural pollution, stemming from constant exposure to marketing messages
LO 2: Identify the major social criticisms of marketing

13. Consumer Actions 1: Consumerism:
An organized movement of citizens and government agencies to improve the rights and power of buyers in relation to sellers
Seller’s rights include the right to:
Introduce any product in any size and style
Charge any price for the product
Spend any amount to promote the product
Use any product message
Use any buying incentive schemes
LO 3: Define consumerism and environmentalism and explain how they affect marketing strategies

14. Consumer Actions Buyers’ rights include the right to:
Not buy a product that is offered for sale
Expect the product to be safe
Expect the product to perform as claimed
LO 3: Define consumerism and environmentalism and explain how they affect marketing strategies

15. Consumer Actions Consumer advocates call for more rights to:
Be well informed about aspects of the product
Be protected against questionable products and marketing practices
Influence products and marketing practices in ways that will improve “quality of life”
Consume now in a way that will preserve the world for future generations of consumers
LO 3: Define consumerism and environmentalism and explain how they affect marketing strategies

16. Consumer Actions Environmentalism:
An organized movement of concerned citizens and government agencies to protect and improve people’s living environment
LO 3: Define consumerism and environmentalism and explain how they affect marketing strategies

17. Consumer Actions Environmental sustainability:
Involves developing strategies that both sustain the environment and produce profits for the company
Environmental sustainability portfolio:
Pollution prevention
Product stewardship
New clean technologies
Sustainability vision
LO 3: Define consumerism and environmentalism and explain how they affect marketing strategies

18. Business Actions Consumer-Oriented Marketing:
A company’s marketing activities are viewed and organized from the consumer’s point of view
Customer-Value Marketing:
A company puts most of its resources into customer-value-building marketing investments
Innovative Marketing:
A company seeks real product and marketing improvements
Sense-of-Mission Marketing:
A company’s mission is defined in broad social terms rather than narrow product terms
Societal Marketing:
- Marketing decisions are made by considering consumers’ wants and interests, the company’s requirements, and consumers’ and society’s long-run interests
LO 4: Describe the principles of sustainable marketing

19. Marketing Ethics
Firms must develop corporate marketing ethics policies as broad guidelines for staff
Ethics policies should cover:
Distributor relations
Advertising standards
Customer service
Pricing
Product development
General ethical standards
LO 5: Explain the role of ethics in marketing

20. Break time!
Take 15 minutes and have a break! When we come back we will apply what we have discussed in the Pink Ribbon debate.