I love social media! I’m always on it talking to my friends and sharing videos and pictures. I think social media is a great way to stay connected with friends and family that you can’t see everday. I also think its a great way to advertise and promote your business. This made me want to get a degree in social media!
For those who are new to the marketing industry, my advice to you would be to follow the ethical standards given by the American Marketing Association (AMA). First, we must do no harm so we have to avoid any harmful actions (Codes of Conduct, n.d.). Secondly, we must foster trust into the marketing system, meaning we should always have good faith and be fair especially to avoid deception of the product/service (Codes of Conduct, n.d.). Third, we must embrace the ethical values, meaning build relationships and improve the consumer’s confidence by following the core values: honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency, and citizenship (Codes of Conduct, n.d.).
I’ve learned throughout this course that we should always stay truthful and follow our ethical standards in order to avoid deception and any other negative light about a product/service. We have to be honest even if it means more questions and controversy about it. If we just keep avoiding the elephant in the room, that will make the customers of the product/service upset and we can lose them permanently in the long run. My best advice in an integrated marketing campaign is to be transparent. If one sees something is wrong within the campaign or even questions the ethical value behind, we have to voice those thoughts out before the public can do it themselves after the launch.
One potential concern that can occur if these practices are not followed is deception. There can be a product where it was heavily advertised for something unique to attract customers. But the reality of this product did not meet the consumer’s expectations as it was false advertising in the end and deceived numerous customers about the unique features. This could have been prevented if one followed ethical standards before launching the campaign or the product in question. Ultimately, not following the American Marketing Association’s ethical standards can lead to negative publicity about the business in question as a whole and customers will gain distrust. Another potential concern if these practices are not followed is legal issues if the product/service caused harm. There are always possibilities within production that something can go wrong and it is up to the employees involved with production or quality
control to ensure the product is working properly and will not cause harm or injuries to the public. This is also the same for any service, employees should always follow their ethical values when exchanging or performing a service because it can always lead to possible harm, injuries and damages if not performed correctly and ethically.
Codes of Conduct: AMA Statement of Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/codes-of-conduct/
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