Perreault−McCarthy: Basic
Marketing: A
Global−Managerial
Approach, 14/e- Ethical Marketing in a
Consumer−Oriented World:
Appraisal and Challenges
Text © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2002648 Chapter 22
Marketers need to work harder and smarter at finding ways to satisfy consumer needs
without sacrificing the current or future environment. All consumers need the envi-
ronment—whether they realize it yet or not. We are only beginning to understand the
consequences of the environmental damage that’s already been done. Acid rain, deple-
tion of the ozone layer, global warming, and toxic waste in water supplies—to mention
but a few current environmental problems—have catastrophic effects. Many top exec-
utives now say that preserving and protecting the environment will be one of the major
challenges, if not themajor challenge, of business firms in the new millennium.
In the past, most firms didn’t pass the cost of environmental damage on to con-
sumers in the prices that they paid. Pollution was a hidden and unmeasured cost
for most companies. That is changing rapidly. Firms are already paying billions of
dollars to correct problems—including problems created years ago. The government
isn’t accepting the excuse that “nobody knew it was a big problem.” Consider your-
self warned: Businesspeople who fail to anticipate the coming public backlash on
this issue put their careers and businesses at risk!
Creative marketers should be able to figure out how to preserve the environment,
meet customer needs, and make profits all at the same time. Aveda, a cosmetics com-
pany, uses seeds from a shrub in the Amazon rain forest for the reddish pigment in
its lipstick. By giving natives of the Amazon a way to make a living without further
clearing of the rain forest, Aveda is helping to preserve the forest and also meeting
the needs of consumers who want to buy environmentally friendly products.^14While focusing on consumers’ needs, marketers also must be sensitive to other
consumer concerns. Today, sophisticated marketing research methods, the Internet,
and other new technologies make it easier to abuse consumers’ rights to privacy. For
example, credit card records—which reveal much about consumers’ purchases and
private lives—are routinely computerized and sold to anybody who pays for the list.
Most consumers don’t realize how much data about their personal lives—some of
it incorrect but treated as fact—is collected and available. A simple computer billing
error may land consumers on a computer bad-credit list—without their knowledge.
Marketing managers should use technology responsibly to improve the quality of life,
not disrupt it. If you don’t think privacy is a serious matter, enter your social secu-
rity number in an Internet search engine and see what pops up. You may be surprised.The environment is
everyone’s need
May need attention to
consumer privacy
Marketers need to understand
and be sensitive to consumer
concerns. Issues like protecting
the environment are important
and firms that look for better
ways to address this issue may
find that they can do well by
doing good.