Demographics and Ethical Dilemma for Marketing Professional in a Connected and Diverse Society
Jahangir M. Kabir
Wilmington University

What are the connections among demographics, marketing and ethics? Well, they are deep and potentially detrimental to society, if certain ethical standards are not met. According to Grewal and Levy (2011), firms use segmentation, targeting and positioning to develop marketing strategy and segments its customers in many ways and one of them is demographics (Grewal & Levy, p. 232). Demographic (age, gender, race, income, education etc.) segmentation puts consumers into groups according to easily measured objective characteristics such as age, gender, income and education (Grewal and Levy p. 232). Now lets look at some examples of the use of demographics to market products and services to consumers. I was never an Amazon fan until one day in 2011 I received an email with free Amazon Mom subscription for six months. I signed up immediately because it would make me eligible for free two-day shipping and 20% discount on diapers and baby formulas. Amazon targeted me solely because of my wife being nine months pregnant. Now, I am a loyal Amazon customer shopping for almost anything and everything. Grewal and Levy (2011) gives an excellent example of the use of gender as a marketing strategy to market products and service to men and women (p. 233). For example, TV viewing habits very significantly between men and women. Men tend to channel surf, switching quickly from one to another and watch prime time shows more often, if they are action oriented and have physically attractive cast members. On the other hand Women tend to view shows to which they personally can relate through situational plot or characters and those recommended by friends. Thus, a company like Gillette, which sells razors for both men and women, will consider the gender appeal various shows when it buys advertising time on television. Race is another demographics often used by marketers to target their potential customers. “… the Hispanic population is expected to more than double to 128.8 million people and make up approximately one-third of those living in the US by 2060 (Fulgoni and Lella, p. 255). T-Mobile took notice of this trend and recently partnered with Univision to create a new brand dubbed as Univision Mobile. Univision Mobile targets the Hispanic Americans with the understanding that Latinos are price-sensitive due to their lower household income thus offering no-contract services that include talk, text, and Web at set price points, as well as international calling features, in addition to the exclusive Univision content access (Fulgoni and Lella, p. 258). However, all marketers are not the same. There are plenty of unscrupulous marketers that use demographic information as a weapon rather than a tool to hurt particular segments of the population. With a profession like marketing that hold very little trust with public (Grewal and Levy, p. 85), ethics is an important and sensitive topic to contend with. Even creating an ethical climate that establishes the health and well-being of consumers as the firm’s number one priority just makes good business sense (Grewal and Levy, p. 32), often marketers engage in questionable advertising campaign that cross the line of ethics and ventures into the grey zone. As an individual who is working in food industry for whole life and married with children, food advertising to children is near to my heart as it complicates the obesity crises in US. Mounting evidence has demonstrated that food and beverages advertising to children have adverse effects on food knowledge, dietary behaviors, consumption practices, and health status, including obesity (Mah, Taylor, Hoang & Cook, p. 1826). I would like to share a personal story to exemplify the issue of marketing and ethics in conflicts. I am a director of the board for a non-for profit Islamic School (K to 12) in New York City. My son attends the school as well. Because of the 2008 financial crises of historic proportion, the school experienced a steady decline in enrollment from 2009 to 2012. Faced with budget constraints, the Board looked for creative ways to save money and finance special projects without compromising the quality of education. The principal solicited and got an offer from a local fast food outlet to build a brand new playground free of charge at the school. It is important to note that the existing playground was in disrepair and unsafe for kids to play. The only stipulation is that they would require a permanent sign with their logo to be placed on the playground. When the matter came to a board meeting, the board was divided and confused. On one hand the board felt that the playground would be beneficial to the students but on the other hand, the board was concerned that the required sign may negatively influence the attitudes and values of the students in making food choices. The board was worried that the sign would constantly remind children to visit this particular fast food joint to consume food detrimental to their health. Eventually, the board declined the offer. The fast food joint’s action here was not illegal, but definitely was not moral and ethical. It simply tried to take advantage of a small school in desperate need of funds. Even with many marketing sharks out in the wild, it does not mean that there are no ways available to marketers to get job done right ethically and morally creating a win-win for consumers and themselves. A good marketing plan has many parts that includes executive summary, company overview, objectives/goals, situation analysis, STP analysis, marketing strategy, financial projection, implementation plan, evaluation matrix and appendix (Grewal & Levy 2011, p. 64-65). As you can see there are no mention of ethics and morality as part of the plan. Marketers use demographic information to form judgment about the potential customers. Demographic factors, such as the disposable income and age, are related to most impulse buying indicators and to the impulsivity collective indicator but educational qualification and gender produced marginal association with impulsive buying behavior (Bashar, Ahmad & Wasi, 2012, p. 1). Thus, demographic impacts people’s motivation and behavior toward certain products and services. Marketers know this well and use this information to their advantage in some cases with total disregard for the greater welfare of the society. Lets see now how e-cigarette industry is using demographics to market a product to be something that it is not proven to be yet. I strongly believe as a society, we did really well ridding our society off cigarette smoking and put in place some smart regulations to curve cigarette smoking. We made it expensive and prevented minor from buying. However, I am very concerned about e-cigarette, a recent development. Marketers are depicting these as less harmful than cigarettes, but the fact is no one knows the actual impacts of e-cigarette. “The long- and short-term public health consequences of e-cigarette use, including the effects of e-cigarettes on tobacco use behavior, are not well understood” (Pokhrel, Fagan, Kehl, & Herzog, 2014, p. 211). Even though there is a potential serious health risk associated with this product; marketers are relentless in bombarding us with advertising. According to Pokhrel, Fagan, Kehl, & Herzog, (2014), e-cigarettes are battery powered devices that deliver vapor which may be inhaled in the manner tobacco is smoked in which the vapor is released when a liquid, popularly known as e-liquid or e-juice (a solution containing propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerin, nicotine, and flavor concentrates) is heated (p. 221). E-cigarette use is increasing in the US - approximately 8% of US adults are likely to have tried e-cigarettes and 1.4% are likely to be current users and young adults have been consistently found to be more likely to use e-cigarettes (Pokhrel, Fagan, Kehl, & Herzog, 2014, p. 221). The same article points out that the advertising effort have been ramped up for the e-cigarette. For example, expenditures for the first and second quarters of 2013 were more than double the expenditures for 2012 (Pokhrel, Fagan, Kehl, & Herzog, 2014, p. 221). It is even more disturbing that young adult are being targeted more aggressively, in 2013, 51% of US young adults were likely to have been exposed to e-cigarette advertising on TV, 76% to print ads, and over 80% were aware of point-of-sale marketing (Pokhrel, Fagan, Kehl, & Herzog, 2014, p. 221 - 122). The largest amount of e-cigarette marketing expenditures has been allocated to young adult oriented print media, followed by TV advertising, which is likely to increase as new products such as Vuse (R J Reynolds) and MarkTen (Phillip Morris) launch television campaigning (Pokhrel, Fagan, Kehl, & Herzog, 2014, p. 222). I condemn the e-cigarette industry for targeting the young adult and depicting the products as a safer alternative to cigarette. I urge the government to step in and regulate the industry just it regulates cigarettes. The question really becomes how do we get the marketers to do right for them and for the society as a whole? Yes, there is a system in place as prescribed by American Marketing Association (AMA). As mentioned earlier, marketers are not trustworthy in the society. Thus, AMA has devised a set of ethical norms to keep the marketing professionals in the path of righteousness and help them steer clear of ethical debacles. AMA recommends the following ethical norms for the marketing professionals. 1. Do no harm - meaning consciously avoiding harmful actions or omissions by embodying high ethical standards and adhering to all applicable laws and regulations in the choices we make (Ethical Norm, para. 2). 2. Foster trust in the marketing system - meaning striving for good faith and fair dealing so as to contribute toward the efficacy of the exchange process as well as avoiding deception in product design, pricing, communication, and delivery of distribution (Ethical Norm, para. 3). 3. Embrace ethical values meaning building relationships and enhancing consumer confidence in the integrity of marketing by affirming these core values: honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency and citizenship (Ethical Norm, para. 4). I think this an excellent guide for the marketing professional. If they stay within this, they will be able to determine the difference between right and wrong and more importantly the grey zone. There are additional guidelines for certain other industries. So, AMA recognizes that every industry sector and marketing sub-discipline has its own specific ethical issues that require policies and commentary and provides access to those through its website (Ethical Norm, para. 11). In conclusion, with an increasingly diverse society inclusion and diversity in marketing is simply a practice that makes sense. Why single out a group just because who they are and market them in a way that is not beneficial to them? However, I believe when there are mutual benefits when marketers single out a group and cater a product/service that is beneficial to both, as we have seen in the case of Univision Mobile. Therefore, attention should be given to these overlooked and undervalued consumers and it is high time for the private and public sectors to enact policies to ensure active interest in, and respect for, diverse marketplaces throughout the globe (November 2014|Diversity in the Market Place, para 1).

Reference
American Marketing Association, Ethical Norm. Retrieved on January 25, 2015 from https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Statement-of-Ethics.aspx
American Marketing Association, November 2014|Diversity in the Market Place. Retrieved on January 25, 2015 from https://www.ama.org/publications/E-publications/Pages/ama- journal-reader-november-14-diversity.aspx
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Grewal, D., & Levy, M. (2011). M: Marketing. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
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Pokhrel, P., Fagan, P., Kehl, L., & Herzog, T. A. (2015). Receptivity to E-cigarette Marketing, Harm Perceptions, and E-cigarette Use. American journal of health behavior, 39(1), 121- 131.
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