Exam 4: Social Responsibility and Ethics in Marketing

Critics of the financial services industry, and Wall Street in particular, argue that a major cause of the financial crisis of 2008 was the flawed compensation and incentive structure that exists in the industry. They argue that this incentive structure encourages and often rewards unethical behavior by professionals in the industry. This is an example of

Define and describe the importance of social responsibility in marketing.

Warnings on television commercials for prescription drugs include a list of sometimes grotesque side effects that are possible when taking that particular drug. The consumer right to ____ most applies to these commercials.

It is not important to consistently enforce standards and impose penalties or punishment on those who violate codes of conduct.

A marketing ethics issue likely exists when

A strong code of conduct that is carefully thought out and detailed will not require many revisions in the history of the firm.

What do environmentalists set as an objective for profitability?

Which of the following statements about social responsibility is correct?

Target's Take Charge of Education program donates 1% of a customer's total purchase to the school of his or her choice. What social responsibility issue does this program address?

Which of the following employees is most responsible for setting the ethical tone for the entire marketing organization?

A business that contributes resources to the community to improve the quality of life is taking on a(n) ____ responsibility.

How would marketers most likely benefit from the consumer's right to be heard?

Who drafted the Consumer Bill of Rights?

Scenario 4.1 Use the following to answer the question. Hershey Foods was founded in the 19th century by Milton Hershey, who had a strong ethical value system: Always show integrity, be honest, and respect others. Hershey felt it was important to provide high-quality goods and services of real value at competitive prices that would provide an adequate return on investment. He also founded the Milton Hershey School, operating today as a cost-free, private home and school dedicated to helping children with social needs and limited resources. The company also focuses on environmental issues, such as reducing waste by 360,000 pounds annually by redesigning Hershey's Syrup caps. Hershey Foods has an ethics compliance program that includes a code of ethics and training, guidelines for handling legal and ethical issues, an 800 number for assistance with ethical issues, and support from supervisors and human resource managers in dealing with ethical issues. However, in the last few years, Hershey has been criticized by several advocacy groups concerning the sourcing of its chocolate from West Africa where many of the companies use child labor. While Hershey is the largest chocolate candy producer in America, it lags behind other major chocolate producers with regard to certifying its chocolate as child labor-free. Refer to Scenario 4.1. Hershey and its employees benefit in many ways from its strong ethics compliance program. Which of the following is not one of the benefits of such a program?

Which of the following would be consistent with Johnson Chemicals' understanding of the "bad apple" concept of improving the ethical conduct of salespeople?

Marketing ethics

The Reputation Institute rates the social responsibility of the largest global corporations. They assign a proprietary Corporate Social Responsibility rating to each company based on surveys of thousands of consumers worldwide. In a recent annual ranking, Microsoft Corporation was ranked #1 for social responsibility. Regarding the ranking, the following is a quote from Microsoft's Senior Director of Citizenship and Public Affairs: "I think this is really a testament to our employees worldwide and the difference they make in their local communities. While we have a small Citizenship team here at the corporate level, we have Citizenship Leads across the globe and they work daily in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders on a range of issues important to local communities." Which of the following terms best describes Microsoft's approach to corporate social responsibility?

Which one of the following statements about codes of conduct (ethics) is false?

A common reason for channel stuffing is to conceal declining demand or inflate financial statement earnings.

Distribution-related ethical issues arise when marketers