Marketing Ethics: Coco-Cola

Student name: Leung Wing Sing

Student id: 13086667D

Marketing Ethics – Coco-Cola

Introduction

There is an increasing concern about the ethical values adopted by business in the society recently. According to the definition from Business Dictionary.com (2015), marketing ethics addresses basic principle and values that govern the practices of business those engaged in promoting products or services to customers. This essay will discuss the ethicality of The Coca-Cola Company’s marketing activities and focus on the p (product) of Coca-Cola among four Ps.

Background

   The Coca-Cola Company began in 1886 and now is the world’s largest beverage corporation and manufacturer of famous carbonated soft drink- coke which sold in more than 200 countries (Coca-Cola.com, 2015). Although there were several unethical issues from the Coca-Cola Corporation in the past, Coca-Cola is trying hard to promote marketing ethics in the recent year. Firstly, Coca-Cola has provided transparent nutrition information of their drinks. Secondly, it removed a controversial ingredient from all the products in 2014. Finally, the first reduced calorie coke ‘Coca-Cola life” was also produced and sold by Coca-Cola in 2013. According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), it defines that these activities are ethical and comply the ethical values of respect, transparency and citizenship.  

Respect

    Respect means to acknowledge the basic human dignity of all stakeholders. For the respect perspective, Coca-Cola has listened to the concerns of customers and implemented reasonable practices to satisfy the needs of the customer. In 2014, a teenager had questioned why BVO (brominated vegetable oil) can be found in the products of Coca-Cola (BBC News, 2014). Regarding a medical researcher of the Moya Clinic (Zeratsky, 2013), it indicates that the intake of excessive amount of BVO may result in the memory loss and skin and nerve problem. Therefore, Thousands of citizens signed an online petition against the use of BVO. Then, Coca-Cola removed the BVO from the ingredients of their drinks due to the request from customers and switched to use other substitutes to replace BVO. Coca-Cola complies the ethical value of respect since it has heard the voices from customers and made a reasonable change to improve the satisfaction of customers.

Transparency

   Transparency is creating a spirit of openness of marketing operation. To achieve this ethical value, business should communicate clearly with all consumers. Coca-Cola has provided more transparent information of their products to customers. The calories and nutrients of foods and beverage products are crucial factors in affecting people to make a choice, especially for people who are achieving healthy lifestyle or a balanced diet. Coca-Cola was the first beverage company to label front-of-pack energy information on their products’ packaging. In 2013, Coca-Cola has also introduced more clear calories information on the vending machines and encouraged lower-calorie choices of their products (Coca-Cola Journey, 2013). Moreover, Coca-Cola provided a calorie calculator that showed you how many hours of exercise it you need to burn off a drink from Coca-Cola. It presents that Coca-Cola undertook appropriate actions that Coca-Cola strive to promote clearer calories and nutrient information to fulfill the transparency’s value.