Essay on Deceptive Marketing

Specific Purpose: To inform people the impact of false advertisement

Thesis: Deceptive ads can sometimes confuse the consumer, the business and the employee that the product is of good quality.

INTRODUCTION

I. False marketing deprives consumers the true information needed for decision making.

a) The harmful effects cascade along the chain of businesses.

b) The illegal actions done by the seller, marketer, seller or manufacturer aims to sell a particular good or service by advertising their products inaccurately.

II. False marketing also aims to convince the consumers to purchase a certain product by false or misleading information.

a) To discourage manufacturers, seller, and marketers from misleading the buyers, Thompson (p.142) advised that the government should create various regulations that will avoid the delivery of misleading methods.

BODY

1. Deceptive marketing is illegal in America because various nations have consumer-based business that are innate and undeniable to have a clue whether the services or goods they buy are genuine.

a) The consumer is forced to buy things that are labeled to make sure that there is accuracy and fairness of the information presented to the consumer (Thompson 159).

b) To eradicate the challenge, the delivery of information including information regarding the service or product as well as nutritional facts is needed not only for the efforts of goods delivering but also to the product’s label at large.

2. The false advertisement has vast effects in the general world of business. While it affects the products being sold, it also has adverse effects to the consumer, business and the employees.

a) False advertisement blinds the customer from the truth and the quality of the product.

i. The result of the loaded and generic definition is that the advertising techniques have the potential to be misunderstood by the buyer because of false advertisement.

b) Deceptive ad makes the consumer believe that someone is making profits from the purchases (Dhaliwal 81).

c) The buyer is also made to think that they have been given a better deal that allows them to save money by buying the same commodity at a different offer.

3. The information advertised makes the underlying products to be purchased with the notion that the product is unique.

a) False advertisement usually raises the alarm when the consumer wants to redeem their offer.

b) For instance, Amrita Dhaliwal (p.87) noted that when 20% offer is given for a particular good or service, then the seller becomes unable to perform a direct or unique function.

4. Any statement of advertisement attached to any product must be truthful.

a) If the package comes with a 20% offer, then it must be redeemed.

b) When the advertisement is false, it is then referred to ‘inflated price comparison’ because it does not give the 20% value to the customer.

c) The retailer raises the price a number of times and then lower them significantly to assure the customers that they have a better deal.

5. Other forms of deceptive advertisement involve products with a rebate (Dhaliwal 90).

a) The word rebate just means the product is not received when purchased where the buyer claims it in the future.

i. Such instances of deceptive marketing make the companies to delay their delivery due to rebate.

Business suffer

1) As discussed, it looks like false advertisement not only makes the consumer suffer and benefits the company but also has an impact to the business.

a) Consumer do not like being conned, and most of the time they retaliate against enterprises that trick them (Barnes 90).

b) Not everyone falls for the same trick twice. Moreover, they end up getting disappointed and angry by which often retaliate negative information either on social media, lawsuits, on occasion or through word of mouth.

2) Companies that use false information for advertisement also get into serious legal trouble.

a) When a product is advertised with false information, the federal trade commission usually take charge to investigate the business.

i. According to Barnes (P.94), if the allegations are true, the company is then charged with both deceptive marketing and any future instances of false marketing.

ii. If so, they’re also sued for additional expenses, which come in the form of legal fees, and funds that must be compensated to the customer that filled the suit.

b) While the company faces charges due to false information, they also suffer the lack of having repeat customers.

3) The company should not depict their products to something that is not packaged either through mail, social media or to face-to-face events because of serious repercussions.

a) This means that if the products really mean what is written in the advertising statements, the customer does not need to claim their benefits.

b) Barnes (p.104) also showed that, if the product does not meet the consumer standards, then it’s better not to be sold to the customer through false marketing.

Employee suffer

A. Company’s employees that use false marketing also end up bearing false consequences because they get stuck between the advertisement and the consumers.

a) Despite the fact that they don’t get involved in writing or endorsing the ad they usually deal with the unhappy customers.

b) Most consumers direct their ire to the employees who never left to the unrealistic expectations got through false ads (Wilcock 89).

i. Sometimes, they are even blamed for any product that has malfunctioned.

ii. When workers are subjected to unpleasant situations, they may not get motivated to work or even decide to leave work.

B. Recently, the Federal trade commission issued the guidelines that pertain product endorsement revealed the new risks that, when an employer used misleading or false marketing stemming from their workers about their products or services, then the employee also suffers the consequences.

C. The employees also risk endorsing the employer’s services or products to have ‘duty to disclose’ to the consumers and end their business relationship due to the testimonies they will give (Wilcock 92).

i. The duty applies when the worker’s statement is posted on the company’s site if the employer does not maintain it through popular chat sites or bulletin board.

ii. Sometimes, employees also falsely advertise the products without the knowledge of the employer.

iii. If this happens, then the company risk being charged through the FTC enforcement action. In other words, while the company still make the single employee responsible for the actions they did, the FTC also pursues enforcement against the company because they failed to follow the appropriate internal procedure laid to prevent such criminal activities from taking place (Bennett 181).

iv. Ultimately, FTC’s decision on imposing fines also depends on the damage caused by the postings and how bad the consumers were affected.

v. Bennett (p.195) also stated that if the customers were injured with one rogue employee, the company still faces FTC enforcement regardless the network policy the business used.

Conclusion

False marketing deprives consumers the true information needed for decision making.

a) The consumer, the business and the consumer are all affected by this information.

b) The consumer suffer being conned and being sold fake products. The business, on the other hand, suffers being charged by FTC because of either using the false platforms themselves or by not following the internal rules of the policy of advertisement.

c) The employees on the other hand risk being sandwiched between the ire of the customer and the pressure of the employer.

Works Cited

Barnes, Annette. “False Consciousness.” Seeing through Self-Deception, 2011, pp. 98–109. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511583353.007.

Bennett, Bruce E. ”The Federal Trade Commission: Problems and Prospects.” PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2011, pp. 178–188., doi: 10.1037/e580352009-002.

Dhaliwal, Amrita. ”Effect of Advertisement on Consumer Buying Behavior.” International Journal of Scientific Research and Management, Nov. 2016, pp. 74–98., doi:10.18535/ijsrm/v4i9.09.

Thompson, Katrina Dyonne. ”Advertisement.” University of Illinois Press, 2017, pp. 141–164., doi:10.5406/illinois/9780252038259.003.0006.

Wilcock, Maggie. ”Torts: False Advertisement: Detention of Employee by Employer.” Michigan Law Review, vol. 25, no. 1, 2016, pp. 88–92., doi: 10.2307/1279020