Title: Consumers' Perception of Unethical Marketing Behaviors of the Marketer in the light of the Customer Loyalty Dr.

Debdas Ganguly, Professor Science & Dean, School of Management & Social

Haldia Institute of Technology Dr. Kaushik Kundu, Faculty Member, School of Management & Social Science Haldia Institute of Technology Ms. Arpita Bhtacharyya Lecturer, Global Institute of Technology

Title: Consumers' Perception of Unethical Marketing Behaviors of the Marketer in the light of the Customer Loyalty
Abstract: Marketing ethics is the area of applied ethics which deals with the moral principles behind the operation and regulation of marketing. Some areas of marketing ethics (ethics of advertising and promotion) overlap with media ethics. A number of frameworks may be identified to analyze the ethical issues concerned with the marketing practices of the business organizations. These are, i) Value-oriented framework, analyzing ethical problems on the basis of the values which they infringe (e.g. honesty, autonomy, privacy, transparency), ii) Stakeholder-oriented framework, analyzing ethical problems on the basis of whom they affect (e.g. consumers, competitors, society as a whole), and iii) Process-oriented framework, analyzing ethical problems in terms of the categories used by marketing specialists (e.g. research, price, promotion, placement). Marketing ethics, regardless of the product offered or the market targeted, sets the guidelines for which good marketing is practiced. When companies create high ethical standards upon which to approach marketing they are participating in ethical marketing. To market ethically and effectively one should be reminded that all marketing decisions and efforts are necessary to meet and suit the needs of customers, suppliers, and business partners. Ethical behavior should be enforced throughout company culture and through company practices. Marketing practices are deceptive if customers believe they will get more value from a product or service than they actually receive. Deception, which can take the form of a misrepresentation, omission, or misleading practice, can occur when working with any element of the marketing mix. Because consumers are exposed to great quantities of information about products and firms, they often become skeptical of marketing claims and selling messages and act to protect themselves from being deceived. Thus, when a product or service does not provide expected value, customers will often seek a different source. Research shows that unethical marketing behavior impacts consumers' behavior in the marketplace. However, the association the consumer has with a company seems to impact their reaction to the behavior. Relatively little attention has been given to judgments of unethical marketing behavior from the consumers' perspective, especially focusing on the mutual exchange relationship established between the two parties involved. A limited amount of research works have been identified which examine consumer judgments of unethical behavior of the marketers and its impact on the marketplace. This study tries to identify a model how consumers' commitment to a company impacts not only their ethical judgment of behavior of the marketer but also the outcomes of that judgment.

Key Words: Marketing ethics, Customers, unethical behaviour, judgment