Ethical Issues in Packaging practices Research Paper

Ethical Issues in Packaging practices - Research Paper Example The main aim of any business is to maximize their profit margin and for this they adopt any strategy available. The main unethical steps taken by entrepreneurs’ to mislead the customer to achieve their motive are taken under view. The marketing efforts made the consumers aware about what a certain company or organization can offer them. When talking about marketing, the first concept that is imparted is that of the 4 Ps. These Ps all signify a separate area; product, price, placement, promotion. However, the more modern teachers of the marketing concept talk about a 5th P, which is the packaging. The fact that packaging has been included in the P goes on to show how important a part of the marketing effort really is (Ayub, 2013). Probably no words are required to explain what packaging is but simply put into words, it is the material use to pack the final product. When talking about packaging in marketing context, it refers not only to the material that is used for packaging but also how that packaging appears to consumers. The outlook of the final product in most cases is dependent on the packaging rather than the product itself. In that aspect, packaging is very important because there are a large proportion of the consumers that buy a product based on how it looks. Ethics are the moral principles or bases that guide the decision making for anything. Before the buyer uses the product what makes him purchase is the packaging of the product which motivates him to pay for it leaving the other same purpose serving products. The article discusses the various ethical issues found in packaging practices by business practitioners. Environmental Paradigm It is a clear fact that not all business fully comply with the societal and environmental ethics that exist in a society. These issues could be local or international and affect the businesses as well as their workplaces. Since there are no specific guidelines for business ethics, it becomes difficult for companies to actually satisfy the customers’ and the workers’ needs related to ethical issues. Every person, every organization or every entity has different ethical standards and sometimes they are so vague that it becomes difficult to meet and understand them. In order to meet these stan dards, organizations often suffer from losses or minimize their profits so as to create a balance between the two factors that are business ethics and business profits (Bone & Corey, 2000). Compromising on profits in the short run has never proved detrimental for any business; it always provides the company with doubled revenues in the long run. Some of the major issues include bribery, gender discrimination, child labour, not paying enough to workers and product packaging etc. The issue that will be focused in this essay is of product packaging. A number of companies intentionally remove the details of the side effects of their product packages while there are some companies that run certain environment specific tests such as animal testing etc. for example; The Body Shop sells only those products that are not animal tested. According to them they sell only vegetarian friendly i.e. natural products. This has created a competitive advantage for the company and ethically sensitive pe ople prefer it over other cosmetic brands. However, a number of other companies are indulging in such practices in order to maintain their customer base (Laczniak, 1983). Packaging Canvas According to a research analyst, the packaging issues of different products are different for the three important groups that are related to the product. First being the packaging professional,