Essay Sample on Ethical Advertising and Consumer Strategies: A Case Study of Apple Inc.

Introduction

In the modern business world, there are numerous firms offering products and services to the consumer. They engage in practices such as advertising that require them to remain ethical in their communication about their services and products. Ethics is usually guided by the set of regulations and laws within a company. Organizations such as Apple have the position of chief marketing officer (CMO) whose mandates include ensuring practices such as development, planning, and execution of advertising and marketing take place. The focus of the paper is on the Apple company and its advertising practices. It needs to ensure ethical practices across all marketing campaigns as they create awareness of its existence and product offerings. The company is guided by ethical principles and established privacy policies to overcome possible damage to its reputation.

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Product Selection and Its Typical Consumer

Apple company is among the leaders, especially in the electronics industry. It offers products such as the iPad, iPod, Airpod, and iPhone that have seen a significant transformation in the market (Apple Inc., 2018). The company has led to other brands focus on the full transformation of their platforms to ensure they remain competitive and compete with Apple. Nevertheless, Apple boasts of massive advantages that make remain competitive in the market. They include a robust brand name and a strong financial position. The company ensures that its utility and design aspects set the company apart since it achieves a successful competitive edge. Apple company has, over the years, grown and expanded to win customer loyalty which sees it attain massive strides of success. The company provides that they develops products focused on their target market from loyal customers as they trust their products to make them attain a better and easier life.

It is established that 64% of the American population owns a product of Apple company based on a survey from CNBC in 2017 (Apple Inc., 2018). As a result, the normal consumers for Apple include persons age of 35-44. The particular population category also buys products from Apple for their kids. The advantage of the trend and practice is that as the kids grow to their adolescent and young adult ages, they will have experienced Apple's products and automatically subscribe to the company. The company thus enjoys a broad market and records massive brand awareness from its customers. Therefore, the company can easily implement its advertising plan with every new product introduced in the market.

Apple has a premium brand linked with the level of individual income since the majority of people want their products, although they are expensive for potential consumers. Appel also targets the millennial generation since they are characterized as greatly addicted to technology use. Over the years, the company has managed to achieve significant marketing for its services and products, adding to its confidence among customers. Generally, Apple company does not permit competitors to shift their ethical practices in its business model (Jamnik, 2017).

Consumer Purchase Decision

A new customer visiting the market is always looking for a brand that suits their quality needs and one with extreme trust records. The most ethical concern from customers includes the freedom degree required as they spend their money. Apple company has two primary conceptions that remain significant, including contracting consumers and wary consumers (Apple Inc., 2018).

A wary consumer usually takes actions based on their understanding and remains entirely responsible for their purchase (Petrikaite, 2018). The customer group includes persons who buy a given product and ultimately assume all responsibilities linked to the particular purchase. Therefore, caution is normally upheld during the purchase period to serve as an approach to safeguard themselves mainly from falling into the trap of defective products. Consequently, a wary consumer enjoys maximum freedom to select what they need from the marketplace. For instance, the consumer is likely to be described as one who buys an item from a different brand such as eBay at a significantly lower price than it costs at Apple company. The consumer is likely to win if the item from a different source and low quality is in good condition and serves them well. Consumers may also lose when the product does not meet their expectations, although it serves as a lesson from buying mistakes. Since the product is sold second-hand and at a lower rate, the company's chief marketing officer does not bear responsibility.

In contrast, a contracting consumer is usually safeguarded from defective services and items since they are affirmed of a contract with a seller. A contracting consumer enters into three terms, including information, freedom, and honesty (Schmitz, 2016). A customer in a contract ought to be willing to engage in the contract following complete honesty and full knowledge of all responsibilities linked to the existing terms. For instance, Apple permits Version or AT&T to engage in the distribution of its products, although the two firms are held responsible for ensuring they practice truthful advertisement (Apple Inc., 2018). A consumer is presented with numerous and varying alternatives, including a choice of paying monthly with other service bills or paying the total amount upfront. Typically, contracting consumers should remain in the given contract for two years to ensure they meet the requirement. The consumers are usually willing to offer the providers money to anticipate services in exchange. When the consumer finds a challenge with the product, they reach out to the provider who may give them a new item. Even though a contracting consumer has to pay for the protected services, they are guaranteed security for the products and do not lose.

Wary consumer and contracting consumer include opposite concepts, but the products from Apple include both ideas. A wary consumer usually assumes extra responsibility when making upfront purchase terms, and they witness the given investment as a significant risk. In contrast, the contracting consumer prefers settling smaller amounts of money within a specified period, but it is costly in the end. The two consumer concepts in Apple ultimately achieve a situation where the consumers enjoy utilizing Apple products and are generally pleased with the product. Consequently, Apple company ensures it offers itself a single approach that serves to meet the needs of different consumers in terms of security needs. The products offered by Apple market themselves, although the CMO needs to ensure awareness is enhanced during product advertisement practices. Consumers need to understand the particular products that benefit them the most.

Ethical Principles

Apple company puts effort into ensuring that its workers exhibit the required behavior all the time to improve and keep its population from damage. The company is guided by four primary principles, including respect, honesty, compliance, and confidentially (Jamnik, 2017). The chief marketing officer at Apple company ought to ensure all four principles are applied and observed.

Advertising practice includes passing information to facilitate the improved worthiness of a product. The CMO at the company needs to ensure that advertising for newly introduced products in the market with features such as battery life, camera quality, screen resolution, and speed remain precise to avoid misleading information. In most cases, firms engage in forceful advertising that aims at making the products appear better than they are. The practice is regarded as acting dishonestly and ethically wrong. Apple company ought to observe all warranties and offers advertised. The benefits of transparency at the time of marketing permit its customers to feel protected as they decide.

Privacy Policies

Apple company remains informed of the severity associated with the Privacy Policy for the users of their products (Jamnik, 2017). It is essential to advertise privacy features to ensure they attract potential customers and keep current customers' loyalty. The company has developed internal regulations that safeguard its data from leaking to unauthorized individuals. For instance, the closed-door policy in the company ensures data remains proprietary, and it safeguards technology used in production. The CMO is mandated to ensure that all marketing and advertising practices remain aligned with the policy to keep competitors from hurting the newly identified product market. Besides, employees are provided with specific guidelines for their accounts. They are restricted from speculation rumors and revealing product information about Apple to outsiders. The guidelines help ensure professionalism is maintained in the company since local consumers anticipate companies to exhibit such behavior.

Conclusion

Apple company is a leading company in the electronics industry. The company's presence in the market and its significant success make other competitor firms use more effort to match their strides. However, Apple remains competitive due to its utility and design aspects, alongside brand recognition and strong financial position. Its consumers include individuals between the 35-44 age bracket, and a cycle is maintained since they buy items for their kids who grow up as a ready market for Apple items. Apple uses two consumer concepts, including wary consumer and contracting consumer. Although Apple products are known all over, management needs to adopt an advertising mechanism to improve their awareness and win more customers. In the advertising practice, ethics are upheld by Apple company across all their employees to maintain their reputation. It is guided by principles such as confidentiality, respect, honesty, and compliance. Besides, the company has set privacy policies to protect its data from landing in the hands of unauthorized persons.

References

Apple Inc. (2018). Annual reports. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000032019318000145/a10-k20189292018.htm

Jamnik, A. (2017). The challenges of business ethics: The basic principles of business ethics-ethical codex in business. Review of Innovation and Competitiveness: A Journal of Economic and Social Research, 3(3), 85-100. https://doi.org/10.32728/ric.2017.33/5

Petrikaite, V. (2018). Consumer obfuscation by a multiproduct firm. The RAND Journal of Economics, 49(1), 206-223. https://doi.org/10.1111/1756-2171.12225Schmitz, A. J. (2016). Remedy realities in business-to-consumer contracting. Ariz. L. Rev., 58, 213.