The suggested strategy for Blue Nile is market development; it requires advertising campaigns and promoting jewelry brand products to new sales markets. Such promotion provides an excellent opportunity for the organization to influence the consumer. Working with the target audience, the company should form a positive attitude towards the brand. The principal purpose of modern advertising is to induce a person to make a purchase; the main objective is to increase profits. However, not all methods are appropriate in terms of business ethics and effective for brand reputation and performance. Therefore, it is important to consider ethical issues in advance before implementing the strategy into action.
For a company and marketing team, the ethical aspect is vital regarding the observance of decency concerning those with whom the company cooperates; these include buyers, distribution channels, and suppliers. Even if the action is permitted by law, it can be condemned by the public and cause a negative attitude towards the company’s product (Schauster & Neill, 2017). One of the suggested strategies for the Blue Nile is market development with an emphasis on brand promotion. The most common issue that arises from the violation of consumers’ right to information is inappropriate advertising of items (Schauster & Neill, 2017). According to Belanche (2018), its intrusive character overpasses ethical limits regarding customers and social responsibility. The lack of clear criteria for recognizing information about goods integrated into advertising does not allow consumers to protect their rights. Thus, Blue Nile should take into account this potential issue related to active marketing campaigns.
It is recognized unethical to put excessive pressure on buyers by the company to make a decision about a product. From the utilitarian point of view, it provides economic efficiency and expediency to the market. However, intrusive advertising may result in the situation when the client does not buy the proposed product and ceases to trust this company (Han et al., 2018). Customer loyalty decreases accompanied by irritation, advertising skepticism, and avoidance (Han et al., 2018). Deontology and rights and virtues theories regard intrusive advertising as unethical regarding the target audience. It is assumed that the moral aspect of an ad relies on motives; hence, it should follow ethical standards and principles specified by the industry, public and the government (Belanche, 2018). Customers usually inform the management of the company that they are under pressure from its representatives.
Alternative actions may be using mobile behavioral advertising and establishing an adequate privacy policy. Marketing managers should carefully plan these aspects to guarantee that these ads are beneficial to their target customers (Mpinganjira & Maduku, 2019). As privacy is the potential legal issue of Blue Nile, it is essential to ensure that personal information is safe (Mpinganjira & Maduku, 2019). Consequently, behavioral advertising policy will positively impact consumers’ perception of the jewelry brand (Mpinganjira & Maduku, 2019). Customers’ positive attitude towards the brand can be achieved by increasing the product’s awareness. Regarding decisions on this issue, in the selling process, the organization needs to correctly present all the product’s advantages to increase customer loyalty. It is also not recommended to denigrate a competitor’s product or exaggerate its shortcomings.
To sum up, intrusive presentations can be viewed as unethical behavior, and as a result, the company’s brand image may worsen. Therefore, the company’s primary value should be the integrity of its actions, that is, meeting customers’ needs, making a profit, and morally correct behavior. The Blue Nile is recommended to plan advertising campaigns planning moderate behavior ads. Moreover, it is important to ensure privacy in customers’ personal information. Thus, based on this cooperation, the firm’s long-term success is possible.
References
Belanche, D. (2019). Ethical limits to the intrusiveness of online advertising formats: A critical review of Better Ads Standards. Journal of Marketing Communications, 25(7), 685-701. Web.
Han, J., Drumwright, M., & Goo, W. (2018). Native advertising: Is deception an asset or a liability?. Journal of Media Ethics, 33(3), 102-119. Web.
Mpinganjira, M., & Maduku, D. K. (2019). Ethics of mobile behavioral advertising: Antecedents and outcomes of the perceived ethical value of advertised brands. Journal of Business Research, 95, 464-478. Web.
Schauster, E., & Neill, M. (2017). Have the ethics changed? An examination of ethics in advertising and public relations agencies. Journal of Media Ethics, 32(1), 45-60. Web.