Social media marketing and its unethical practices: Philippines context

 William A. Chan Jr

Divine Word College of Laoag – Graduate School

Abstract

Social media marketing has become a rampant in the digital platform, offering unparalleled opportunities for businesses to engage with their audience. However, alongside its benefits, social media marketing also presents ethical challenges. This paper examines the unethical practices in social media marketing, examining the various ways in which businesses may compromise ethical standards in pursuit of marketing goals. This paper highlights the importance of ethical considerations in social media marketing and suggests strategies for promoting responsible practices in the digital sphere.

Keywords

 Social Media Marketing, Advertising, Unethical Practices, Digital Landscape, Influencer, Responsible practices

Introduction

The Philippines stands out for its highly active social media user base, providing businesses with a valuable opportunity to engage a broad audience through social media campaigns. However, the rapid evolution of social media can give rise to ethical dilemmas. Understanding and addressing the ethical issues surrounding social media marketing in the Philippines is crucial for businesses to establish trust and cultivate a positive online presence.

Social media platforms have revolutionized consumer engagement for businesses, offering avenues for social growth, swift communication, and targeted advertising. Yet, as businesses leverage social media for marketing purposes, ethical concerns emerge. Unethical practices within social media marketing, such as fraudulent activities and breaches of data privacy, pose risks to customer trust and brand reputation. Therefore, a thorough evaluation of these practices is essential to mitigate negative impacts on businesses and customers.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted businesses in the Philippines to adapt swiftly, with social media marketing becoming a vital tool for reaching remote customers. However, the pressures of surviving lockdowns and economic uncertainties often led to the adoption of unethical behaviors. As Filipino consumers, it is imperative to recognize the ethical implications of social media marketing during this unique period. Businesses can develop ethical marketing strategies that prioritize customer well-being, fostering a more ethical online community through a deeper understanding of these ethical challenges.

While social media platforms offer unprecedented opportunities for businesses to engage their target audiences, many companies resort to unethical practices in pursuit of marketing goals, compromising integrity and trust. This paper aims to highlight prevalent unethical practices in social media marketing and stress the importance of ethical considerations in digital marketing strategies. Drawing insights from existing literature, it identifies unethical tactics employed by businesses and their potential repercussions. Moreover, it suggests strategies to promote responsible and ethical practices in the digital realm, emphasizing the significance of upholding trust and credibility in the online marketplace.

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

According to Shamsudeen and Ganeshbabu (2018). Social media marketing is a powerful form of internet marketing used by companies to promote products and services on social media platforms and web pages This prolific tool allows companies to market their products while building a brand image and increasing consumer loyalty. Social media marketing is a revolution within the marketing strategy. Indeed, it allows; in a simple, cost-effective and efficient way; companies to develop direct and indirect contact with existing and new consumers. It consists of many virtual places such as Instagram, YouTube, Twitter or blogs also. Thanks to it, companies can connect and interact with the stakeholders and the audience (Tuten and Solomon, 2018)-.

Furthermore, it allows consumers to connect online with communities which share the same values, needs and wants). The companies can establish connection and communication with many individual and thanks to personalization, increase the engagement and the loyalty of consumers.

Businesses, in social media marketing, communicate and interact with consumers thanks to marketing and advertising activities in different social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. These platforms are used by different types of people. Facebook is known as the basic platform for everyone and on the other hand, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram are popular with a younger generation (Duggan and Smith, 2013). The online environment of social networks allows users to share and interact within rich interest-based communities. Interactions are made by liking, commenting and sharing their content (Shamsudeen and Ganeshbabu, 2018). This phenomenon is also applied in influencer marketing.

E- Marketing / Digital Marketing 

E-marketing is growing at a dramatic pace and is significantly impacting customer and business market behaviors. As a result, most firms started developing e-marketing strategies. E-marketing strategies entail utilizing existing and emerging communication and data networks to impart personalized and uninterrupted communication between the firm and its customers and to provide value above traditional networks. Marketing also became more organization initiated as products were first manufactured and then marketed. E-marketing creates a fundamental shift in business and consumer behaviors similar to that associated with the introduction of smart phones that reduced the need for channel immediacy. E-marketing uses the Internet as a platform that allows firms to adapt to the needs of customers, reduces transaction costs, and allows customers to move from time and location-based behaviors toward non-temporal and non-locational behaviors. E-marketing is similar to agricultural-age marketing, with direct recurring relationships between consumer and producer but with lower costs.

The main advantages of e-marketing are cost reduction and enhancing reach. The cost of an e-marketing platform is typically lower than other marketing platforms such as face-to-face salespeople or middlemen/distributors. It allows firms to cut on sales agent, and thus just focus on creating a database that can reach all their clients and potential clients. In addition, e-marketing allows firms to reach customers that may not be accessible due to temporal and locational limitations of existing distribution channels. E-marketing platforms increase reach and reduce costs by providing three areas of advantage for customers. First, the marketing firm can provide unlimited information to customers without human intervention. Second, the e-marketing firm can create interactions by customizing information for individual customers that allow customers to design products and services that meet their specific requirements. Finally, e-marketing platforms can allow transactions between customers and firms that would typically require human contact as in the case of successful firms such as Dell and amazon. 

False Advertising and Deceptive Practices

According to Smith, J. (2019) Social media platforms provide fertile ground for false advertising and deceptive practices. Businesses often exaggerate product claims or mislead consumers through misleading information. Such practices not only undermine consumer trust but also risk legal repercussions.

Advertising is the most popular means of reaching potential customers with information about a product (Kariyawasam and Wigley, 2017). It is used as a tool to grow businesses. Several fields of study combine to form the concept of marketing, including sociology, economics, aesthetics, and psychology (Doborji and Hamed, (2016). The interpretation of advertising information is different for each person, And the information passed to the consumer is never completely objective.

When advertisers engage in misleading or false advertising, consumer choice is affected because consumers are unfairly convinced to believe in the messages of the advertisers, which affect their judgment. Misleading advertising either compels consumers to purchase items at a higher price or at a lesser quality than what they wanted, or to purchase the wrong product or service (Kariyawasam and Wigley, 2017). Such advertisements violate the interests of consumers by suggesting that the product or service has unique qualities. They also manipulate consumers, thus making them more vulnerable and less likely to make rational choices.

·         Misleading advertising

 In most jurisdictions, advertising regulations have made the use of false or misleading advertising illegal. It is illegal to misrepresent the quality of a product or the specifications related to its composition, manufacture, price, or place of origin. “False” refers to the misrepresentation of the facts; false information can lead to an unacceptable number of people using the information to make incorrect decisions (Doborji and Hamed,2016).

·         Approaches to unjust advertising

            The three components of false advertising are “fraud,” “falsity,” and “misleading,” referring to the advertiser, the message, and the effects on the consumer, respectively.

·         Fraud

Fraudulent advertisements are made with the aim of deceiving consumers. There are many ways to create false impressions of goods or services in consumers‟ mind. Fraud plays a role in affecting consumer decisions; however, this role can be “positive,” as false information tends to be more positive about the good or service being offered for sale than is real.

·         Falsity

Falsity refers to inconsistency in claimed facts (Spears, 2015), for instance, when a car manufacture claims that the car’s gas mileage is higher than it actually is. Recently, Toyota was fined for falsifying such mileage information (Forbes,2014). It is difficult to exercise regulatory control on the many channels for advertising where the validity of the advertisements is problematic (Doborji and Hamed,2016).

·         Misleading

Some advertisements create an impression about a product that is untrue or about a product’s features that do not exist. Misleading advertising affects the choices of consumers and the buying process.

As per Hankinson (2007) The evolution of advertising as a marketing tool has been based on the principles of truthfulness and accuracy. Advertisements are meant to pass along information and ensure that consumers know what is being sold (Bleier and Eisenbeiss, 2015). This role of advertising, however, is changing. Numerous media exist through which advertisements can be disseminated (Davis et al. 2013).

Influencer Marketing and Authenticity 

According to Bakker’s (2018) Influencer marketing is known as a new discipline used by companies to promote products and services of their brand. It is a form of brand communication and advertising which is different thanks to a more direct and effective way to reach an audience compared to normal advertising.

Three perspectives of the influencer marketing:

• Brand owner perspective

This digital form of communication allows the brand owners to accomplish communication goals (Brown and Hayes, 2008). It helps to develop the consumer engagement, promote brand image, brand attitudes and create traffic to reach more and more audiences. This can be applied to social media as well. The brand managers have an important role to play in the selection of the influencer(s) with a good brand-fit and target audience-fit.

• Influencer perspective

Regarding influencers, according to their popularity, they are granted several paid partnerships with brands. The number of followers is therefore an important criterion when they are chosen, because the more the influencers are known, the bigger the audience they will reach and the more partnerships they will get. However, it is important that they choose partnerships and brands with which they share commonalities so as not to compromise their credibility and trustworthiness with their followers.

• Consumer perspective

In the decision-making phase of a consumer there are five decision participants: the Initiator, the Influencer, the Decider, the Buyer and the User, which can be the same or a different person. The influencers play a role here as they must encourage the purchase and on the other hand the users try to recognize the fact that influencer marketing is paid advertising (Hein, 2017). However, they consider credibility and trust as reference criteria when it comes to following an influencer.

Influencer marketing is therefore a tool and a means of creating value for both brands and influencers. Their objective is to correlate their perspectives in order to go in the direction of the consumers who are the final target. This new discipline and mode of communication between the company or brand and the consumers used different models and concepts which will be defined and explained below.

A.        Principles of influence

Influence and persuasion are two aspects of the marketing strategies. These aspects are then used in influencer marketing. Cialdini (2007). developed six principles which help to understand how engaged people are. These six principles are the following:

• Reciprocity: this aspect corresponds to the feeling of being indebted to someone when we receive for example a gift or something for free. Here, if the influencer allows followers to win gifts or provides them with a service, the followers will feel indebted and will want to return the favor to the influencer.

• Consistency: this one comes with engagement. Individuals want to remain consistent and true to their word. Commitment is therefore greater if they have actively participated in the decision.

• Social proof: this one mean that there is a real need of knowing what everyone else around is doing. This gives people a feeling of security and allows them to confirm their actions.

• Authority: this one mean that people are more likely to trust experts and authorities than themselves no matter they are legitimate or not.

• Scarcity: this one refers to our need for freedom. For a purchase decision, a product takes value when we know that it will not be available indefinitely, which leads to a decrease in our freedom of decision.

• Liking: this one refers to the fact that people are more likely to favor others if they are similar, or if they find them attractive (Cialdini, 1998). All these principles can help to understand what the effects of influencer on consumers are and how brands use this to adapt their influencer marketing strategy 

B.        The Credibility of the Influencer

 In the view of  Lou and Yuan (2018) Companies must be careful when choosing which influencers, they want to work with and should consider the impact those influencers will have for the brands. From  their Social Media Influencer Value model, it was mentioned that  the influencer credibility as an important factor regarding the persuasiveness in the process of promoting products, services or brands. The credibility of them is defined by how they are perceived by the users of the social networks. Three factors were identified as having an influence on their credibility, namely the expertise, trustworthiness (Hovland, Janis and Kelley, 1970) and the attractiveness (McGuire, 1985). The more an influencer presents these characteristics, the more influence he will have on the users of social networks. This model helped us determine if the followers perceive the influencers, they follow on social media as being credible and if this credibility is important for the brands when choosing the influencers, they want to work with.    

Downsides of SMI 

There are downsides regarding the utilization of influencer marketing. First, the fact that paid collaboration must be transparent for the consumers negatively impacts the authenticity of the perceived message. Moreover, consumers are looking for authenticity when following influencers but when realizing the paid nature of the contents, can feel manipulated by the influencers and the brand and lose trust which will impact the brands and influencers image. Moreover, all the excitement around beauty and fashion promoted by influencers leads to discussion related to distorted beauty ideals, the increase of cosmetic surgery or even mental health issues. Indeed, brands are not known for their ability to create real expectations and image of physical appearance and especially for the women. This can lead to anxiety and ill-being regarding the physical appearance of the women and all the consumers in general. Social norms are constantly exposed in the media and even if nowadays more actions against the “beauty ideal” are taken, it will take time to observe changes. This idea is influenced by advertising and by the brand behind it. Indeed, brands create and change this ideal of beauty as they want since the creation of the marketing.

Consumers and especially women tried to reach this ideal of beauty by changing their weight, clothes and make-up. Social media accentuate this as they don’t present a realistic world concerning these topics. Users of social media are comparing themselves all the time between them which translates into a negative self-evaluation. Instagram also encourages this as it is a media centered on visual content. Some social media influencers, by posting contents, incite the consumers to compare themselves and feed this idea of the ideal of beauty. Indeed, today it is hard for consumers to know which content or influencer is authentic or not and if they are manipulated.

Moreover, the principles of influence and persuasion in marketing strategies, as well as the downsides of social media influencer marketing. The downsides include the need for transparent paid collaborations, potential loss of authenticity, and the impact on consumer perceptions of beauty ideals and mental health.

In summary, the paper underscores the significance of ethical considerations in social media marketing in the Philippines, the importance of authenticity and credibility in influencer marketing, and the need for businesses to prioritize ethical practices to build trust and credibility in the digital marketplace.

Conclusion 

As Philippines stands out for its highly active social media users, It is importance to consider the  ethical ways  in digital marketing strategies to establish trust, maintain a positive online presence, and mitigate risks associated with unethical behaviors. The occurrence of misleading and false advertisements on various virtual platforms has significantly impacted consumer behavior. Consumers have become more sensitive when encountering deceptive advertising, leading to a lack of trust in advertisements in general.

The exposure to false or misleading claims in advertisements has made consumers cautious, with a tendency to abandon brands that engage in deceptive practices. Businesses that maintain truthful advertising practices tend to have a more significant market share, emphasizing the importance of transparency and honesty in marketing communications. Misleading and false advertising not only erodes consumer trust but also complicates the consumer purchasing process, as individuals must verify information thoroughly before making purchasing decisions.

Nowadays, consumers review advertisements more and favor trustworthy brands over deceptive ones. Retaining market share and customer loyalty requires businesses to uphold honesty in their advertising. Although enforcing restrictions online might be difficult, strict controls are planned to limit deceptive marketing. Encouraging ethical marketing methods and safeguarding consumers are vital.

The shift from "buyer beware" to "seller beware" highlights the need for consumers to stay informed and vigilant in their purchasing decisions. Empowering consumers with knowledge about the buying process is vital for making informed choices in the digital platforms. 

References 

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