What is the moral consensus in trying to convince people to buy products we know really won't benefit them?

Question

Is this a right or wrong thing to do?

Answer 1

in a business point of view the bottom line is to sell and make profit whether or not the person need it or not. ultimately it is the person's decision whether to buy or not. you just facilitated the sale.

Answer 2

Its a marketing technique. Much like the Sullivan nod and such. They are banking on the fact that people in general have a short attention span. Not saying that you are stupid its just an advertising thing. So they repeat the product name over and over and have catchy music or costumes etc. you get the idea. How many times have you remembered a commercial and not the product? That is considered a failure. As entertaining as it may be the point is to remember the product. Next time you see commercials note the non use of a thesaurus. Hope that my observations help. Maybe you should ask yourself how will this product benefit you after seeing a add that catches your eye. Its not that is right or wrong there just salespeople tying to get paid like everyone else.

Answer 3

Middle of the fence on this one...

If you are selling a product like Cigarettes, which have absolutely no redeeming qualities, and actually kill the people that buy them... then it's wrong... you are relying on someone to get hooked on your product, and make them believe that they can't live without it.

Now if you're selling something as Innocuous as a pet rock, no harm no foul. This pet rock, is nothing more than your garden variety rock, with google eyes, and fuzzy troll hair glued to it, and it in no way benefits people, nor does it hurt them.

It all boils down to the intention. If you intend to make someone else's misfortune your profit, then yes.. you are indeed wrong. However if you're trying to make a living by selling something that doesn't necessarily enhance a persons life, but at the same time does not harm them, well that's hardly wrong.

Answer 4

If the "we" in your above question is you, specifically, then it seems you have a choice to make. You can try to justify your sales or marketing under the terms that it's not truly you who is offering the product, but a larger company, so you're just doing your job. You could also try to offer an alternate product (if you are able) that might benefit the person, or lastly, you can look for other work.

Answer 5

Good question. I think there is no consensus. I choose to not push things I don't believe in, professionally or personally. However, whether speaking of the drug dealer or cigarette advertiser, they are free to do what they want so long as their target audience is one that is mature and capable of making intelligent decisions. Unfortunately we live in a culture where this is not an accurate description of the adult population. That's why we have so many drug users and smokers.

Answer 6

This depends on your view of the success, or failure, of capitalism. If you are on the side that claims the value of the product comes not from the product itself, but from the jobs and revenue created by it's creation and trade, then it is a duty not only to buy, but also to sell, as many of everything as possible.

If you believe, as I do, that this is a load of crap and merely wastes our potential to achieve in the form of mindless mass-production for endless mass consumption, then your duty is quite the opposite.

This is often mistaken for communism, or fascism, but it is not. Why should anyone settle for a "career" in the...tooth-brush manufacturing business, for example? How is this a meaningful life? What if that person has a revolutionary idea on how to bring North Korea into the arena of rational thought? Do you suppose he will be capable of leveraging such change from his lowly throwes of the industrial world?

Is it alright to make cheap home computers available to third world nations who are unable even to produce the electricity needed to power them? Would you feel good about diverting X% of their budget from infrastructure, so that you may line your own pockets?

Answer 7

Need to have understanding of what are the products and what are the benefits. In free market we can assume that people will buy product that give benefits and those product that has little or no benefit will out the market. No need to bother, the market will determine.

Answer 8

That was a dogbert question

"If I work for a company that sells products that will harm people, is it OK if I steal office supplies from them?"

Dogbert answered "Yes"

Morally it is wrong.

It is not wrong to sell products that will not benefit them, it is wrong to try to convince people to buy them.

You want to sell cigarettes? Fine. Enjoy. Don't have an advertising budget for it. Hell, marijuana doesn't, and it sells just fine. Even though it is illegal to even own.

Selling it? Well they are going to buy it from somebody. Advertising it. Real, real big problem.

-Dio

Answer 9

Basically, you´re lying, are you not? Where is the good in that? Sometimes lies are OK, like when talking of a Santa Claus, but that actually does some good, since the products do not however, it´s a wrong thing to do.

Answer 10

As long as you're not misrepresenting the product, it's not fraud or a scam. People have the right to make their own mistakes. Respecting someone else's autonomy includes allowing them to make choices that we might think or know are harmful to them. So, there are better ways to spend your time. But it's not wrong.

Answer 11

People buy what excites them, not necessrily what they need. That's why they covet race cars, diamonds and expensive electronic toys.

If you sell them these things, you are catering to their deepest desires and not necessarily their deepest needs.

And the bottom line is, a customer has the right to just say no.