Marketing Planning and Strategy (The Dark Side)1 Assignment

Marketing Planning and Strategy (The Dark Side)1 - Assignment Example Through excellent use of promotion tools, an organization can create new product/service needs and influence consumers to spend additionally. Similarly, the tool of marketing can be effectively used to identify the changing consumer needs and to satisfy those needs before losing customers to competitors. Undoubtedly, there is a dark side of marketing. Fraudulent multi-level marketing (MLM) is identified to be a major dark side of marketing. As Manning (2010, p. 367) points out, fraudulent MLM requires high entrance fees or expensive purchases without involving any authentic product or service. Using the concept of MLM and unrealistic schemes, it is easy to trap modern people who wish to become rich effortlessly. Compromising credibility is another dark side of marketing. Today even well established companies market their products and services to customers without disclosing the real benefits and costs. Hidden tariff rates and conditions are increasingly used by companies to attract more customers and to improve sales. Enron Corporation and Worldcom are two prominent examples of companies that have compromised their ethics/values for increased sales and