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There are two categories of customer who are controversial and unethical to be targeted in marketing. One is children, and the other one is the elderly. They all have weaker ability to tell if the advertisement is true or false or the products the sales promote are real or not. As for children, they are a little less unethical to be targeted for they have their parents to help them make the decision. However, the elderly usually lived alone or with their mate who is also old.

The reasons I can think of why the elderly are very unethical to be targeted are below:

1. The elderly have sufficient time to listen to salespeople’s promotion. After the retirement, the elderly will have too much time than they ever had after childhood. They wish to have someone to talk to them every day and this is exactly what marketing people want. The more time they listen to salespeople’s promotion, the more likely they are willing to purchase the promoted products.
2. The elderly have the money to pay those fake medication and fraud high-tech appliances. The elderly have their retirement fund every month. Most of them will still have much money after paying the monthly living expense. The elderly have the purchasing power that marketing strategy makers are looking for.
3.  The elderly are easier to be fooled by sales people than younger people. They are too old to get updated with the latest science and technology and their memories are easily affected by the so called new research findings and the power of suggestion. (MEDICAL FRONTIERS, 2013)

Because of these reasons, I believe that targeting the elderly in the marketing strategy is unethical.

Reference

MEDICAL   FRONTIERS. (2013, 09 23). Elderly More Easily Fooled, Study Finds.   Retrieved from The Courant:   http://articles.courant.com/2005-05-17/features/0505170050_1_researchers-elderly-group-study