The Austrian energy drink giant, Red Bull has recently settled a lawsuit for 13 million dollars (USD) against Benjamin Careathers a loyal red bull consumer. He had filed a lawsuit against red bull for false advertisement. Marketing ethics comes into play where businesses could potentially “over sell” their products, making false statements about the benefits or providing nutrition benefits to mislead their customers.
In Red bull’s case, they have deceived their consumers into believing that their products could have potential physical benefits, which led to their growth in market sales. Over the decade they have used the same marketing slogan, ” red bull gives you wings ” and sponsoring sports events with advertisements of athletics consuming their product. Hence, giving consumers a physiological effect of perceiving that red bull would enhance their physical abilities to be like their sports idol.
Therefore, this lawsuit has shown the consequences of unethical marketing, where the consumers has the edge over multi billion dollar corporation when there are faults found in their marketing campaign. Where’s in my opinion, companies should have thought through the physiological effects of their advertisements before publishing them.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/10/09/red-bull-refund/16959529/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/11/red_bull_wings_lawsuit/