Advertising has long been a key determinant in the performance of a company. Although much public attention has been placed on the qualities of the products (services) many firms manufacture (provide), little have been focused on the marketing aspects of these products and services. Yet, it is often these overlooked factors that present the greatest of dilemmas in the business world. Comparison marketing, the act of directly placing your products (services) against your competitors’, is just one of the many marketing dilemmas we as consumers face on a daily basis.
Ryanair, the low cost airline that for the past 10 years has been putting other European carriers out of business one by one, has also been linked with various lawsuits regarding its highly aggressive, almost predatory marketing style. What’s especially offensive about Ryanair’s ads, however, is that instead of targeting the generic industry like other firms (e.g, a statement dictating it is cheaper than most other competitors), it picks specific airlines and assails (the use of the term completely justified in this situation). To rub salt to wounds, many of Ryanair’s attacks are directed simply at the airlines themselves as opposed to the practices of those airlines. According to Ryanair, such absolutely abhorrent marketing practice in fact attributed to its success, appealing to potential customers as being “humorous”.
Whether such marketing practice should be allowed or not depends on the respective government’s decisions, but from an ethics point of view i that should be banned unanimously across the globe. When a person applies for a job, he may statet he is in fact better than average, but in no way shape or form will he claim he is in particular better than candidate XYZ. Why shouldn’t the same standard be applied to industry then?
Reference:
http://career-advice.monster.com/in-the-office/workplace-issues/ethics-in-marketing/article.aspx
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3456423.stm
http://www.moreniche.com/guidance/support-articles/comparison-marketing
Image Courtesy of:
http://visual.ly/road-online-marketing-success-comparison-between-seo-and-yellow-pages
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ryanair_B737_Altenburg-Nobitz_02.JPG
Hi Jason, I like your insights towards this issue. I find it is very interesting that in many Western countries, assailing competitors in the ads is legal. Personally, I like to watch how companies use advertisements to satirize their rivals but there must be a reason. Rivals’ low quality of products, high price, unhealthy ingredients can be satirized in the ads. But Ryanair cannot assailing its competitors for no reason. If it keeps doing such things, it will be a hooliganism so immoral behavior. I think the government take this responsibility.