Considerations in Promoting Controversial Products

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Let's take a look at each of these questions separately.

What are the most fundamental considerations in promoting socially controversial products? (i.e. cigarettes)

The main fundamental consideration is determining who the target market is, and when it is and is not appropriate to implement the marketing tactics for that product. The best example of this is television programming. Certain products are not allowed to be advertised through television programming at certain times. For example, as cigarettes is used in our example, we would not advertise cigarettes during a children's television program. We also wouldn't advertise beer, liquor or related substances during this time. Even though it is not allowed through the FCC, as a responsible company, we still would not do so because it would be highly irresponsible.

When we promote socially controversial products, we have to determine who else is seeing our advertising, and then determine if our approach is ethical, professional, and in-line with managerial objectives as well as marketing objectives. This is a basic requirement solely because our product is socially controversial. We would not want children or other vulnerable markets exposed to the advertising of certain products. We would want to determine if 2 of our 4 P's are appropriate and socially responsible, given the nature of our product. We would look at the product itself, the way that it is packaged. We would ask if the package itself, which can be very ...