Generation of capital through fraud activities: unethical marketing

Ever since man has been involved in monetary activities, he has been finding more and more new and advanced ideas to increase his wealth. Money hunger is inevitable and cannot be satisfied even if you are the richest of the richest. When this hunger turns to greed, man tries to find unethical ways to generate instant money and increase his capital through fraudulent activities.

Unethical marketing, as the name implies, refers to methods involving unethical, misleading, and dishonest forms of marketing that undermine the moral principles behind the operation and regulation of marketing, such as misleading advertising, misleading displays, and labeling only to beat the competitor and grab their consumer segments.

In today’s era, online marketing or promotion is one of the most prominent marketing methods and as usual it has been afflicted with the same disease. A very practical example of unethical internet marketing is presenting your competitor’s image in a negative light and so your competitor may do online activities like writing fake articles about your company, making false complaints through complaint forums, etc. An interesting fact about these activities is that such complaints or articles are easily ranked in major search engines. I came across a living example of such unethical internet marketing when I came across one of my friends who deals in the stock market and was taking the services of a reputable stock advisor. He told me that every time he enters the company name in the “Google” search bar, it suggests negative keywords like ” Company Name Fraud”, which was the negative marketing results before the original company name. This is not the only thing, just go to the google search bar and type any of the reputable company names and you will get those negative keywords like suggestions.

In India there is no such effective regulation that can restrict these negative online activities. Despite having cyber laws in place, limited technical support and a complex court system cannot prevent such unethical activities. But the simple fact of making money instantly and generating Capital through fraudulent activities does not guarantee stability in one’s business.