Samsung Ethical Case Study

It is not uncommon that Samsung smart phones are used everywhere in all walks of lives,
Including students, workers and officers. Its advertisements of the newest model of smart phones
are also shown In TV, magazines most of the days, If not all. Samsung is one of the largest
information technology companies, sharing almost all market shares with Apple, its major
competitor. With making US$30 billion dollars net income per year, however, it may be hard to
imagine that Samsung is submerged into some unethical marketing practices.
There was shocking news reported in the October of 2013, which grab the attention all over the
world, Including Samsung customers and its competitors as well. Although Samsung has such a
large market share in the smart phone industry, with almost half of it, the markets still were not
satisfied with it and wanted to further enlarge its share. The marketers would like to use a large
number of hired writers and designated employees to post fake comments saying the HTC (one
of the competitors of Samsung) onto deferent forums In Taiwan in the purpose of castrating the
potential consumers from buying HTC smart phone products.
After that the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) discovered that and investigated the issue, and
found that it is done through a third-party marketing company. Finally, $340,000 was fined for
Samsung for this unfair marketing strategy. The unethical marketing practice performed by
Samsung was said to be a deceptive practice. Since Samsung paid many floggers or writers to
blacken the image of its competitor, HTC, indirectly in order to attract the potential customers of
HTC to consume the products its own brand.
The Innocent customer may blindly believe in the massive fake comments as these comments are
appeared in many phone-related websites and they cannot find out the writers of the comments
through internet. Therefore, the customers may have a worse image on HTC and switch to
another brand, which might most probably be Samsung. The marketers of Samsung used such
an unethical marketing method to try to cheat the customers by providing misleading and
deceptive promotions in an Indirect way should not be appreciated. Indeed, profitable customer
relationships are build with value and trust.
Samsung product do have their value and own relatively high quality compared with its
competitors, there is no reason for Samsung to destroy the image of others by spreading fake
rumors through Internet. The trust between the company and their customers will be deteriorated,
It Is really hard to reconnect the trust between them once there is a fault. In the future, Samsung
should put much emphasis on its value and trust between customers to bring itself back to the
right track. Moreover, Samsung is suffered in the criticisms for their planned obsolescence.
Like other information Technology Company, especially for those which focus their products on
smart phone also be criticized for the obsolescence that they planned with precision to make
more profit by selling more models of their phones. Samsung persistently introduce new models
of smart phones every year. Plenty advertisements are made in different channels to transmit the
information of the new products to the public.
Although the changes in both outer look and inner equipments do not have a big difference when
compared with the old one, many people are excited with the announcement of the new products
and wanted to buy one once they have launched. Since the whole society is submerged into
materialism, people are judged by what they own, while the makers of Samsung successfully
grab the weaknesses of the consumers and persuade them to buy the latest in order to keep
themselves trendy or looks fashionable. Therefore, it create a trend of obsolescence that people
still consume the newest model even if the one they own is still fully functioning.
Indeed, the unethical marketing practice harms not only their customers, but also the society. The
waste that planned obsolescence created, most likely the electrical wastes, contains much toxic
chemical material which may badly affect the soil of the land and also last long for hundreds of
years. People may be poisoned when the wastes are not treated properly. The social cost should
also be considered when making marketing decisions. Things can be done better by Samsung on
the criticism of planned obsolescence. Including having a balance stroked between the products
they introduce and the impact to the whole society.
1. Analyze the practices adapted by Samsung and give your views on the unethical
practices used by the co.
2. Summarize the case in 250 words.

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It is not uncommon that Samsung smart phones are used everywhere in all walks of lives,

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