Target Marketing Ever Bad? There

¶ … Target Marketing Ever Bad?

There are numerous issues related to marketing that specialists cannot agree upon them being ethical or not. Certain marketing techniques and strategies determine fervent discussion around them, but there is no general agreement on whether these practices should be left aside or not.

One of these issues is represented by target marketing, and especially by minorities targeting. The technique is sometimes referred to as multicultural marketing (Bady, 1999). The practice gains more and more ground as it is used in any economic sector.

In my opinion, there is nothing unethical about targeting minorities. Target marketing is just a consequence of diversity. The issue of diversity is promoted any aspect of our lives, and therefore, it is fair to embrace its repercussions also.

Regarded from marketing's point-of-view, minorities, whether one refers to ethnic or other minority types, simply represent groups or segments of customers that the seller intends to address its product to. There is no difference between age groups and ethnic minorities groups.

Marketers develop their campaigns for the products in case in a different manner for each age group. The same strategy is applied to minorities. Each group responds to different stimuli, which makes it imperative for marketers to address each group in a distinct, customized manner.

In addition to this, certain types of products and services only address minorities, being completely useless for other categories. In this case, target marketing represents the only marketing solution. Certain products have been particularly created or adapted to fit the needs of minorities. Therefore, target marketing begins with the development of the product, continues with its actual production, and is implemented by the marketing campaign. In other words, it is unfair to blame marketing for any negative aspects related to targeting minorities.

In fact, target marketing has become a necessity in the complex context of today's globalization. The reason behind this situation consists in the fact that minorities groups are reporting continuous growth and development. Their needs expand also, and so does their power.

Immigration increases all over the world. This leads to demographics modifications, which are estimated to become quite significant in the following periods of time. All these factors require adaptation from marketing techniques in all its aspects.

When discussing the issue of target marketing, especially where minorities are concerned, everyone thinks about whether it is ethical towards the minority in case. But one should also focus attention on the non-target groups, which basically represent the majority. It seems that favorable target market effects are more significant for members of distinctive groups, like ethnic minorities, while unfavorable non-target market effects are more significant for members of the majority (Aaker et al., 2000).