Getting into business solely to make money, as opposed to getting into business to offer something great to society while making money, are two very different worldviews. The first would do anything for a dollar, while the second would stop to think about the impact of actions, especially actions that have questionable ethics.
I’m a giant proponent of companies making and continuing to make cash, but you have to draw a line in the sand and define your company culture and ethics.
Let’s take, for example, a fast food restaurant that displays a gorgeous hamburger piled high with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions… The image makes your mouth water, but when you open the wrapper you have a fairly different looking burger in your hands. The bun is torn, the lettuce is basically non-existent, the tomatoes are not as juicy as in the photo, it’s drenched in mayonnaise…
Now, we all know that the burger we see advertised is not entirely the one we’ll end up with; but why not?
Is that ethically responsible behavior on the part of the company? To display the perfect burger that was probably worked on for hours and some of it might not even be the item it was intended to represent. The actual meat itself could even have been touched up with paint and the lettuce lightly sprayed with some sort of oil to maintain its look of freshness.
In the above case I think it’s fair to say that there is ethically nothing wrong with showing the perfect burger because anyone who has visited the company’s stores knows exactly what they are going to get. So it’s not like we’re being lied to… we’re just being manipulated to crave that burger right now!
Where do we draw the line?
When running a deal site, is it ethical to display the image of a brand new camera, when we’re selling a refurbished one?
Is it ethical to say the original price is a few dollars higher than it actually is in order to inflate appeared savings?
Is it ethical to change some of the terms and conditions after only a few items have sold?
Where and how do we derive our standards and our ethics and company morality? And if we haven’t defined or drawn our line in the sand, then how much easier is it to slowly but surely work ourselves into an ethically questionable situation?
”Oh, nobody will notice that we updated the main product image after the first 20 were already sold.” Is that an ethical statement or are we already on a slippery slope?
We at Daily Deal Builder believe in maintaining the highest standard of ethics, not only in order to run an honorable company that the owners can be proud of, but also to instill that same sense of ethics into the companies around you. Operating ethically might cost you a dollar here and a dollar there, but it will more than make up for those few ‘lost’ dollars in customer satisfaction and loyalty, and word will also spread.
Closely related to false advertising is the Terms and Conditions. Many deal sites have gotten into trouble because they did not properly mention the terms associated with a deal. If it is against the law to use coupons for alcoholic purchases in your state, you should be sure to include that on the terms for your deal. If you want people to tip on the regular price instead of the coupon price, include that on your terms.
There are people out there who go after companies for false advertising and improper terms and conditions and just because you might not be operating a site as large as Groupon (who got into trouble) doesn’t mean that you don’t need to spend a great deal of time making sure you are advertising properly and effectively laying out terms and conditions on each offering.
Make moves today,
Marc D. Horne
