LYING AS A MARKETING STRATEGY IN NIGERIA: A MORAL ASSESSMENT

Abstract

In today’s volatile world of commerce, the use of advertisements as a strategy for bringing to the awareness of the populace, products that are available for purchase is common. Thus numerous commercials are today put up to bring about human awareness of products and services. Most of these advertisements either exaggerate or say what is not the case about some products and services. In other instance, these commercials even employ both exaggerations and lies to suit their ends. It is therefore pertinent to question whether or not these acts are morally permissible. This study analytically assesses lying as a marketing strategy in Nigeria using the classical utilitarian and duty ethics of Jeremy Bentham and Immanuel Kant respectively as a paradigm. The paper, a critical analysis, finds that classical utilitarianism endorse lying on the plata of consequences. More so, this paper finds that Kant’s deontological ethics on the other hand, condemns the very act of lying as a moral vice regardless of its positive consequences. Following the application of these normative ethical principles, the study concludes that these normative theories concerning lying as a marketing strategy are inadequate. As such, the study proposes situation ethics as a plausible alternative to guide the use of lies in marketing products and services in Nigeria.