Marketing malpractice

1
Marketing malpractice

• It involves misleading descriptions and high
  pressure sales techniques and may also include an
  increasing number of sales via internet

2
Deceptive packaging

• It is the practice of selling goods in containers
  that far exceed the size of their contents
  which may mislead consumers and which amounts to
  the sale of fresh air. Common examples are
  containers of vitamin pills that contain very few
  pills, cosmetics that are sold in double-skinned
  containers, and toys.
• Indications on labels may also be deceptive
  recent concerns have surrounded claims that
  goods are green or environmentally friendly,
  which may have little basis.
• A further problem with deceptive packaging is
  that its disposal exacerbates environmental
  problems

3
Counterfeit goods

• The manufacture and sale of counterfeit goods is
  said to be a major industry costing legitimate
  business over 1bn a year in the UK alone and it
  also leads to the loss of legitimate employment.
  There are major trades in audio and video tapes,
  computer software, designer goods and everyday
  products such as soap powder. Goods may be
  manufactured abroad or in cottages industries
  by largely illegitimate industries and sold in a
  variety of outlets.
• Counterfeiting is also a vehicle for laundering
  the proceeds of drugs money, and terrorists
  groups have also been said to be involved

4
Food offences

• Food offences involve fraud and and issues of
  safety and marketing malpractices food
  adulteration is one of the oldest forms of food
  fraud. The rise of mass-produced convenience
  foods has also provided many opportunities for
  manufacturers to add value to basic ingredients
  by using a variety of additives and food
  substitutes of which consumers are often unaware,
  which amounts to legalized adulteration. The
  main offences involve the adulteration of food,
  the sale of unfit food and the sale of food
  not of the nature, quality or substance demanded
  by the consumer
• What is more improperly or illegally slaughtered
  meat also presents health risks over and above
  the spread of BSE (bovine spongiform
  encephalopathy)

5
Food frauds

• Illegal imports of meat
• The substitution of different and cheaper meats
  in meat products
• Contaminated cooking oil killed 259 Spanish
  consumers during the 1980s and wine was also
  contaminated with anti-freeze.

6
Food labelling offence

• There has been much recent public discussion
  about the declaration, on labels, of the presence
  of genetically modified foods. Other concerns
  about food labelling have included the omission
  of food additives and the misleading nature of
  labels and pictorial images portraying farmyards
  and natural ingredients such as fruit on foods
  that are essentially chemical cocktails and
  contain few of the products indicated by
  descriptions.
• The labelling of diet foods has also been
  contentious, with many being little different
  from other products

7
Food poisoning

• Food safety also involves hygiene and the dangers
  of food poisoning, which have been said to have
  increased along with the spread of convenience
  foods, take-aways and precooked foods.
• By far the most serious case of food poisoning in
  Britain was the outbreak of E.coli in Wishaw in
  1997, which lead to the deaths of 21 elderly
  victims. One butchers shop, which provided
  cooked meat for functions, to nursing homes and
  to a large number of local outlets, was found to
  be the source of contamination.