Offensive brand Messages, Legal issues, Commercial free Speech

When more than one company offers the same kind of product, each company only receives a percentage of all sales of that kind of product. This percentage is called a “market share,” and any effort to take some of the market share away from one company and bring it to another is called an offensive marketing plan.

Any organization that is in direct competition with another organization is likely to use offensive marketing strategies.

In the business sector, offensive marketing attempts to reach customers who either already prefer a competing company or customers who are undecided about which business they will support in future purchases.

Political campaigns can be viewed as a competition between two or more “businesses” where votes stand in for profit. If there are two candidates running for the same office, the candidate who captures the majority of the market share of voters will win.

Political campaigns are well known for using “attack ads” designed to compare one candidate or issue to an opposing candidate or issue to create a stark contrast and influence the way people vote. For example, political election, numerous political action committees created attack ads disparaging both presidential candidates.

Strategies

The first step in creating an effective offensive marketing campaign is to identify the competitor’s advantages and disadvantages. For a focused campaign, the competitor’s product’s strengths must be downplayed or ignored while emphasizing weakness.

Businesses should closely monitor the effects of offensive marketing campaigns, and survey consumers for their views on the campaign. A business should also closely follow any change in its own market share during the campaign to determine if the specific materials used in the campaign have had the intended effect.

Education and Skills

Market research analysts should have a bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, or statistical analysis. This job requires high computer literacy and the ability to communicate technical data in a simple, easy-to-understand way. It can also be helpful to have previous experience in analytics or information technology

Legal issues

The council’s objectives are:

• To ensure the truthfulness and honesty of representations and claims made by advertisements
• To ensure that advertisements are not offensive to generally accepted standards of public decency
• To safeguard against the indiscriminate use of advertising for the promotion of products regarded as hazardous to society or to individuals.
• To ensure that advertisements observe fairness in competition so as to inform the consumer on choices in the marketplace while observing the canons of generally accepted competitive behavior in business

Laws Governing Media

• The Press Council Act 1978
• Cable Television Network Rules, 1994
• Code for Commercial Advertising on Doordarshan and All India Radio
• Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC)
• Norms for Journalist Conduct issued by the Press Council of India
• Code of Conduct of the News Broadcasters Association

Laws Protecting Society and the Consumer

• Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950
• Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1956
• Companies Act, 1956
• Standards of Weight & Measures Act, 1976
• Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986
• Consumer Protection Act, 1986
• Laws related to intellectual property rights

Industry-Specific Laws

• The Drugs and Cosmetic Act, 1940
• The Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994
• The Drugs and Magical Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954
• The Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994
• Advocates Act, 1961
• Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1992
• Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992
• The Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978
• Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003
• Public Gambling Act, 1867, the Lotteries (Regulation) Act, 1998 and the Prize Competitions Act, 1955
• Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002
• The Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006

Commercial free Speech

In law, commercial speech is speech or writing on behalf of a business with the intent of earning revenue or a profit. It is economic in nature and usually attempts to persuade consumers to purchase the business’s product or service.