This is the continuation of my marketing research paper. Click here for Part 1.

All about ethics
It is when a manager does not fully consider the ethical implications of a decision that problems arise (Perreault & McCarthy, 2006). The misuse of marketing often concerns the question of ethics though not always overstepping the legal boundaries. Marketers, if gone unchecked, can get away with irresponsible practices that cannot be directly charged in court. There must, therefore, be a driving force that keeps marketing practices in place.

The fact remains that there is no single “set of standards that are appropriate for all practices” (Kirby & Marsden, 2006). But this is no reason for businesses to allow themselves to be unmonitored. Organizations must exemplify by setting up their own code of ethics to keep true to (Perreault & McCarthy, 2006), and simultaneously obey the Code of Ethics created by the American Marketing Association (AMA) for marketers. Should one fail, the apparent effects will always be visible by organizational authorities and critics. Here are examples of controversies stirred by large companies
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For my upcoming trip to China in September, I need to renew my passport, which hasnt been used since 1999. Can you imagine I haven’t stepped out of this d***ed country for seven whole years. D***.

I got there at 7:31 today and the line was already long. They started giving out numbers at 7:43, I was 66th in line. As I queued for my number i noticed two things. One, the procedures poster on the notice board has quality equilavent to my Standard 2 manila card art. Two, there’s a room called “Bilik Penyusuan”. I was thinking, this must be the room where you breastfeed your kid while you wait. The first number was called at 7:57am. Not a bad start.

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I hereby announce the official beta-testing launch of the next big thing of the Malaysian blogosphere! It’s called RobertChai: a blogging competition that has real prizes!

It was I who co-created it, alongside some knowledgable individuals who put together a working system in a matter of weeks. Guys, if you’re reading this, I salute you for your job well done!

What are you waiting for? Go see RobertChai and sign up now!

Last weekend I had to travel all the way to Penang to take my TOEFL test. Long story how I wound up there, I could smack myself on the head now that I think about it. Anyways, my dear old folks accompanied me to KDU College at Penang. We could have taken AirAsia, which I have VERY MUCH PREFERRED, but we took the bus instead.

The bus service we took was called Nice. My first reaction was -.-. Then I found out that the bus we’re sitting on is Nice2, and its sister bus is called Nice++. My reaction after that was =.=. Nonetheless, the ride was pretty comfy. The bus is 1.6 million times better than the HELP bus I always take at college. The ride to on fro was seriously seriously boring. Smacks head.

We stayed at a place called Garden Inn. Fit three people in a two-person room for RM70. Cheap is the word. Oh, and it’s right opposite KDU College, where the test took place.

KDU Penang looks okay, much better than plain, bland HELP. They have many many functional computers. Classroom after classroom. Dang…. I hate HELP. There is not a single computer in my department save for the ones the office-dwellers use. Yeesh.

The test started at 5:30pm. Quite a funny time of day if you ask me. How did I find the test? It was pretty complicated stuff. Not your usual GCE O-levels thing. Of course, it was nothing I can’t handle. Hehe, but I can’t boast until my results come. I took it as a puzzle. I like puzzles. How else can I make the Settlers of Catan national finals? It’s a boardgame, try to spot me in that page.

TV in the room had all six channels: 1,2,3,7,8,9. My skull hurts from all the bore. The view from the room was… well, nothing worth lifting my finger to get my camera. But this, however, amused me.

Pretty vintage-looking temperature control… I tried twisting to go less than 9 but the thing jams. Sigh. Sleeping in the same room as my snoring parents is literally an eye-opener, on my part, that is. The next day, I arrived at KL at 4:30ish, just in time for my saturday routine.

The moral of the story? If you ever go for something that requires booking, PLEASE BOOK AHEAD.