Effect of Culture on Marketing Strategy

Effect of Culture on Marketing Strategy Current cultural diversity in Sri Lanka is evolvement from its rich history and commenced from the civilization of Yaksha and Naga tribes and more importantly nourishment from the Buddhism. Further, Sri Lankan culture is influenced by Indian invasions and from going through Portuguese, Dutch and British rules; Sri Lankan culture is diverse like its natural heritage.   In the early 19th century, the British rule introduced democracy, modern education, legal and commercial agriculture system. Now Sri Lanka is a mirror of its own ancient and modern cultures which is diverse from its cities to far villages across the island. Sinhalese and Tamil are the most widely spoken languages in Sri Lanka, with around 74% of population can speak in Sinhalese, while more than 18% can speak Tamil. Muslims also speaks Tamil as their main language. The colonization started with the Dutch followed by the Portuguese and finally long standing ruling by the British had an impact on the languages, as well as opening the history to the international trade. In addition to Sinhalese and Tamil, English is also used by the Sri Lankan population which was concentrated to urban areas initially are now expanding to rural areas with the more prominence to English is given in the education system and increased IT literacy. English is maily used for commercial and official purposes. Sri Lanka is a multi-religious and a multi-ethnic country and Buddhists account for approximately 69% of the population, followed by the Hindus with around 15% of the population. Also inherited from India, Hinduism too has a long and rich history in the country. Most Hindus are Tamils and they account for a majority in Northern Sri Lanka, as well as in the Eastern, Western and Central regions (up country) of the country. Islamic community accounts for around 8% with a majority are domiciled in the Eastern and Western regions; as well as around 8% followers of Christianity. Having a healthy literacy rate of around 90% (source: United Nations Development Program Report 2009) and around 83% of the population having secondary education ranks Sri Lanka on top among other developing nations. The complex ethnic and religious mix of Sri Lankan society and also traditions and rules inherited from colonization have given rise to a mixture of laws which include Roman-Dutch Law, English common law, , Kandyan, and Jaffna Tamil law (Thesawalamai Law). Accordingly, Sri Lanka is a country rich with culture and cultural diversity. Its people live their daily lives very close to their religious beliefs, adherence to traditional norms, family orientation (close bond with their families in all aspects of life from birth to death), mother centric society and attachment to native foods (mainly rice) and etc. can be considered as main cultural values. Hence, whatever the product or service that marketers are confronted of promoting, they will have to consider the Sri Lankan culture and cultural values to be a major influencing factors to the success of the product or service. Further, the fact that the culture is not static (dynamic) and change over time and people get adjusted puts the Marketer in a more challenging situation as he needs an understanding of all aspects. Cultural Values Societies have values that are shared by its members. As stated above, values serve as guiding principles for culturally acceptable behavior. It defines what is right? What is wrong? What is important or unimportant?. The values emphasize those objects, conditions that those members consider important. Values are more related to the norms of a culture, but can be more abstract than norms. For example raising of the national flag during nationally significant occasions or even in the case of a wedding or singing the National Anthem in national ceremonies and also government establishments (including some private entities) prior to commencement of work are values. Further, they reflect the value of patriotism. In the recent past in Sri Lanka patriotism has taken a new wing particularly in the aftermath of successful war and now it has extended to trading and commercial world with the theme Buy Ours (Ganna Ape De). Therefore this new trend has bearing on consumer behaviour. As an exampl e, recently launched KIK COLA (Elephant House) advertisement features that till the last drop Sri Lankan with primary focus on Coca Cola. Even Lanka Bell advertisements mainly based on the theme 100% Sri Lankan. Why are cultural values so important? The cultural values of a community give it a unique identity of its own. People are the driving force of this uniqueness. Culture is shared among the people in the community, society or sub group. Culture is passed down from one generation to the other and gets evolved over time. It links people of a region or society together. The customs and traditions the society follow, the clothing they wear, the festivals, the food they eat, and importantly, the cultural values they follow, binds them. Analysis of how Sri Lankan Cultural Values Affect the Consumption of Selected Products and Services First we will get a brief understanding of Sri Lanka as a Customer. According to the Annual Report of the Central bank of Sri Lanka (2009) the population statistics can be summarized as follows, Mid-year population (000) in 2009 : 20,450 Mn Age distribution (000) in 2009 0 14 years: 5,378 Mn 15 64 years: 13,784 Mn 65 years and over: 1,288 Mn Also the Per Capita income is in the rage of USD 2,000 and is expected to double corresponding to the GDP growth by 2016. Having an understanding of what culture is, what cultural values are in general and the Sri Lankan culture and cultural values, we will now evaluate how those aspects have influenced the consumption of several products and a service in the Sri Lankan market. Herbal Soaps Sri Lankan culture is very much related to the nature. All most all the aspects of the Sri Lankan culture are linked with the wonders of the nature. Ayurvedic medicine is a treatment method unique to Sri Lanka and all Sri Lankans (irrespective of what religion they belong to) know and have faith on its healing capabilities. We did not see herbal soaps in the market at the beginning and until recent past only a few manufactures saw the opportunity in herbal products. Then we saw even foreign brands like Lux and Lifebuoy taking up the herbal route since the herbal soaps prove to be profitable and attract a larger target market segment because herbal soaps are very much in line with our values and beliefs particularly it reflects our attachment to nature. Generally Sri Lankans value old things. Ayurvedic medicine has been practiced in Sri Lanka for thousands of years and people still have faith in it and values it. This has been used by various marketers and now we can almost get anythi ng in its herbal format. Child Milk Powder The bond between the mother and her child is cherished and valued in almost in any civilized culture. When considering the modern era, generally the state of that bond in Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries much more stronger than in any other country. The bond between the child and the mother is built mainly through the nurturing aspect of that relationship. In the Sri Lankan context (mother centric culture) it is deeply believed that there is nothing more vital to child than the love and warmth of a mother and mothers milk (breast milk). Breast feeding is fading away in many European countries and getting used to supplement formulas, but in Sri Lanka it still holds strong. Sri Lankan mother generally breast feed their children for at least for two to three years. In this context child milk powders have an enormous challenge because it is widely believed that there is no replacement for breast milk. Hence, what the marketers approach has been to place the product as a suppleme ntary which provides the nutrition and protection from deceases. If it were to come as a replacement for breast milk, the product wouldnt have survived for long. This situation also facilitated with the increase in working women in Sri Lanka but culturally Sri Lankan women are mostly supposed to be housewives and to take care of the children. The Brands like Anchor Pediapro, Cow Gate, Nan, Enpro Grow, Enpro Lac are some of the child milk powder available in Sri Lanka market. Automobiles Sri Lanka has been using automobiles since the period in which British were in power. First automobiles seen on the Sri Lankan roads were European made. But now we can see automobiles from India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan and various other countries and also the assembly of vehicles was commenced in Sri Lanka in the recent past. At first, European vehicles were used by the higher end of the society and now also European vehicles are driven by upper class people in the country. Those vehicles are priced higher and can be afforded by only those people. But when the Japanese entered the market (in 1960s), they came up with economical vehicles that can be afforded by the middle class people as well. There is strong belief among the Sri Lankans still that if someone wants to buy a good vehicle with quality, economical fuel consumption, durability and moderate prices they would first select the Japanese vehicles among other countries which offer same features. This belief a nd attitude is further proven by the high prices in the second hand market for Japanese vehicles and people prepared to pay more for Japanese vehicles. European vehicles are relatively less valued in the second hand market. Hence the demand for Japanese vehicle is geared by the beliefs among the Sri Lankan people (adherence to traditional norms) that a Japanese vehicle is economical and gives value for money and trustworthy. However, we have recently seen Indian brands promoting their vehicles to be the most economical but still we cannot see the trust on Japanese vehicles going down. Pain Relief Balms Sri Lanka having a rich heritage in Ayurvedic medicine, people were used to applying Ayurvedhic oils and pastes to their every day bruises. The recipes and formulas have been passed down through generations and some recipes are household known facts. During the last decade or two we saw the market bombarded with various balms to be used for bruises and to relive pain. Wintegino, a famous UK brand, can be highlighted for usage among the people and now sprays (other than balm) with the same effect can be seen in the market. However, it is a known fact that Siddhalepa a brand which has its roots in the Ayurvedic medicine tops all such balms and oils in the market by sales, and it has been doing this for decades. The secret of this success is the faith/beliefs that Sri Lankan people have on Ayurvedic medicine which the effects have being proven over centuries. The people still has the faith (beliefs) that Ayurveda is the safest way of medication with minimal or almost no side effects. Si ddhalepa is proven product with real Ayurvedic essence. Unless it is to be used in quick and convenient manner (in a sport event to be treated to injured players, where most likely a spray would be used) Ayurvedic balms are preferred by Sri Lankans where the demand is directly linked to cultural beliefs and rich heritage. Pawning of Jewelry The provision of financing for immediate money needs by pawning jewelries has become a prominent business segment for financial services sector including the banks (formal banking sector). However, traditionally pawning business was dominated by the village merchants (Poli Mudalali) and despite the high interest rates and also the low security of jewelries pawned the people still used to go these village merchants simply due to reason that culturally the pawning were deemed as a sign of severe economic hardships and economic mismanagement of the particular person and family. Particularly in rural areas and areas close to Colombo, the people have a very close relationship with their families, relatives and neighbors and hence the negative points of view formed by others are considered to be very critical and long lasting. Therefore people used to go in times (especially night times) to the money lenders to ensure the confidentiality and did not turn up at banks. However, the money circulation on pawning is considered to be very high and which provided a new perspective to finance sector to expand this business segment. Accordingly, in the recent past all financial institutions are heavily promoting the pawning business as it is risk free (due to security in terms of gold) and profitable. For this purpose, the first initiative was to have separate areas for pawning customers to confidentially attend to the matter which was major relief from a severe cultural burden. This situation coupled with low interest rates and high security for the customers reduced the negative trends or beliefs towards pawning in Banks. In fact today the all banks and other financial institutions use advertising heavily and also sales promotions are in place to attract customers namely providing the highest amount per pound, facility to settle the amount in installments, giving gifts on each pawning, raffle draws and etc. Analysis on How Cultural Values are Important for Marketing Strategic Decisions Based on preceding sections it is obvious the impact of culture and cultural values on consumer behavior. Accordingly, cultural values has to be considered in marketing and developing marketing strategies as they have a significant impact on the purchasing behaviour of the consumers. How culture and cultural values could influence the buyers/consumers buying decisions? This is not a simple process which someone could easily conclude but rather it requires a detail examination. Since the consumers are culturally different, the processing of information in a cursory and spontaneous manner reflects culture-based differences. As an example when you go pass a roadside billboard or when you watch a TV advertisement, they will influence/persuade you provided it in line with your cultural values or norms. When coming up with a marketing strategy for a product, it is important to understand the level of the culture of the market since behavior at different levels of the culture varies. From the marketing perspective four levels of cultures could be identified and according to Srnka (2004) they are Supraculture, Macroculture, Mesoculture and Microculture as shown in Figure 1 in next page. Four Levels of Culture Based on a Marketing Perspective Source: Article by Dr. Katharina J. Srnka on Cultures Role in Marketers Ethical Decision Making: An Integrated Theoretical Framework 2004 As we move down the cultural levels the approach of the marketer needs to be customized to the target market, because when we move down the number of people in that level comes down as well as the detail of their preferences increases. It is not possible to assess the impact of a respective consumers cultural background on marketing strategies in general, because the specific elements of the marketing- mix, i.e., 1.price, 2. place, 3. product and 4. promotion strategies are all more or less affected by culture and hence each component of the marketing mix should be compatible with the cultural context as non compatibility of even one component may result in products or services being rejected by the target market. Pricing, which is the first element of the marketing- mix, refers to decisions about the actual product or service price the consumer has to pay and considers production costs, as well as the consumers willingness to pay, which might especially be affected by his or her cultural background. The willingness to pay represents the valuation of products. Since consumers learned during the process of which products they should approve of and which they should not, the culture influences the appreciation of certain products as well as the willingness to pay. On the other hand, decisions concerning pricing interact with the economic development of a country. Hence, cultural background might serve as a determinant of the target market and pricing mechanism. In the context of distribution policy (place), culture might also be important to differentiate between several target markets, even if the characteristics of the culture do not have a direct impact on decisions concerning product distribution. Nevertheless, different cultural values have to be considered when distributing products because consumers from different cultures have different buying habits. For example, in Sri Lanka liquor is prohibited to be sold near any religious places due to the strong religious foundation followed by Sri Lankans. Thus, cultural background has to be taken into account in determining the distribution channel of products, but the differences between cultures that are of interest for decisions on distribution policy are observable, which makes it easier to consider these differences in product distribution. The third element of the marketing- mix, product development, is much more affected by the consumer s cultural background. As the product attributes are expected to bring about solutions which should satisfy different cultural background of consumers, culture has to be considered in the development of products. Otherwise, products may not be in accordance with what the consumers expect the products to be. Moreover, products which are preferred in certain usage situations such as religious ceremonies vary because of culture and as an example in a Hindu wedding which mostly conduct in Hindu Kowil are served with vegetarian foods. The PIZZA HUT had pizzas made out of all meats namely chicken, beef, pork and mutton. However, Muslims due to their religious preaching do not eat pork and also do not turn up in places where pork is served. Also having Halal certification is a must for Muslims to have chicken. Accordingly, PIZAA HUT has now stopped serving pizza made out of pork and got certi fication from All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama Committee for Halal Certification. The fourth element of the marketing- mix is the development of communication strategies (promotion) which broadly consists of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) tools such as advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, direct marketing and publicity. It is argued that even the branding and packaging also form part of IMC. IMC are very much culture sensitive and hence should be designed properly. As an example, Anchor always uses the theme Trusted by Mothers for its milk powder and it is a powerful communication strategy. Whereas once Nespray (full cream milk powder) had an advertisement featured by famous Actress Sriyani Amarasena and in that it was emphasized that she was given Nespray milk by her parents which she did for her daughter and now same milk is given for her granddaughter. But this advertisement was not popular as it was considered as an insult to motherhood. Further, if a Marketer wants to communicate that its product is particularly appropriate to certain usa ge situations, it is not satisfactory to only observe consumption patterns, it is also necessary to get to know the reasons for culture specific consumption habits. Hence, in order to convince consumers of the appropriateness of certain products, it is of major importance to know the reasons why consumers prefer some products over the others. Generally IMC strategy should consider differences in religions, languages, differences in infrastructure and legal parameters. The interdependency between culture specific buying motives and the development of communication strategies is due to the main elements of culture such as symbols, heroes, rituals and values. As advertising plays a major role in a companys communication strategy (IMC) and is affected by all kinds of cultural dimensions and hence advertising especially has to consider cultural values and cross cultural differences. As an example the Avenger mens perfume advertising included that after applying the perfume the person appeared for the advertisement become violent or very emotional with girls. However, this promotional strategy was not successful as it was not culturally acceptable in the Sri Lankan context. Also the recent advertisement on Provado, an agro chemical produced by Heyleys Agro Products Limited, has an advertisement for which famous musician Sunil Perera appeared and it had double meaning phrases and there were many complaints against this from all levels from agricultural community and hence certain parts were edited/deleted and the new version is probably acceptable. Further, the Ceylinco Insurance which uses negative approach in advertising is not culturally viable though the norm that all things including human lives are uncertain since culturally we are still not prepared to accept or think of a death or other form of hazard. Conclusion If a marketing strategy is able to influence the behaviour of a potential customer in manner that makes potential customer convert to an actual customer (makes him to buy) the marketing strategy can be judged to be a success. To do that effectively it is required to understand what makes people behave in the manner they do especially their buying behaviour. Many studies have proven the behaviour of a person is mainly influenced by that persons culture and the cultural values that person holds. According to this study it is clear that the demand for products and services are created by the influences of cultural values pertaining to the respective culture. Further it can be stated that a successful marketing strategy adopted in Sri Lanka needs to address and consider the cultural diversity and uniqueness aspects in the Sri Lankan culture which influence the Sri Lankan customers purchase of products or use of services in a continuing manner.

The Importance Of Planning For A Stereo Manufacturer :: essays research papers

The Importance of Planning For A Stereo Manufacturer There have been a continuously developing process of recording, prepare & process, and playback equipment during the last century. This has placed the music in a totally new position in our society. Prior to the 20'th century music was only related to special occasions like concerts and the high festivals. This has changed. Nowadays we listen to music wherever we are, in supermarkets, cinemas, radios, official places and even from small pocketsized players. Earlier all music was live, today almost all music we listen to are recordings. This also states that, the trends in the music industry is ever changing. The development of sound-recording technique has matured a serious audio industry. It contains of a wide spectre of different manufacturers, which often link to each other and to other participants in the music/audio industry. Sale of records became the modern audio industry's launch. Because all record players around the world were standardised, the sale of records had an enormous take off. This made it possibilities to earn a good profit in the music/audio industry, and many different equipment manufacturers arised. The market was, and still is, alive because of the continuing audio developments. Radios, cassette players, CD players, DAT players, minidisk players, etc. give rise to even more sales. In the 1960's the firs stereo recordings were made. Soon afterwards, the industry introduced the notion Hi-Fi (high fidelity) just to make clear how far the development had come. When the cassette tape was introduced in the 1960's, many problems were solved. Now it was possible to produce a recorder which could be used when the surroundings were in motion (i.e. in a car) . Now it was workable to bring the source of music were ever people wanted. The cassette could also record, and was extremely easy to use compered to the LP. Also the cassette became standardised. Later we got DAT, CD, minidisks, etc. which all have brought the audio market a step further. The stereo industry of today is noticed by several manufactures that compete in the same market. Hence that competition is severe and the importance of being in front with design innovation, product consistency, value for money, sound quality and the firm's goodwill, is of greatest importance. This also means that planning is crucial. Planning is something that is arranged beforehand. Worked out in advance to reach a goal. "The ability to determine appropriate objectives:'doing the right thing '. The stereo industry consists of two main segments, the home stereo market and the professional market. Even though many manufacturers operate in both these markets, I will assume that Sonic Wave Ltd.

Example Essay

Example Essay Most Americans spend about three to four hours a day watching TV, according to Nielsen Numbers. During this time Americans encountered commercials with promising product that improve your life. When it comes to love, the media uses sex to lure in the customer. We see this form of advertising in recent products campaign such as the Dentine Ice â€Å"Practice Safe Breath† and the Axe â€Å"Apollo. † The campaign â€Å"Practice Safe Breath† had subliminal messages about sex. The first scene of the commercial was a couple in a car. The couple was about to kiss and a girl stops the guy and says â€Å"Wait, you have one right? The word â€Å"one† has a double meaning both refering to the gum and a condom. The guy puts his hand in his pocket and retrieves a packet of Dentine Ice. The girl smiles and grabs a piece of gum. The next scene of the commercial is about a Guy that is in a hurry. He goes into his friends room and says â€Å"Hey bud can you help me out. † The friend opens his night stand and pulls out a packet or Dentine Ice. For most guys night stands are the place where guys usually store their condoms. In both situations the gum was being used in context that could be confused with a condom.After the Guy gets the gum pack he rushes back to his girlfriend and begins to kiss her. The media knows that using sex as a â€Å"subliminal message† will produce an attention grabbing commercial. The audience then comes to the conclusion that if they buy Dentine Ice then maybe it will help them improve their love life. Some people might even want to be in the situations that are shown in the commercial. The body language shown by the characters in the commercial were very sexual. Most of the characters were eager to get intimate with each other, and needed the gum to for fill their needs.The commercial â€Å"Dentine Ice Practice Safe Breath† was named after a campaign called â€Å"Practice Safe Sex† that was supported by the non profit organization named Kush Kash Entertainment in 2011. The campaign promoted safe sex and sells condoms to prevent STD or teenage pregnancys. The commercial ends with the line â€Å"So you are prepared no matter how close you get† telling people to be ready with a pack of gum, in case of a close encounter with a partner. Another product that promotes improving your love life is â€Å"Axe Apollo. † In this commercial a girl is swimming in the ocean.She is about to get attacked by a shark, when a lifeguard jumped into the water to save her. The life guard was a handsome guy with enough strength to arm wrestle a shark to â€Å"save her. † He brought her to the shore; she woke up and took a deep breath. She inhaled the smell of the Axe body spray, and ran to a man in an astronaut suit. The astronaut takes of his helmet and reveals his face. He was a wimpy looking guy, nothing compared to the lifeguard that rescued her. The commercia ls main purpose was to tell men that if they wear Axe, they will be chosen over the hot guy.In society, the attractive girl will usually choose the strong, brave and handsome guy over a guy that isn't strong or attractive. The only words that are said in this commercial are â€Å"Wear new Axe Apollo for your chance to go to space. Leave a man, come back a hero. † This is implying men if they wear Axe these men will be able to help their love life with females. If men wear Axe Apollo, that will help them find a women to have sex with. This will become a hero even if they are not sexually attractive like the lifeguard. This gives men a boost in their self-esteem while wearing Axe.The commercial implies that by wearing Axe Apollo, women will find men more physically and sexually attractive. These are two examples of how commercials sponsor products to possibly help your love life. The media uses subliminal messages using sex to sell products. Promising results to help your self- esteem or get you one step closer to have a relationship with someone. Some commercials are more upfront on promoting sex products than others. But over all they all serve the same purpose to try â€Å"to help people† have an easier love life with no problem. Example Essay Jessica C. Apolinar 04. 15. 13 EN-202-02 Example Essay Dolphins are widely known as humans' close relatives from the sea or so the â€Å"other humans† who chose to live in the sea. They have human characteristics that most animals do not have. They are amazingly intelligent, friendly, and genetically similar. A research done by John Lilly concludes that dolphins are in fact intelligent as humans.Many other scientists have studied dolphin behaviors years ago and now have come to a possible result of dolphins being the closest relatives to humans. Their brains are larger than human brains, but they are able to think like humans. This is why most humans are more intrigued by their kind than any other animal and would easily train them to do tricks like waving good-bye or hello. Another characteristic would be their friendliness. Dolphins are popular for their friendliness toward humans.They are very playful and would mainly interact with humans more often than any other animal. T hey could be seen in dolphin shows like the show â€Å"Skipper†. They would also play around boats or ships putting a show for the people and are also famous for saving human lives either from drowning or being attacked by sharks. One last recent discovery was their genetic make-up are surprisingly similar to human genetics. Research has proven that humans and dolphins have more in common than they thought they have.An experiment from Texas A;M University tried to apply human chromosomes with the dolphin chromosomes, and they have discovered that out of the 22 dolphins 13 dolphin chromosomes were similar to human chromosomes. They have also found 3 other genes that was similar to human genes. There has been many studies of dolphins and up to this moment scientists still wonder how humans and cetaceans are alike. Although dolphins live on water while humans live on land, scientists still believe that there is still a connection between humans and dolphins that still needs to b e discovered.Dolphins' close interactions with humans and their similar characteristics are just evidence of how humans and dolphins relate. Work Cited Peterson, Paula, and Seema Kumar. â€Å"The Dolphin-Human Connection. †Ã‚  Earthcode InternationalNetwork. N. p. , n. d. Web. 14 Apr 2013. . Dudzinski, Kathleen, Frohoff, Toni, . Dolphin Mysteries : Unlocking the Secrets of Communication. NEW HAVEN AND LONDON: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2008. eBook.

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Terrorism Racism And Hatred Essay - 858 Words

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Privacy and Security Issues in Cookie Tracking

Question: Discuss about the Privacy and Security Issues in Cookie Tracking Answer: Introduction Cookies are little web-texts that are stored on a users systems when they visit a website. These texts allow the websites to track the user's preferences online and tailor their site to meet their liking (Rainer et al. 2013). The data stored could be the user's login information, sites visited, credit card numbers and so forth. As per Bhargavan et al. (2014), Cookies are applications that store users information for later access by the website. Most cookies are installed without the user knowledge, and web servers just access whatever information they require to serve the user better. Cookie tracking is implemented in two stages. The first stage is when the cookie is saved on the user's device, like Yahoo! Where users select their interests, a cookie is made specifically with the user's information and stored on the user's device. Now the next stage is when any browser that the user enables allows websites access to this cookie and tailors the users experience online to that preferen ce. In order to carry information between different sessions or website, cookies are the most convenient way. Therefore, use of cookies makes it easier to retrieve information. Cookies also help in storing large amount of data for the users. Security and privacy issues arise when the developers of the information system, websites and the service providers involve tracking of users information (Bo?hme and Okamoto 2015). If a user visits a website and provides information such as user name and password, the cookie stores the information thereby, making it convenient for the user while using the website next time. In addition to, the user movement needs to be tracked by the web environment and cookies help in achieving it. There is a high risk involved with the cookies, if these are sent over the internet without any encryption. Anything personal can be sent over the internet with the cookies, for example, credit card details, email addresses and more. Therefore, this information is readabl e by the people connected to the network. This is associated with the high risk of unauthorized access of the personal and confidential data with the cookie tracking tools (Pearson 2013). This may be the reason of high level of financial loss also. Some of the networks are unsecured, in which the cookies are readable from the other people connected to the network. In this context, again the cookie tracking can be used for accessing the confidential and private information of the users. The IP addresses of the network visited or the WebPages accessed through the system can be tracked through the cookie tracking. Cookie tracking is complicated because while it has many advantages such as being used to identify and authenticate a user, store number of times a user visits a website, their preferences and their preferred settings, there are several issues that cannot be ignored. A few of these problems are the uncertainty of how the data gotten is stored and who has access to them. In addition, where the line is drawn for the tracking, in this essay, Facebook is used as a case study on repeated cookie exploitation cases (Marcella Jr 2003). Ethical Concerns Many websites employ the use of these cookies in order to better serve their users, cookie tracking, however, has a host of ethical concerns attached to it which needs to be addressed (Santa 2017). One ethical concern that has been raised is the issue of the privacy of the users being infringed upon. Many argue that implementing the use of cookies is deliberating spying and collecting data to boost sales for a company. This agreement is, however, null because most websites inform the users of the fact that they are being tracked and so they have fulfilled their ethical obligations. Another ethical issue related to the cookie is that online advertising companies pay cookie-tracking developers for their advertisements more than they pay the competitors for their advertisements. This addresses how the data derived from the utilization of these cookies are being used. Majority of the cookie tracking developers are ethically bound to ensure the security of their user's information; this i s, however, not always the case (Whitman and Mattord 2011). Many websites such as Amazon and Facebook that track their users online movements have been known to sell the information collected, albeit legally to advertising companies, broker companies or any other company that requests for them. A reporter who said, It peers deeper into American life than the F.B.I. or the I.R.S. or those prying digital eyes at Facebook and Google, had described a company in Arkansas called Acxiom as the largest purchaser of such information (Santa 2017). As per Sharma, Johari and Sarma (2012), if you are an adult who makes use of the internet regularly, the odds are that it knows things like your age, race, sex, weight, height, marital status, education level, politics, buying habits, household health worries, vacation dreams and on and on." This violates the ethical principle of integrity, these websites not only track one's movements on their own sites but goes ahead to check on their whole inter net browsing habits which are not ethically sound to some people. According to the Consequentiality ethical theory, these cookie tracking applications are being used to help make the lives of internet users better and it enable them to be able to see specific advertisements that would vastly benefit them which is a good thing. Even though some may worry about the security of such applications and how far they are being investigated, the advantages cannot be overlooked. The Kantianism theory, however, would refute it by saying that the possibility of a privacy breach or security breach is enough for the application to be discontinued if it brings harm to even one individual then how advantageous is it really (Santa 2017). Take, for example, the case of Facebook tracking their user's online movements outside of the site, now while this has been a controversial issue, a Facebook engineer by the name of Arturo Bejar, has stated that it is being done for a good cause. MrBejar stated that Facebook uses the information gathered to prevent spammers, frauds ters and minors from accessing the website thereby putting their users in harm's way (Data Protection 2017). While this is a good cause, many have expressed their opinion that it does not justify the constant surveillance being carried out by the website using cookies. The hackers can use the cookie tracking tools for stealing the confidential information of a user such as the search history, user ids and passwords for the online accounts, financial transactions made over the internet, credit or debit card credentials. This is not only unethical, it is also illegal. Legal Concerns Many laws are available for the protection of a user's data online such as the Data Protection Act of 1998 that protects the user's data from being used for any malicious purpose, being stolen, used for the stated reasons and used lawfully (Data Protection 2017). Under the Data Protection Act section 2, users sensitive information that are being gathered cannot be used without their express permission, most websites put these clause in their privacy policies, telling the users to sign away their rights to the information for marketing purposes thereby abiding by this law. Facebook, however, has been accused of not following this rule by informing their users that their data is being given to third parties companies (Clifford 2017). According to the Data Protection Law, section 7 subsection 2a A data controller is not obliged to supply any information under subsection (1) unless he has received a request in writing. With this the site gives their users a choice on if to proceed with t heir operations or not, it is now left to the user to either accept or reject the online terms of usage (Chen and Zhao 2012). Additionally, all information gotten by Facebook, such as likes, shares, via the cookie tracking application is only stored on their systems for 90 days, and then it is automatically deleted, this is in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 section 2 which says that information gotten should be saved for a limited amount of time. The policy framework directive of EU 2002/58/EC addresses the concerns related to the handling and securing of the data gotten from cookie tracking applications (Clifford 2017). The policy states that the use of the cookies tracking applications are legal given that the users are fully informed of the purpose of the application, how they would be used and where they would be stored. Also, stated in the policy is the directive that users are given a choice on deciding the place of storing the cookie information or if they want it to be stored at all, this is especially important in multiple-user devices (Chen and Zhao 2012). This directive gives the users a certain level of trust that their information is safe and secure because the law protects them in the case of any emergency. Google has been accused of storing cookies on their users computer without their express permission that is in direct violation of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) regulations 6 th at expressly states that users must consent to any cookie being stored on their devices that could either damage or slow them down (Santa 2017). Professional Concerns Cookie tracking is an undoubtedly a brilliant invention. Information systems professionals that handle both the developing and securing of the applications are meant to abide by certain codes of conducts which govern the implementation of the cookie. According to the ACM code of conduct section, one subsection three that states Honesty is an essential component of trust. Without trust, an organization cannot function effectively. The honest computing professional will not make deliberately false or deceptive claims about a system or system design, but will instead provide full disclosure of all pertinent system limitations and problems (ACM 2017). When integrating the cookie tracking application in websites, full disclosure should be made on the process of gathering data ensuring complete safety. About 44% of websites currently have privacy policy pages whereas 52% do not state the process of utilizing and securing the cookie information. However, only 39.5% advice their users to dis continue cookie tracking while using the website. Furthermore, only about 25% of the said sites give their users options on what information they actually want to be tracked (CDT 2017). While many websites are trying to keep with this code of conduct, others are disregarding it that is not to be done as an Information Systems professional. In addition, the same code of conducts section two subsection six says that IS professionals ought to honor contracts and agreements. While many sites as mentioned before boldly stating how these cookies are being used most do not go on to state that the tracking does not end on the website alone but continues to other sites, tracking the users every movement as could be seen in the Facebook case previously mentioned. Additionally, the British Computer Society (BCS) code of conduct section two, subsection F shows that an IS professional should avoid injuring others, their property, reputation, or employment by false or malicious or negligent action or inaction (BCS 2017). It has been said that due to the data gotten from cookie tracking applications, users personal details, problems and vices have been exposed to their close families or employees. Information system professionals should ensure data gotten from the application is properly secured and is accessed by only authorized persons. Social Concerns Cookies have made using the internet a whole lot easier for many people with applications such as shopping, booking a ticket or just normal browsing thereby, making internet browsing much easier and convenient. However, websites such as Yahoo! and Google that makes use of the cookie tracking application collect bits and pieces of a persons online movements that can be detrimental to the persons offline life. One of the major advantages of the cookie tracking application is that it makes browsing easier for users, that is, adverts being shown are relatable to the users (Boohme and Okamoto 2015). However, there is the distinct possibility that someone else could have access to the user's computers and access other websites; thus the advertisements for the user automatically changes thereby taking away the major advantage that the cookie tracking application possesses. There should be an option, as previously states, for the nonprofessional to be able to switch off the tracking while th ey are not making use of their devices. Another social concern is the incessant tracking most sites do on their users; tailor their adverts to match the new data that could cause some embarrassments for the user. For example a user stumbles on a strange genre of Pornographic materials online, if they are logged on to a site like Facebook then that site has been added to their cookie data and Facebook (Marcella Jr 2003). This is also not very good for Facebook as a company that relies heavily on advertisement income, if their adverts are not useful to the users then there would be no reason for them to click on the advertisement thereby, reducing the income of the website. This leads to the issue of online profiling, when websites collect data of their users they form a profile of their habits, personal issues, likes and so forth. This profiling is an infringement on the privacy of the users because they are usually unaware of it and if the data is ever accessed by an unauthorized person could cause physical, mental and soc ial issues for the user. Limitations Several websites use cookie-tracking devices in order to gather information about the users. The most prevalent issue raised in the recent years is the inability for most users to reject. Therefore, this issue needs to be tracked. As mentioned by Mayer and Mitchell (2012), the risks associated with cookies make them vulnerable thereby, imposing limitations on the use. According to Acar et al. (2014), the different types of risks associated with cookies are cross site request forgery attack, cross site scripting, cookie tossing attack, session fixation and cookie overflow attack. The risks related to cookies make the information of the users vulnerable to be used for unsuitable purposes. As a result, for illegal or forgery purpose others can use significant information of the users such as bank detail, personal details. As asserted by Pearson (2013), in response to a request, a cookie is sent by the browser irrespective of the place of origin. This is considered a major concern related to cookies. The website is unable to recognize whether the request generated is by the user of not. Therefore, once the request is generated, if availability of cookie is found, it casually performs the required action without knowing the initiator of the request. For example, a user named Alec is a frequent user of a website thereby, having a cookie in this system. Meanwhile, if an attacker performs a delete action, the cookie supposes the request to be initiated by Alec. Therefore, the cookie lacks the potentiality of recognizing the original initiator of the request. As mentioned by Bugliesi et al. (2014), the risk concept of session fixation depends on the application level. In this case, of risk, the attackers force the user to use the attackers different session id. However, this can be implemented by using the directive path of the browser. Due to this, the users are considered a different one. By using this method, the attacker can compel the user to use different levels of application as the attacker. Another type of vulnerability that cookies possess is cross-site scripting. As commented by Sharma, Johari and Sarma (2012), an exploit is placed within the cookie by the attacker. Following this, the exploit conveys the payload from that particular cookie thereby, conducting the exploitation. However, the difficulty level rises for the attacker if the cookie has been set from beforehand. In order to conduct the attack, the attackers have to firstly control the cookie and then carry out the attack within the cookie string. Cookie tossing attack is considered as another limitation in terms of using cookie. As commented by Bhargavan et al. (2014), cookie-tossing attack is one of the most dangerous attacks on cookies. For example, a user receives a domain cookie while visiting website. Therefore, the cookie is sent to the website or server when the user visits the same browser the next time. In this case, the cookie lacks a particular path or domain. As a result, the attacker develops a sub domain cookie that is sent along with the original cookie. The website accepts both the cookies. The server lacks the option of sending the original cookie at first thereby, can select and send the duplicate cookie at first. In case, the server receives the sub domain cookie at first, it accepts the sub domain one as the valid or original cookie. Due to this, the information of the users can be vulnerable to risks, as the information is no more secured enough. According to Shar and Tar (2012), a sub domain cookie replaces the use of Jscript, the domain of the parent cookie. In terms of the number of cookies sent by the web browser, there is a limitation. However, web browsers such as Google Chrome lack the ability to verify whether the stored cookie is from a sub domain or domain thereby, just stores the cookies provided to them. Therefore, it can be possible that the sub domain is not completely secured. Attackers can use the non-secure cookie supposedly by altering the expiry dates of the cookie thereby, making it useless. This enables the attacker to develop a malicious cookie and sending the sub domain cookie to the web browser. As mentioned before, the web lacks the ability to determine the authenticity of the cookie thereby, imposing threat on the information of the users. Privacy, secrecy and security are the main vulnerabilities and limitation of using cookies. Privacy id considered as one of the major concern as this deals with storing of information of the users. The web browsers has the cookie option activated tracks the websites visited by the users. As mentioned by Chen and Zhao (2012), this provides an opportunity for the third party to access the information of the users without their consent. Government, advertisers and other users can be considered as the third parties. Therefore, there prevails high probability of misusing the information of the users. According to Hennnebert and Dos Santos (2014), the browsers willfully make it hard for the users to find the option for disabling the cookie option as this means less money for them. At certain instances, the users lack technical expertise to disable the cookie option of the web browser. Cookie security is a major issue as several loopholes has been recognized in various web browsers. This pr ovides a huge advantage for the attackers, as they are able to access information of the users such as their emails, information related to banks, credit card information and passwords. Conclusion This essay shows some of the privacy and security issues which come up with the use of cookies. Cookies are harmless if used by trusted websites, but when accessing a new and strange website, some users might not appreciate being tracked and all their information out there for the site to access. This is why cookie tracking as said at the start of this essay is a complicated issue. In this assignment, it can be concluded that cookies are small web-texts that helps in storing information in the system of the user. Information stored can be in terms of of the interest, log in information, personal information and bank details. Therefore, as this deal with the information of the users, security and privacy in terms of cookies are of utmost significance. As a result, ethical, legal, professional and social concerns are taken under consideration. Cookies are enabled by the web browsers in order to store information of the users thereby, providing better service. However, there are ethical concerns attached with accessing the information of the users. Many people considers use of cookies as unethical as they think the information of the users are been spied on deliberately in order to maximize their sales. Therefore, the privacy of the users information is accessible thereby, vulnerable to misuse. It has been seen that advertising organization pay the cookie develope rs more compared to their competitors. This provides an opportunity for the advertizing agencies to enhance their sales. Therefore, the cookie developers have to ensure security and privacy though it is breached at times. According to the Consequentiality theory, use of cookies makes the lives of the internet users easier. On the contrary, Kantianism theory highlights the security and privacy issues while using cookie thereby, suggesting discontinuing the use. In order to keep the information and the data of the users secure, Data Protection Act, 1998 is used for providing security of the information. Websites put the clause of using sensitive information of the users for marketing purposes with their consent only under the data Protection Act section 2. However, social media such as Facebook has failed in implementing the law thereby, the information of the users are fully accessible by third parties. This is due to the fact that under the Data protection Act section 7 sub section 2a, until and unless data controllers receives a written application, they are not bound to reveal the third parties. However, the information of the users for Facebook is deleted after 90 days thereby, reducing risk of misuse. Moreover, according to the EU frameworks, accessing the information of the users are legal if they are informed about the purpose and method of accessing their information. According to ACM code of conduct, the information technology professionals needs to consider both developing and security related to the use of cookie with sheer honesty. According to the statistics stated, it can be said certain websites state the some websites follows or implements the laws related to security of cookies whereas some websites fail to state the method and the purpose of utilization of information. Moreover, certain percentage of website deactivates cookie-tracking facilities while some states specifically the information that wants to be stored. The information collected by Google or Yahoo about the interests of the users can have adversely affected the life of the users thereby, raising a social concern. However, there are limitations and vulnerabilities associated with the security and privacy in cookie tracking. The web browser lacks the ability to determine between the original and sub domain cookie thereby making it easier for the attackers to invade and access the information of the users. References Acar, G., Eubank, C., Englehardt, S., Juarez, M., Narayanan, A. and Diaz, C., 2014, November. The web never forgets: Persistent tracking mechanisms in the wild. In Proceedings of the 2014 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security (pp. 674-689). ACM. Acm.org. 2017. ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. 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