Marketing 12th Edition by Charles Lamb,Charles Lamb,Joe Hair

Exercise 11

Sally Burke works for Hi-Tech Electronics. Her responsibilities include selecting items to advertise in her company's Sunday newspaper FSIs. One hot item is a 50-inch flat-panel plasma TV. The list price is $4,999, but her manager tells her to advertise it at $3,999, since customers can apply for a $1,000 mail-in rebate. The advertised price has attracted many people to buy the TV; however, Sally has heard several complaints from customers who found the rebate process unusually complex and were denied a rebate because the manufacturer claimed they hadn't provided the required information. She would prefer to advertise the "real" list price, knowing that customers are not guaranteed to receive a rebate.
Rebate programs are commonly used by electronics manufacturers because the rebates arouse consumers' interest in buying products; yet only half of purchasers ultimately claim their rebates. Is a rebate program itself unethical if the manufacturer knows consumers are unlikely to receive their money?