Falling into the trap of unethical marketing practices. These include: manipulation or misuse or data, invasion of privacy, exploitation of children or disadvantaged groups, price deception, bait-and-switch advertising, etc. When a marketer deviates from the prevailing code of ethics the result is loss, customer dissatisfaction, lack of trust, and legal action.
The mistake of not recognising what business you are actually in, what Theodore Levitt called 'marketing myopia'. This is when the organisation fails to recognise the wider market and business it is operating in, thus failing to adapt to the changes that will inevitably occur in it.
