Many companies commit unethical acts that aren't against the law to gain a competitive advantage because without committing these unethical acts they could be faced with going out of business (Ethical Marketing, n.d).
However, I don't think the retailer should pursue this new marketing strategy because it would not be socially responsible. Although, I think the research firm came up with a pretty clever plan to increase sales. Once the word gets out to the media and community about the company targeting low-income single mothers by enticing them to take on unaffordable debt, this would paint a negative picture of the organization. This could deter both the stakeholders and the stockholders from wanting to do business with the company and then sales would really drop. It is much easier for a company to recover from declining sales than from a damaging reputation of unethical conduct (Ferrell, n.d).