The economic environment has changed in the past decade due to stock market losses, rising health care costs, and declining property values. As a result, many seniors were forced to look for new ways to generate income after their working careers ended. One of the primary beneficiaries of this shift was firms marketing reverse mortgages. Like many other industries, the reverse mortgage business contains two sides of an ethical dilemma. On one side are those marketers who are increasing profits by helping seniors access the equity in their home; on the other are those who are potentially taking advantage of desperate seniors who may not fully understand what a reverse mortgage is. Use the ethical decision-making framework to answer the following questions:
- Which parties are impacted by reverse mortgages marketing strategies?
- If you are a bank hoping to increase profits, would you try to expand your marketing of reverse mortgages to seniors?
- If you are a marketing manager at a bank that had made the strategic decision to grow its reverse mortgage business, how would you go about promoting the product?