The Judicial System and Alternative Dispute Resolution, Administrative Law
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The Judicial System and Alternative Dispute Resolution, Administrative Law
INTRODUCTION
The government has a mandate to regulate any commercial activities within the interstates. The rules and regulation stipulated are found under the Commerce Clause in the constitution. The ordinance filed by the municipality of Almond Grove is unconstitutional and interferes with the marketing of the Monkey Drink. On reviewing the laws stated in the constitution, as will be further discussed, the ordinance filed conflicts with valid federal regulations. The fact is that the municipality of Almond Grove and Marketing Department handling Monkey Drink are at loggerheads.
Principal Key Facts
In analyzing the key facts of the laws in marketing, the general objectives of the marketing practices forms the first basis in determining whether the ordinance was constitutional or not.
Public Image of Direct Marketing
The first selected general laws on marketing states that members, which translate to corporations, must ensure they do nothing that could damage the public image of the direct marketing or the Association (The Direct Marketing Association., 2012). This law means that all the marketing strategies used should be in accordance this law. Our case scenario, the marketing department clearly put a warning on the products stating it is not for consumption for persons under the age of 21. Simply put, there was no breach of the law in the case and the fact that the marketing was made attractive to the consumers, which is the intended purpose, does not necessarily mean the company is at fault for teenage drinking in the area. Cordoning of the area for placement of the billboards will have no impact in curbing the situation at hand.
Association Monitoring of Code
The second law under the Association monitoring of Code allows the Association to monitor that the marketing strategies comply with the Code. It is permitted to conduct auditing, mystery shopping exercises and to accept compliance visits from the Association agents (The Direct Marketing Association., 2012). The main issue that presents itself is that the Association never ruled out the billboard advertising of the Monkey Drink thus meaning it was in accordance with the Code. This means that the ordinance issued conflicts with the Code, which is constitutionally mandated by the government. Once again, this makes the ordinance unconstitutional.
Direct Marketing Commission Law
It states that the members must accept the jurisdiction of The Direct Marketing Commission and co-operate fully with any investigations or enquiries initiated by the Commission (The Direct Marketing Association., 2012). Members must comply with any conclusion reached including a decision to take disciplinary action resulting from a breach of the Code (The Direct Marketing Association., 2012). Before issuing the ordinance, the municipality should have requested the Marketing Commission to investigate the Monkey Drink Marketing strategies. The findings of the Commission would determine whether the ordinance should be filed or not. Thus, the municipal did not follow the right procedure in handling it conflict with the Billboard. The issue should have been taken to the Marketing Association where the Secretariat would have invited a member from the Almond Grove municipality to settle the matter amicably before filing for an ordinance prohibiting the company from putting up billboards near the schools by an approximated 15 miles radius.
The
aforementioned laws stipulated by the Commission firmly support the
unconstitutional ordinance filed by the Almond Grove. The Company’s Marketing
Department followed the right procedures and complied with the Commission rule
of conduct.
References
The Direct Marketing Association. (2012). Direct Marketing Code of Practice. Washington, DC: Author.