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Nobody can deny the fact that international marketing is important and vital for all Countries, no matter how rich or developed they are. Very few countries are self-sufficient and can provide all their needs themselves, and most countries produce only part of their needs. They cannot produce certain goods either because of bad weather conditions or because they are too expensive to produce. For example: Sweden and Norway cannot produce certain types of tropical or exotic fruit such as: pineapples and kiwi because these types need a warm temperature all the year. Other countries need tea and coffee which are grown only in a few countries. Besides most developed countries need raw materials and fossil fuels for their industries. At the same time, these countries need markets for their manufactured goods as the Japan. Actually, the Japanese import raw materials from different parts of the world and export their manufactured goods to all the other countries of the world. The more international marketing increases, the more developed the countries become. This is because new job opportunities are created and new industries are set up so countries grow to be wealthier. However, this system doesn’t work in favour of all countries. Some of them get richer and richer while others face economic difficulties such as: deficits in their trade balance and unemployment. Advertising is one of the most important ways that helps the development of international marketing. According to Yahya R. Kamalipour in the textbook Global Communication “advertising has existed in the Middle east since 3000 B.C, when Babylonian shop owners began hanging signs outside their stores.”(P.273). We will discuss the case of our Moroccan country as an example to see the impact of international marketing on its products and its economy in general. We will consider the positive effects, the negative ones and what it should be done to reduce and minimize the negative effects. Through international marketing, Moroccan products are known everywhere in the world. The Moroccans have been exporting certain products for many years as vegetables and fruits that are known in the five continents. The Moroccan canned sardines and thon are found even in Japan and China too. The leather products are considered a luxury in Europe and the USA. In addition, Phosphate and other minerals bring in considerable amounts of foreign currency. So we can conclude that these exports may lead to the development of important sectors in Morocco, especially the agricultural and tourism ones. The Moroccan products benefited from a period when competition was not really present. For example, the Moroccan oranges and tomatoes were exported everywhere and there was no limit to the quantity. They are also very appreciated in Europe and in United States. There were even times when Morocco could not satisfy all the needs, but when certain countries like Spain, Israel started to find way to reach the European Market; restrictions were imposed on the Moroccan products. According to Yahya R. Kamalipour in the textbook, “public relations have not be restricted to primarily supporting corporations that sell products and services. Popular U.S. textbooks point to government and nongovernmental organizations social programs that were promoted in the 20th century through public relations”(P.277) . In fact, the free trade agreement was constituted between Morocco and United States in the nineteen’s in order to facilitate the exchange of goods between countries. This helps Morocco to benefit from the import and export process, and aid the Moroccan market to vanish the counterfeiting and piracy. Moreover, the European Market fixed Quotas on oranges and tomatoes where the prices of these products were lowered. The biggest mistake of Morocco was that it did not search for other markets for its agricultural products. This picture shows the union between different countries and currencies. This can be related to the free trade agreement cited above, and it can leads to the globalization. Therefore, we can notice that not simply certain important sectors benefited from international marketing, but the whole economy get developed. Unfortunately these exports have declined recently due to competition and other factors which we will discuss later. On the other hand, the negative effects of international marketing on the Moroccan products are numerous, and sometimes lead to disastrous consequences on the economy of the country. According to Yahya “although many corporations have marketed their products and services globally throughout most of their histories, others are now looking more closely to find opportune niches in international sites”(p.277). When we consider international marketing it is not only selling and exporting goods to other countries, but it is also buying and importing other products. When we import products that we do not produce; it can only be beneficial. However, the problem is when similar products are brought into the country. The imported products are usually of a better quality and at a lower price because the labour force is cheap. An example that illustrates this idea is “coin de chine”. It is a shop franchise that has many branches in the Moroccan cities. For most consumers, especially those with a low income, it is the price that counts rather than the quality. Moroccan does not care if the product is made in Morocco or in other countries. Furthermore, Moroccan companies face a lot of difficulties because of these imported products as they cannot compete with the multinational companies that control marketing systems. They cannot spend big amounts of money on market research and studies on advertising campaigns. As a result, many small and beginning businesses find themselves obliged to lay off their employees, and close their factories down because of this rude competition. Actually, what is happening in the North of Morocco is a good example; people tend to prefer the imported products because they believe they are better and cheaper. There is no place for Moroccan merchandises such as: rice, chocolate, cheese, jam, washing powder, margarine…etc. On the other hand, the worse thing that morocco is facing is the Chinese goods. They really ruined a lot of businesses in Morocco, especially the textile industry and shoes making, and they eliminate the small traditional business too. One may ask: why not simply ban the imports of these goods? It would not be possible of course, because there are agreements that regulate international trade between countries and the general tendency now is to eliminate all forms of restrictions such as : quotas and tariffs which hinder international transactions . The GATT agreement ensures that in the near future there will be no restrictions .This will create even more difficulties for the Moroccan products and the Moroccan economy in general since Morocco will no longer be able to protect small and beginning businesses from world competitors or important sectors like agriculture. The point is that our industries are not prepared for competition with multinational companies, and this is both technically and financially. Can a Moroccan soda compete with Coca Cola or Pepsi? Or can a washing powder made in Morocco compete with Tide or Omo and be more efficient? I personally believe that international marketing has devastating effects on the products in underdeveloped countries like Morocco. In fact, according to Yahya, “both advertising and public relations are highly democratic in tradition, the former because advertising by its nature suggests the availability of consumer choice -that is, a marketplace democracy and the ultimate consumer determination of the relative benefits of these choices- and the latter because of an inherent supposition of the importance and value of public opinion within democratic forms of government”. Small companies will be kept out of the market and therefore, unemployment will persist in these countries and the economy in general will suffer as the countries will become poorer and poorer. How can we overcome this problem? How can morocco reduce the negative effects of international marketing on the Moroccan product? And how can Morocco increase exports and decrease imports? Finally, how can Moroccan companies compete successfully with multinational companies? One way would be to impose restrictions on certain goods. These restrictions can take different forms: the Moroccans can reduce and restrict the quantity of imported goods or impose tariffs. They can also limit imports through exchange control. In fact, by taking all these factors into consideration, they can make the imported products more expensive and therefore, discourage people from buying them. Actually, this is what Morocco has been doing for years, but these measures will be useless when the GATT agreement is put into effect. Moreover, by imposing constraints on certain products or certain countries, the same restrictions will be imposed on your products. So, you it will be a lack of capacity to export certain products. What is the solution then? In a small village and in a world where technology has made, it is easier for everyone to contact anyone anywhere and anytime. On the other hand, in a world where competition between companies has become very tough and serious, the only way is to prepare the Moroccan companies and industries for this rivalry. This is a big challenge for Morocco, but not an impossible task. In fact, the Moroccans can meet this challenge if they provide help and support for the companies. This aid must take different forms: all firms, whether big or small must have access to loans, so that they can equip their factories with the new technology of production. Technical help and guidance should be provided by specialists from the most developed countries because they have the best technology required. The employees themselves must be trained and educated so that they can use the new technology and know how to operate the different new machines. But besides those things, the most important thing is quality. It should be given great importance and it must respect the standards set by the developed countries because the bad product will not be accepted anywhere. Some people believe that a good solution would be to sensitize the people about the dangers of buying the imported goods and encourage them to buy the products made in Morocco instead. This way they will help our companies to make profit and expand and therefore, more job opportunities will be created and the country will become more prosperous. In addition, this will participate also in the development of the Moroccan economy and it will increase the motivation of employees to make more efforts for a better productivity. Another point is the respect of the marketing tools and especially market research and advertising. Before launching a product, the market study should be undertaken to know the potential customers. For instance, who will buy the product, and why they will buy it. After that, the product should be advertised and different media should be used to make sure that the campaign will reach the maximum of customers and the different classes too. This figure combines different multinational brands To sum up, international marketing has positive and negative effects on the Moroccan Product. All the countries aim at increasing exports and decreasing imports, but only the rich Countries have the capability to achieve this goal. On the other hand, the poor countries will continue to search for ways to compete with the multinational companies which affect their economy negatively. We should not forget that sooner or later there will be no barriers between countries and the world will be a big market where different types of goods are displayed, but only the best ones are chosen by customers. Reference List Yahya R. Kamalipour. Chapter12: “Global Advertising and Public Relation”. Global Communition. Second Edition. Pp. 271-289.