Is Marketing Ethics an Oxymoron?

Let’s face it, working in marketing forces you to make ethical decisions daily.  After all, isn’t it the job of marketing to create a need for a product (or service) and get people to buy it?   Is it really important whether they actually really need it or not?   As long as you get results, does it matter what strategies or tactics you use?

I think it does matter!  I believe we need to struggle with what is right/wrong and the gray in between.  That is why I have started this blog.  I will find examples to discuss (often posts on the topic from others–send them to me) and attempt to facilitate a helpful discussion.

Google+ helping drive Google Search. Is this an Ethical Issue?

In the social media for business class I am teaching we had a bit of a debate over this.  As a private company, Google has the right to do as they please with their search…and consumers have the right not to use their search engine if they do not like it.  However, does this over-weighting of Google+ invalidate Google’s “promise” to consumers to have the “best” search results?

Here is a link to the article about it called: “Real-Life Examples Of How Google’s “Search Plus” Pushes Google+ Over Relevancy“ 

Any thoughts?

Tom

http://seg.sharethis.com/getSegment.php?purl=http%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.com%2F&jsref=&rnd=1326399526509

 

Benjamin McNutt: In defense of marketing

Editor’s note: Some great points about marketing and faith.  Tom

This is asking for a theological beating, but it needs saying: marketing is
not the capitalist manifestation of Lucifer himself.

Here are three reasons why.

1) That assumption takes the narrowest, least charitable view of what
marketing is. All marketing doesn’t consist in pressuring 14-year-old girls into
buying Juicy Couture (and distorting notions of femininity) or making men feel
like “real men” for drinking Bud Light (ditto, for masculinity). Marketing
doesn’t just happen on Madison Avenue a la Don Draper, and it isn’t about turning
your church or organization into a consumer product or the people you serve into
spiritual shoppers. It’s about communicating clearly who you are and what you
do, and understanding who you serve.

It’s remarkable how easily we can lose sight of this, particularly in large
institutions. Marketers force you to clarify the mission and goals of your
institution, do real homework about who you serve (rather than make assumptions
about them) and ask effective questions about how best to serve them. Tim
Radford, a veteran editor at “The Guardian,” has a writing rule that applies here: “No one will ever complain
because you have made something too easy to understand.” That’s what marketers
do.

2) Marketers know how to ask fundamental questions about human identity,
questions that at their root are theological. They ask about human desire and
identify human need. As one character from “Mad Men” puts it: “We help people
make choices between what’s expected of them and what they want.”

The church, we Christians say, isn’t about giving people what they want, or
making Christianity palatable, but about making disciples.

True, but that doesn’t give us permission to table the question of desire,
mostly because it’s a theological one Christians have asked at least since
Augustine. Jamie Smith, in Augustinian fashion, says it this way: “If I really want to know who you are, I’m
not going to ask what you know. I’m not even going to ask what you believe. If I
really want to know what you’re about, the question I will ask is: ‘What do you
want? What do you love?’” Smith puts a finer point on this in “Desiring the Kingdom:” “Could it be the case that learning a
Christian perspective doesn’t actually touch my desire…and at the end of the
day I love not the kingdom of God but rather the kingdom of the market?” If
current Christian thought and practice doesn’t “touch” desire, other entities
will gain our loves and, ultimately, the commitments of the people we seek to
serve.

3) Marketers don’t simply ask what people want, they ask what generates
commitment or “brand loyalty.” We want disciples in church, and to my knowledge,
disciples — whatever else they may be — are committed. In a time when leaders
worry over the decline in commitment to Christian institutions, understanding
what generates commitment in people seems to be of vital significance.

We’re wonderfully equipped to deconstruct all the ways marketers distort
moral life, but too often our own arguments get in the way of what marketers can
actually teach us. You need not arrive at the same conclusions as marketers to
ask the same questions.

With their help we can be clearer, better theologians and makers of
disciples. Nothing seems particularly demonic about
that.

Benjamin McNutt is the editor of Call & Response. You can follow him
on Twitter at @benjaminmcnutt.

Posted by Benjamin McNutt at 11:33 am

In Marketing | Theology

See origianl article at: http://www.faithandleadership.com/blog/10-06-2011/benjamin-mcnutt-defense-marketing

Basic thoughts on Ethics in Marketing

Here is a quick overview from Matt Blum’s blog of how to help your organization stay ethical in marketing.  Enjoy the Summer!  Tom Betts

In this culture of Enron, BP, and others, I thought it would nice to take a look at some ethics in marketing.  Wouldn’t be nice if all companies were ethical?

First, always reward sound judgment regarding ethical marketing practices by your employers, make a positive example out of them and make it known that their actions fit in with the culture of your company (or university).

Always lead by example, and make sure your subordinates are aware of your ethical behavior.  The rewards you will garner from this is that all of your employers will live by the “code” you set forth.

Require all of your marketing proposals to spell out and address any possible ethical considerations and certainly give any credit due to the author(s) of the proposal.

Lastly, create an ethics code specifically geared toward the marketing department, on top of the general company code.  This will specifically address any possible ethical situations that could possibly arise when campaigns are done.

Reposted from Matt Blum’s Marketing Blog: http://marketmpb.blogspot.com/2010/07/ethics-in-marketing.html

What is Ethical Shopping? (and The Ethical Marketing Group)

A different ethical issue–from the consumer action side.  What can shoppers do to be ethical and also influence companies to be ethical.  A good discussion starter on consumer ethics.  Also mentioned is the “Good Shopping Guide” from the Ethical Marketing Group which grades companies on 15 ethical issues.  Check it out.  Tom Betts.

(What is) shopping in an Ethical way?  Put simply, this is buying things that are made ethically by companies that act ethically. Buying ethically means buying a brand or from a company which doesn’t exploit labour, animals or the environment. The way in which you can act as an ‘ethical consumer’ can also take on a different form and that is avoiding products (also known as boycotting) you disapprove of such as battery eggs.

GuideMeGreen acts as an internet guide as opposed to the numerous paper publications, showing you which brands and companies are classed as ethical. For more in-depth information see the Good Shopping Guide or the Ethical Consumer magazine.

Why buy ethically?

Everyone needs to go shopping in one way or another. As an ethical consumer, every time you buy something you can make a difference by choosing an ethical product or by buying from an ethical business.

For example, when you buy from a company that doesn’t exploit its workers and provides them with decent working conditions, you are giving the company the funds to continue its ethical behaviour. At the same time, you are no longer buying from a company that exploits its labour with poor pay and often a dangerous working environment. That company then loses business, which may encourage it to change its ways and to look after its workers.

Marks and Spencers the huge retail chain in the UK recently ran an ethical products campaign and said that this was its most successful ever. Many of the big retail companies are now seeing the benefits of offering a range of ethical goods for sale including ethical trainers, ethical shoes and t-shirts.

How do I know it’s ethical?

In general consumers must have confidence that any ethical claims that a brand may make conform to certain standards which are independently accredited. Organisations such as the Good Shopping Guide and Ethical Consumer provide an ethical analysis of everyday brands and the companies behind them. The Ethical Marketing group publishes the Good Shopping Guide, updated annually, grading hundreds of companies according to their policies on 15 ethical issues.

Working to promote ethical shopping, The Ethical Company Organisation enables consumers to easily compare the Corporate Social Responsibility records of hundreds of companies and brands.

The Ethical Company Organisation’s Research Department monitors the ethical records of hundreds of different companies across 15 criteria including environmental records, human rights, animal welfare and involvement in the arms trade. This involves working with hundreds of ethical consumers, progressive companies and NGOs on a range of research and publishing programmes.

For example, next time you are buying clothes, the good shopping guide recommends that you buy from HUG and avoid Nike.

Original post at:  http://www.all-departments.com/what-is-ethical-shopping/

Business Ethics Video by College Students

This is a good discussion starter video done by some students.  I appreciate their effort and the topics they discuss.  I may use segments in my class.  Tom Betts

Sales/product ethics, market choice ethics, accounting ethics.  Check out the video at http://globalqualitymarketing.com/business-ethics.html

Business Marketing Articles – Upholding Your Business Marketing Ethics

When I read this article, I liked the direction it was going, but isn’t there a third reason for being ethical–because it ti the RIGHT thing to do?  Then we come to the discussion of who sets the standards or measuring stick for right and wrong.  Tom Betts.

If you want to be effective in business marketing articles, then read this article. It will teach you some of the business marketing ethics.

Proper ethics should be applied in all fields of interaction. In marketing, ethics is also applied. Business ethics examines ethical principles and moral problems that arise in a corporate environment. It pertains to all features of demeanor and behavior of individuals and the organizations as a whole. Ethics in marketing means purposely applying standards of fairness or moral accurateness relevant to marketing decision making, behavior, and practice in business institutions.

The aim purpose of marketing is to create a competitive advantage in the market niche that it is catering to. A corporation achieves a competitive advantage when products and services has lived up to the satisfactory requirements of the target consumer as well as the business organization, more than and better than its competitors. In the process of doing so, it cannot be denied that competition is the essence of growing. And a business is projected to perform in what it thinks to be its own best interest. You can also apply this when you do business marketing articles.

But in the corporate economy, each member is not only expected to provide quality goods and services to the consumers but are also specifically expected to adhere to the ethical values imposed by the business organization. Each entrepreneur is required and expected to follow these values for two pertinent reasons.

Firstly, consumers develop more positive attitude and outlook about business firms, the products they produce and the services they render. A business firm not adhering and applying ethical marketing practices may result to dissatisfied and disappointed customers, spread of bad publicity, destroying the trust, losing the business and even filling of legal action. Therefore, mostly all business organizations protect their long term interests by being very sensitive and very receptive to the needs and feedback of their customers.

Secondly, pressure is pressed on to federal and government agencies to do their share of work to push business organizations to assume greater responsibility for their actions. Since ethical abuses frequently occur, customers believe that dubious business practices are building up. As a result, consumer interest organizations, professional affiliations and self-regulatory factions wield substantial influence on marketing.

The business industry has developed codes of ethical conducts or rules of behavior to give guidance, assistance and supervision to business decision making of any business man or firm. It is clear that the business industry avoids extensive government interference. A business man or a business company always seeks to profit on a long term basis therefore they are very willing to invest their ability and their interest to respond to self-regulation of business attitudes and morals. By doing this, they can be sure to gain success in business marketing articles.

Origianl post: http://businessorganizational.doodig.com/2010/02/18/business-marketing-articles-upholding-your-business-marketing-ethics/

The General Theory of Marketing Ethics:A Revision and Three Questions

This is an academic article that digs into the general theory of marketing ethics and the Hunt-Vitell (H-V) model a causal mode. Tom Betts

By Shelby D. Hunt and Scott J. Vitell.
Published in theJournal of Macromarketing
Vol. 26 No. 2, December 2006 1-11 (© 2006 Sage Publications)

The general theory of marketing ethics, first published in the Journal of Macromarketing  by Hunt and Vitell (1986), has been the focus of much discussion and empirical testing. As a result, the theory was revised in 1993. This article overviews the 1993 revision of the model and addresses three questions that are often asked by those who use the model in the classroom and/or in research: (1) What is the justification for using normative ethical theory as a starting point for positing a positive ethical theory? (2) Is the Hunt-Vitell (H-V) model a causal model, that is, is each concept in the model a construct to be measured? (3) How, specifically, can the H-V theory be used to teach marketing and business ethics?   

 

Here is the link to the article:  http://sdh.ba.ttu.edu/JMacro06%20-%20A%20general%20theory%20of%20marketing%20ethics-A%20revision%20and%20three%20questions–PAGE%20PROOFS.pdf 

Advertising ethics: children

A great illustration of our struggle with what is right, wrong, and gray in advertising to children.  Keep the discussion going!  Tom Betts.

Many complex arguments surround the issue of marketing to children. They are linked in with the world in which we live and the world in which we wished we live where advertising is just one way in which we discover new ways in which to be productive or pass the time. In the world in which we live, these ways often come about in ways in which advertisers wish they had control. Instead we are often left chasing the moment, trying to bend it to our will. And in this world, more complex than we can ever imagine or control how are we supposed to find the right line to take when parents are terrified to send their children out without a mobile phone? Should the manufacturers not produce phones that are attractive to children? Would that make us better people? Would it save our children from the clutches of the Pied Piper? If only the world were that simple. If only it could be reduced to such things and then solved by a quick chat with Trevor McDonald or David Dimbleby. Of course it can’t. And so it will continue, rightly so, to be an area that undergoes regular and detailed scrutiny. Maybe it is inevitable that advertising often finds itself at the sharp end of the commentator’s disapproval. Calls for bans on advertising, on video games, on Marilyn Manson’s music surround every anti-social act to be caught by the global news media. It becomes so automatic, so knee-jerk that it is easy to dismiss it in a similarly knee-jerk and automatic manner. Many of us, however, think about the arguments each time a new piece of business comes our way. And often the answers come in the way in which much of the advertising industry conducts itself – by talking and listening to the public. After all, what kind of advertisers would we be if we ignored the public mood? Where’s the strategy in that?. No, talking to the consumer is something we do on a daily basis – something report writers might also look into doing. Without it we would soon find ourselves existing within the sort of bubble some people might wish our children to live in. It’s this conversation which reminds us that we are no longer in the world of the 1960’s where the Don Drapers could dazzle us with the promise of great new things simply because they were new things. This conversation with the public reminds us that each new piece of work we produce is put into context by a million different minds, each of which consume information (and advertising falls under that category) in a different way. We can create excitement, anticipation even, but to assume the power to steer society towards a dumbed-down mockery of itself – well, isn’t that what we have television for?

Reposted from: Head Blog, December 18th, 2009.  http://www.head-first.co.uk/headblog/2009/12/advertising-ethics-children/

Is inertia marketing ethical, legal or effective?

I thought this was an interested discussion starter for a Marketing Class:  Thanks to Dick Stroud and Chris Gosling for this story about the perils/rewards of inertia marketing.  Tom Betts

Imagine you went into your local pub and was charged you £7 for a pint of beer. You paid them, drank the beer and departed. Next time you visit you are charged £8; you pay, drink the beer and depart. This continues until the end of the week you pay £12 for a pint and then a friend taps you on the shoulder and asks: “why are you paying four times more than me for the same drink?”

You are enraged, demand to see the landlord and ask him why you are paying so much more than your friend. The landlord says: “because he is a pain in the butt and always asks me to lower the price – you are daft old sod and don’t ask, so I add another pound to compensate for what I lose from serving your him.”

So what do we conclude? You are a fool? The landlord is a brilliant marketer who is able to increase his gross margin by 100s of percent. If this works for a pub, why doesn’t Tesco try and do the same?

OK, what’s the point of these ramblings? Substitute buildings and content insurance for beer and you have what the Royal Sun Alliance insurance (RSA) company has been doing for years and years. Have a read for yourself.

So what do we do? Nominate the marketing director of RSA for marketer of the year or have the guy/girl publicly humiliated? Hero or villain?

I would think RSA knows that the trust in Financial Services cannot go any lower so the may as well exploit their customers. They are only doing what their customers expect of them.

Dick Stroud

Origianl source:  http://www.20plus30.com/blog/2009/12/is-inertia-marketing-ethical-legal-or.html

GoodGuide Puts Brands’ Ethical Claims to the Test

Interesting new website.  A sort of Consumer Reports for food, personal care, and household chemicals…except all from their filter of “find safe, healthy, and green products.”  Now that they are talking with big marketing companies, they may find they have their own ethical issues.  Enjoy the site.  Tom   

Website Scrutinizes 75,000 Products to Expose Those Who Overhype.  By Jack Neff

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — The hype and puffery of 21st-century ethical marketing may finally have met their match: a small band of venture-funded academics who have set out to systematically rate thousands of consumer products and their manufacturers on how good they really are.

In the two years since Berkeley environmental policy professor Dara O’Rourke led a handful of academics off the University of California campus to launch GoodGuide.com, it’s rated about 75,000 consumer products and counting, distilling dozens of facts from public and private databases to score each on a 10-point scale for health, environmental and social impact. Each brand is scored on each measure individually and then given a collective rating.

The success of such a venture will rely, in part, on consumers finding out about it, but there’s evidence that’s happening already — millions have already visited the ad-free site, and more than 100,000 have downloaded the GoodGuide iPhone app. The group is using web analytics to continuously tweak the site to make it more relevant and easier to use.

GoodGuide is also getting noticed by big marketers such as Clorox Co., which has been talking to Mr. O’Rourke about how to improve its ratings. It has had enough inquiries from marketers that it’s planning to open a separate portal early next year to show them how to improve their scores.

Meanwhile, GoodGuide is in talks with three big offline retailers about incorporating its ratings into their stores, said Mr. O’Rourke, as well as three online retailers who are planning to make the ratings available to shoppers on demand.

Crowd control
GoodGuide already has its ratings on the TheFind.com, and links from GoodGuide to purchase at Amazon have conversion rates that are five to 10 times those of the giant retailer’s norms, Mr. O’Rourke said.

While GoodGuide has user ratings too, it focuses on applying science and its own research to objectively vet products and companies.

Crowds are involved in shaping the site’s content and user interfaces. GoodGuide has tapped web-analytics firm Unica’s NetInsights system to constantly monitor how people use the site, what information is important to them and what sort of customization makes sense.

The overarching finding, said Mr. O’Rourke, is that people care most about health. But it’s also hard to generalize, so the site has a drop-down menu that lets users screen products for their own purposes.

The web and mobile analytics show that people are increasingly focused on very specific ingredients, he said. “We have a lot of our users click down and look at, are there any parabens? Are there any chemicals of concern I’ve read about in my newspaper or e-mail list?”

Tailored scores
Right now, there’s a one-size-fits-all rating. Eventually, the site may make it possible for each user to get individual ratings based on the weights they assign to various factors.

Ratings are based on remarkably detailed analyses — including 99 data points for a variant of Pantene shampoo. While health matters most, corporate scores make a big difference.

For example, Clorox Green Works toilet bowl cleaner gets a middling 5.4 rating despite its 7.0 rating on health, pulled down by the parent company’s record on environmental compliance, corporate disclosure policies and workplace conditions.

“We’re highly supportive of GoodGuide’s developing a comprehensive source of information for the health, environmental and social impacts of a product,” said Aileen Zerrudo, director-corporate communications for Clorox, who’s been working with GoodGuide on the Green Works rating. “We think it could evolve into a tool that is truly meaningful and intuitive for the consumer.”

But, in an e-mail statement, she said Green Works should score higher. “We have been in discussions with GoodGuide about some of the gaps with respect to Clorox’s corporate social information.”

“We’ve had some very positive conversations with Clorox about our ratings,” Mr. O’Rourke said. “I would expect to see them improve their performance on a company level over the coming years.”

Brand distinctions
Burt’s Bees, now a subsidiary of Clorox, fares better than its parent. A shampoo bar gets a 10 for health and 8.6 overall on much higher ratings for environmental and social impact.

That’s been a subject of debate within GoodGuide, he said, but Burt’s separate score ultimately was based on it having a separate board of directors, separate policies and offices and a distinct track record.

The Clorox case is among those that convinced GoodGuide to start developing a portal where manufacturers can get customized views of the data, how to improve it and a way to disclose more information.

Ultimately, Mr. O’Rourke said he sees licensing data to manufacturers, retailers and other procurement officers as a way GoodGuide might monetize its efforts. While spawned at Berkeley, it’s now what he calls a “for benefit” organization backed by a first round of $3.7 million in venture capital in January.

That’s helping to pay for a staff of 14 full-time and three part-time chemists, toxicologists, nutritionists and computer scientists.

“We had a team of academics, but we made a decision to act like a Silicon Valley startup,” Mr. O’Rourke said. “It’s not the final system, but we wanted to get it out and see how people use it and keep iterating. That’s taught us a lot about what consumers really care about.”

How to improve a GoodGuide score
What may make GoodGuide particularly valuable to consumers in the end is that there are relatively few quick or easy fixes to improve scores on health, environment or social ratings, said founder and CEO Dara O’Rourke. But he and the site do point to a few basic tips:

Change your ingredients. Natural, nonsynthetic ingredients tend to score better. Those with studies linking them to carcinogenic, reproductive or other health issues do worse.

Quality management. Recalls and other product controversies hurt.

Policies matter. Having corporate policies on such things as child labor and forced labor makes a difference.

Employee benefits help. Having a good health plan and family-friendly policies relative to industry peers can lift the score.

Environmental compliance is a must. Lack of sustainability, enforcement actions and lawsuits alleging toxic releases will lower a company’s environmental score.

Be transparent. Companies that don’t disclose data can’t hide. They just get dinged for lack of transparency, something that recently helped pull down the score of Trader Joe’s, a unit of Germany’s privately held and close-mouthed Aldi. This is particularly true in categories that matter most to consumers, such as health of ingredients, Mr. O’Rourke said.

Published: September 28, 2009

http://adage.com/article?article_id=139295