Does the Marketing profession behave responsibly? Caveat Emptor!
image credit The Professional Answer
Is Marketing an ethical profession? Does is exploit fears and vulnerabilities? Is it manipulative and uncaring?
The function and practice of marketing has been criticised because it is claimed that it deliberately creates partial truths about products and services and exploits the fears and weaknesses of fellow human beings.
It is frequently claimed that the ethics of marketing can be criticised because it is he only business function that deliberately sets out to emphasise the gap between a persons reality and their expectations in such a way that people feel 'lacking' in either self esteem or posessions so that they feel compelled to close the gap by unnecessary spending.
Personal critcisim is often levelled at practioners who are characterised as vapid unscrupulous indidviduals who believe they hold superior knowledge about human behaviour, motivation, persuasion, influence.
Academically the profession is criticised from a managerial standpoint because it exists in state of torpid uncriticality...making claims to be a 'profession' when it is only attracts self opinionated gurus and mystics with a lack intellectual rigour and commercial discipline
Philosophically much of the critical position towards marketing takes a post modern standoint in opposition to the predominantly positivistic and managerialist stance of much of the pro-marketing academic and business management literature. Customers and markets are seen as resources to be exploited for shareholder gain, and scant regard is paid to the systemic problems that such behaviour creates.
For over 100 years marketing management has sought scientific credibilitity. Perhaps the most influential thought leader in that regard is Philip Kotler In his view customers are there to analysed and understood in order that their needs can be supplied by competitively differentiated value propositions. His work avoids many of the ethical consequences of such an approach.
The 'marketing way' either explicitly or implicitly endorses the philosophy of Milton Freidman and the belief that the ends justifies the means. In other words businesses are accountable to shareholders and shareholders alone.
Marketing as a profession nevertheless suffers from a continual identity crisis. Profesionally it distinguishes between 'marketing as a business environment aware philosophy' and marketing as a customer facing function The former characterises marketing as a fundamental and strategic process that guides the sustained competitiveness of the organisation (something that public service organisations naturally struggle with) the latter talks about marketing's 'jobs' in managing product & service development, pricing, channels to market, communications, service, relationships, and image. (The marketing mix)
The man in the street and many businesses (much to the annoyance of many marketing professionals) just regard marketing as responsible for influencing and persuading people to buy things by face to face selling and/or advertising Both of these things become associated with and represent the 'brand' and brand management is perhaps the most strategically important aspect of daily marketing management. Marketing in the minds of the public and many managers is associated with slapping lipstick on pigs and is sometimes disparigingly refered to as the the colouring in department
That said marketing is commonly understood to be in the persuasion business, and in doing that it naturally presents a biased version of products and services. Caveat Emptor is the cry and the best defence against what Bob Cialdini calls the 'Compliance Professionals
Marketing - A Critical Introduction

This is an excellent introduction what for most marketing professionals would regard as 'off piste'. Chris Hackley introduces the themes and perspectives that are usually reserved for obscure academic tomes. I love this book. If you are interested in re-instating the human being into marketing management then grab yourself a copy.
Ethical Marketing
Ethical marketing refers to the application of marketing ethics into the marketing process. Briefly, marketing ethics refers to the philosophical examination, from a moral standpoint, of particular marketing issues that are matters of moral judgment. Ethical marketing results in a more socially responsible and culturally sensitive business community. The future success and perhaps even the long term survival of human society may very well depend on whether or not we, as members of that community, embrace these concepts or reject them. Ethical marketing should be part of business ethics in the sense that marketing forms a significant part of any business model. Study of Ethical marketing should be included in applied ethics and involves examination of whether or not an honest and factual representation of a product or service has been delivered in a framework of cultural and social values.
A business which creates its own code of marketing ethics and implements this code into every aspect of its business operations gains an ability to provide qualitative benefits to its customers. This competitive advantage is recognized by customers but is not immediately evident using only traditional business metrics. As a result, other similar companies, product manufacturers, or service providers may fail to recognize this advantage. The concern with ethical issues, such as child labor, working conditions, relationships with third world countries and environmental problems, has changed the attitude of the Western World towards a more socially responsible way of thinking. This has influenced companies and their response is to market their products in a more socially responsible way. The increasing trend of fair trade is an example of the impact of ethical marketing. The idea of fair trade is that consumers pay a guaranteed commodity price to a small group of producers. The producers agree to pay fair labor prices and conserve the environment. This agreement sets the stage for a commerce that is ethically sound.
The philosophy of marketing is not lost with this newfound ethical slant, but rather hopes to win customer loyalty by reinforcing the positive values of the brand, creating a strong citizen brand. However, this new way of thinking does create new challenges for the marketer of the 21st century, in terms of invention and development of products to add long-term benefits without reducing the product's desirable qualities.
Ethical marketing should not be confused with government regulations brought into force to improve consumer welfare, such as reduce carbon dioxide emissions to improve the quality of the air. Enlightened ethical marketing is at work when the company and marketer recognize further improvements for humankind unrelated to those enforced by the government. By way of example, the Coop Group refuses to invest money in tobacco, fur and any countries with oppressive regimes.
Who's Marketing's Ethical Bad Boy?
Please add and rank. Give and alledged issue too.
Nikebiz : NIKE, Inc. Official Site, the world's largest, leading athletic brand
Cheap labour?0 points
http://walmartstores.com/
Employee relations?0 points
Welcome to lloydstsb.com
Mis-selling?0 points
Do Social Networking Companies Behave Ethically?
Are members of social networking sites exploited by the owners of the sites they use?

image credit - Blendworx
The people that design and run social networking sites are obviously skilled at the 'behind the scenes' programming that makes their sites run. They clearly known alot more about the technicalities of social networking site design than the majority of their users (customers!)
Maryannaville pointed out this article...
To Muse which explains how sites such as Digg and Facebook book alledgedly steal contributers content and montetise it for their own advantage. This theme is also picked up by Mihaela Lica in this article titled Social Media Traffic Thieves
Manipulation and exploitation of customers is wrong. Taking advantage of their lack of understanding and knowledge is unethical. Being opaque about the way in which so called 'features' benefit the user is deceptive.
Customer Sovereignty
How To Assess The Ethics and Transparency of Business Values

Recognise the face? Its Quark the Ferengi bartender from Star Trek. Quark has a reputation for being unscrupulous in his commercial dealings. How much does Quark represent the dealings of modern business?
N.Craig Smith Professor of Marketing at Georgetown University wrote a paper in 1995 entitled Marketing Strategies For The Ethics Era
It was published in the Sloan Management Review volume 36 issue 4.
In his abstract Professor Smith says:
"Marketing strategies are increasingly subject to public scrutiny and are being held to higher standards. Caveat emptor is no longer acceptance as a basis for justifying marketing practices..Today, consumers' interests are increasingly favored over producers' consumers can make informed choices, and less capable consumers are offered special protection. The author provides a practical framework - including the consumer sovereignty test - for marketers to apply to their decision making."
Smith suggested that Businesses just like the products they produce could be labelled in a way that showed their attitude and performance in respect of:
Consumer Capability - (is the consumer vulnerable?)
Information - (are expectations and promises realised?)
Choice - (do customers have an opportunity to switch?)
His checklist is elaborated in the paper to include aspects of:
Product Policy - product safety, deceptive packaging, planned obsolesence etc
Marketing Communications - questionable sales techniques, misrepresentation, conflicts of interests, ie pushing products not best suited to the customer, puffery, advertising as hidden perusader.
Pricing deceptive, unfair
Distribution selective, deliberate shortages
How these issues echo today with the 2009 financial crisis.
Greenwash
Marketing Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
If a new mobile requires a plastic case then the extractive industries will have been used to provide the raw material. What if that plastic laptop case directly contributed to the exploitation of indigenous people and spoiling the planet? Should marketers take more responsibility?
Earth Matters: Indigenous Peoples, the Extractive Industries and Corporate Social Responsibility
Amazon Price: $65.00 (as of 11/25/2009)![]()
Provokes thinking about marketing responsibilities start and finish.
An academic review can be found in the Organization Studies September 2009 volume 30, 9
Links Suggesting That Marketing might be unethical and deserves criticism
If you agree, add links (proof!) that help me make my case
Add a link that shows Marketing is unethical
Define Ethics
Business ethics training comes in two forms -- one more...1 point
Ethical Consumer. The UK's alternative consumer organisation
the UK's leading alternative consumer organisation more...1 point
BBC NEWS | UK | Children 'damaged' by materialism
Most adults in a UK survey believe children are be more...0 points
BBC - Health - Ask the doctor - Depression and shopping
Why many people become shopaholics to cope with th more...0 points
Ethics of Influence & Persuasion
The science of persuasion, compliance, marketing & more...0 points
Affluenza - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
British psychologist Oliver James asserts that the more...0 points
Is brain chemistry to blame for shopping too much? - nzisus
If %u2018gambling%u2019 is substiuted for shopping more...0 points
How to Avoid Being Enslaved by Consumerism - Lifehack.org
%u201CIt is preoccupation with possessions, more t more...0 points
Have You Fallen for these 7 Negative Attitudes Pushed by the Media?
A preoccupation with owning things is a poor attem more...0 points
BBC NEWS | Education | Spoilt children 'disrupt schools'
Primary schoolchildren spoilt at home can disrupt more...0 points
BBC NEWS | Education | Children 'bullied over brands'
Brands are more influential to children than the o more...0 points
Wickedly Evil Social Marketing Tactics // Blogging Groups for Bloggers // BlogCatalog
Leading edge social marketing - bookmarking tactic more...0 points
ChaosScenario: Advertisers Suck
bringing order to a new age of marketing0 points
Ethics and Marketing
- "Email Ethics" Or Why My Autoresponders Will Be Changed To Noreply
- I'm believer into Double Opt-in processto be absolutely sure that a person who subscribed to receive my emails actually had to take second step: Verify Request.
- ArticleGlide.com » Computer Security: Computer Security Ethics and ...
- As such the objective of IT consulting firms is to set up a marketing plan for initiation into the online website solution of a business. This marketing plan includes such activities as identifying th... Tags: Computer, Ethics, Privacy, ...
- Mandleson, ethics, culture, commerce and copyright law | SMLXL ...
- 2005 views. Posted in: Culture, Darwin, Data, Distribution, Economics, Engagement Civil Society, Ethics, Generation C, Government & Politics, Law, Media, Politics, Society, Television, Trends, Uncategorized ... Social Media Marketing ...
- Ethics Newsline® » News » Marketing Strategies Prompt Ethics ...
- Marketing Strategies Prompt Ethics Controversies. Nov 9th, 2009 ? Posted in: News. AT&T sues over commercial it claims is deceptive; more than a dozen states sue drug manufacturer over allegations of kickbacks; Federal Trade Commission ...
Marketing seen critically
Who Controls Your Wallet?
Criticised Marketing links
- Wikipedia Marketing ethics
- The wiki take on Marketing ethics
- Wikipedia Ethical marketing
- The wiki take on Ethical marketing
- Wikipedia Ethical marketing
- The wiki take on Ethical marketing
- The Centre for sustainable design
- The Sustainable Marketing Knowledge Network, leading the way in the integration of marketing and sustainability, by providing a support network for marketers.
- Principled Profit
- Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First By Shel Horowitz
- Ethics in Social marketing
- Ethics in Social Marketing By Alan R. Andreasen
- Parents for Ethical marketing
- Consumer marketing is everywhere. On television. In magazines and newspapers. On the Internet and on school buses. On billboards and on bus shelters. On milk cartons and cereal boxes.
In our public schools.
And it's almost impossible to buy anything for a child without a "brand identity." Barbie, for example, can be found on everything from band-aids to board games to backpacks.
As parents, we know there's a problem. We argue with our kids about what to buy, what to wear, what to watch and what to play. We know what is best for our kids, yet sometimes we give in when we know we shouldn't. - Consumer Manipulation
- We all know there are ways that that businesses use to manipulate our buying behavior to get us to buy more. We know there are many techniques and other stimuli, which affect us and we know that they are often employed in businesses.
- Covert Hypnosis
- Dr. Joe Vitale is one of the worlds most respected experts in metaphysics and attraction. He is known for his ground-breaking work in spiritual marketing and copywriting via the Internet.
- Home of the Ethical Brand Identity
- Ethical Brand licenses qualifying entities to use the Ethical Brand Identity so that genuine and authentic ethical products and services are easy to identify in the marketplace. Licenses to use the Ethical Brand Identity are not for sale, but granted on the basis of continuous monitoring. Register
- Ethical Performance | corporate social responsibility | socially responsible investment | csr | sri | news
- the independent global newsletter on corporate social responsibility and socially responsible investment
- Choose Cruelty Free
- Choose Cruelty Free, This site is dedicated to the prevention of cruelty to animals and provides an excellent resource for all those wanting to understand what they can do to help
- The Nestle Boycott
- Breastfeeding.com - breastfeeding information & support, video clips, directories of Doulas, Midwives, and Lactation Consultants, Ask an LC, and social networks for both moms and medical professionals.
- Pharmaceutical Co. Ethics
- · Companies violate own ethical codes, says study · Patient group promotions bypass ban on advertising
- Be a Better Liar - May 1, 2005
- Seth Godin's view
- Ethics of Influence & Persuasion II
- The science of persuasion, compliance, marketing & propaganda from a psychological perspective.
- buyer behaviour - case study: influence of children on buyer behaviour
- buyer behaviour - case study: influence of children on buyer behaviour
'Bad Marketing' Books
off the rails
Bad Marketing
What others have to say
- Bad Marketing
- If you want to market smart, you have to know how to avoid the scams, and how to spot the people who are ignorantly telling you to do things that will waste your time. Point by point, you can look up all the negative strategies here, and find out just why they will hurt, or what it is that makes them risky.
- The Phony Voice
- Does your marketing sound like this? You might have been able to get away with this 15 years ago but since social media has allowed people to opt out this kind of insincere over-dramatization you need to be careful.
- Is Marketing Evil
- As I've said before, marketing is a tool for research and development, not inherently evil or dangerous in itself.
- The Root Of All Evil
- I'm a marketing student who rants and raves about how marketing has killed music and the horrible phenomenon of packaged music. I'm a marketing student who throws away junk mail and channel-surfs right by commercials. I'm a marketing student who rudely hangs up on telemarketers. I'm a marketing student who's 99% cynical but has still retained that 1% idealism that refuses to go away no matter how deep I try to bury it.
- Is Marketing A Church Evil?
- Some people believe the church can be more effective by utilizing processes most commonly and effectively used in business today, including marketing. In fact there are companies that specifically help churches develop a logo, a slogan, a website, brochures, and a multi-faceted marketing campaign much the same way other companies develop these elements to launch a new business.
On the other hand, some people abhor these practices and think the church should stay as far away from them as possible. They believe marketing is deceptive, manipulative, superficial, worldly, and yes - evil. - Why Marketing Has Become So Evil ?
- The number one reason that marketing has degenerated into a range of sinister tricks played on consumers is because most merchandise, services, brands, people, ideas and beliefs being marketed these days are crap, and there is more of this crap than ever.
- Quackery
- The word "quack" derives from the archaic word "quacksalver," of Dutch origin (spelled kwakzalver in contemporary Dutch), meaning "boaster who applies a salve." The meaning of the German word "Quacksalber" is "questionable salesperson (literal translation: quack salver)."
- Greenwashing H20: WTF is 'Sustainable Water'?
- Is sustainable, all-natural, and organic water just a bunch of greenwash? Water bottlers hope that you'll continue to believe that their spring water, mineral water, or enhanced tap water is at least 1000 times better than the free or nearly-free water you can get yourself...
- The Case for Giving Eli Lilly the Corporate Death Penalty
- The potential consequences for not thinking through corporate policies
Are You Being Ripped Off?
Consumer reports by consumers about bad marketing practice

If you want to keep up with the latest information on unfair trading practice then check out Ripoff Report This site includes hundereds of examples of unethical business behaviour
Too Big To Fail
The arrogance of financial institutions
Critical Marketing
Challenging Conventional Understandings of Marketing Theory and Practice
Marketing Ethics Blog Posts from Google
- SC governor faces 37 ethics violations
- He is accused of converting about $97 in campaign funds to his personal use in January to pay for what the complaint described as "direct marketing" ...
- Business People: Sunporch honored for ethics
- Roccie's Asphalt & Landscaping Co. of Stamford won the Web site Marketing Message Award for companies with 10 to 99 employees. Nancy Miller of Churchill ...
- Home where heart is
- On the fourth day of Sun Media's examination of ethics in Canada -- backed by a Leger Marketing poll -- we're analyzing how charitable we are as a nation. ...
- Standing on Principle
- A code of conduct is rules-based and differs from a code of ethics, which is principles-based. The most noted code of conduct is defined for the members of ...
Business Ethics Blog
The views of Chris MacDonald, Ph.D
An informed blog that addresses many issues raised by Marketing ethics
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byMarketing manipulation
- LowCVP | Vehicle & Cars Carbon Footprint News | Lower Carbon ...
- Read the Latest biofuels, hybrid technology & Hydrogen fuel cell news & updates from the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership.
- Emerald: Article Request - The influence of consumer involvement ...
- There is a lack of literature that focuses on the influence of consumer involvement of food products in consumer behaviour patterns. The paper tries to advance this important research line. ...
- Consumer group wants CAFE raised to 45 mpg « AppleChevy's Blog
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which shares rule-setting authority with the EPA, has allowed the automobile industry to exert undue influence, the consumer advocates said. The consumer group said only 4 percent of ...
- Shiv Singh: Social influence marketing for consumer publishers ...
- Social comments and analytics for this post? This post was mentioned on Twitter by Digital Book World: New post Shiv Singh: Social influence marketing for consumer publishers: #dbw ?@shivsingh to give keyno.. http://bit.ly/1kF4yK. ...
Are You A Marketing Addict?
Critical Marketing Link List
- Social Change Media
- Using social media for social change
- Niche Marketing - Andy Beard
- NDY BEARD
- The Responsible Marketing Blog - Where commerce and conscience come together
- The Responsible Marketing Blog is where commerce and conscience come together. It's a place where you can discuss and learn about a holistic approach to marketing that combines the tactics our mind tells us we need to prioritize with the principles our heart tells us we need to embrace.
- Express Marketing Memo - Small Business Marketing Tips
- Express Marketing Memo provides relevant marketing tips and ideas for small business owners and marketing managers.
- Social Entrepreneurship - Change.org
- Social Entrepreneurship news, information, and nonprofits. Includes resources on social enterprise, venture philanthropy, social venture capital, blended value.
- BBC NEWS | England | Manchester | Bishop attacks 'scandal' of debt
- The Bishop of Manchester attacks society's "buy now, pay later" culture during his Christmas Day sermon.
- Is Responsibility the Holy Grail of Marketing
- Triple Pundit says; With so many companies jumping on the "do good" bandwagon, even more names have emerged for the concept itself -- cause marketing, cause-related marketing, cause branding, green marketing, conscious marketing, marketing with meaning, social good marketing, social change marketing and a slew of others.
Conflicts of interest
Uncovering hidden agendas
- Conflicts of interest
- Interesting blog post by Cam Beck. Includes video of free marketer Milton Freidman
Tescopoly
- Tescopoly
- Tesco now controls over 30% of the grocery market in the UK. In 2008, the supermarket chain announced £2.8 billion in profits. Growing evidence indicates that Tesco's success is partly based on trading practices that are having serious consequences for suppliers, farmers and workers worldwide, local shops and the environment.
Is this a fair picture of what Marketing is about?
Is marketing really this bad?

image credit advercation a marketing professional with a critical eye
Do Candy and Sweet Manufacturers market their products responsibly?
Candy Sweets and Child Aggression

Image thanks to Tottsmag
Researchers from Cardiff Wales say there is a direct link between the amount of candy and sweets a child eats and their liklihood of being of convicted of commiting violent crime.
"There appears to be a link between childhood diet and adult violence, although the nature of the mechanism underlying this association needs further scrutiny," said study author Simon Moore.
Daily Candy in Childhood linked to violence.
Reader Feedback
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Reply
- Andromache Andromache Oct 31, 2009 @ 1:09 pm
- Very interesting information. I am currently creating a marketing plan for a non profit and because of your lens, I have included a marketing ethics statement. Thanks for the great information!
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- aj2008 aj2008 Oct 13, 2009 @ 2:35 am
- The pharmaceuticals industry is one that I personally do not trust. Research is funded by commercial companies with vested interests who then put whatever spin they want to on the results to aid their marketing efforts.
As for Tesco's - dont get me going about them!!!
This is a very thought provoking lens. SquidAngel Blessings for you and nice to meet you on Squidoo.
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Reply
- reasonablerobinson reasonablerobinson Oct 13, 2009 @ 2:12 am | in reply to paperfacets
- This is so true and of course companies try and portray themselves in a good light and will emphasise the benefits and avoid mentioning any downsides. Getting at the truth is very hard.
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- paperfacets paperfacets Oct 12, 2009 @ 6:11 pm
- The sugar marketing is confusing. According to some studies corn syrup is bad for you. A few months later the corn syrup industry put out ads saying that is not true. Home improvement contractors are a hard bunch to believe. You have to do research to get your dollars worth and now days so many ways to spend your dollar.
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- SemperFidelis SemperFidelis Apr 26, 2009 @ 10:54 pm
- Blessed by a SquidAngel today!
www.squidoo.com/squid-angel
~ Colleen :o)
Journal Articles about Marketing Ethics and Criticism
Links to articles about marketing ethics and criticism
- Corporate Hypocrisy: Overcoming the Threat of Inconsistent Corporate Social Responsibility Perceptions
- Journal of Marketing
Volume: 73 | Issue: 6
Cover date: November 2009
Tillmann Wagner, Richard J. Lutz, and Barton A. Weitz say firms' behaviors with regard to corporate social responsibility (CSR) are often contrary to their stated standards of social responsibility
by reasonablerobinson

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