The ethics of marketing?

Question

The ethics of marketing?

Answer 1

Marketing ethics is the area of applied ethics which deals with the moral principles behind the operation and regulation of marketing. Some areas of marketing ethics (ethics of advertising and promotion) overlap with media ethics.

Possible frameworks:

Value-orientated framework, analyzing ethical problems on the basis of the values which they infringe (e.g. honesty, autonomy, privacy, transparency). An example of such an approach is the AMA Statement of Ethics.

Stakeholder-orientated framework, analysing ethical problems on the basis of whom they affect (e.g. consumers, competitors, society as a whole).

Process-orientated framework, analysing ethical problems in terms of the categories used by marketing specialists (e.g. research, price, promotion, placement).

None of these frameworks allow, by themselves, a convenient and complete categorization of the great variety of issues in marketing ethics.