Stakeholder-oriented framework, analysing ethical problems on the basis of whom they affect (e.g. consumers, competitors, society as a whole).
Process-oriented framework, analysing ethical problems in terms of the categories used by marketing specialists (e.g. research, price, promotion, placement).
None of these frameworks allows, by itself, a convenient and complete categorization of the great variety of issues in marketing ethics.
Marketing has a major impact on our self-images, our ability to relate to one another, and it ruins any knowledge and action that might help to change that climate.
Marketing/Advertising creates artificiality and influences sexual attitudes.
Overall, people are spending tons of money and are usually more depressed.
Stereotyping occurs because any analysis of real populations needs to make approximations and place individuals into groups. However if conducted irresponsibly, stereotyping can lead to a variety of ethical undesirable results. In the AMA Statement of Ethics, stereotyping is countered by the obligation to show respect ("acknowledge the basic human dignity of all stakeholders").
Examples of unethical market exclusion or selective marketing are past industry attitudes to the gay, ethnic minority and obese ("plus-size") markets. Contrary to the popular myth that ethics and profits do not mix, the tapping of these markets has proved highly profitable. For example, 20% of US clothing sales are now plus-size. Another example is the selective marketing of health care, so that unprofitable sectors (i.e. the elderly) will not attempt to take benefits to which they are entitled. A further example of market exclusion is the pharmaceutical industry's exclusion of developing countries from AIDS drugs.
The Body Shop is an example of a company which marketed itself and its entire product range solely on an ethical message, although its products were deceptively characterized and its history was marked by misrepresentations. "The Body Shop's only real product is honesty..." (Jon Entine in an ethics audit of the company). However the story of the Body Shop ended with increasing criticism of a gap between its morals and its practices.
The main theoretical issue here is the debate between free markets and regulated markets. In a truly free market, any participant can make or change the rules. However when new rules are invented which shift power too suddenly or too far, other participants may respond with accusations of unethical behaviour, rather than modifying their own behaviour to suit (which they might not be able to anyway). Most markets are not fully free: the real debate is as to the appropriate extent of regulation.
Ethically thinking is responding to situations that deal with principles concerning human behavior in respect to the appropriateness and inappropriateness of certain communication and to the decency and indecency of the intention and results of such actions. In other words, ethics are distinctions between right and wrong. Businesses are confronted with ethical decision making every day, and whether employees decide to use ethics as a guiding force when conducting business is something that business leaders, such as managers, need to instill. Marketers are ethically responsible for what is marketed and the image that a product portrays. With that said, marketers need to understand what good ethics are and how to incorporate good ethics in various marketing campaigns to better reach a targeted audience and to gain trust from customers. Marketing ethics, regardless of the product offered or the market targeted, sets the guidelines for which good marketing is practiced. When companies create high ethical standards upon which to approach marketing they are participating in ethical marketing. To market ethically and effectively one should be reminded that all marketing decisions and efforts are necessary to meet and suit the needs of customers, suppliers, and business partners. Ethical behavior should be enforced throughout out company culture and through company practices.
^ Lizabeth England,Marketing With A Conscience: Sales and Ethics, US Dept. of State.
^ A.J.Kandy, Is marketing evil?, King Marketing, 2004; William DeJong, Marketing Gets Unfairly Branded as Evil, Youth Today; Kathy Sierra, You ARE a marketer. Deal with it, 2005.
^ The vastness of the literature on this topic is perhaps best conveyed by D. Slaters 1999 bibliography of consumer culture with over 1500 items. W.R. Childs (Ohio State University) has posted a shorter bibliography of consumer culture.
^ US Federal Trade Commission, Consumer fraud against the elderly.
^ Shill Bidding Exposed in E-Bay Auctions, Consume Affairs, November 2004.
^ Jon Entine, A social and environmental audit of the body shop, July 1996 - July 2003.
^ Jon Entine, The myth of the 'Green Queen', National Post, September 21, 2007.
^ Liberation Marketing and Consumer Society, KLM Inc., 2001.
^ Definition of marketing ethics (in German), excerpted from: Bruhn, M., Homburg, C.: Gabler Marketing Lexikon, Wiesbaden 2001.
Davidson, D. Kirk (2002). The Moral Dimension of Marketing: Essays on Business Ethics. South-Western Educational. ISBN 0-87757-300-X.
Murphy, Patrick E.; Gene R. Laczniak, Norman E. Bowie (2004). Ethical Marketing. Prentice Hall. ISBN ISBN 0-13-184814-3. OCLC 54805964.