Ethics in Marketing

The past few months have been extraordinarily busy, so much so that I have not found the time to do any philosophy.  Fortunately, I recently had the opportunity to listen to an ethics lecture from my marketing professor.  He raised appropriate insightful questions surrounding ethics in the field of marketing, and his lecture got me thinking about the moral implications regarding business.

Marketing is the aspect of business that gets the most flack about its ethics.  I'm assuming this is because marketing is the most visible characteristic to consumers.  Marketing is the face of the business, and it's purpose is to influence, therefore, marketers must interact with consumers daily through the mediums of advertising and sales.

The first issue we must consider is if marketing is even good for society.  Should we be selling consumers what they want?  Most of the food we purchase today is replete with fats, oils, sugar, and sodium.  Marketers must consider the whether selling consumers products proven to cause negative health consequences is unethical and/or socially irresponsible.

Second, is advertising wasteful?  As you probably know, it costs $3 million to run a 30-second commercial on Super Bowl Sunday.  The amount of money businesses spend on advertising expenses is astronomical.  However, there are beneficial effects that advertising causes.  First, advertising creates jobs.  Second, ads inform the consumer about products and services.  Third, without advertising, mass media would no longer be free to us.  As we have seen with satellite radio, when there is no advertising, consumers must pay a fee for radio.

Third, isn't advertising deceptive?  For instance, Axe body spray runs advertisements that in effect argue that if you use Axe, women will instantly be attracted to you.  Without any prior information or experience, a reasonable consumer might believe this message.  In my experience, I have found that most people are repelled by Axe body spray.

If you are considering a career in marketing, I strongly suggest you think about these issues.  Many consumers believe marketing is manipulative and wasteful, and it's your job to convince them otherwise.