Nature and Scope of Marketing Ethics

Nature and Scope of Marketing Ethics

O.C. Ferrell, Ph.D.

Professor of Marketing

Creative Enterprise Scholar

The Robert O. Anderson School

And Graduate School of Management

MSC05 3090

1 University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001

Phone: (505) 277-3468

ocferrell@mgt.unm.edu

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Nature and Scope of Marketing Ethics

INTRODUCTION

Marketing ethics is viewed as important because of marketing’s interface with many

diverse stakeholders. Marketing is a key functional area in the business organization that

provides a visible interface with not only customers, but other stakeholders such as the media,

investors, regulatory agencies, channel members, trade associations, as well as others. It is

important when addressing marketing ethics to recognize that it should be examined from an

individual, organizational, and societal perspective. Examining marketing ethics from a narrow

issue perspective does not provide foundational background that provides a complete

understanding of the domain of marketing ethics. The purpose of this chapter is to define,

examine the nature and scope, identify issues, provide a decision-making framework, and trace

the historical development of marketing ethics from a practice and academic perspective.

DEFINITION OF MARKETING ETHICS

Ethics has been termed the study and philosophy of human conduct, with an emphasis on

the determination of right and wrong. For marketers, ethics in the workplace refers to rules

(standards, principles) governing the conduct of organizational members and the consequences

of marketing decisions (Ferrell, 2005). Therefore, ethical marketing from a normative

perspective approach is defined as “practices that emphasize transparent, trustworthy, and

responsible personal and organizational marketing policies and actions that exhibit integrity as

well as fairness to consumers and other stakeholders (Murphy, Laczniak, Bowie and Klein,

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2005). Marketing ethics focuses on...