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 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