Introduction to Social Marketing Course MC57A Week 10 Friday, March 24th, 2006 Ethics in Social Mark

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Introduction to Social Marketing
CourseMC57AWeek 10 (Friday, March 24th,
2006)Ethics in Social Marketing
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Commercial marketing is often touted as being
unethical to varying degrees. Why is
this? Turn to the person next to you and discuss
the reasons why commercial marketing is often
thought to be dishonest or unethical, then
present your views to the rest of the class.
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• Some thoughts include
• it is driven by the profit motive
• does not always provide all the information about
  its products or services
• does not often inform audiences about the
  negative affects associated with its products
• tries to sell things that people dont really
  need
• encourages negative and harmful behaviour (as the
  tobacco industry has been accused with respect to
  encouraging smoking among youth and as Nestlé was
  accused of encouraging formula over breast
  feeding among developing countries)

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• is focused on wealthy and more privileged
  audiences, or takes advantage of more vulnerable
  audiences
• overspends on campaigns and uses money that could
  have been better spent dealing with poverty
  alleviation (e.g., Coca Cola)
• sells products using unauthentic positive social
  values (again, Coca Colas Id Like to Teach the
  World to Sing campaign)
• .

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Social marketers need to be even more mindful of
these and other ethical pitfalls if they are to
be credible.  
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Question for discussion Can social marketing be
used to achieve unethical aims? What are some
ethical pitfalls that social marketers need to
avoid?
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•  Some pitfalls to be avoided
• Exaggerating claims related to either the
  benefits, rewards or hazards related to the
  product and service being promoted
• Exploitation of poor starving children to
  promote childrens aid programmes
• Showing of dramatic human suffering or abuse to
  make a point or bring a message home
• Abuse of animals

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• The use of social marketing efforts to further
  political objects
• The use of inappropriate or non-credible
  messengers to promote value-laden messages
•  Using tainted money to support social
  marketing campaigns (i.e., funds from tobacco
  companies to promote health messages)
• Promoting images and identities without consent
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What are ethics?   According to Donovan and
Henley (2003 161), ethics is the study of what
people ought to do or feel they ought to do. When
we talk about ethics we are ..talking about what
feels morally right.   It is not the same as
what is legally allowable.
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  For example It is against the law to
manufacture and sell illegal drugs and most
people would agree that it is unethical to do so.
But while it is legal to manufacture and sell
cigarettes, not everyone would agree that it is
ethical to do so. On the other hand, some feel
that the use of ganja for example is a matter of
personal choice.
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How do we know if something is not
ethical?   Usually we feel a sense of shame
about it. It is useful to ask the following
questions when contemplating a potentially
unethical aspect of a campaign
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• How would I feel if my boss, friends, peers, a
  journalist or even my found out about this
  action?
• How will I feel about it tomorrow or next year?
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• These two questions represent the external and
  internal references for what is ethical.
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• Some ethical watchdogs in Jamaica
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• Womens Media Watch
• Jamaicans for Justice
• What are some others that youve heard of?
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• Two main schools of ethical thought in social
  marketing
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• Consequentialist and
• Non-consequentialist
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Those in the consequentialist school believe
that social marketing should result in favourable
consequences(following the logical that ethical
choices should result in positive outcomes and
produce the greatest good for the greatest number
of people, thus social marketing dollars should
be spent on audiences where there is the greatest
chance of impact)
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Those in the non-consequentialist school
instead holds that ethical behaviour is not
determined by results, that some behaviours are
intrinsically good (thus, there is intrinsic good
in including hard core addicts in an anti-drug
campaign audience even though there is little
likely of them changing and money could have been
spent elsewhere)
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• Ethical principles
•  Rules of thumb to guide ethical decisions
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• The principle of non-maleficence do not harm
  other others physically or psychologically
• The principle of beneficence to give help to
  others if you can when they need it
• The principle of justice - treat everyone fairly
  and equally
• Principle of utility make choices that produce
  the greatest good
• Principle of non-interference with the liberty of
  others allow everyone to exercise freedom as
  long as they do not infringe on the rights of
  others

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Additional moral principles Can you think of
additional moral principles that should be
respected? Now turn and discuss this with three
(3) other people (outside your team members) and
present your ideas to the rest of the class
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Some may be Truth are we being truthful in our
messages? Privacy are we respecting
privacy? Modelling are inadvertantly modeling
antisocial or negative behaviour? Morally
offensive are we demonstrating or encouraging
behaviour that society finds offensive (and this
can vary from culture to culture)? Fair and
balanced are we being fair to all
groups? Stereotyping are we inadvertently
perpetuating stereotypes? Protecting children
are our programs and messages appropriate for
children?
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Laczniak and Murphy (1993, pp, 49-51) cited in
Donovan and Henley (2003168) offer a checklist
of questions to be used to assess whether an
action is ethical
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• Is there a law against it?
• Is it contrary to accepted moral duties,
  including fidelity, gratitude, justice,
  non-maleficence and beneficence?
• Is it contrary to any special obligations of the
  organization (your client, or your own firm?)
• Is there any intention to cause harm?
• Is it likely that major harm will result?
• Is there a better alternative that would result
  in greater benefits?
• Are any rights likely to be infringed (property
  rights, privacy, consumer rights, etc.)
• Is anyone left worse off and if so, is this
  person already disadvantaged?
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If the answer is yes to any of these questions
then the action should be reconsidered.
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What about your own campaign? Is it ethical?
What are some of the potentially ethical pitfalls
that you will need to avoid in order to ensure
that your campaign is indeed ethical? Discuss
this with your other team members and offer your
suggestions
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Required Reading   Chapter 7. Ethical Issues in
Social Marketing in Donovan and Henley.