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MODULE 3
CODE OF ETHICS
•Answer the right question, to answer them well must process an understanding of
what ethics and social responsibilities are about and fundamental principles and
philosophies that underlie ethics
•To accept or answer criticism of marketing, need to develop deeper appreciation of
issues involved
•Codes of ethics often stated in general; leaves specific interpretation
•Ethics ombudsman: someone senior in organization that mangers can go to and
know that they will receive sympathetic hearing; someone who can help them with
quandary, take up the concern and protect them from negative repercussions
A PERSONAL ETHICS CHECKLIST
•Ethical vigilance: paying constant attention to whether one’s actions are right or
wrong
•Important to confront excuses and reasons for violating personal ethics
•Leads to recognition that most of us have at least two codes of ethics:
1. Set of espouse and want others to apply in their behaviour towards us
2. Code of ethics, whatever rationalization, we actually live by
UNDERSTANDING MARKETING ETHICS
•When ethical codes break down, societies cease to function and ultimately collapse
from within or under external pressure
•Social contract: “if you want to be part of society, you obey the rules”
•Utility principle/utilitarian principle: behaviour that produces the
greatest good, the most good for the most people in a specific situation
•Bias in assessing overall good
•Categorical imperative: social destructiveness of trading practices that, if
only we do it, seems hardly serious violations, but would have very serious
consequences if everyone did it
•Use of advertising puffery; exaggerated claims/lies
•“What if everyone did it” known as Tragedy of the Commons effect
•Way of thinking takes most of the situation or context out of ethical
evaluation and is more explicit
•Business ethics index (BEI) measures consumer perception of business ethical
behaviour
•Above 100 indicates positive business ethical behaviour
MARKETING’S SOCIAL CONTRACT
•First responsibility of marketers is to keep learning to do their jobs more efficiently
and effectively through trade, markets, product innovations and trading innovations
•Two criticisms of marketing social contract:
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