Ethical Marketing
Ethical Marketing - Myth or Reality?
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008This is a blockquoted article that further details my agitation with those that use ethics as a marketable manipulation tool.
This clarifies how wide spread lack of ethics is, especially with those that love to ‘talk’ about ethics (from both sides of their mouth)
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(Credit for this post goes to Alf Nucifora. I do not endorse anything he may be selling, because I do not know what his products/services entail)
Ethical Marketing: Myth or Reality?
by Alf Nucifora
“The marketing profession has always been accused of self-interest. Scratch a church-going advertiser or marketer and you will be accosted by all manner of self-justification, couched in language about the legality of otherwise harmful products and the economic well-being that good old fashioned capitalistic marketing generates for society at large.
As one who has practiced in the marketing profession for more than 30 years and worked in the advertising business for 15 of those years, I can say without equivocation that the industry has much to answer for when it comes to the issue of ethical behavior. Let me not come off as a moralist. I’ve done things and worked on campaigns in the past that, today, I am ashamed of and genuinely regret. Everything from cigarettes to kid’s cereals to name but a few.
Ethical Marketing From the Eyes of Ethical Marketers (part 3)
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008This is the third of the “Ethical Marketing From the Eyes of Ethical Marketers” series.
Part 1 - “Ethical Marketing From the Eyes of Ethical Marketers” - with Jonathon Colman of The Nature Conservancy
Part 2 - “Ethical Marketing From the Eyes of Ethical Marketers” - with Chris Baskind of Vida Verde Media
Today, we’re going to observe ethical marketing with the help of Lisa Ray, the mind behind “Parents For Ethical Marketing” (PEM). Parental perspectives with business savvy and a twist of lime.
Excerpt from PEM’s About Page:
Parents are ultimately responsible for raising healthy children. But corporate marketers would have us believe that combating their damaging commercial messages is exclusively our problem
Parents for Ethical Marketing thinks it’s about time that corporations take some of the responsibility.
Through parental awareness, public pressure, and legislative initiatives, Parents for Ethical Marketing encourages corporations to adopt responsible marketing standards and practices that sustain the health of children and families.
1. Who are you?
My name is Lisa Ray and I am the founder of Parents for Ethical Marketing (PEM). PEM serves as a collective effort to persuade corporations to think ethically when they market to children. I live in Minneapolis with my husband and our two girls, ages 6 and 11.
Ethical Marketing From the Eyes of Ethical Marketers (part 2)
Friday, June 20th, 2008This is the 2nd of the “Ethical Marketing From the Eyes of Ethical Marketers” series.
Ethical marketing has varied opinion and reasoning, but seems to carry the overall theme that sees the ‘big picture’ as opposed to the ‘here and now’ that is so rampant in our marketing world.
The ‘big picture’ meaning each of our decisions, whether seemingly large or small scale, plays a role in other factors of our existence…not just the virtual one.
This is explained much more clearly by Chris Baskind in the following Q&A:
1. Who are you?
I’m Chris Baskind, Publisher at Vida Verde Media — a Green lifestyle media company. You can find out a bit more about me on my blog Chris Baskind dot com or by following me on FriendFeed.
2. What do you do?
I spend most of my day writing about Environmental topics. I’m the main editor of EcoTech Daily, our new site about Green technology. And I’ve been spending a lot of time recently preparing the relaunch of Lighter Footstep, which is a step-by-step guide to lighter, greener living.
3. In your opinion, what is ethical marketing?
Ethical Marketing From the Eyes of Ethical Marketers (part 1)
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008On our quest to find out what ethical marketing really is, I thought I’d include others analogies of ethical marketing and what it means to them. This is part 1 of the “Ethical Marketing From the Eyes of Ethical Marketers” series.
To begin with, I’ve asked Jonathon Colman of The Nature Conservancy.
Brief overview of The Nature Conservancy:
Founded in 1951, The Nature Conservancy works in more than 30 countries, including all 50 United States, with an increasingly global reach. The Conservancy has over one million members, has protected more than 69,000 square kilometers (17 million acres) in the United States and more than 473,000 square kilometers (117 million acres) internationally.
The Nature Conservancy rated as one of the most trusted national organizations in Harris Interactive polls in 2007, 2006 , and 2005 poll. Forbes magazine rated The Nature Conservancy’s fundraising efficiency at 88% in its 2005 survey of the largest U.S. charities. The Conservancy received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator in 2005 and was named by the organization that year on their list of “10 of the Best Charities Everyone’s Heard Of.”
1. Who are you?
What Is Ethical Marketing?
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008You’d think that ethical marketing would have some perfectly designed definition written in a well respected dictionary somewhere.
It doesn’t.
It’s up to us as individuals to examine our practices and what is meaningful to us. For those who do not concern themselves with ethics, well, those who do have to pick up your slack wherever they can. And there’s certainly a lot of it to be picked up.
What is ethical marketing?
According to Wikipedia:
Ethical marketing is an honest and factual representation of a product, delivered in a framework of cultural and social values for the consumer. It promotes qualitative benefits to its customers, which other similar companies, products or services fail to recognize.
Now, what is entailed in ‘a framework of cultural and social values‘? What are some of the things we value besides money or financial security? We could choose the obvious answers such as
- respect
- loyalty
- honesty
- integrity
- and so on
But how do we get from A-B? This is where the ‘fail to recognize‘ part comes in.
When considering whether or not we are ethical marketers, we need not only concern ourselves with “how” we promote, market, advertise and support.