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RME0010.1177/2051570717701414Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition)Murphy

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DOI: 10.1177/2051570717701414
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Patrick E Murphy
University of Notre Dame, USA

Abstract
This article discusses both longstanding and emergent research themes in marketing ethics. It begins with a
section on definitions and moves to an examination of research on: consumer ethics, product issues, pricing
questions, channels challenges, and two emerging trends having to do with advertising and promotion. A
latter part of the article provides a number of suggestions for junior scholars in conducting research on
topics in marketing ethics. It concludes with a few thoughts on teaching marketing ethics and a mention of
privacy as an area of growing ethical concern in marketing.

Keywords
ethical consumption, ethical marketing, marketing ethics, native advertising, research suggestions

Introduction end, two definitions are proposed here. In early


writing on the field, Laczniak and Murphy (1993)
Marketing ethics is an important topic to academics defined marketing ethics as “Marketing ethics is
and practitioners alike. Research and Applications in the systematic study of how moral standards are
Marketing is to be commended for devoting a special applied to marketing decisions, behaviors, and
issue to publishing the newest work in this area. This institutions” (p. x). This definition focuses on the
brief article examines several background and emerg- notion that marketing ethics is applied to various
ing issues. We begin with definitions – what is meant decisions such as product safety, pricing practices,
by marketing ethics? Then, several specific focal high pressure selling, and a number of other areas.
avenues for potential research are discussed by con- The behavior pertains to all levels of marketing
centrating on consumers and the four Ps. The article from the Chief Marketing Officer to the summer
concludes with research suggestions for junior schol- intern working in the advertising department. The
ars and ideas for the teaching of marketing ethics. various institutions span the range from small and
medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to multinational
corporations (MNCs) to the nonprofit (NFP) world
Definitions and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
This writer finds it helpful to the reader to be explicit The expansiveness of marketing is captured in this
regarding the major term used in any article. To that definition.

Corresponding author:
Patrick E Murphy, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
Email: Patrick.E.Murphy.72@nd.edu
2 Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition) 

In later work (Murphy et al., 2005, 2017), the immigrants, and market illiterates are historical
focus has shifted to an emphasis on ethical, rather examples. The most recent work on these segments
than unethical, marketing: has tended to concentrate on the global “base of the
pyramid” individuals (Martin and Hill, 2015; Santos
Ethical marketing refers to practices that emphasize et al., 2015; Santos and Laczniak, 2012). The
transparent, trustworthy, and responsible personal responsibility of marketers and researchers to do a
and/or organizational marketing policies and actions better job of both understanding and satisfying this
that exhibit integrity as well as fairness to consumers growing market is one of the biggest challenges fac-
and other stakeholders.
ing the field.
This definition and approach is primarily norma-
tive and accentuates the ideals to which marketers Products
should aspire. Both the use of words such as trans-
From an ethical perspective, sin products (i.e.
parency, trustworthiness, responsibility, integrity,
tobacco, alcohol, firearms, pornography, and gam-
and fairness as well as the aspirational nature of the
bling/gaming), as discussed by Kirk Davidson
definition highlight that this takes virtue-ethics
(2003), continue to receive ethical scrutiny with
approach (Murphy, 1999; Murphy et al., 2007). The
more graphic labels being proposed for cigarettes
centrality of stakeholders, both consumers and
by a number of countries. In fact, tobacco products
many others, is also noted. Corporate examples
are unique because they are the only products that,
from Europe and the United States that seem to
when used as directed, will kill/harm you while the
practice ethical marketing are Auchan (French
others cause damage when misused. Alcohol and
retailer), Costco (US retailer), Tom’s of Maine (US
tobacco remain controversial products and are
subsidiary of Colgate Palmolive and maker of all
examined in one of the articles in this special issue
natural personal care products) and Unilever (with
as well as an extensive chapter in a recent book
its Sustainable Living Plan but not its Axe ads).
(Eagle et al., 2015). The health and safety associ-
The second definition presupposes a higher level
of ethical and societally responsible actions on the ated with some products such as foodstuffs seem to
part of marketers in their dealings with consumers be causing greater concern because of a lengthier
and other stakeholders. During the last few years, supply chain or lack of government or corporate
scrutiny on products that consumers ingest. Another
marketing organizations are being held to a height-
ongoing ethical issue is product counterfeiting
ened standard compared to earlier times, and this defi-
nition is in keeping with the escalating expectations. (Cesareo and Stottinger, 2015). Given the global
demand for highly regarded brands, the size and
magnitude of this problem will likely escalate. On a
more positive note, the growth of sustainable prod-
Consumers ucts and research on both sustainable consumption
Although there are many aspects of consumers and and evaluation of products using triple bottom line
their relationship with marketers that fall within the criteria is an example of fruitful areas of academic
purview of marketing ethics, we will discuss two research and improved practice by industry.
that are increasingly important in the 21st century.
One is the topic of ethical consumption, where con-
Price
sumers use their purchasing power to select prod-
ucts that are more socially and environmentally The basic ethical question that is asked about the
positive (Brunk, 2010; Lewis and Potter, 2011). The pricing of any product: is it a fair price? Irrespective
recent use of the term “ethical consumption” is the of whether the price is high, moderate, or low, the
latest manifestation of what was labeled socially key consideration concerns the value of the product
conscious consumers some 40 years ago (for review to the market as well as whether the price accurately
of early literature, see Leigh et al., 1988). The sec- represents such value. With the growth of dynamic
ond aspect focuses on the poor and vulnerable seg- pricing in airlines and hospitality industries and
ments of the market. Children, older individuals, variable prices for sporting and cultural events,
Murphy 3

technology makes these price variations possible Promotion


but the perception of some consumers may be that
these are not ethical practices. An article in this spe- While advertising has long been associated with
cial issue goes into depth on the ethical implications ethical problems (Garrett, 1961), the 21st century
of dynamic pricing. One area where consumers has brought some unique challenges to this area.
may be willing to pay higher prices is for environ- The growth of online advertising is one of the big-
mentally friendly, organic, or Fair Trade products gest developments in recent years. Online behavio-
because they perceive such prices as fair (Dekhili ral targeting (OBT), tracking a consumer’s online
and Achabou, 2013; Ozcaglar-Toulouse et al., actions to create a profile of the individual, is a
2010). In the United States, Walmart, known for its practice that has advantages for both consumers and
low price strategy, has added a number of green marketers, but it also “has the technological poten-
products in its stores and is putting downward pres- tial to violate consumers’ privacy rights to an
sure on prices. unprecedented degree … and is often nontranspar-
ent and deceptive” (Nill and Aalberts, 2014: 126).
After examining the ethical and legal challenges to
Channel/place OBT, these authors concluded by stating,
Within the channel of distribution, several over- While advertisers and their stakeholder might not
arching ethical concerns remain relevant to the sell- agree on what is ethical, “Disagreement is not the
ing of a wide variety of products. They are the problem; avoidance of the topic and/or failure to
power-responsibility equilibrium which states that engage in a collaborative dialogue is” (Drumwright
the most powerful members of the channel should and Murphy, 2009: 13). Indeed an open dialogue …
bear the greatest responsibility, gift-giving/bribery between consumers, online advertisers, regulators and
especially in developing markets, price setting by all other affected parties can help to devise mutually
retailers, the advertising of prices so that they are acceptable norms for regulating OBT. (Nill and
clear to consumers and, finally, competition in the Aalberts, 2014: 143)
retail sector which is now more intense (Murphy
et al., 2005). These ethical issues are most germane Another recent development in advertising that
to store-based retailing. is causing a new set of ethical challenges is the
The growth of non-store/online retailing in recent growth of “native advertising” – the practice of
years has brought on several new and unanticipated blurring the line between editorial and advertising
ethical issues as it relates to the channel. The dynamic in the media. The growth of online publication of
pricing model has been used by Amazon and others even traditional products such as magazines allows
in the past and has drawn scrutiny from critics. ads to be embedded in what was traditionally
Another emerging problem is the “mountain of card- thought to be strictly editorial content. While there
board, creating environmental concerns and some are different types of native advertising such as
guilt” (Ritchel, 2016) that is used in packing and advertorials and branded content, the ethical issue
shipping online purchases to consumers. surfaces when consumers are unaware or misled
Another channel-related issue that has received into thinking that they are reading a news story
much more attention in recent years is the supply rather than a paid ad.
chain for manufacturers and retailers. Firms such as
Apple, Nike, and fashion retailers like the Gap, Suggestions for junior
H&M, and Zara have been criticized for not doing a scholars in conducting
better job of policing the supply chain practices of
their contractors. Employee safety as well as wages
research on marketing ethics1
and working condition problems are often associ- As a long-time observer and participant in marketing
ated with the manufacture of a wide range of prod- ethics research, several suggestions come to mind on
ucts. Since the global brands are the most powerful how best to undertake research in this field. Before
players in the supply chain, they have received jus- moving to the positive developments, a number of
tified criticism about these practices. trends that this author has identified earlier (Murphy,
4 Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition) 

2002) as being “not so positive” should be addressed. The quote above leads to the type of research
One troubling development in empirical research on that this writer believes is most effective. First, even
marketing ethics is the continued and even growing for junior scholars, it is possible to publish impor-
use of student samples. Ethical decisions are made in tant theoretical and conceptual articles on market-
companies and in the transaction situation (whether ing ethics. Future researchers are encouraged to not
online or in the physical store). Thus, sole reliance on be intimidated by this somewhat daunting task of
students as surrogate consumers or managers seems contributing to the theoretical base of this field.
misguided. Of course, an exception is executive Second, theory testing is needed especially for the
MBA students who are usually practicing managers new, more global theories of marketing ethics. As
during the time of their program. I also advocate noted in the quote above, the task of operationaliz-
for ethics-based cross-cultural investigations where ing the concepts in marketing ethics will likely take
researchers have strong theoretical reasons for a significant investment in scale construction and
administering the same instrument to respondents in validation. The article in this issue on scale devel-
multiple countries. For those research efforts that do opment for ethical sensitivity is a good example of
employ such techniques, and especially those that scale development in marketing ethics. Furthermore,
rely on secondary data programs, rigorous evidence a sample of managers would most likely need to be
of cross-national comparability and measurement studied in order to draw conclusions about which
invariance is a must. aspects of these models are most applicable to mar-
Ethics-based empirical research has long relied keting practice. Third, depth interviews of manag-
on the use of a variety of scenarios to put respond- ers are one (but certainly not the only) method to
ents in an ethical decision making frame of mind. study marketing practitioners. Some of the insights
The criticism here is not with the technique, but gained by the consumer culture theory (CCT)
that we often see scenarios that are too many (one researchers may be valuable for those interested in
study had 20 scenarios) or too few (one or two) or studying both consumer and marketer behavior.
too old (scenarios developed 10 or 20 years ago). This individual has been involved with two projects
If the researcher uses scenarios in an experimental in marketing ethics where depth interviews were
fashion, valuable and generalizable information conducted (Drumwright and Murphy, 2004, 2009),
can be gained. Such experimentation might study and though the process of interviewing executives
recent ethical issues like online selling, privacy on is arduous, the insights gained are valuable.
the web, and online surveys. A final area of con- Fourth, a thrust of current ethics research, espe-
cern is the testing of narrow theoretical proposi- cially in Europe, appears to be on consumer ethics
tions. In the 1990s, much empirical research was and responsible consumption (Brinkmann, 2004;
undertaken to test various aspects of the Hunt and Brunk, 2010). Several of the caveats mentioned
Vitell (1986) model. Some of this research focused above regarding avoiding student samples and nar-
too narrowly on a single aspect of that or other row cross-cultural studies should be heeded here as
models. The assessment made several years ago well. The notion of responsible consumption is
bears repeating here: important from a marketing, sustainability, and
societal perspective, but the projects that will make
While it is quite difficult to operationalize generalized the greatest contribution will likely be those that are
theories and models, some marketing scholars have
the hardest to carry out. Finally, another fruitful
been content to investigate such narrow propositions
area is to examine marketing ethics from the stand-
and theories that the outcome of their work is
marginalized. The field of marketing ethics seems point of another foundational discipline. The highly
increasingly to be using the same narrow lens that has cited Gundlach and Murphy (1993) article on the
characterized much of the consumer behavior research intersection between law and ethics is an illustration
over a prolonged period … The work of marketing of this type of endeavor. Certainly, dissertations are
ethics can impact the practice of marketing if not meant to be a life work, but slicing the project
researchers keep in mind that they are not engaged in “too thin” means that the future impact of the
just a narrow academic exercise. (Murphy, 2002: 171) research will be affected.
Murphy 5

For junior scholars interested in pursuing analyses. For instructors who only employ the inte-
research in marketing ethics, there are a number of gration approach, the popular business press fea-
useful resources that can be consulted and/or uti- tures, almost daily, examples that can be used to
lized in any project. The most extensive is the five- demonstrate usually unethical (rather than ethical)
volume series of 90 significant journal articles on marketing practices.
marketing ethics (Smith and Murphy, 2012,
Volumes I-V). Two recent anthologies contain arti-
cles on both corporate social responsibility in mar- Conclusion
keting (Hill and Langan, 2014) and marketing ethics A number of potential research opportunities in the
(Nill, 2015). A special issue of the Journal of area of marketing ethics were noted above. The
Business Research (2013) featured 17 articles on field is in need of continued scholarship on its many
corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility. dimensions. One emerging topic that was not dis-
Marketing Theory: A Student Text contains a chap- cussed previously is privacy in marketing (Martin
ter on marketing ethics (Murphy and Martin, 2016) and Murphy, 2016). With the growth of sophisti-
that reviews the normative literature in the field cated technology in online tracking, big data collec-
during the last 30 years and proposes areas of tion, and targeted advertising, the ethical issues
needed research. associated with these practices will continue to
mushroom, making it a fruitful area of further
research. In the abbreviated discussion here, no
Thoughts on teaching doubt several worthwhile areas of potential research
marketing ethics opportunities were missed. Nevertheless, it is this
The position of this writer is that schools should fol- writer’s hope that this overview will spur new
low a “both and” model rather than an “either or” scholarship in marketing ethics.
one when teaching marketing ethics topics. This
means that both a standalone course in marketing Note
ethics and an integration of these topics into princi- 1. This section was drawn largely from Murphy and
ples, marketing research, advertising, and other Martin (2016: 102–103).
courses into the marketing curriculum is most desir-
able. The “either or” philosophy takes the position References
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