Abstract
Gaski (1999) is critical of marketing ethics and suggests that its ethical guidelines amount to no more than "obey the law" and "act in your self-interest". This reply questions Gaski's critique and clarifies possible misconceptions about the field that might otherwise result. It identifies the limitations and assumptions of Gaski's argument and shows that there are exceptions to his central proposition even when narrowly circumscribed. It is not disputed that there is merit to reminding managers of their obligations to obey the law and to act in their enlightened self-interest. However, although fulfilling these obligations is generally a necessary requirement for good conduct, it is not sufficient. There are situations where ethics demands more of marketing managers than "obey the law" and "act in your self-interest". In addition, managers may face situations where ethics, the law and self-interest are inconsistent. The article incorporates observations on the role of normative marketing ethics, including the requirement to develop ethical theory for marketing as well as ethical guidelines.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akaah, Ishmael P. and Edward A. Riordan: 1989, ‘Judgments of Marketing Professionals About Ethical Issues in Marketing Research: A Replication and Extension’, Journal of Marketing Research XXVI (February), 112–120.
Brenkert, George G.: 1998, ‘Marketing and the Vulnerable’, Business Ethics Quarterly, Ruffin Series, Special Issue 1, 7–20.
Buchholz, Rogene A.: 1991, ‘Corporate Responsibility and the Good Society: From Economics to Ecology; Factors which Influence Corporate Policy Decisions’, Business Horizons 34(4), 19–31.
Business Enterprise Trust: 1996, ‘Merck and Company, Inc.’, in Thomas Donaldson andAl Gini (eds.), Case Studies in Business Ethics (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ), pp. 299–308.
Chonko, Lawrence B.: 1995, Ethical Decision Making in Marketing (Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA).
Chonko, Lawrence B. and Shelby D. Hunt: 1985, ‘Ethics and Marketing Management: An Empirical Investigation’, Journal of Business Research 13, 339–359.
Ciulla, Joanne B.: 1991, ‘Business Ethics as Moral Imagination’, in R. Edward Freeman (ed.), Business Ethics: The State of the Art (Oxford University Press, New York), pp. 212–220.
Dunfee, Thomas W., N. Craig Smith andWilliam T. Ross, Jr.: 1999, ‘Social Contracts and Marketing Ethics’, Journal of Marketing 63 (July), 14–32.
Duke, Charles R., Gregory M. Pickett,Les Carlson andStephen J. Grove: 1993, ‘A Method for Evaluating the Ethics of Fear Appeals’, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing 12 (Spring).
Ferrell, O. C. and Larry G. Gresham: 1985, ‘A Contingency Framework for Understanding Ethical Decision Making in Marketing’, Journal of Marketing 49 (Summer), 87–96.
Ferrell, O. C. and Mark Weaver: 1978, ‘Ethical Beliefs of Marketing Managers’, Journal of Marketing 42 (July), 69–73.
Ferrell, O. C., Larry G. Gresham andJohn Fraedrich: 1989, ‘A Synthesis of Ethical Decision Models for Marketing’, Journal of Macromarketing 9 (Fall), 55–64.
Frederick, William C.: 1994, ‘From CSR1 to CSR2: The Maturing of Business-and-Society Thought7#x2019;, Business and Society 33(2), pp. 150–164.
Fritzsche, David J.: 1985, ‘Ethical Issues in Marketing Management’, in Gene R. Laczniak andPatrick E. Murphy (eds.), Marketing Ethics: Guidelines for Managers (Lexington Books, Lexington, MA).
Gaski, John F.: 1999, ‘Does Marketing Ethics Really Have Anything to Say?-A Critical Inventory of the Literature’, Journal of Business Ethics 18 (February), 315–334.
Goodwin, Cathy: 1991, ‘Privacy: Recognition of a Consumer Right’, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing 10 (Spring), 149–166.
Green, Ronald M.: 1991, ‘When is ‘Everyone's Doing It’ a Moral Justification?’, Business Ethics Quarterly 1 (January), 75–94.
Gundlach, Gregory T. and Patrick E. Murphy: 1993, ‘Ethical and Legal Foundations of Relational Marketing Exchanges’, Journal of Marketing 57 (October), 35–46.
Hunt, Shelby D. and Scott J. Vitell: 1993, ‘A General Theory of Marketing Ethics: A Retrospective and Revision’, in N. Craig Smith andJohn A. Quelch (eds.), Ethics in Marketing (Irwin, Homewood, IL), pp. 775–784.
Laczniak, Gene R.: 1983, ‘Framework for Analyzing Marketing Ethics’, Journal of Macromarketing 1 (Spring), 7–18.
Laczniak, Gene R.: 1993, ‘Marketing Ethics: Onward Toward Greater Expectations’, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing 12 (Spring), 91–96.
Laczniak, Gene R. and Patrick E. Murphy: 1993, Ethical Marketing Decisions: The Higher Road (Allyn and Bacon, Needham Heights, MA).
Malhotra, Naresh K.: 1996, Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation (Prentice Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ).
Murphy, Patrick and Gene R. Laczniak: 1981, ‘Marketing Ethics: A Review with Implications for Managers, Educators and Researchers’, in Ben M. Enis andKenneth J. Roering (eds.), Review of Marketing (American Marketing Association, Chicago), pp. 251–266.
Murphy, Patrick and M. D. Pridgen: 1991, ‘Ethical and Legal Issues in Marketing’, in Paul N. Bloom (ed.), Advances in Marketing and Public Policy, vol. 2 (JAI Press Inc., Greenwich, CT), pp. 185–244.
Paine, Lynn Sharp: 1993, ‘Children as Consumers: The Ethics of Children's Television Advertising’, in N. Craig Smith andJohn A. Quelch (eds.), Ethics in Marketing (Irwin, Homewood, IL), pp. 672–686.
Pastin, Mark and Michael Hooker: 1988, ‘Ethics and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’, in Thomas Donaldson andPatricia H. Werhane (eds.), Ethical Issues in Business (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).
Philips, Michael: 1984, ‘Bribery’, Ethics (July), 621–636.
Petty, Ross D.: 1999, ‘Introduction: The What and Why of Marketing Law’, American Business Law Journal 36 (Winter), 239–254.
Regan, Tom: 1992, ‘Treatment of Animals’, in Lawrence C. Becker andCharlotte B. Becker (eds.), Encyclopedia of Ethics (Garland Publishing, New York), pp. 42–46.
Robin, Donald P. and R. Eric Reidenbach: 1986, ‘A Framework for Analyzing Ethical Issues in Marketing’, Business and Professional Ethics Journal 5(2), 3–22.
Robin, Donald P. and R. Eric Reidenbach: 1987, ‘Social Responsibility, Ethics, and Marketing Strategy: Closing the Gap Between Concept and Application’, Journal of Marketing 51 (January), 44–58.
Robin, Donald P. and R. Eric Reidenbach: 1993, ‘Searching for a Place to Stand: Toward a Workable Ethical Philosophy for Marketing’, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing 12(1), 97–105.
Simon, John G., Charles W. Powers andJon P. Gunnemann: 1972, The Ethical Investor: Universities and Corporate Responsibility (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT).
Smith, N. Craig: 1990, Morality and the Market: Consumer Pressure for Corporate Accountability (Routledge, London).
Smith, N. Craig: 1995, ‘Marketing Strategies for the Ethics Era’, Sloan Management Review 36 (Summer), 85–97.
Smith, N. Craig and John A. Quelch: 1993, Ethics in Marketing (Richard D. Irwin, Homewood, IL).
Sparks, John R. and Shelby D. Hunt: 1998, ‘Marketing Researcher Ethical Sensitivity: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Exploratory Investigation’, Journal of Marketing 62 (April), 92–109.
Stone, Christopher D.: 1975, Where the Law Ends (Harper and Row, New York ).
Tedlow, Richard S.: 1990, ‘James Burke: A Career in American Business (A)’, Case Study (Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston).
Thompson, Craig J.: 1995, ‘A Contextualist Proposal for the Conceptualization and Study of Marketing Ethics’, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing 14 (Fall), 177–191.
Tsalikis, John and David J. Fritzsche: 1989, ‘Business Ethics: A Literature Review with a Focus on Marketing Ethics’, Journal of Business Ethics 8 (September), 695–743.
Weaver, Mark and O. C. Ferrell: 1977, ‘The Impact of Corporate Policy on Reported Ethical Beliefs and Behavior of Marketing Practitioners’, in Contemporary Marketing Thought: Proceedings of the American Marketing Association 41 (American Marketing Association, Chicago), pp. 477–481.
Williams, Oliver and Patrick E. Murphy: 1990, ‘The Ethics of Virtue: A Moral Theory for Marketing’, Journal of Macromarketing 10 (Spring), 19–29.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Smith, N.C. Ethical Guidelines for Marketing Practice: A Reply to Gaski & Some Observations on the Role of Normative Marketing Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 32, 3–18 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010685524206
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010685524206