Skip to main content
Log in

Ethical Guidelines for Marketing Practice: A Reply to Gaski & Some Observations on the Role of Normative Marketing Ethics

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chonko, Lawrence B.: 1995, Ethical Decision Making in Marketing (Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Chonko, Lawrence B. and Shelby D. Hunt: 1985, ‘Ethics and Marketing Management: An Empirical Investigation’, Journal of Business Research 13, 339–359.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrell, O. C. and Mark Weaver: 1978, ‘Ethical Beliefs of Marketing Managers’, Journal of Marketing 42 (July), 69–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrell, O. C., Larry G. Gresham andJohn Fraedrich: 1989, ‘A Synthesis of Ethical Decision Models for Marketing’, Journal of Macromarketing 9 (Fall), 55–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frederick, William C.: 1994, ‘From CSR1 to CSR2: The Maturing of Business-and-Society Thought7#x2019;, Business and Society 33(2), pp. 150–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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).

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin, Cathy: 1991, ‘Privacy: Recognition of a Consumer Right’, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing 10 (Spring), 149–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, Ronald M.: 1991, ‘When is ‘Everyone's Doing It’ a Moral Justification?’, Business Ethics Quarterly 1 (January), 75–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laczniak, Gene R.: 1983, ‘Framework for Analyzing Marketing Ethics’, Journal of Macromarketing 1 (Spring), 7–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laczniak, Gene R.: 1993, ‘Marketing Ethics: Onward Toward Greater Expectations’, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing 12 (Spring), 91–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laczniak, Gene R. and Patrick E. Murphy: 1993, Ethical Marketing Decisions: The Higher Road (Allyn and Bacon, Needham Heights, MA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Malhotra, Naresh K.: 1996, Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation (Prentice Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ).

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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).

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • Regan, Tom: 1992, ‘Treatment of Animals’, in Lawrence C. Becker andCharlotte B. Becker (eds.), Encyclopedia of Ethics (Garland Publishing, New York), pp. 42–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, John G., Charles W. Powers andJon P. Gunnemann: 1972, The Ethical Investor: Universities and Corporate Responsibility (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT).

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, N. Craig: 1990, Morality and the Market: Consumer Pressure for Corporate Accountability (Routledge, London).

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, N. Craig: 1995, ‘Marketing Strategies for the Ethics Era’, Sloan Management Review 36 (Summer), 85–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, N. Craig and John A. Quelch: 1993, Ethics in Marketing (Richard D. Irwin, Homewood, IL).

    Google Scholar 

  • 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 ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tedlow, Richard S.: 1990, ‘James Burke: A Career in American Business (A)’, Case Study (Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston).

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Oliver and Patrick E. Murphy: 1990, ‘The Ethics of Virtue: A Moral Theory for Marketing’, Journal of Macromarketing 10 (Spring), 19–29.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints 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

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010685524206

Keywords

Navigation