Ethical Marketing

I have been thinking about what ethical marketing means and how we, as marketers, can define and promote ethical efforts for our industry.

Marketing, as an industry, has a poor reputation for ethical practices. When I describe what I do for a living, I always feel the need to justify my work as not being a part of the "normal" marketing machine. We have always been an industry that plays fast and loose with honesty and transparency, and it's not something that I am proud of.

In practicing law, ethics are enforced by the Bar Association for each state, and the American Bar Association nation-wide. I don't know if that type of model is needed in marketing, especially because we don't see our roles as being as important as lawyers. But the truth is that our roles play a huge role in everyone's lives. Advertising and marketing are a part of nearly every professional interaction we have in our society. Bad actors and charlatans can create emotional and financial suffering for clients, consumers, and the public. So ensuring marketers are performing in an ethical fashion is hardly out of the question.

The basic premise for ethical marketing, in my opinion, is whether or not we are producing a net good or net bad impact on our world. What might be good for a client might be bad for the consumer and public, and vice-versa. I want to find a way that we can marry these needs together and create marketing that is able to be effective for companies without causing harm to others at the same time.

I know this might sound like a delusion of grandeur to think that marketers have this big of an impact with our work. After all, everyone knows that advertisements stretch the truth to sell products. But just because something is accepted doesn't mean it's acceptable. Just because that's the way it is, doesn't mean that's the way it needs to be.

I challenge myself with every project to do my work in a way that causes the least amount of harm. That means I strive to be honest, thoughtful, and complete in thinking about the impact of my messaging, form, targeting, representation, and execution of my work. This has caused me to turn down work in the past, and I'm sure it will cause me to lose work in the future, but it's a non-negotiable. I cannot do work that will leave me feeling like I made the world worse for a profit. There are way too many people doing that in our world and I will not be a part of it.

If you have thoughts or ideas about ethical marketing and how we can work toward a better version of our industry, please feel free to reach out to me and let's discuss.

~ Eric Carlson