Ethics in Marketing and Communications

Research indicates that the integrity demonstrated by a business can have a positive effect on its bottom line. The challenge is to not only embrace and voice ethical principles, but to also practice them in all business transactions. When the world knows that a business can be trusted to act ethically, the results show up not only in higher profits but also in lower employee turnover and better customer relations. This volume of research reinforces our comprehension of marketing as more than a functional area of organisations; marketing spans the boundaries of the enterprise and is the nexus for many of its stakeholders. Therefore, the reader will find chapters relating not only to typical marketing activities such as advertising but also about the importance of communicating ethics in the banking industry and the ethical concerns of promoting tourism. For it is not a matter of simply behaving ethically but of voicing that behavior and the resulting impact of it on the company, on the consumer, on the shareholder and on society as a whole. Practitioners and educators will find useful insights that will permit them to understand the different and conflicting perspectives on ethical dilemmas in marketing and communications, to propose and defend the 'best' ethical response to the situation and to accept that there are consequences for each of those involved in the decision. Ethical dilemmas are often multifold, requiring the individual to explore, differentiate and choose among conflicting loyalties. The countries that provide the setting for the research in this book include China, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.