Module Objectives<\/h2>\r\n<\/header>\r\n\r\n\r\nUpon completion of this part of the module, you should be able to:\r\n\r\n \t- Analyze and discuss ethical challenges that are problems in the digital world.<\/li>\r\n \t
- Describe how certain ethical theories could be applied to digital marketing.<\/li>\r\n \t
- Consider and assess ethical decisions marketers may make for a business<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Readings and Research<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nWatch<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n \t- One of the two Fyre Festival Documentaries: \"Fyre Fraud\" (Hulu) or \"Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened\" (Netflix)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
Read<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n \t- Jacobson, Jenna, et al. \u201cSocial Media Marketing: Who Is Watching the Watchers?<\/a>\u201d Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 53, 2020, doi:10.1016\/j.jretconser.2019.03.001.<\/li>\r\n \t
- The Guardian, \"Fighting Fyre with Fyre: the story of two warring festival documentaries<\/a>\" by Adrian Horton<\/li>\r\n \t
- JumpSix Digital Marketing, \"Ethical Issues in Digital Marketing<\/a>\"<\/li>\r\n \t
- PR News, \"PR Pros See Ethics Becoming Even More Important in 2020<\/a>\" by Seth Arenstein<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThere are some intrinsic ways in which both marketing and buyer behavior have changed through the influence of technology and the online environment. While providing unique and exciting benefits for marketers, the world of digital marketing is also ever-changing. Sometimes it can be hard to keep track of changes in technology and behaviors and to know where to find reliable sources of information.\r\n\r\nHere are some suggestions for recognizing expert resources:\r\n
\r\n \t- The article or study should be dated within the last 12 months, maximum.<\/li>\r\n \t
- The author of your research should be either scholarly in nature or a neutral, recognized industry expert. Businesses will often post blogs that seem to be written by experts, however, they are trying to sell their products or services, so their neutrality is not guaranteed.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nSome examples of reputable neutral sources may include:\r\n
\r\n \t- Neutral publishers, such as Inc., Business Week, Entrepreneur, etc. These will not be scholarly in nature but may present opinions and ideas that spark discussions.<\/li>\r\n \t
- Scholarly articles published at universities or similar think tanks<\/li>\r\n \t
- Expert online marketing sites that are not actively attempting to sell you their services, such as Hubspot or Moz.com.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
Ethics in Digital Marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nHow do you define what may or may not be ethical in digital marketing? If people willingly give you their personal information and don\u2019t unselect the box that says it\u2019s okay to share that info, that means it\u2019s okay to share it, right? What if you never asked their permission, so they never explicitly said no. Is it okay to share their information then? How about if you get paid by advertisers that are related to what they purchased. You\u2019re being pressured to make a profit from your shareholders, and this is one way you can do that fairly easily. You already have all the information, and the companies you\u2019d be selling it to already sell something your customers would be interested. Win-win, right?\r\n\r\nMaking ethical choices in digital marketing can be a challenge, not only because you have conflicting priorities between your shareholders and clients, but also because sometimes it\u2019s hard to interpret whether there\u2019s an ethical issue or not.\r\n\r\nFor example, the subject of marketing to children comes up fairly frequently. Children do not purchase products on their own, but they\u2019re a major target market for toy, food, and clothing companies.\u00a0Is it ethical to market to children? How do you decide? The companies have to make money, and by marketing to children they are not only reaching both children and their parents, but they are also potentially acquiring a long-term customer. And the child gets what they want, so it all seems great. But what if the company doing the marketing is selling a product that\u2019s harmful to children, like sugary foods or sexualized clothing? Is it still ethical then? And, if not, who should be the regulator of ethics? Who should make decisions on what is ethical or not?\r\n\r\nWhether your company is B2B, B2C, or a non-profit, here are several different areas in which ethical decision-making plays an important role in digital marketing. Described below are just a few.\r\n\r\n![\"Reviews](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/accphysicalgeology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/114\/2022\/12\/Picture22-280x300.png\")
\r\nDealing with Ethical Gray Areas<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nSometimes an activity may be perfectly legal but still falls into an ethical gray area, as described below.\r\n\r\nOne example of this is \u201cclickbait.\u201d Clickbait is using a leading headline (\u201cThis pregnant woman thought she was having a healthy baby boy. What happened next is too surprising for words!\u201d) to get people to click on a link, but then sending them to a misleading link. Clickbait gives websites additional traffic, which enables them to charge more to advertisers. In this interview with New York Magazine<\/a>, Jon Stewart described Clickbait, saying \u201cWhen I look at the Internet, I feel the same as when I\u2019m walking through Coney Island. It\u2019s like carnival barkers, and they all sit out there and go, \u201cCome on in here and see a three-legged man!\u201d So you walk in and it\u2019s a guy with a crutch.\u201d\r\n\r\nFurther examples of ethical gray areas in marketing include deceptive advertising, misleading research, encouraging materialism, invading consumer privacy, not disclosing safety issues, and not being sincere about their efforts, as Professor Wolters describes in the video below.\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/mOtwkY8SxoU[\/embed]\r\n\r\nReview this Ethical Theory Overview<\/a> for further information.\r\nInfluencer Marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nWhat exactly is influencer marketing?\u00a0The following video discusses what an influencer actually does and how influencer marketing works.\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/gbbEXnRG9d8[\/embed]\r\n\r\nAnd in this video, Neil Patel discusses how marketers can leverage influencer marketing.\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/DhOrRQmQ-Z8[\/embed]\r\n\r\nSounds pretty great, right? It's a powerful marketing tactic, for sure! But social media influencers have been under the spotlight for the past few years, as some of the darker aspects of influence come to light. With the release of two documentaries on the catastrophe that was Fyre Festival (one on Netflix, one on Hulu), even people who don't follow influencers are now aware that they exist and that they can potentially be problematic.\r\n\r\nThis news video talks about Fyre Festival and the role of influencers:\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/jQMnyD8gIco[\/embed]\r\n\r\nEvery day, Instagram influencers are \"coming out,\" describing the profession (and it is a profession now) as fatiguing and fake. People are more aware that influencers are paid by brands, but there is always still a question of transparency and whether it is ethical for influencers to be paid to influence people to make purchasing decisions. There is little to no regulation on influencers, and there has been some debate on how much transparency should be required. We are trained to recognize product placement in television shows or movies, but influencers are still new enough that this response isn't a given yet.\r\n\r\nThe video, \"Is There a Dark Side to Social Media Influencers<\/a>,\" presents a global conversation about social media influencers and their responsibility to their followers or audience.\r\nPrivacy<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nAs we've discussed earlier in this course, target marketing is a necessary part of digital marketing. You need to understand your customer to reach them and interest them. But where does target marketing go too far? We've seen several major data breaches over the last several years, including Target, Home Depot, and Facebook.\r\n\r\nExample<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\nOne example of where customer or client privacy becomes an ethical gray area is Apple\u2019s 2016 court case with the U.S. Government. Following the San Bernadino shootings in December 2015, the FBI requested data from Apple, and Apple provided it. But in early 2016, the FBI requested that Apple build a \u201cback door\u201d to the iPhone, which involves creating a new operating system for the iPhone that allows security features to be bypassed. The FBI would then use this to access secure information on the shooters\u2019 iPhones. Apple opposes this activity, stating that if they were to create this \u201cback door,\u201d they would be opening up the potential to unlock anyone\u2019s iPhone, which they feel is unethical. This is an ethical gray area because both sides of the discussion have valid points. To learn more about this case, you can read Apple\u2019s customer letter <\/a>here and NPR's related article, \"A Year After San Bernardino And Apple-FBI, Where Are We On Encryption?<\/a>\" by Alina Selyukh.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThis debate over encryption and \"back doors\" is still going on today, as seen in the New York Times' article, \"F.B.I. Asks Apple to Help Unlock Two iPhones<\/a>,\" by Jack Nicas and Katie Benner.\r\n\r\nThis final video is extremely important for your final digital marketing plan. Take notes on this video and just down any questions you have as you are watching: KPIs for Digital Marketing | How to Evaluate Your Marketing Performance:<\/a>\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/zMlwttUGr8M[\/embed]\r\n\r\n ","rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/accphysicalgeology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/114\/2022\/11\/AdobeStock_416695641.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Overview<\/strong><\/h1>\nThere are several ways in which digital marketing can provide an ethical quagmire to businesses. There is a fine line to walk between what\u2019s required by your company\u2019s shareholders (i.e., the need to make a profit!) and what\u2019s ethical or right, as it pertains to your customers and clients.\u00a0This part of the module, you will learn about some of the key potentially challenging ethical decisions companies may need to make about their marketing and how to make those tough ethical decisions. You will research both blatant and gray areas of digital marketing bad behavior dealing with reviews, privacy, security, copyrighting, etc.<\/p>\n
\n\nModule Objectives<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n\nUpon completion of this part of the module, you should be able to:<\/p>\n
\n- Analyze and discuss ethical challenges that are problems in the digital world.<\/li>\n
- Describe how certain ethical theories could be applied to digital marketing.<\/li>\n
- Consider and assess ethical decisions marketers may make for a business<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Readings and Research<\/strong><\/h2>\nWatch<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n- One of the two Fyre Festival Documentaries: “Fyre Fraud” (Hulu) or “Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened” (Netflix)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Read<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n- Jacobson, Jenna, et al. \u201cSocial Media Marketing: Who Is Watching the Watchers?<\/a>\u201d Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 53, 2020, doi:10.1016\/j.jretconser.2019.03.001.<\/li>\n
- The Guardian, “Fighting Fyre with Fyre: the story of two warring festival documentaries<\/a>” by Adrian Horton<\/li>\n
- JumpSix Digital Marketing, “Ethical Issues in Digital Marketing<\/a>“<\/li>\n
- PR News, “PR Pros See Ethics Becoming Even More Important in 2020<\/a>” by Seth Arenstein<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
There are some intrinsic ways in which both marketing and buyer behavior have changed through the influence of technology and the online environment. While providing unique and exciting benefits for marketers, the world of digital marketing is also ever-changing. Sometimes it can be hard to keep track of changes in technology and behaviors and to know where to find reliable sources of information.<\/p>\n
Here are some suggestions for recognizing expert resources:<\/p>\n
\n- The article or study should be dated within the last 12 months, maximum.<\/li>\n
- The author of your research should be either scholarly in nature or a neutral, recognized industry expert. Businesses will often post blogs that seem to be written by experts, however, they are trying to sell their products or services, so their neutrality is not guaranteed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some examples of reputable neutral sources may include:<\/p>\n
\n- Neutral publishers, such as Inc., Business Week, Entrepreneur, etc. These will not be scholarly in nature but may present opinions and ideas that spark discussions.<\/li>\n
- Scholarly articles published at universities or similar think tanks<\/li>\n
- Expert online marketing sites that are not actively attempting to sell you their services, such as Hubspot or Moz.com.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Ethics in Digital Marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\nHow do you define what may or may not be ethical in digital marketing? If people willingly give you their personal information and don\u2019t unselect the box that says it\u2019s okay to share that info, that means it\u2019s okay to share it, right? What if you never asked their permission, so they never explicitly said no. Is it okay to share their information then? How about if you get paid by advertisers that are related to what they purchased. You\u2019re being pressured to make a profit from your shareholders, and this is one way you can do that fairly easily. You already have all the information, and the companies you\u2019d be selling it to already sell something your customers would be interested. Win-win, right?<\/p>\n
Making ethical choices in digital marketing can be a challenge, not only because you have conflicting priorities between your shareholders and clients, but also because sometimes it\u2019s hard to interpret whether there\u2019s an ethical issue or not.<\/p>\n
For example, the subject of marketing to children comes up fairly frequently. Children do not purchase products on their own, but they\u2019re a major target market for toy, food, and clothing companies.\u00a0Is it ethical to market to children? How do you decide? The companies have to make money, and by marketing to children they are not only reaching both children and their parents, but they are also potentially acquiring a long-term customer. And the child gets what they want, so it all seems great. But what if the company doing the marketing is selling a product that\u2019s harmful to children, like sugary foods or sexualized clothing? Is it still ethical then? And, if not, who should be the regulator of ethics? Who should make decisions on what is ethical or not?<\/p>\n
Whether your company is B2B, B2C, or a non-profit, here are several different areas in which ethical decision-making plays an important role in digital marketing. Described below are just a few.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dealing with Ethical Gray Areas<\/strong><\/h3>\nSometimes an activity may be perfectly legal but still falls into an ethical gray area, as described below.<\/p>\n
One example of this is \u201cclickbait.\u201d Clickbait is using a leading headline (\u201cThis pregnant woman thought she was having a healthy baby boy. What happened next is too surprising for words!\u201d) to get people to click on a link, but then sending them to a misleading link. Clickbait gives websites additional traffic, which enables them to charge more to advertisers. In this interview with New York Magazine<\/a>, Jon Stewart described Clickbait, saying \u201cWhen I look at the Internet, I feel the same as when I\u2019m walking through Coney Island. It\u2019s like carnival barkers, and they all sit out there and go, \u201cCome on in here and see a three-legged man!\u201d So you walk in and it\u2019s a guy with a crutch.\u201d<\/p>\nFurther examples of ethical gray areas in marketing include deceptive advertising, misleading research, encouraging materialism, invading consumer privacy, not disclosing safety issues, and not being sincere about their efforts, as Professor Wolters describes in the video below.<\/p>\n
- \r\n \t
- Analyze and discuss ethical challenges that are problems in the digital world.<\/li>\r\n \t
- Describe how certain ethical theories could be applied to digital marketing.<\/li>\r\n \t
- Consider and assess ethical decisions marketers may make for a business<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Readings and Research<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n
Watch<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n
- \r\n \t
- One of the two Fyre Festival Documentaries: \"Fyre Fraud\" (Hulu) or \"Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened\" (Netflix)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
Read<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n
- \r\n \t
- Jacobson, Jenna, et al. \u201cSocial Media Marketing: Who Is Watching the Watchers?<\/a>\u201d Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 53, 2020, doi:10.1016\/j.jretconser.2019.03.001.<\/li>\r\n \t
- The Guardian, \"Fighting Fyre with Fyre: the story of two warring festival documentaries<\/a>\" by Adrian Horton<\/li>\r\n \t
- JumpSix Digital Marketing, \"Ethical Issues in Digital Marketing<\/a>\"<\/li>\r\n \t
- PR News, \"PR Pros See Ethics Becoming Even More Important in 2020<\/a>\" by Seth Arenstein<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThere are some intrinsic ways in which both marketing and buyer behavior have changed through the influence of technology and the online environment. While providing unique and exciting benefits for marketers, the world of digital marketing is also ever-changing. Sometimes it can be hard to keep track of changes in technology and behaviors and to know where to find reliable sources of information.\r\n\r\nHere are some suggestions for recognizing expert resources:\r\n
- \r\n \t
- The article or study should be dated within the last 12 months, maximum.<\/li>\r\n \t
- The author of your research should be either scholarly in nature or a neutral, recognized industry expert. Businesses will often post blogs that seem to be written by experts, however, they are trying to sell their products or services, so their neutrality is not guaranteed.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nSome examples of reputable neutral sources may include:\r\n
- \r\n \t
- Neutral publishers, such as Inc., Business Week, Entrepreneur, etc. These will not be scholarly in nature but may present opinions and ideas that spark discussions.<\/li>\r\n \t
- Scholarly articles published at universities or similar think tanks<\/li>\r\n \t
- Expert online marketing sites that are not actively attempting to sell you their services, such as Hubspot or Moz.com.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
Ethics in Digital Marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nHow do you define what may or may not be ethical in digital marketing? If people willingly give you their personal information and don\u2019t unselect the box that says it\u2019s okay to share that info, that means it\u2019s okay to share it, right? What if you never asked their permission, so they never explicitly said no. Is it okay to share their information then? How about if you get paid by advertisers that are related to what they purchased. You\u2019re being pressured to make a profit from your shareholders, and this is one way you can do that fairly easily. You already have all the information, and the companies you\u2019d be selling it to already sell something your customers would be interested. Win-win, right?\r\n\r\nMaking ethical choices in digital marketing can be a challenge, not only because you have conflicting priorities between your shareholders and clients, but also because sometimes it\u2019s hard to interpret whether there\u2019s an ethical issue or not.\r\n\r\nFor example, the subject of marketing to children comes up fairly frequently. Children do not purchase products on their own, but they\u2019re a major target market for toy, food, and clothing companies.\u00a0Is it ethical to market to children? How do you decide? The companies have to make money, and by marketing to children they are not only reaching both children and their parents, but they are also potentially acquiring a long-term customer. And the child gets what they want, so it all seems great. But what if the company doing the marketing is selling a product that\u2019s harmful to children, like sugary foods or sexualized clothing? Is it still ethical then? And, if not, who should be the regulator of ethics? Who should make decisions on what is ethical or not?\r\n\r\nWhether your company is B2B, B2C, or a non-profit, here are several different areas in which ethical decision-making plays an important role in digital marketing. Described below are just a few.\r\n\r\n
\r\nDealing with Ethical Gray Areas<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nSometimes an activity may be perfectly legal but still falls into an ethical gray area, as described below.\r\n\r\nOne example of this is \u201cclickbait.\u201d Clickbait is using a leading headline (\u201cThis pregnant woman thought she was having a healthy baby boy. What happened next is too surprising for words!\u201d) to get people to click on a link, but then sending them to a misleading link. Clickbait gives websites additional traffic, which enables them to charge more to advertisers. In this interview with New York Magazine<\/a>, Jon Stewart described Clickbait, saying \u201cWhen I look at the Internet, I feel the same as when I\u2019m walking through Coney Island. It\u2019s like carnival barkers, and they all sit out there and go, \u201cCome on in here and see a three-legged man!\u201d So you walk in and it\u2019s a guy with a crutch.\u201d\r\n\r\nFurther examples of ethical gray areas in marketing include deceptive advertising, misleading research, encouraging materialism, invading consumer privacy, not disclosing safety issues, and not being sincere about their efforts, as Professor Wolters describes in the video below.\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/mOtwkY8SxoU[\/embed]\r\n\r\nReview this Ethical Theory Overview<\/a> for further information.\r\n
Influencer Marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nWhat exactly is influencer marketing?\u00a0The following video discusses what an influencer actually does and how influencer marketing works.\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/gbbEXnRG9d8[\/embed]\r\n\r\nAnd in this video, Neil Patel discusses how marketers can leverage influencer marketing.\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/DhOrRQmQ-Z8[\/embed]\r\n\r\nSounds pretty great, right? It's a powerful marketing tactic, for sure! But social media influencers have been under the spotlight for the past few years, as some of the darker aspects of influence come to light. With the release of two documentaries on the catastrophe that was Fyre Festival (one on Netflix, one on Hulu), even people who don't follow influencers are now aware that they exist and that they can potentially be problematic.\r\n\r\nThis news video talks about Fyre Festival and the role of influencers:\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/jQMnyD8gIco[\/embed]\r\n\r\nEvery day, Instagram influencers are \"coming out,\" describing the profession (and it is a profession now) as fatiguing and fake. People are more aware that influencers are paid by brands, but there is always still a question of transparency and whether it is ethical for influencers to be paid to influence people to make purchasing decisions. There is little to no regulation on influencers, and there has been some debate on how much transparency should be required. We are trained to recognize product placement in television shows or movies, but influencers are still new enough that this response isn't a given yet.\r\n\r\nThe video, \"Is There a Dark Side to Social Media Influencers<\/a>,\" presents a global conversation about social media influencers and their responsibility to their followers or audience.\r\n
Privacy<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nAs we've discussed earlier in this course, target marketing is a necessary part of digital marketing. You need to understand your customer to reach them and interest them. But where does target marketing go too far? We've seen several major data breaches over the last several years, including Target, Home Depot, and Facebook.\r\n
\r\n Example<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n
One example of where customer or client privacy becomes an ethical gray area is Apple\u2019s 2016 court case with the U.S. Government. Following the San Bernadino shootings in December 2015, the FBI requested data from Apple, and Apple provided it. But in early 2016, the FBI requested that Apple build a \u201cback door\u201d to the iPhone, which involves creating a new operating system for the iPhone that allows security features to be bypassed. The FBI would then use this to access secure information on the shooters\u2019 iPhones. Apple opposes this activity, stating that if they were to create this \u201cback door,\u201d they would be opening up the potential to unlock anyone\u2019s iPhone, which they feel is unethical. This is an ethical gray area because both sides of the discussion have valid points. To learn more about this case, you can read Apple\u2019s customer letter <\/a>here and NPR's related article, \"A Year After San Bernardino And Apple-FBI, Where Are We On Encryption?<\/a>\" by Alina Selyukh.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThis debate over encryption and \"back doors\" is still going on today, as seen in the New York Times' article, \"F.B.I. Asks Apple to Help Unlock Two iPhones<\/a>,\" by Jack Nicas and Katie Benner.\r\n\r\nThis final video is extremely important for your final digital marketing plan. Take notes on this video and just down any questions you have as you are watching: KPIs for Digital Marketing | How to Evaluate Your Marketing Performance:<\/a>\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/zMlwttUGr8M[\/embed]\r\n\r\n ","rendered":"<\/p>\nOverview<\/strong><\/h1>\n
There are several ways in which digital marketing can provide an ethical quagmire to businesses. There is a fine line to walk between what\u2019s required by your company\u2019s shareholders (i.e., the need to make a profit!) and what\u2019s ethical or right, as it pertains to your customers and clients.\u00a0This part of the module, you will learn about some of the key potentially challenging ethical decisions companies may need to make about their marketing and how to make those tough ethical decisions. You will research both blatant and gray areas of digital marketing bad behavior dealing with reviews, privacy, security, copyrighting, etc.<\/p>\n
\n\n Module Objectives<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
\nUpon completion of this part of the module, you should be able to:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Analyze and discuss ethical challenges that are problems in the digital world.<\/li>\n
- Describe how certain ethical theories could be applied to digital marketing.<\/li>\n
- Consider and assess ethical decisions marketers may make for a business<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Readings and Research<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Watch<\/strong><\/h3>\n
- \n
- One of the two Fyre Festival Documentaries: “Fyre Fraud” (Hulu) or “Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened” (Netflix)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Read<\/strong><\/h3>\n
- \n
- Jacobson, Jenna, et al. \u201cSocial Media Marketing: Who Is Watching the Watchers?<\/a>\u201d Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 53, 2020, doi:10.1016\/j.jretconser.2019.03.001.<\/li>\n
- The Guardian, “Fighting Fyre with Fyre: the story of two warring festival documentaries<\/a>” by Adrian Horton<\/li>\n
- JumpSix Digital Marketing, “Ethical Issues in Digital Marketing<\/a>“<\/li>\n
- PR News, “PR Pros See Ethics Becoming Even More Important in 2020<\/a>” by Seth Arenstein<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
There are some intrinsic ways in which both marketing and buyer behavior have changed through the influence of technology and the online environment. While providing unique and exciting benefits for marketers, the world of digital marketing is also ever-changing. Sometimes it can be hard to keep track of changes in technology and behaviors and to know where to find reliable sources of information.<\/p>\n
Here are some suggestions for recognizing expert resources:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The article or study should be dated within the last 12 months, maximum.<\/li>\n
- The author of your research should be either scholarly in nature or a neutral, recognized industry expert. Businesses will often post blogs that seem to be written by experts, however, they are trying to sell their products or services, so their neutrality is not guaranteed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some examples of reputable neutral sources may include:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Neutral publishers, such as Inc., Business Week, Entrepreneur, etc. These will not be scholarly in nature but may present opinions and ideas that spark discussions.<\/li>\n
- Scholarly articles published at universities or similar think tanks<\/li>\n
- Expert online marketing sites that are not actively attempting to sell you their services, such as Hubspot or Moz.com.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Ethics in Digital Marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How do you define what may or may not be ethical in digital marketing? If people willingly give you their personal information and don\u2019t unselect the box that says it\u2019s okay to share that info, that means it\u2019s okay to share it, right? What if you never asked their permission, so they never explicitly said no. Is it okay to share their information then? How about if you get paid by advertisers that are related to what they purchased. You\u2019re being pressured to make a profit from your shareholders, and this is one way you can do that fairly easily. You already have all the information, and the companies you\u2019d be selling it to already sell something your customers would be interested. Win-win, right?<\/p>\n
Making ethical choices in digital marketing can be a challenge, not only because you have conflicting priorities between your shareholders and clients, but also because sometimes it\u2019s hard to interpret whether there\u2019s an ethical issue or not.<\/p>\n
For example, the subject of marketing to children comes up fairly frequently. Children do not purchase products on their own, but they\u2019re a major target market for toy, food, and clothing companies.\u00a0Is it ethical to market to children? How do you decide? The companies have to make money, and by marketing to children they are not only reaching both children and their parents, but they are also potentially acquiring a long-term customer. And the child gets what they want, so it all seems great. But what if the company doing the marketing is selling a product that\u2019s harmful to children, like sugary foods or sexualized clothing? Is it still ethical then? And, if not, who should be the regulator of ethics? Who should make decisions on what is ethical or not?<\/p>\n
Whether your company is B2B, B2C, or a non-profit, here are several different areas in which ethical decision-making plays an important role in digital marketing. Described below are just a few.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nDealing with Ethical Gray Areas<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Sometimes an activity may be perfectly legal but still falls into an ethical gray area, as described below.<\/p>\n
One example of this is \u201cclickbait.\u201d Clickbait is using a leading headline (\u201cThis pregnant woman thought she was having a healthy baby boy. What happened next is too surprising for words!\u201d) to get people to click on a link, but then sending them to a misleading link. Clickbait gives websites additional traffic, which enables them to charge more to advertisers. In this interview with New York Magazine<\/a>, Jon Stewart described Clickbait, saying \u201cWhen I look at the Internet, I feel the same as when I\u2019m walking through Coney Island. It\u2019s like carnival barkers, and they all sit out there and go, \u201cCome on in here and see a three-legged man!\u201d So you walk in and it\u2019s a guy with a crutch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further examples of ethical gray areas in marketing include deceptive advertising, misleading research, encouraging materialism, invading consumer privacy, not disclosing safety issues, and not being sincere about their efforts, as Professor Wolters describes in the video below.<\/p>\n
- The Guardian, “Fighting Fyre with Fyre: the story of two warring festival documentaries<\/a>” by Adrian Horton<\/li>\n
- Jacobson, Jenna, et al. \u201cSocial Media Marketing: Who Is Watching the Watchers?<\/a>\u201d Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 53, 2020, doi:10.1016\/j.jretconser.2019.03.001.<\/li>\n
- One of the two Fyre Festival Documentaries: “Fyre Fraud” (Hulu) or “Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened” (Netflix)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- The Guardian, \"Fighting Fyre with Fyre: the story of two warring festival documentaries<\/a>\" by Adrian Horton<\/li>\r\n \t
- Jacobson, Jenna, et al. \u201cSocial Media Marketing: Who Is Watching the Watchers?<\/a>\u201d Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 53, 2020, doi:10.1016\/j.jretconser.2019.03.001.<\/li>\r\n \t
- One of the two Fyre Festival Documentaries: \"Fyre Fraud\" (Hulu) or \"Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened\" (Netflix)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n