Article
Controversial issues
Issues surrounding marketing ethics and social responsibility are inherently controversial, and years of research continue to present scholars and practitioners with conflicting and challenging views on the value of a socially responsible approach to marketing activities (Laczniak and Murphy, 1993; Smith and Quelch, 1996). An area that causes particular dispute is the question of the effect of ethical/unethical marketing activity on the purchase behaviour of consumers. One would like to think that being a “good company” would attract consumers to your products, while unethical behaviour would see customers boycotting the products of the offender. Unfortunately, it is neither as simple nor as straightforward. Indeed there are reasons to believe that there may be very little commercial reward in terms of consumer purchasing to be gained by behaving as an ethical marketer. This paper will examine whether consumers do care about marketing ethics, first, by considering the research to date in societal marketing, and in relation to consumer attitudes and ethical purchase behaviour. This will be followed by evidence from focus group discussions conducted with a group of consumers to elicit their thoughts and opinions on the subject of ethical and unethical marketing behaviour. Finally, the authors offer some thoughts on how marketers might engage consumers in favouring ethical behaviour, while encouraging them to translate this into positive purchase behaviour.