5 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
5 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

In your opinion, what constitutes UNETHICAL MARKETING?

by GeezerXtreme
3 replies
With all the different methods available to us to contact people these days thanks to the free availability of public information, as well as the (media incurred?) desensitization of people to things like violence, fear, sex, etc., I'm curious as to where people feel the lines should be drawn as to what kinds of marketing techniques are unethical? :confused:

We know sex sells, but to what extent should it be taken? What about purchasing bulk mailing lists to add to the already preexisting piles of SPAM being sent? :confused:

In short, what does everyone feel are some examples of "Unethical Marketing Techniques" that we should all avoid?
#constitutes #marketing #opinion #unethical
  • Profile picture of the author larryburr
    This is very difficult to answer as most people have different views of ethics. Personally, if I feel it is wrong I avoid it. Contacting people without their permission (optin) is an obvious choice. Not telling the truth about what you are trying to sell is one. I will look back at this post to see what others add.
    Signature
    Have Fun Making Money:

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1837584].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author GeezerXtreme
      Originally Posted by larryburr View Post

      This is very difficult to answer as most people have different views of ethics. Personally, if I feel it is wrong I avoid it. Contacting people without their permission (optin) is an obvious choice. Not telling the truth about what you are trying to sell is one. I will look back at this post to see what others add.
      Would you agree that most purchased bulk mailing lists have truly given their full consent to be included? This is a grey area I am pondering at the moment as i'm not sure I fully trust these companies to have obtained the contact details ethically...
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1837639].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author GeorgettaSterling
        In my view, anything that misrepresents your product or service is "unethical marketing" e.g. lying about your stuff to get people to buy. Unfortunately, this makes a LOT of marketers unethical in my books...

        So - are you promising sex in your marketing of your product? If so, you better deliver that "oooh." If not, I would call that unethical.

        An unethical "technique" would be one that causes harm or costs to others without their consent. So, spam (real spam - emailing without permission) is unethical (and illegal too). Posting advertisements on forums that don't allow advertisements (mistakenly also called "spamming") is also unethical - it consumes the forum's resources and mod time AND annoys the forum participants.

        On the other hand, posting your ad on a free4all ad site isn't unethical - that is what they are there for. Mailing to a safelist isn't unethical. These things may or may not be effective, but they are perfectly ethical.

        Bulk mailing lists are only unethical if the people on them didn't agree to receive your communication, or communications like yours. This comes down to where you get the list from - if the vendor actually just harvested the emails from Craigslist or something, then obviously the users didn't agree to receive communications like yours. One way around the problem of phony bulk mailing lists is to use one of the services that will actually mail to a list on your behalf. They are renting the list to you, and they tend to be very careful to get permission for this when they first got the people to opt-in.

        DISCLAIMER: I am currently having an ethical crisis myself, about whether it is ok to fool a thief, so I am no ethics expert. Just my opinions.

        Regards, Georgetta
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1838098].message }}

Trending Topics