"They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time." - Brian Fantana. "That doesn't make sense." - Ron Burgundy.
Anchorman references aside, it's time we have an honest conversation about marketing ethics. Today, the average person consumes over 34 gigabytes of data and information daily and is exposed to over 5,000 advertising messages. In a literal ocean of information, customers seek simplicity to make their choices easier but don't have time to be an expert on everything.
Brands know this and spend billions to make decisions easier on customers. When done ethically, this can help differentiate a brand and foster innovation, trust, and growth. Unfortunately, the rules that guide marketers need to catch up to the technology, and there are those out there who take advantage of the expansive gray area between doing what is right and what is easy.
It can be challenging to know where the lines are if you are a marketer, especially if others in your organization have differing views on where you draw the lines. I've found that providing a transparent list of Ethical Marketing Pillars guides the marketing function to do what is right, help strengthen brands, clarify ambiguity, and know when to say "No." Here are my six pillars of ethical marketing:
1) Align to Company Values | All marketing should be rooted in your company's values and code of conduct. This isn't just avoiding the illegal; it often aligns with treating others with respect, fostering inclusion, and creating a positive work environment. You can align your marketing to company values by assuring you:
Do not discriminate.
Do not use content that can be viewed as abusive or harassing.
Do not plagiarise other's works.
Do not share confidential information.
Ask Ourselves: Does this align with our company values and code of conduct?
2) Embrace Privacy | The topic of data privacy and marketing is one of the fast-changing areas of the field, with widely different regulations depending on the country and state in which you work. The best practice is to hold yourself to the highest standards regarding collecting, using, and sharing the data you collect in your marketing endeavors. To embrace privacy in your marketing:
Make it easy for customers to see how you use their data, typically done by providing a link to data use policies on every data collection source.
Never auto opt-in and always double opt-in.
Never sell your customer data to others.
Do not buy third-party customer data.
Have clear policies and systems to secure the data you collect.
Provide an easy path to opt out and delete data if requested.
Ask Ourselves: If this was my friend, child, or spouse's information, how would I want it to be used?
3) Fact Transparency | To make things simple, marketers often work to summarize key differentiators and opinions into facts. If you've heard the story of the "four out of five doctors agree," you'll know that facts don't always tell the whole story. To provide transparency to facts:
Never state claims in a way that is misleading or manipulative.
Cite all sources of data.
Provide ready access to data to the public.
Provide both the questions asked and the number of respondents for surveys or focus groups used to make claims.
Always provide the date when the research or study was done.
Ask Ourselves: If someone read our claim and reviewed the supporting data, would they agree with our claim? If someone read the subtext to our claim, would it change the meaning of our claim?
4) Identify Advertising | The lines between editorial and advertising content have become blurry, with modern channels looking to profit from advertising. Any time you pay to have content shared or promoted, it's advertising. To consistently call out advertising in your marketing strategies:
Only work with media outlets that clearly label native advertising.
Assure influencers lead with advertising statements if they are being paid to promote.
Be transparent if you pay a spokesperson, expert, or customer to speak on your behalf.
Ask Ourselves: If someone saw this, would they clearly know that we paid for them to see it?
5) Prove What You Say | Brands often look to save customers time, money, resources, or a combination of these three core needs. One trick in the book is to use keywords that leave customers feeling the impression they can save these things that may or may not be based in fact. To prove what you say:
Drop the jargon and adjectives like clean, easy, organic, simple, world-class, green, first ever. If you do use these, back them up with proof.
Use third-party validation of claims you make (e.g., independent ranking lists or outside standards).
If you say you save time, money, or resources, be specific on how much and how you came to this conclusion.
Refrain from claiming a product or service does something it can not do today - sometimes called vaporware.
Ask Ourselves: How would we prove these words if asked today?
6) Sustainable Marketing | Forests have likely been killed to produce collateral that ended up in trash bins. Outside of the ethics around the words and images, marketers should ensure that their work has a minimal impact on our environment. I believe doing this is a critical element of any marketing ethics program and could likely write a whole blog on the topic, but in the meantime, consider the following when creating a sustainable marketing operation:
Go digital.
When you have to produce physical content, find ways to do so in sustainable ways.
Measure the carbon footprint of your marketing operations and set goals to reduce it.
Make sustainability a criterion for vendor selection.
Ask Ourselves: Are we considering the environmental impact of how we are executing our marketing operations? Can we reduce waste in how we do this?
Doing the right thing is easy when someone can show us a clear path forward. If every marketer in the world committed to these six pillars, we could trust what we read and ultimately better serve the needs of our customers, communities, and planet.
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