Online advertising has changed a lot in the last years, the more important it becomes the more dangerous it becomes to society.
How dangerous is the new style of online advertising?
On a scale from 1-5, online advertising seems to be a 4. Although it might seem harmless, the way some companies gain information on others is one that might not be as obvious as it seems. In an article written by the American Marketing Association they talk about a breath of privacy Facebook committed. They talk about how they had users take a quiz and that “only 305,000 people participated” but “their friends also had their profiles scraped, bringing the estimated number of those affected to 87 million” (Steimer, 2019). Facebook didn’t disclose this but shared the information to others, having their ads target individuals that didn’t even sign up for it.
Marketing connects everyone.
How do we fight against this? Create a code of ethics.
In order to protect peoples privacy we have to implement a code of ethics for marketing and advertising. One of the best outlines to follow is the American Marketing Associations code of ethics.
Creating no harm is the most important thing to do so we should implement the rules as follow.
- Be honest with what you want to gain.
- Make those decisions which you will be willing to take responsibility for.
- Be fair and balance what the seller is trying to gain versus what the consumer wants.
- Understand that we are all human; stakeholders, consumers, sellers, and yourselves.
- Create the trust you would like to have towards others.
- Create a marketing/advertising space where you will benefit the world, not the companies or yourself only.
- Listen to the constructive criticism provided by both consumers and stakeholders. Don’t just act on what you want, but think about others.
- Do no harm. This applies to yourself and your reputation, the consumers and their livelihood, and the sellers and their wishes.
Understanding we are all human will help create a more safe space for marketing.
The code of ethics provided above is one that will help people create better people with better ethics and values. On an article written on Investopedia by Adam Hayes they talk about how important having value and a code of ethic is. They touch lightly on how every career has different ones but they all do have a set of rules to follow. They say “Promote the integrity and viability of the global capital markets for the ultimate benefit of society” (Hayes, 2021). This is because at the end of it all, we are trying to create a better world for everyone not just ourselves. The marketing techniques used in this current age are dangerous but by setting standards and implementing rules we can create a more safe space.
CITATIONS
Codes of Conduct: AMA statement of ethics. (2019, October 24). Retrieved May 09, 2021, from https://www.ama.org/codes-of-conduct/
Hayes, A. (2021, May 07). How codes of ethics work. Retrieved May 09, 2021, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/code-of-ethics.asp
Steimer, S. (2019, December 12). The murky ethics of data gathering in a POST-CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA WORLD. Retrieved May 09, 2021, from https://www.ama.org/marketing-news/the-murky-ethics-of-data-gathering-in-a-post-cambridge-analytica-world/
Overview of the AMA Code of Ethics. (2016, January 18). Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/overview-of-the-ama-code-of-ethics.html.
