Ethical marketing decision making

Once again the issue of fashion companies using 'size zero' models was raised again this month. This time, Ralph Lauren were apparently found to be air brushing pictures of model Filippa Hamilton-Palmstierna in a poster ad running in a Japanese department store.

The picture made her so skinny that her head appeared wider than her pelvis. Since then a similar case seems to have come to light, with the potential of further damaging Ralph Lauren's image.

One interesting thing for me is that the story was broken by the blog Photoshop Disasters, with the mainstream media (including news websites, the press and TV) picking up on the story. It's clear that blogging is already a significant issue for larger organisations in particular, and keeping an eye on the blogosphere is essential.

But perhaps most significantly, it reminds us that ethics is an issue that can catch us out if we are not careful. I remember sitting in the office of a sales manager who had been sent (in error) the email addresses of every member of his industry associations. He shouldn't have been sent it, and certainly he had not been given permission to use it.

To my horror, he was seriously considering using the list as the basis for an email campaign. I couldn't tell him what to do - he was an adult and it was his decision - but I did urge him to think carefully about the issues and risks involved.

In his world, as someone involved in sales in competitive industries for a number of years, he wasn't too concerned about the ethics of the situation. But he needed to think about what his industry association and the members on the list would think. I have also seen clients suggest that we make up customer testimonials, invent figures about their performance levels and so on.

The trouble is, ethics is rarely black and white. I may think that cigarette advertising is wrong, but do smokers agree? Meanwhile you may not like my niece going on a website that asks her to enter email addresses of family members, which are then used to send suggestions for Barbie-related presents, but it certainly helps me choose presents she will actually like.

There are a couple of useful ethical decision-making models out there (one from E Sternberg and one from LB Chonko), while NC Smith suggests a 'consumer sovereignty test'. Perhaps my favourite single suggestion from these is to look for an alternative whenever a difficult decision has to be made.

For example, rather than make up client testimonials can you find a real one, perhaps something as simple as some praise that was included in an email? Alternatively, it's usually easy to write a testimonial and send it to a client, asking if they will put their name to it. They nearly always do.

Another tip I like (suggested by GR Laczniak and PE Murphy) is to ask yourself: would I feel comfortable explaining this decision on TV? This really focuses the mind on whether what you are doing will be acceptable to your customers and others.

It's all about doing the thing that I think is central to most marketing activity: 'hopping the fence' into the world of your customers and other stakeholders.

I also think the greatest commodity to help us make suitable decisions is time. There's nothing quite like waiting a few hours or even a few days to reflect on a situation and get a wider perspective.