ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING MODELS AND RULES 559Ethical decision-making models and rules
Diff erent views can be held on how to apply ethical decision-making in marketing (com-
munications).^14 Under the caveat emptor rule, anything is allowed that maximises profi ts
within the law. Th is view implies that the law is the only benchmark for ethical behaviour,
and that what is legal must therefore also be ethical. Th e ethics code view strives for standards
on the basis of which companies’ and industries’ ethical performance is judged, or at least
to which they aspire. Th is set of standards oft en contains ethical guidelines that go further
than the law. In the consumer sovereignty approach, ethical marketing decisions are deter-
mined by the answer to three important questions. Is the target market vulnerable in ways
that limit consumer decision-making (consumer capability) and are consumers’ expectations at
purchase likely to be realised? Do consumers have suffi cient information to judge (consumer
information) and can consumers go elsewhere? Would they incur substantial costs or incon-
venience by transferring their loyalty (consumer choice)? Finally, there is the caveat venditor
principle which implies that the maximisation of consumer satisfaction or well-being should
be the ultimate aim of marketing action. Th is point of view is the most ethical one in that its
ultimate benchmark is doing everything in the best interest of the consumers.
A survey of 206 US advertising professionals studied the relative infl uence of four factors
on decision-making about advertising content and policy. In general, legal considerations
were found to be the most important. Overall, ethical issues appeared to be of minor import-
ance, except for the oldest age group, for which they were the most important. Approval of
management and peers and business considerations appeared to be moderately important,
except for the youngest age group, who felt that the latter was the most important.^15 A multi-
country study of the opinion of advertising professionals about ethics in advertising revealed
that ethical limits seem to be restricted to the codes of ethics, legislation, habits and customs,
but not to natural law (common sense) or people’s values and beliefs.^16
Others hold that any marketing communications decision should in any case be legal,
decent, honest and truthful. Legal means that it should be allowed under the current regula-
tions and laws of the country in which the company operates. Decent means that it should
not contain anything that is likely to cause widespread off ence, fear or distress; for instance,
the use of shocking claims or images for the sake of creating attention should be avoided,
unless a valid and acceptable reason is given. Honest and truthful implies that it should not
exploit inexperience or lack of knowledge of consumers; no claims should be made which are
inaccurate, ambiguous or intended to mislead whether through explicit statement or throughDurex ran a TV campaign on MTV across Europe in 2001. One of the ads featured an enormous sperm-like crowd
following a man walking down the street to meet his girlfriend. When the couple meet, the sperm crowd gets
blocked by a huge latex wall. The sperm get trapped in a huge condom, after which the baseline ‘Durex: For a
Hundred Million Reasons’ appears. Since most US TV channels do not permit condom advertising, Durex ran a radio
campaign in the USA instead. The ads were made up of playful interviews with couples who talked about their
sexual experiences. For example, in one ad a girl giggled, ‘We were on vacation and I lifted my skirt’, to which her
boyfriend responds, ‘Yeah, I think she was in her exhibitionist phase then.’ Due to media availability, ad theme and
ad execution were completely different for Europe and the USA.^13BUSINESS INSIGHT
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