“Marketing Ethics” refers to the moral principles that guide the conduct and operation of marketing. There are two main types: positive, which involves conducting marketing in a way that promotes societal welfare, and normative, which focuses on the moral judgment and standards marketers should adhere to. Key ethical frameworks include duty-based theories, virtue ethics, and utilitarianism. Marketing ethics also span various issues such as targeting vulnerable audiences, exclusion from the market, pricing ethics, and advertising[1] ethics. It often intersects with environmental ethics and has extensive impacts on practices within industries like pharmaceuticals. These ethical considerations also influence the development and enforcement of marketing laws and regulations. At its worst, a lack of adherence to marketing ethics can lead to fraudulent and deceptive practices, adversely affecting vulnerable groups and manipulating consumer[2] perception.
Marketing ethics is an area of applied ethics which deals with the moral principles behind the operation and regulation of marketing. Some areas of marketing ethics (ethics of advertising and promotion) overlap with media and public relations ethics.