Is there an ethical problem with marketing?
The short answer is no, there is no ethical problem with marketing. Marketing is the combination of two things. It is the megaphone in the hands of a spokesperson and the words coming out of his mouth. In other very simple words, marketing is a medium plus a message. The problems we encounter today have to do with questionable mediums, and the questionable ways they use information, or questionable messages. These then stem from ethical problems with consumerism.

So, really this post should have been titled ‘Is there an ethical problem with consumerism?’ and the short answer to that is yes, there really is an ethical problem with consumerism. And since marketing amplifies the message and impact of consumerism, there is a problem with marketing by extension. Let’s briefly look at some of the issues with consumerism and what that means for marketing.
The biggest problem with consumerism is simply that it is not sustainable for the future of our planet. Consumerism can be seen as the overarching issue behind most of our environmentally destructive behaviour. The problems with the production and accumulation of material and possessions are already rather familiar to us, but we have to focus just as much on the problems of food and travel. We consume too much food, bafflingly ineffectively and our meat production and eating habits are not only unethical but also one of our single biggest environmental issues. And as travel is the new ‘family and kids’, we can see how the trend of choosing experiences over material didn’t necessarily take us to a better place.
There is another big issue with consumerism that has to do with our inner life. Consuming in its various forms is addictive and harmful to our wellbeing. It drives us further away from nature, each other, and ourselves. It locks us into a world of make-believe identities, fabricated lives and false values. It is very alluring to think that the answers to our problems can be found in stores and exotic places, but it’s a form of running away. The call-to-action of consumerism is almost impossible to resist because it touches our psyche on a very primal level. And one of the scariest aspects is that there are people whose job it is day in and day out to study that psyche and find ways to lure it in. It doesn’t matter whether they work in product design or marketing, the whole system has become a not-so-jolly giant that we’re struggling to contain.
Okay, so there is a lot of bad stuff out there, but what about the good stuff? Well, the good of it all is that there are good products and there is good marketing. Good marketing can serve a business, an individual and the community. Although the unavoidable bottom line is that you have to have a good product to do that. You can’t really do good or ethical marketing with a bad product. If you have a product that is produced to truly help and enrich the lives of people and protect the environment, you’re half way there. It should also make marketing effortless, because a good product sells itself.
Even with a good product, we need to be mindful of when and where we reach our customers and how we obtain the information necessary to do that. Not to mention the importance of approaching them with a respectful message that aims to offer them the information needed to make decisions for themselves rather than manipulate them into obtaining things they don’t need. Unfortunately the wast majority of marketing does not meet these criteria and even if it’s not right, it’s understandable. The marketplace is busting out of it’s seams, the plethora of messages out there is mind-boggling and it is really hard to get people’s attention. Marketing is done mostly by stressed out people, under pressure, trying to meet KPIs. It’s human and we have to allow for that.
I have an example of good marketing though. I love Instagram and when they first introduced adds, I was concerned. Now, I have to admit that I’m not fully comfortable with how much information they have on me and how the messages they offer me are creating a filter bubble effect, but they have done excellent targeting by bringing good products to the eyes of the ‘right’ person. Every day I see adds for sustainable clothes, kick-starter innovations, environmentally friendly baby products, and so on. They have zoned in on what I want to see and found a way to present it to me in a respectful manner. The adds on Instagram don’t bother me at all, in fact I look forward to seeing the products that are out there. And that is simply wonderful for all parties involved. This is probably not everyone’s experience, and it’s likely I’m a customer type that is easy for them to pin down, but it means there is hope.
So, the take away from these mutterings is that marketing can be very hard but there is a way to do it ethically and to do it well. Marketing shouldn’t be about getting people to endlessly buy your product, especially if it’s a bad product, it should be about getting the right message out, to the right people, in the right way. So, in order to be a respectable marketeer, you need to have a good product as well as brains, tact and restraint.
And when it comes to consumerism, well, that’s on all of us. The consumerism machine is just giving the people what they want. The only way to fix that is to look in the mirror and start looking for answers inside rather than outside. The fix is to realise that we don’t need to consume to feel good about ourselves and our lives. Products should serve us, not take over our lives. We need to be the ones to close the door and say ‘no more needless things, no more harmful things’. It comes down to realising that our lives are made good by who we are, not by what we own, wear, or consume. Although, when those choices are right and far in between, the things we choose to obtain can support our lives in the right way.
