This document discusses ethics in modern marketing. It begins by noting the large volume of content some marketers produce and questions whether marketing is inherently damaging to customers, competitors, or society. It then describes three types of unethical marketers - "cowboys" who act without regard for ethics, "wolves" who are predatory, and "fish" who go along with unethical practices. The document advocates that marketers should act as watchdogs for ethics and consider how their practices could harm users, and notes that ethical brands tend to outperform unethical ones. It provides several examples of companies that have faced backlash or lost users due to privacy issues or spreading misinformation. It poses hypothetical scenarios to

1. From to
Ethics in Modern Marketing
Liam Carnahan Director of Content at liam.carnahan@croud.com @liamcarnahan

2. The year was 2008...

3. 15
articles a day
WIRE CHAFING STANDS
300
words per
article
750K
words in 1
year

4. For the record...
This is only
444,414
words

5. Is marketing inherently evil?
Damaging
to
customers
Damaging
to
competitors
Damaging
to society

7. The Dangerous Equation
Cowboy Wolf Fish+ +

8. The Cowboy

9. The Wolf

10. “Congress calls out Amazon for
anti-vaccination
misinformation on Prime
video.
“Twitter is secretly holding on
to deleted direct messages.
“Google forced to reveal which
apps have microphones
following backlash.
“TikTok has been illegally
capturing children’s data.
“YouTube is heading for its
Cambridge Analytica moment.

12. A Fish
Property of Netflix

13. Every marketing operation is made up of a
bunch of small sparks.

15. If not us, who?Everyone in this room is an ethics watchdog.
Unfortunately, watchdogs aren’t popular.
However, a watchdog can save the day.

16. “July 26, 2018
Facebook loses $120bn in 1 day
”Up to 44% of young users in the US
deleted Facebook from their phones.

17. “May 2, 2018
Cambridge Analytica announces
immediate shutdown and
liquidation.
”Billy McFarland sentenced to 6 years
in federal prison

18. Being ethical is actually good for
your brand.

19. “92% of millennial consumers are
more likely to buy from ethical
brands.
”82% of all consumers believe that
ethical brands outperform those that
are unethical.

21. If the sheriff won’t do his job, take his job
yourself.
If you see a wolf in your midst, sound the
alarm.
Be the fish that swims upstream.

22. You are creating an advertisement set for a new
type of biscuit called “Sugaroos”. Your boss has
asked you to map out the bus routes for local
schools, so you can market the cookies to
children on bus ads and billboards.
Will you map the routes?

23. You are putting together a trailer for a new movie
targeted at teenaged boys. Your colleagues are
eager to cut as many scenes of women in bikinis
into the trailer as possible, because they want the
widest reach possible.
Will you ask them to reconsider?

24. You are the account manager for a new app that
helps married couples meet up for “swinging
parties”. The app allows for consent, but it also
uses very sexualized advertisements bordering
on pornography.
Do you agree to take on the account
management?

25. You work at a social media company, and you
notice that users click “accept” to your privacy
policy in under 5 seconds on average. You know
it takes nearly 5 minutes to read the privacy
policy.
Do you flag this issue?

26. You are in charge of email marketing campaigns
for your client. They complain that you are getting
too many unsubscribes, and want you to make
the already-small “Unsubscribe” button smaller
and harder to see.
Do you change the button?

27. Thank you.
Questions?
Liam Carnahan Director of Content at liam.carnahan@croud.com @liamcarnahan