ABSTRACT
Ethics in business stress the importance of truth and justice in all spheres of business activity; it concerns advertising, public relations, communications, social responsibility, consumer interests, corporate behavior abroad, and even the question of the propriety of the power of large corporate size. Puffery is legally defined as "advertising or other sales representations which praise the item to be sold with subjective opinions, superlatives or exaggerations, vaguely and generally, stating no specific facts". The health and safety of Americans, as well as people worldwide, depend a great deal on the quality of products manufactured by transnational corporations. Corporations frequently give unethical, but not necessarily illegal, kickbacks, often in the form of Christmas "gifts", to purchasing agents. Unethical practices among business competitors are probably as harmful to competition as the corporations' failure to comply with government regulations. Problems of corporate ethics and illegal behavior are sometimes reflected in the relations of giant corporations with local communities.
