ABSTRACT
Whenever we make moral decisions, we affect other people. In fact, anyone who is affected by our decisions or has some effect on us could be considered a stakeholder—or, in the language of ethics, a moral claimant. The theory of functional/moral obligation suggests that, especially in client-based professions such as advertising and public relations, obvious functional obligations to serve the client's interests sometimes substitute for less obvious moral obligations to third parties, typically out of a sense of short-term positive outcomes for both the client and the client's agent. Although there are many subtle and varying levels of power within any relationship, the parties involved usually recognize when they have the upper hand and when they do not. Each decision with ethical implications brings with it certain obligations. Obligation usually implies a bond, either legal, social, or moral—an owing of something to someone or something.
