ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with definitions of marketing and marketing ethics and examines key criticisms of marketing, especially those related to advertising and personal selling. Advertising traditionally has been defined as paid messages from an identified sponsor using mass media to persuade an audience. However, digital media have broadened and blurred the definition of advertising. The chapter discusses concepts and frameworks helpful in understanding why ethical behavior in marketing is challenging and then suggests ways to encourage responsible, ethical marketing. It focuses primarily on general criticisms of marketing tied to marketing communications—particularly advertising and personal selling. Personal selling involves face-to-face persuasion to sell a product. The drug companies spent $24 billion on marketing to doctors, in which personal selling expenditures dominated, and $3 billion marketing to consumers largely through direct-to-consumer advertising. A number of charges revolve around marketing's, and especially advertising's, ability to create, or at least reinforce, problematic stereotypes.
