Here’s a short story as we consider ethics in marketing.
Imagine heading to the airport to pick up someone, perhaps family members. Think of being in the airport and doing a simple Google search for the flight number so you can check the status. However, what you get is more information than you bargained for when you look at your phone screen. You get to see the flight status, their names, and seats. How does that information come up in a search? Google, the search engine, pulled the data from Gmail. This, of course, is a true story and now something that brings a host of ethics issues in the age of AI.
In 2019, Dennis Shiao wrote exactly this story for an article for the Content Marketing Institute. In many ways, what happened at the airport as he went to pick up his wife and daughter was only the beginning of how AI could become a creepy invader of privacy. You see, since 2019, AI has continued to expand its capabilities at an exponential rate. In short, AI doubles its capacity every 3.4 months. Yet, from 1959 to 2012, it was every two years. Think about that. It’s truly incredible.
The Power of Technology
The reality is that marketing is big business. It’s one of the essential elements of any business organization. And, in the digital age, you need bright people who understand how technology is vital for storytelling. Of course, storytelling is at the core of what you share to promote a business or nonprofit, gain a community, and call people to act. So, what does ethics in marketing mean today?
For decades, nonprofits have bought lists of names to acquire new marketing leads. Is that ethical in the age of big data? How about social good organizations looking into the backgrounds of their donors in profound and perhaps even invasive ways? In short, artificial intelligence now has the power to analyze everything any person has ever done digitally and provide those results to third parties.
Consider the next loan you want for your business, education, or home. Artificial intelligence is now powerful enough not only to review everything you’ve done digitally. But, it also ranks you in comparison to other loan-takers and predicts whether you’re going to be a reasonable risk for the bank. Also, based on your digital footprint, AI is the one that determines the loan amount—if any—and not a loan officer. In short, platforms exist that take out humans entirely from the decision process. So, if that happens with loans, the same capabilities occur with marketing platforms. And that’s why ethics in marketing matters.
What is Ethics in Marketing?
As noted, artificial intelligence and technology have enormous power. But, sensibilities have also changed. Because of hacking incidences and private information disseminated across the internet, people have gotten sufficiently upset that governments now pay attention. For example, the GDPR was one of the first privacy laws. Although it was European, it affected organizations and their marketing efforts in the U.S.
As we know, nonprofits and businesses have to adhere to privacy rules when marketing and doing business with information from subscribers. However, U.S. states have also joined the bandwagon, and governments worldwide are now much more skeptical of the power of technology. Slowly, everyone is starting to understand that technology and its ability are upending how we do things, and people need protection.
As it relates to ethics in marketing, people are seeking ways to define it for business. For example, as Shiao noted in his article, the company Skyword suggests the following. “Ethical marketing is all about doing the right thing as a business, doing the right thing in marketing, and using marketing to emphasize that you are doing the right thing.” I would add something more to that definition. I would say that ethical marketing involves putting people first.
How to Do Right by People
Again, technology’s taking humans on an entirely new journey that we’ve never experienced. It’s almost as if tech allows leaders to find out whatever they want, like requesting it from a tech genie and then getting it. When you think of it, it’s incredible to think that companies could get a lot of information from a marketing perspective on people—very granular—than most people realize.
Business leadership has to do right by the people they work with and their supporters. Meaning, in every aspect of their organizations, including marketing, they have to lean into ethics. And that means placing the needs of humans first—above all else. As it relates to data and information, it also means being protective of it. Marketing officers should work closely with tech teams to safeguard information.
When it comes to marketing, the storytelling should be genuine and shared in ways that are responsive to people. Sure, we live in a world of algorithms, but not every decision should get geared to ranking high on SEO, for example. Moreover, leaders need to get informed about the power of technology to understand the platforms they bring into their operations. And lastly, they need to ensure someone on their team is quarterbacking efforts to ensure that tech works on behalf of humans and not the other way around.
© 2021 Wayne Elsey. All Rights Reserved.