Page 203 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

Ethical Issues of Social Marketing and Persuasion 195

has arrived, but the infrastructure to distribute the food is not ready. If the
social marketer is honest and tells the media that the food has arrived, riot-
ers and looters will no doubt take or destroy the food supply, which would
be wasteful and unjust. The social marketer is forced to choose between
competing virtues: honesty versus stewardship and justice.

Religious Models

The four ethical schools of thought presented above are properly charac-
terized as mostly secular or civic. They are the product of moral reasoning,
based on human experience, and can be viewed as applying to and being
derived from nature or the world as opposed to any religious or sectarian
source. However, it is also relevant to recognize the extent to which reli-
gion contributes to the ethical standards observed in social marketing and
in the world more generally.
Because of the historical importance of trade, both within and between
communities, it has been natural for business people to seek moral guid-
ance from religious sources—and for religious leaders to provide such
guidance as representing divine instruction. In particular, the Judeo-
Christian, Confucian, Jewish, Islamic, and Buddhist religions all have ethi-
cal precepts at their core. (For a discussion of these religious models of
ethics, see Murphy et al., 2012, pp. 34–39.) Many believe that the world’s
religions have much to offer in terms of ethical guidance to marketers—es-
pecially to social marketers, most of whom intend to make the world a
better place through their endeavors. One concept that spans both the
religious and secular theories is the Golden Rule, which is discussed in
virtually every world religion (Dalla Costa, 1999). Its central idea is that
people should treat others in the manner that they would want others to
treat them in similar circumstances. In recognizing cultural influences on
human behavior, regardless of any individual’s own religious heritage, the
primary rules and principles of religious sources continue to be a domi-
nant force in the development and maintenance of worldwide social
norms. In fact, a significant minority of social marketing organizations still
maintain a strong religious heritage and foundation.
Again, none of the theories or approaches is a “magic bullet.” Many
people habitually tend to gravitate to one preferred approach to moral
reasoning. The authors recommend that social marketers become aware of
the approach(es) that they are using and then systematically analyze the
ethical dilemma using other approaches. When the approaches diverge,
social marketers should attempt to defend the approach or theory that
they have used for guidance.