Abstract
The field of marketing and consumer ethics has evolved considerably over the past 20 years, yet research on specific areas of advertising ethics remains limited. This limitation persists despite developments in digital technologies, and the impact they have had on advertising practice generally and online advertising more specifically. Online media are becoming increasingly populated by advertising content, as consumers continuously navigate ever-evolving mediascapes. Thus, there is a need to examine the ethical issues associated with the use of controversial advertising online, as well as consumers’ responses to such ads. This special thematic symposium addresses this literature gap, which is at the intersection of consumer ethics, e-marketing, and controversial advertising. The two papers in the special thematic symposium present new research in this area, along with some initial ethical implications as well as potential for future research.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Appadurai, A. (1990). Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. Theory, Culture & Society, 7(2), 295–310. doi:10.1177/026327690007002017.
Bakir, A., & Vitell, S. (2010). The ethics of food advertising targeted toward children: Parental viewpoint. Journal of Business Ethics, 91(2), 299–311. doi:10.1007/s10551-009-0084-2.
Beltramini, R. F. (2006). Consumer believability of information in direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs. Journal of Business Ethics, 63(4), 333–343. doi:10.1007/s10551-005-4711-2.
Benet, S., Pitts, R. E., & LaTour, M. (1993). The appropriateness of fear appeal use for health care marketing to the elderly: Is it OK to scare granny? Journal of Business Ethics, 12(1), 45–55. doi:10.1007/BF01845786.
Camenisch, P. F. (1991). Marketing ethics: Some dimensions of the challenge. Journal of Business Ethics, 10(4), 245–248. doi:10.1007/BF00382961.
Charters, D. (2002). Electronic monitoring and privacy issues in business-marketing: The ethics of the doubleclick experience. Journal of Business Ethics, 35(4), 243–254. doi:10.1023/A:1013824909970.
Cunningham, A. (2003). Autonomous consumption: Buying into the ideology of capitalism. Journal of Business Ethics, 48(3), 229–236. doi:10.1023/B:BUSI.0000005784.48184.d6.
Dahl, D. W., Frankenberger, K. D., & Manchanda, R. V. (2003). Does it pay to shock? Reactions to shocking and nonshocking advertising content among university students. Journal of Advertising Research, 43(03), 268–280. doi:10.1017/S0021849903030332.
Dens, N., De Pelsmacker, P., & Janssens, W. (2008). Exploring consumer reactions to incongruent mild disgust appeals. Journal of Marketing Communications, 14(4), 249–269. doi:10.1080/13527260802141231.
eMarketer. (2014). Online Ad spending in europe topped €27 billion in 2013. May 29. http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Online-Ad-Spending-Europe-Topped-euro27-Billion-2013/1010870
Erdogan, B. Z. (2008). Controversial advertising. Journal of Marketing Communications, 14(4), 247–248. doi:10.1080/13527260802141462.
Fam, K. S., & Waller, D. S. (2003). Advertising controversial products in the Asia Pacific: What makes them offensive? Journal of Business Ethics, 48(3), 237–250. doi:10.1023/B:BUSI.0000005785.29778.83.
Google. (2015). Sensitive Ad categories. https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/3016445?hl=en
Hackley, C. E., & Kitchen, P. J. (1999). Ethical perspectives on the postmodern communications Leviathan. Journal of Business Ethics, 20(1), 15–26. doi:10.1023/A:1005933424439.
Henthorne, T. L., & LaTour, M. S. (1995). A model to explore the ethics of erotic stimuli in print advertising. Journal of Business Ethics, 14(7), 561–569. doi:10.1007/BF00871984.
Hunt, S. D., & Vitell, S. J. (2006). The general theory of marketing ethics: A Revision and three questions. Journal of Macromarketing, 26(2), 143–153. doi:10.1177/0276146706290923.
Hyman, M. (2009). Responsible Ads: A workable ideal. Journal of Business Ethics, 87(2), 199–210. doi:10.1007/s10551-008-9879-9.
Linton, J. D., & Walsh, S. T. (2012). Introduction to the field of nanotechnology ethics and policy. Journal of Business Ethics, 109(4), 547–549. doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1428-x.
Maes, J. D., Jeffery, A., & Smith, T. V. (1998). The American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As) standards of practice: How far does this professional association’s code of ethics’ influence reach? Journal of Business Ethics, 17(11), 1155–1161. doi:10.1023/A:1005790324722.
Nairn, A., & Berthon, P. (2003). Creating the customer: The influence of advertising on consumer market segments—evidence and ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 42(1), 83–99. doi:10.1023/A:1021620825950.
Nebenzahl, I. D., & Jaffe, E. D. (1998). Ethical dimensions of advertising executions. Journal of Business Ethics, 17(7), 805–815. doi:10.1023/A:1005850812845.
Nwachukwu, S. L. S., Vitell, S. J., Gilbert, F. W. & Barnes, J. H. (1997). Ethics and social responsibility in marketing: An examination of the ethical evaluation of advertising strategies. Journal of Business Research, 39(2), 107–118. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296396001464
Palmer, D. E. (2005). Pop-ups, cookies, and spam: Toward a deeper analysis of the ethical significance of internet marketing practices. Journal of Business Ethics, 58(1–3), 271–280. doi:10.1007/s10551-005-1421-8.
Polonsky, M. J., Bailey, J., Baker, H., Basche, C., Jepson, C., & Neath, L. (1998). Communicating environmental information: Are marketing claims on packaging misleading? Journal of Business Ethics, 17(3), 281–294. doi:10.1023/A:1005731914135.
Sandikci, O. (2001). Living with contradictions: Representational politics and politics of representation in advertising. Advances in Consumer Research, 28(1), 309–314. http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/8496/volumes/v28/NA-28
Schroeder, J. E., & Borgerson, J. L. (2005). An ethics of representation for international marketing communication. International Marketing Review, 22(5), 578–600. doi:10.1108/02651330510624408.
Shaver, D. (2003). Toward an analytical structure for evaluating the ethical content of decisions by advertising professionals. Journal of Business Ethics, 48(3), 291–300. doi:10.1023/B:BUSI.0000005787.46742.93.
Snyder, W. (2011). Making the case for enhanced advertising ethics. Journal of Advertising Research, 51(3), 477–483. http://www.jar.warc.com/ArticleCenter/default.asp?ID=95186&Type=Article
Spurgin, E. W. (2003). What’s wrong with computer-generated images of perfection in advertising? Journal of Business Ethics, 45(3), 257–268. doi:10.1023/A:1024155629554.
Stead, B. A., & Gilbert, J. (2001). Ethical issues in electronic commerce. Journal of Business Ethics, 34(2), 75–85. doi:10.1023/A:1012266020988.
Vitell, S. J. (2001). Introduction to special issue on marketing ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 32(1), 1–2. doi:10.1023/A:1010686807048.
Vitell, S. J. (2003). Consumer ethics research: Review, synthesis and suggestions for the future. Journal of Business Ethics, 43(1), 33–47. doi:10.1023/A:1022907014295.
Vitell, S., Bing, M., Davison, H., Ammeter, A., Garner, B., & Novicevic, M. (2009). Religiosity and moral identity: The mediating role of self-control. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(4), 601–613. doi:10.1007/s10551-008-9980-0.
Vitell, S. J., Singhapakdi, A., & Thomas, J. (2001). Consumer ethics: An application and empirical testing of the Hunt–Vitell theory of ethics. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 18(2), 153–178. doi:10.1108/07363760110386018.
Waller, D. (2006). A proposed response model for controversial advertising. Journal of Promotion Management, 11(2/3), 3–16. doi:10.1300/J057v11n02_02.
Wilson, A., & West, C. (1981). The marketing of ‘Unmentionables’. Harvard Business Review, 59(1), 91–102. Available from: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=15e6b122-a36c-4045-9b8a-ed6f90eea146%40sessionmgr4001&vid=24&hid=4114
Wong, K. L. (1996). Tobacco advertising and children: The limits of first amendment protection. Journal of Business Ethics, 15(10), 1051–1064. doi:10.1007/BF00412046.
Acknowledgments
We would like to express our gratitude to the reviewers who helped with the reviewing process and provided constructive comments to the authors of this special symposium. Furthermore, we extend our appreciation to the editorial office for their continuous support. Finally, we would like to thank the section editor, Professor Thomas Maak, for giving us the opportunity to organize this special thematic symposium.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Moraes, C., Michaelidou, N. Introduction to the Special Thematic Symposium on the Ethics of Controversial Online Advertising. J Bus Ethics 141, 231–233 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2754-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2754-6