"The Ethics 20 Questions"
Discussion Draft For Public Comment

All Comments

Shel Horowitz - business-ethics-pledge.org

This is a wonderful document; I'm quite impressed.

I especially like #8: Do we forbid the use of expressly deceptive practices from our employees/advocates, such as impersonating consumers; concealing their true identities; or lying about factors such as age, gender, race, familiarity with or use of product, or other circumstances intended to enhance the credibility of the advocate while deliberately misleading the public?

In short, if this is adopted, it makes it very clear that any buzz marketer with a vested interest has a responsibility to disclose that interest.

As the author of Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First (a book that demonstrates how high ethics standards can drive business success) and as a blogger who regularly looks at these issues ( http://principledprofit.com/good-business-blog/ ), I find this very encouraging. It also fits in very well with the Business Ethics Pledge campaign at http://www.business-ethics-pledge.org , through which I hope to eventually make unethical practices as unthinkable as slavery is today.

October 27, 2006