Syracuse University SURFACE Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects Projects Spring 4-1-2007 Ethical Marketing Controversial Products and Promotional Practices Jared D. Cohen Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone Part of the Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons, and the Marketing Commons Recommended Citation Cohen, Jared D., "Ethical Marketing Controversial Products and Promotional Practices" (2007). Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects. 596. https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/596 This Honors Capstone Project is brought to you for free and open access by the Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Abstract In the field of business ethics, there has been much written and discussed about ethical matters in areas where there is a distinct right and wrong, but relatively little written about how to make decisions when the ethical issue isn’t as black and white. When marketing a product, it is one’s hope that ethical issues are typically not inherent to the marketer; however, when one has the unenviable task of marketing a controversial product, it becomes a true question of “gray- area” ethics that makes marketing decisions more difficult to make. Companies depend on marketing, as it is the one higher-level areas of corporate function that results in the sales of the actual product. In this particular situation, it becomes increasingly difficult for a marketer to make decisions about how to ethically promote their product to their customers while still being ethical in the decisions made.