The Organizational Ethics of Advertising: Corporate and Agency Views

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This investigation focused on the ethical perceptions that advertising practitioners, advertising agency account managers, and corporate advertising managers hold regarding members of their organizations and members of organizations they work with on a regular basis. In addition to assessing their own ethical beliefs and actions, advertising practitioners were requested to assess the ethical beliefs and actions of peers and superiors. Also, advertising agency respondents assessed the ethical beliefs and actions of corporate advertising managers, and corporate advertising manager respondents assessed the ethical beliefs and actions of their advertising agencies. Results indicate that respondents believe they hold significantly higher ethical standards than their peers. On the other hand, respondents believe that they hold lower or the same ethical standards as top management. Corporate advertising practitioners believe their advertising agency counterparts hold lower ethical standards than their own. The converse of this relationship does not hold true. Advertising agency practitioners do not feel corporate advertising practitioners have lower ethical standards.