Labor Day thoughts: morality, ethics, and online marketing

On a day that celebrates the American worker and the careers that we pursue, I think it's fitting to step back for a moment and look at the big picture about what we do for a living.

I first got started on this train of thought thanks to a post by Mark Hurst on the Good Experience blog.  Mark asks readers to ponder the value of the work you do -- not in a monetary sense, but in a "are you making a difference?" sort of way.  It's a great question many people don't examine much -- maybe because they're afraid they'll come to a conclusion that upsets them.

Here's the portion of Mark's blog post that really rattled me:

Julian Koenig, one of the most accomplished ad men of the 20th century (he was even referenced on "Mad Men"), was featured in a recent episode of my favorite radio show, "This American Life." Now at an age when he's looking back on his life and career, he had this to say about his profession:

Advertising is built on puffery, on, at heart, deception. I don't think anyone can go proudly into the next world with a career built on deception, no matter how well they do it.

That's quite a statement about your business, after a career that spans decades. And it speaks volumes about the methods and intent of advertising, that all-American activity.

Wow, what a powerful statement -- "advertising is built on deception at heart."  I'll bet Koenig would extend his statement idea to many digital marketing techniques too.  Just a few examples:

• Search engine optimization is an area of online marketing that many call into question on ethical grounds.  Critics would say the entire purpose of SEO is trying to "game" the search engines into showing your page at the top of the results.  They'd argue that whether or not you're using black hat techniques like keyword stuffing, mirror websites, cloaking, and link farms is irrelevant.  You're still trying to get your company to the top of the results by altering your website's content.
• In the B2B world especially, online lead generation is becoming a huge business.  In many cases it can be completely innocent -- but the line gets fuzzy.  When can a lead be turned over to a marketer?  Does the prospect need to explicitly express interest in the marketer's product?  What about so-called "soft leads" where the prospect took an action or matches a profile that's of interest to the marketer?
• Email marketing has its own set of ethical dilemmas.  Opt-in, double opt-in, confirmed opt-in, opt-out?  If the fine print of a company's privacy policy says it's allowed to do something with your information, are they really allowed to do it?  For example, the FTC recently ruled in a settlement with Sears that language buried deep within a privacy policy, even if completely accurate, may not be enough notice to consumers.

You could easily add dozens or hundreds of issues to this list, since advertising and marketing will always come under some sort of ethical scrutiny.  But my point here isn't to have an academic debate about the ethics of online marketing.  Instead I want to address the deeper questions Mark Hurst posed in his blog on behalf of online marketers. Can we make a difference?  Can we do good with our advertising and marketing careers?

A lot of people would start by saying you should do work you can be proud of.  Are you just cranking out what Mark Hurst calls "sorta-kinda deceptive ad copy," or do you truly believe in the products you sell?  For example, the late Billy Mays and his TV show PitchMen comes to mind.  In several episodes of PitchMen, Billy talked about how he wouldn't sell a product unless he believed in it passionately.  He did his own testing, trying the products himself or finding people who could give him their feedback on a product.  He only agreed to pitch the products he believed in.  (Of course after Billy's death, his passion for a different sort of product -- cocaine -- came to light in the autopsy.)  But very few people get to hand-pick the products they're advertising or marketing, like Billy Mays did.  So where does that leave us?

I've had several recent discussions about this topic with some very smart people.  One of them called my attention to a quote that really struck me.  The quote is from 4th century philosopher and theologian Augustine of Hippo, also known as St. Augustine.  He said: "Love God, and do what you will."  So how does that apply to this big-picture question about marketing?

• I think St. Augustine gives us a beautiful perspective of life in general.  Not everyone can have jobs that give you the warm and fuzzy "I make a fundamental difference in people's lives daily" sort of feeling.  If everyone was a pediatrician or a teacher or an attorney defending the environment, who would do the other stuff in our world?  Who would build roads, who would keep our money safe, who would serve us at restaurants, etc.?  So just because many online marketing jobs (or other jobs) don't make a fundamental difference in people's lives doesn't mean they're unworthy.
  
• Many people will look at the "do what you will" part of this quote, and take it as meaning they can do whatever they want, no matter the ethics.  "St. Augustine said I can do what I will, and I want to defraud people" is not a valid approach.  You need to look at the entire quote.
  
• St. Augustine is saying that if you love God first and foremost, anything you choose to do with your life will be a result of that love -- so you won't be able to choose a path in life that's wrong.  If you truly love God, you won't put yourself in an occupation that isn't morally or ethically ok.  You won't kill people or steal from them for a living.  And if, for example, your boss begins to ask you to do immoral or unethical things, you'll refuse to do them (and even quit your job if necessary).
• Even if you don't come from a religious background or have faith in God, you can still take a similar approach with your career.  Although it's not quite as powerful in my opinion, saying "Do good unto others, and do what you will" is still a great philosophy to guide you.
  

Most online marketers might not feel like their job makes a huge difference in people's lives every day.  But don't hang your head, my fellow marketers, because what you're doing for a living can be good.  Take St. Augustine's words to heart in everything you do, and you'll have a compass to guide you.