The John Smith Scenario..

"Should John Smith sell the names? Does the AMA Statement of Ethics address this issue?"

This would be a tough situation for John Smith because he has to make a tough decision: does he break the trust of the people he surveyed and sell the names? Or does he keep their privacy and lay off his own workers? If he breaks the privacy he gets to keep his employees on, but in turn could hurt the people he surveyed and in turn hurt his future business. The American Marketing Association has a Statement of Ethics pertaining to the actions of marketers. The marketers need to think of their actions, as abiding by the ethical standards, when dealing with customers, stakeholders, etc. John Smith is a marketer so yeah I would say the AMA addresses his issue.

I feel he shouldn’t sell the names. Selling off the information without alerting the people he surveyed would be unethical. The AMA Statement of Ethics talks about the “honesty to be forthright in dealing with customers”; if he wants to sell the names he should be honest and upfront with the 2,000 people. The Statement of Ethics also talks about the ethical norm of “Do Not Harm”. John would have to think about the people he could potentially be harming. Yes, some people might not care if they get contacted by the car dealership but some of the people might be hurt. If John told them he could ensure their privacy and he was only using their information for his benefit, and then he sold it off to a dealership, it could hurt some people. Then he would have to take responsibility for his actions (he has to take responsibility for all of his actions anyways), another point the AMA addresses.

I think if he really feels the pressure to earn the $8,000, he could call up the people he surveyed and get permission to give up their information. That process would be extremely time consuming but it would also be ethical. He would be honest with the 2,000 people by taking responsibility and hoping to cause little to no harm. I feel he shouldn’t sell off the names without abiding by that process; if it’s too time consuming for him and not worth it, then forget about the $8,000. What do you think? Should he sell off the names for his workers? Is it ethical?