Michael Carrington, the CEO of the Ice-Fire Security Corporation pushed his marketing division into developing a hard-hitting marketing campaign that included several new aggressive strategies. At one level the marketing executives launched a telemarketing promotion using a customer list that Ice-Fire had purchased from several publishers who kept track of buyers interested in the types services and products provided by Ice-Fire. Whenever a potential customer responded favorably to the telemarketer’s call, he or she was placed on the company’s direct mail advertising list. The direct mail department then generated a series of mailings, each of which included a document that cleverly produced a sheet of paper about the size of a dollar bill that appeared to be a valid check but which lacked one of the essential requirements of negotiability, such as the words, “Good only when applied to the purchase of . . .”
Clearly then the entire direct mail campaign was designed to provoke the customer to open the mail, be duped by the imitation check, and make a purchase that ends up costing more than it appeared, because of the implied message induced by the fictitious check. Is this publishers’ sale of the customer list ethical?
Is Ice-Fire’s purchase and use of the lists ethical? Is a campaign that targets susceptible customers ethical? Is the use of the simulated check ethical? Give reasons for each answer. Be consistent in your responses. If you have a difficult time being consistent, then your principle itself may be flawed. Try formulating a new guiding principle. If you’re stumped on the nature of a guiding principle, look back to the first chapter in the book, “Ethics, Social Responsibility, and the Law.” The information in that chapter should help you.