Question

SCENARIO: Imagine a fictional social media firm called ShareMe. ShareMe is similar to Facebook; it is an online, virtual meeting place for friends and family to share photos, videos, and messages. With increased social media competition in the marketplace, ShareMe is struggling to stay profitable. Many advertisers are refusing to renew their ShareMe contracts for the upcoming calendar year. ShareMe currently has 300 employees. If ShareMe does not increase revenue this upcoming year, the firm will have to layoff 100 employees. ShareMe’s CEO and founder, Sara Smith, is thinking about utilizing ShareMe’s access to its users to sell users’ online behavioral data. In particular Sara is considering tracking users’ web surfing activities and selling the behavioral data to 20 different consumer packaged goods companies. This will provide enough revenue to keep all employees employed for the next year. When users join ShareMe, they must read and give consent to the ShareMe privacy statement. Currently, the ShareMe privacy statement discloses that user content on the ShareMe website could be sold to third parties, but there is no disclosure about ShareMe tracking and/or selling user web behavior outside the ShareMe website. Because she is nervous about users quitting ShareMe, Sara has decided that she will not update the privacy statement, and she will not alert current users about any changes if she chooses to track and sell the user web data.

1. If Sara chooses to track and sell ShareMe users’ web behavioral data, who would likely benefit the most?

A. Society, because marketing researchers never engage in unethical behavior.

B. The users, because the privacy statement is already too long.

C. Other social media firms, because they support web behavior tracking, too.

D. Advertisers, because they will start advertising at ShareMe more and at competing social media sites less.

E. Sara, because she will be able to earn more revenue for ShareMe, at least for the short term.

QUESTION 2. If Sara chooses to track and sell ShareMe users’ web behavioral data, who would likely suffer?

A. Sara, because if anyone finds out, she could get backlash from her current users.

B. The users, because they did not know their web surfing behavior outside of ShareMe would be collected and sold to a third party.

C. Social media firms, because people may be less trusting of all social media firms collecting unauthorized data.

D. The consumer packaged goods companies, because these companies may feel duped by ShareMe for providing data that users did not consent to.

E. All of the above

QUESTION 3. If Sara chooses NOT to track and sell users’ web behavioral data, who would likely suffer from this decision?

A. ShareMe users, because they will miss out on other social media firms’ offers if they remain users of ShareMe.

B. Sara’s employees, because she may have to layoff some of them (i.e., terminate their employment with the firm).

C. Society, because most people want to have their personal data tracked and sold to unknown third parties.

D. Consumer packaged goods companies, because in today’s world, there are very few ways to get access to consumer data.

E. All of the above.

QUESTION 4. Marketing practitioners like Sara are faced with an ethical decision when which of the following exists?

A. The probability of a harmful outcome is small.

B. There is a high degree of agreement among managerial peers that an action is harmful.

C. There is a perceived long amount of time between the action and the onset of negative consequences.

D. The magnitude of the consequences of the decision is minimal.

E. The potential number of persons harmed by a negative outcome is very small to none.

QUESTION 5. The decision Sara needs to make about whether to track and sell ShareMe users’ web data without disclosing to users does NOT provide an ethical dilemma. True or False

QUESTION 6. If Sara chooses to track and sell ShareMe users’ web data without disclosing to users, the rights, trust, and dignity of stakeholders (e.g., users, Sara’s employees, consumer packaged goods companies) will be compromised. True OR False

QUESTION 7. What action do you recommend Sara take?

A. Sara should track and sell the web data, but only if the consumer packaged goods companies promise not to share with any other parties.

B. Sara should track and sell the web data, but only if she informs and obtains consent before she does so.

C. Sara should track and sell the web data, but only behavioral data from nonprofit company’s websites.

D. Sara should only track and sell her employees’ web surfing data.

E. Sara should NEVER track and sell any user data.

QUESTION 8. What action is NOT appropriate for Sara to take? (What should she NOT do?)

A. Sara finds other ways to increase revenue quickly.

B. Sara upholds the current privacy statement users agreed to when joining.

C. Sara repositions ShareMe’s online services to reach additional target markets and drums up new business/customers.

D. Sara tracks and sells ShareMe users’ web data this year - just this one time to keep from laying off 100 employees - but she promises herself she will never do it again.

E. All of the above are appropriate actions for Sara to take. 4.175 points QUESTION 9 9. Sara’s decision about whether to track and sell ShareMe users’ web data without disclosing to users should be based on the decision that does the most good and the least harm for all stakeholders. True or False

QUESTION 10. If Sara does begin tracking and selling ShareMe users’ web data without disclosing to users, how is she violating the marketing concept?

A. If users find out about tracking and selling their data without informing them, Sara could be reducing her users’ perceived value of ShareMe services and/or company.

B. Society may be less trusting of marketing firms in general.

C. If ShareMe’s actions are exposed, Sara’s relationships with her advertisers, vendors, and/or clients may be compromised.

D. Sara will be violating the trust of ShareMe’s users.

E. All of the above

QUESTION 11. According to the American Marketing Association’s Statement of Ethics, which of the following should marketers NOT do?

A. Do no harm.

B. Respect the basic human dignity of all stakeholders.

C. Create transparency in marketing operations only when it is convenient for the marketer.

D. Simply accept the consequences of marketing decisions and strategies.

E. Be honest with customers and stakeholders.

QUESTION 12. How could creating written ethical guidelines, such as a code of ethics or corporate marketing ethics policies, benefit Sara and her employees?

A. The guidelines will prevent employees from all illegal activities.

B. Written guidelines help employees avoid confusion when determining whether their decisions are unethical.

C. A ethical guidelines always encourages employees to substitute rules for their own personal judgment.

D. It is helpful to have written guidelines, but codes usually do not apply to decisions made by top management.

E. Guidelines can be an effective external control on unethical behavior

Answer 1

1. E.) Sara, because she will be able to earn more revenue for ShareMe, at least for the short term

2. B.) The users, because they did not know their web surfing behavior outside of ShareMe would be collected and sold to a third party

3. B.) Sara’s employees, because she may have to layoff some of them (i.e., terminate their employment with the firm).

4. E.) The potential number of persons harmed by a negative outcome is very small to none.

5. False

6. True

7.E.) Sara should NEVER track and sell any user data.

8. D.) Sara tracks and sells ShareMe users’ web data this year - just this one time to keep from laying off 100 employees - but she promises herself she will never do it again.

9. True

10. True

11. B.) Respect the basic human dignity of all stakeholders

12. B.) Written guidelines help employees avoid confusion when determining whether their decisions are unethical