Marketing communications and ethics

There can be no argument about the growing prominence and importance of ethics in organisations as well as individuals’ lives. An increasing number of companies are employing ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies due to the existence of and the pressure from a variety of so called ‘drivers’ who may collectively be called ‘stakeholders’. Ethics and CSR policies are no longer the type of luxuries that only a select few organisations can afford or are expected to adhere to. It is fast becoming a necessity for companies to formulate and implement such strategies. The role of marketing communications becomes evident when such ethical endeavours are required to be conveyed to various stakeholder groups. Indeed some companies’ ethical initiatives have not achieved the desired effects simply due to the absence of effective communications.