Ethical Marketing as an Exercise in What Is Possible

Ethical marketing is an intention.

There is no individual or organization that can tell you whether you are practicing it right or wrong. We do not need an authority to give us a certification or score that tells us how “ethical” we are.

This is precisely the unlearning that we all must do as we imagine and build a new world.

Ethical marketing is not about policing each other. It’s not a purity test.

It’s a personal or organizational intention to do better. It’s an effort to: a) identify what is manipulative, exploitative, and extractive within our businesses, b) root it out and imagine a different way of doing things.

For those of us who desire our collective liberation, it’s just one way of practicing new ways of being.

It’s a way through which we can imagine and build the future we want to see.

And that’s why it’s important to note that…

Ethical marketing is a post-capitalist exercise.

By “post-capitalist” exercise, I mean that doing marketing/business differently is an attempt to model how business norms should be.

The reason why manipulation, exploitation, and extraction are the business norm right now is because our systems reward it. People and businesses benefit from being greedy and cruel.

That’s the reality.

And ethical marketing isn’t the solution to the world’s problems.

Individual responsibility is not the solution to systemic problems—no matter how much the rich want us to believe it.

While we’re still living under capitalism, practicing ethical marketing is an individual’s choice. Just like our “carbon footprint.” Just like buying “ethical.”

But we can not buy our way out of the capitalism. And we can’t sell our way out of capitalism.

To get to a post-capitalist world, we need to dismantle the systems of oppression that exist in the first place.

The problems we face are symptoms of capitalism.

Thus, our involvement in ethical marketing starts from an understanding that we need to hold multiple truths. (Yes, and…)

Yes, we should do our best to hold ourselves accountable… AND we also need to join radical movements to address the problem at its roots.

We should try to run our businesses in a way that aligns with the world we want to live in—one rooted in love, care, and interdependence rather than greed, cruelty, and individualism. (As part of a larger practice in our lives to embody these values.)

AND we need to dismantle the systems of oppression that reward greed, cruelty, and individualism.

Embrace our humanity.

When I facilitate introductory workshops about ethical marketing, I always mention the importance of giving ourselves and others grace.

We are all at different stages in our journeys.

Also, we are human. We will make mistakes, and that’s OK.

Things like perfectionism, exceptionalism, and weaponized shame are products of capitalism.

This is why it’s important to understand the big picture of ethical marketing.

Ethical marketing is not the end goal.

After all, what even is the point if the root of your desire is not to work towards a more equitable and just world?

We arrive on ethical marketing as people who are invested in our collective liberation—a world in which all people are free and live in harmony with our fellow beings and the planet.

This isn’t an individual goal. It’s not a race one person can win.

You can’t be “ahead” of anyone else. You can’t arrive at the destination first.

If we are reach our collective liberation, it will mean we all get there at the same time.

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