1.
Under what circumstances is it ethical to use consumer information in marketing research? Why?
Solution
Companies regularly share information about customers with partners and affiliates, requiring
the customer to opt-out of the sharing if he doesn't want to be involved. Some companies sell
information they have gathered on customers to outside companies. Ethically, any unauthorized
disclosure of customer information is problematic. Marketing research info should be used only
to produce unbiased, factual information. Researchers must treat the people in their samples with
care and ensure that the information collected is never used to harm the subjects. Ethical
researchers should also avoid the conflict of interest that comes from working for competing
companies, as this could harm ethical or both businesses.