MKT-675: Ethical and Legal Issues in Marketing

MKT-675 is a graduate course at Southern New Hampshire University. The current catalogue title is Ethical and Legal Issues in Marketing, so older references to it as Marketing Ethics are out of date.

Students examine ethical frameworks and theories that guide marketing strategy, explore advertising laws and their effects on decisions, and recommend updates to real-world strategies that meet both ethical principles and legal standards.

The difficulty lies in separating what is legal from what is ethical and defending a position with a named framework. A campaign can be lawful yet unfair, and rubrics expect you to say so and propose a better approach.

What MKT-675 Covers

Key Concepts Explained

Ethical Frameworks Side by Side

Common frameworks include utilitarianism (greatest overall benefit), deontology (duties and rules), virtue ethics (character) and justice or rights-based views. Check which ones your course materials emphasise. Strong answers apply two or more and note where they disagree.

Law Versus Ethics

Law sets a minimum. Advertising rules typically address deception, substantiation of claims and disclosure of endorsements, though exact rules depend on jurisdiction. Cite the law your course uses, and do not assume that rules from another country apply.

Making a Revision, Not Just a Critique

The catalogue asks you to recommend updates. After diagnosing a problem, propose a specific change and explain how it addresses the ethical and the legal issue.

Typical Assignments and How to Approach Them

Specific assessments vary by term; follow your course shell. Work in this course typically includes:

A Five-Step Method for Any Marketing Dilemma

When a prompt hands you a controversial campaign, a repeatable method keeps the analysis balanced:

1. Facts: what exactly was claimed or done, to whom, and with what effect.
2. Stakeholders: consumers, employees, competitors, shareholders, wider society.
3. Law: which legal standard applies and whether the tactic meets it.
4. Ethics: what two different frameworks conclude, and where they differ.
5. Revision: a specific change, with its likely cost and benefit.

Keeping these as separate headings makes it obvious to a marker that you have covered both halves of the course title.

A Short Worked Analysis

Here is how a compact analysis might run, using an invented scenario. A fitness app advertises "lose weight in 30 days" with before-and-after photos of one user.

• Legal angle: advertising rules generally expect claims to be truthful and supported by evidence, and endorsements to reflect typical results or disclose that they do not.
• Utilitarian angle: the sales benefit may be outweighed by harm to people who follow unrealistic expectations.
• Duty-based angle: consumers have a right to accurate information when making health-related choices.
• Revision: replace the headline with a supportable claim, show typical results, add a clear disclosure, and avoid targeting people with body image concerns.

Notice that each point is brief and labelled. A marker can see the framework, the finding and the fix without searching for them.

Where Students Get Stuck

• Opinion without framework. Personal views need to be tied to a named theory.
• Mixing legal and ethical arguments. Keep them separate, then show how they relate.
• Unspecific recommendations. "Be more transparent" is weak; describe the exact change.
• Outdated or foreign law. Use the jurisdiction and sources your course specifies.

Study Tips for MKT-675

• Create a table of frameworks with a one-line test question for each.
• Build a checklist for claims: true, substantiated, disclosed, not misleading.
• Choose real campaigns with well-documented issues for practice.
• Always end an analysis with a recommended change and an expected outcome.

How We Help with MKT-675

Send the case, readings, rubric and your draft. We can prepare a model analysis, explain how to apply a framework, or review your writing for structure and referencing. Work is original, plagiarism-checked and includes 14 days of free revisions within the original scope. We do not give legal advice.

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