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Proposes a general rationale for acting cautiously when marketing to children, and indicates some possibly inappropriate managerial attitudes: for instance that minors are basically small adults, that parents rather than companies should protect children in the marketplace, that all marketing is directed at adults, that certain practice are acceptable because they were done in the past, that managers were once children, and that the company’s practices must be acceptable if they are legal. Suggests ways that companies can remedy this: appoint an ethics officer and take ethics training seriously, avoid dubious products and marketing that support premature maturation and the end of childhood, accept an “in loco parentis” role with regard to children, and remain alert to new threats.

This study aims to explore which media 9- and 10-year-old children and 12- and 13-year-old teenagers encounter and which campaign elements (media, spokesperson, appeal and message) are most appreciated by these target groups in awareness campaigns to raise their advertising literacy.

The study applies a methodology that is commonly used in design sciences to the field of advertising. Co-creation workshops with minors and professionals are used for the development of awareness campaign stimuli. In the first study, four co-creation workshops with 19 children (11 girls and 8 boys) of the fourth grade and four co-creation workshops with 16 teenagers (10 girls and 6 boys) of the seventh grade were organised. In the second study, nine professionals who work for and/or with minors or have experience in product design or marketing participated in a co-creation workshop.

Children are best approached though traditional media, whereas social media are used best to reach teenagers. Children prefer cartoons, whereas the results for the most appealing spokesperson in teenagers are mixed. Humoristic campaigns with a short message are preferred by both target groups.

The results offer implications for practice and public policy with respect to awareness campaign building and social media marketing campaigns targeted at children and teenagers. To further corroborate the findings of this study, more pupils from different schools and different age groups should be studied. Moreover, the method used in this study can be applied in future research on awareness campaigns aimed at minors for other causes.

The methodological contribution of the study is the application of co-creation tools and techniques on the development of advertising campaigns for minors.

The intention of this paper is to encourage debate among ethical researchers on this very important issue. Research necessary to underpin health education and health promotion is often controversial and often involves vulnerable populations such as young people and children. It is essential that the rights of these respondents are protected in every research project. Current research ethical approval processes aim to protect these rights but have the potential to undermine the viability of research projects in this area. This paper addresses two ethical issues associated with this research: the approval process and respondent consent.

The paper looks at the codified antecedents of common ethical guidelines and discusses their application in a particular but not unusual health education research project.

The paper recommends the adoption of a simplified approval process and greater appreciation of the merits of researching among students in a classroom setting, when these students are an appropriate target market.

Much health education research falls between medical research and marketing research. Guidelines for this sort of research need to be developed through discussion among practitioners and academics in the field.

Adoption of this simplified approach will facilitate more important research being undertaken without jeopardizing the rights or the welfare of the vulnerable respondents involved.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to provide an overview of related studies and to highlight research gaps and questions that need to be addressed. Research conducted in three-dimensional (3D) online environments constitutes a different research context, not least because it involves the recruitment of avatars in the research process. Researchers need to appreciate better the ethical concerns that arise in this novel, fast-evolving context and how these concern different stakeholders.

The paper employs an interdisciplinary desk-research approach. It critically reviews related literature, highlights the involved stakeholders, discusses ethical issues from a marketing research perspective and concludes with a discussion of related studies and research gaps, providing direct future research avenues.

The characteristics of the 3D online environments and the behaviour and experiences of their users set the boundaries and guide the way regarding the ethical research in this context.

The paper does not present primary empirical results, instead it reviews and critiques related literature in 3D online environments and sets the agenda for future research.

The paper provides ethical guidelines and identifies blurred areas in conducting or participating in research in 3D online environments.

Based on earlier studies and examples of ethical concerns when studying 3D online environments, this paper emphasises the parameters that should be taken into consideration in current and future research studies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore attitudes towards ambush marketing at the 2016 Union of European Football Associations European Championships, seeking to examine fan affect towards ambush marketing.

A 24-item survey questionnaire was constructed, exploring consumers’ general cognition and affection of ambush marketing; following Dickson et al.’s (2015) design, industry-specific attitudes were canvassed, assessing supporters’ views of beer and gambling industry ambush marketers.

Results indicate that fans appear to be marginally more forgiving of ambush practices from beer or gambling brands than across ambushing more generally, yet a prevailing antipathy towards ambush marketing from an ethical perspective was observed. Importantly, however, the study’s findings suggest that industry-specific advertising regulations bear little impact on fan perspectives.

The study’s results bear notable implications for marketing theory and practice: for ambushing brands, this suggests that they are rather less likely to be have a disruptive effect on events and their official sponsors. For official sponsors, a level of threat from ambushers nevertheless remains as it would appear consumers do not have strong views about the practice of ambushing.

The study’s methods build upon and extend previous studies into consumer attitudes towards ambush marketing, specifically focusing on the perceptions and affect of fans in lieu of more empirically generalisable consumer populations. Given the target audiences of sponsors and ambush marketers, this emphasis on fan attitudes represents an important direction in ambush affect research.

Reviews the development of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept and its four components: economic, legal, ethical and altruistic duties. Discusses different perspectives on the proper role of business in society, from profit making to community service provider. Suggests that much of the confusion and controversy over CSR stem from a failure to distinguish among ethical, altruistic and strategic forms of CSR. On the basis of a thorough examination of the arguments for and against altruistic CSR, concurs with Milton Friedman that altruistic CSR is not a legitimate role of business. Proposes that ethical CSR, grounded in the concept of ethical duties and responsibilities, is mandatory. Concludes that strategic CSR is good for business and society. Advises that marketing take a lead role in strategic CSR activities. Notes difficulties in CSR practice and offers suggestions for marketers in planning for strategic CSR and for academic researchers in further clarifying the boundaries of strategic CSR.

This paper aims to examine the Nigerian advertising environment with children as the target audience in relation to its regulatory system.

A comprehensive review of the extant relevant literature was conducted to provide the needed framework for exploring the state of ethics in advertising to children in Nigeria.

While it is shown that Nigeria like most other countries of the world has regulations on advertising to children in place, some examples from the industry indicate that some of the advertisers/marketers are not embracing these fully, hence the recommendation for a robust strengthening of how these rules are being implemented.

The regulations will ensure a society which enjoys an ethically acceptable advertising with respect to children and their upbringing and safety, and will consequently be beneficial to all the stakeholders including the international community.

The paper reiterates the complexity inherent in the nature of the relevance of adverting to the life of children. Thus, it acknowledges its roles both as a beneficial tool which informs, educates, and offers social benefits; and the downside which revolves around its major criticism of being adopted unethically largely based on the irregularities in the way some marketers use it in the studied context.

Provides a set of guidelines that will assist Internet marketers in maintaining ethical marketing practices. Information about regulation of Internet marketing to children based on Federal Trade Commission regulations and guidelines developed by the Direct Marketing Association, Center for Media Education, and Council of Better Business Bureaux are also explained. Review of some of the Internet sites commonly visited by children provides additional guidelines for Internet marketers. Some of the issues discussed include: the use of kids’ clubs to sell products, appropriateness of content and terminology on the Web pages, information gathering/information sharing practices, and marketing practices.

The explosion of internet-generated content, coupled with methodologies such as sentiment analysis, present exciting opportunities for marketers to generate market intelligence on consumer attitudes and brand opinions. The purpose of this paper is to review the marketing literature on online sentiment analysis and examines the application of sentiment analysis from three main perspectives: the unit of analysis, sampling design and methods used in sentiment detection and statistical analysis.

The paper reviews the prior literature on the application of online sentiment analysis published in marketing journals over the period 2008-2016.

The findings highlight the uniqueness of online sentiment analysis in action-oriented marketing research and examine the technical, practical and ethical challenges faced by researchers.

The paper discusses the application of sentiment analysis in marketing research and offers recommendations to address the challenges researchers confront in using this technique.

This study provides academics and practitioners with a comprehensive review of the application of online sentiment analysis within the marketing discipline. The paper focuses attention on the limitations surrounding the utilization of this technique and provides suggestions for mitigating these challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a retrospection on the importance, origins and development of the research programs in the author’s career.

The study uses an autobiographical approach.

Most of the articles, research monographs and books that constitute this research and publishing efforts can be categorized into seven distinct, but related, research programs: channels of distribution; marketing theory; marketing’s philosophy debates; macromarketing and ethics; relationship marketing; resource-advantage theory; and marketing management and strategy. The value system that has guided these research programs has been shaped by specific events that took place in the author’s formative years. This essay chronicles these events and the origins and development of the seven research programs.

Chronicling the importance, origins and development of the seven research programs will hopefully motivate and assist other scholars in developing their own research programs.