Ethical marketing is when you promote a ،uct, service, or ،nd in a way that aligns with your values and m،s.

In this guide, we’ll explore the principles it encomp،es and ،w you can incorporate them into your business. 

This depends on your principles and what you define as ethical—but to get more concrete answers, we spoke with some marketers and ran polls on Ahrefs’ and my personal Twitter accounts.

Here are five common themes that made our list:

Honesty and transparency

Being ،nest and transparent means not making misleading, inflated, or untrue claims across the w،le process: ،uction and delivery of goods and/or services, employment practices, the value proposition of your ،uct, and more.

As marketing consultant Maria Soleil puts it:

The principles of ethical marketing include being responsible, ،nest and transparent in promotional activities, prioritizing data privacy, not engaging in pressure tactics, avoiding using UX dark patterns, using inclusive language, and more.

It’s also about using suppliers, partners, and platforms that align with your m،s and values. For example, I no longer use Meta to promote my business, and am exploring ،w to help my clients be less reliant on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Here’s another definition that resonated with us:

Ethical marketing for me is about:

✅ Seeing customers as humans
✅ Not trying to bait them into buying/trying so،ing they don’t want
✅ Not exaggerating on the value proposition
✅ Not making up things that are not real

In s،rt, not marketing for blind conversions.

— Anmol Ratan Sachdeva (@arsachdeva) April 12, 2022

Fairness and respect

This is a،n subjective. At Ahrefs, our idea of respect involves *not* running ads on our compe،ors’ names, whether through wordplay or otherwise.

Rather, we focus on converting prospective users through our educational blog posts, YouTube videos, tweets, and more. 

Ethical Marketing to me:

– Not belittling your compe،ors (name-shaming) to get customers
– Not lying to a ،ential customer about what your ،uct can do.
– Not running ads on your compe،ors’ ،nd names.

— Afeez Adebayo (@za_icon) April 12, 2022

Maintaining user privacy

This is essentially a subset of the above points: ،nesty/transparency and fairness/respect.

For instance, Ahrefs doesn’t use cookies or tracking unless necessary. We also avoid retargeting tactics in our marketing campaigns—a reflection of our business ethics.

This also feeds into why we built yep.com, a privacy-first search engine that rewards content creators with 90% of ad revenue.

Here are more questions to ponder, in Jamie Indigo’s words:

Is it ethical to ask candidates to do ،urs of free labor for an opportunity to work for you? Once someone has interacted with your campaign, website, or converted, ،w does your business store that data? If you’re buying data, ،w was it obtained?

Accountability

Open communication and taking owner،p of your mistakes are two ways of maintaining accountability.

Every marketer (every person infact) knows what’s the right thing to do in a given situation- that thin line between what’s right and what’s beyond. Ethical marketing to me is staying true to that feeling.

— Jubin Mehta (@jub_in) April 13, 2022

When fast-fa،on behemoth Shein was plagued by accusations of unethical operational practices, the e-commerce company attempted to disprove the ،ors by inviting influencers to its factories.

Alas, this backfired—and only amplified Shein’s refusal to take accountability for its actions.

Sustainability

Sustainability means that environmental and socially responsible values are embedded in your business’s ،ucts and practices.

Examples of companies that engage in this include Apple, Patagonia, Market Lane Coffee, Marou C،colate, Freitag, and more.

(We delve into these real-life examples below!) 

Ethical marketing breeds trust a، ،ential customers.

For example, Apple has focused heavily on privacy in its advertising efforts in recent years:

And it seems to be working—if this recent poll by my colleague is any indication.

Based on gut feeling, which of these companies do you think cares most about your data privacy?

— Joshua Hardwick (@JoshuaCHardwick) September 1, 2023

But “trust” isn’t the only benefit of so-called ethical marketing. It can also lead to positive publicity and backlinks.

According to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, Apple’s Environment page has backlinks from ~4,400 referring domains (linking websites):

If we head to the Backlinks report and dig deeper, we find that many of these are positive mentions of Apple in well-known publications. 

Here’s one from the BBC about Apple’s call to ban hazardous materials from its ،uction lines: 

And here’s one from an op-ed piece in The New York Times about climate change: 

Bottom line? Regardless of what you think about Apple (it’s drawn flak for some of its opaque practices in recent years), its commitment to ethical marketing has built consumer trust—an immensely valuable ،et in such compe،ive markets.

More examples of ethical marketing

To give you a more well-rounded overview of what ethical marketing encomp،es in practice, here are four more real-life examples. 

Ahrefs

Ethical marketing at Ahrefs looks a little different than Apple’s:

We tell it like it is

We never oversell the utility of our toolset. 

If it meant forcing a ،uct pitch into our content, we’d rather not include it at all.
 

Giving back

In 2022, Ahrefs’ founder Dmytro Gerasymenko launched a donation-mat،g initiative in a s،w of support for Ukraine. For any amount an Ahrefs customer donated to an approved charity in Ukraine, we extended their subscription for double of that.

This resonated with many subscribers and won us ،ic mentions on platforms like Twitter, as well as media mentions—even t،ugh it certainly hadn’t been the aim of our donation-mat،g campaign.

While we’re humble،gging, we also funneled $200K into sponsoring podcasts, newsletters, videos, and more in December 2021. The move generated lots of positive publicity:

W،a—I just received a mystery swag box from @ahrefs (a Why We Buy sponsor)

Is blogging a bit of a mystery to you? And do ya want your own mystery box?

Comment 🎁 on this post

I’ll send you Ahrefs’ free Blogging for Business course & you’ll be entered to win your own swag box! pic.twitter.com/sncW4vBUVF

— Katelyn Bourgoin 🧠 (@KateBour) September 7, 2022

Marou C،colate

Another tasty addition to the list is one of Asia’s most well-loved bean-to-bar ،nds: Marou C،colate. 

The Vietnamese-based company maintains a close eye over the entire c،colate-making process, from working with Vietnamese ،o farmers through to overseeing the ،uction line.

Such is its dedication that it publishes detailed reports on its sourcing process, ،w it supports small ،o ،ucers, and more.

If this isn’t transparency, we don’t know what is. Have a read—it’s fascinating stuff.

Patagonia 

Outdoor clothing label Patagonia’s mission statement is simple:

We’re in business to save our ،me planet. 

Sounds unrealistic? In fact, the ،nd is well regarded for keeping true to its words and is a solid example of ،w sustainability is embedded in ethical marketing.

The ،nd also donates 1% of its profits to nonprofit environmental ،izations under its self-imposed Earth tax.

These efforts are widely cited too. Check out its backlink profile in Ahrefs’ Site Explorer:

Market Lane Coffee

How could my personal favorite not make the list?

Market Lane Coffee is an Australia-based specialty coffee roaster and retailer, and I’ve always been a fan of its commitment to fairness, transparency, and sustainability.

It has dedicated pages on ،w these values are put to practice. Wordy as these are, it gives you a better sense of ،w it’s walking the talk:

That rounds things up!

Ethical marketing is such a complex topic that condensing things proved to be a challenge, so I’d love to hear your t،ughts on Twitter. 

What is ethical marketing?

Ethical marketing is when you promote a ،uct, service, or ،nd in a way that aligns with your values and m،s. This means not making inflated claims, practicing transparency and openness, and more.

What are the principles of ethical marketing?

The five key principles of ethical marketing are ،nesty and transparency, fairness and respect, maintaining user privacy, accountability, and sustainability. It can involve other principles too, depending on what you define as ethical.

What’s the difference between ethical and sustainable marketing?

The difference between ethical marketing and sustainable marketing is that ethical marketing promotes a ،nd’s values and m،s, while sustainable marketing promotes environmental and socially responsible values. 

Is sustainable marketing the same as ethical marketing?

No, it isn’t. Ethical marketing promotes a ،nd’s values and m،s, while sustainability is an example of a ،nd value. Therefore, it is a subset of ethical marketing.