Ethical Perspectives on the Postmodern Communications Leviathan

Advertising and other forms of promotional activity have proliferated to such an extent that they may constitute a form of social pollution (Kitchen, 1994). The quantity and tone of communications to which consumers are exposed may have a subtle but pervasive effect on the social ecology of the developed world. Not only are Marketing Communications delivered in unprecedented quantities (Kitchen, 1994); but their tone is increasingly difficult to categorise in the Postmodern Marketing era (Brown, 1994). Notably, there has been very little research conducted on this seeming “Leviathan” (Kitchen, 1994, after Hobbes, 1651) effect. Ethical concerns of professional marketing bodies such as the MRS and CIM are focussed on the conduct of professionals with regard to law and notions of moral decency in human exchange relationships (see MRS code of conduct, ASA and IBA guidelines). There is less emphasis on the ethical implications for society of the totality of Marketing Communication activities. This paper examines the distinctively Postmodern concept of the Communications Leviathan and discusses contemporary ethical issues, drawing perspectives where possible from Postmodern critical theory, Enlightenment philosophy, cognitive psychology and classical ethical works of Plato and Aristotle. Introduction: The nature of the marketing communications “Leviathan” Kitchen (1994) argued the case for an emergent “Communications Leviathan”, an entity of colossal size made up of a multiplicity of marketing communications messages and which may constitute a form of social pollution through the potentially damaging and unintended effects it may have on consumer decision making (see Pollay, 1986). The concept of the Leviathan as applied to contemporary marketing culture draws on the Hobbesian (Hobbes, 1651, pp. 46–48) notion of a political and ideological construct which reaches into the lives and minds of the population. Hobbes’ (1651) main concern was with the growth of Government power. Today, a similar concern might be expressed with regard to the more subtle growth of a marketing ideology, as manifested in multiple, intrusive marketing communications, and the extent to which exposure to this Leviathan might circumscribe the moral development of citizens. This paper seeks to explore the concept of the communications “Leviathan” with regard to its ethical implications for marketing professionals and for society as a whole. The proposition that citizens in the developed Ethical Perspectives on the Postmodern Christopher E. Hackley Communications Leviathan Philip J. Kitchen Journal of Business Ethics 20: 15–26, 1999. © 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Christopher Hackley is Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, U.K. His research interests include advertising and marketing communications, marketing education, marketing theory, and psychological and ethical perspectives on all the above. His work has been published, or will be published in 1998, in Creativity and Innovation Management, Management Learning, the European Journal of Marketing and Marketing Intelligence and