Case Study: Contemporary Media Research Issue, Ethics & my Topic.

by Joshua Lunsford

My project involves researching bicycle-sharing programs for the University of Oklahoma and/or the city of Norman through the theory of Social Marketing. The project is relevant to Contemporary Media Issues simply because of the many global advertising and public relations agencies that have become involved in sponsoring these programs.

William Lynn discusses in "The Ethics of Social Marketing for Conservation: A Learning Module" how a social marketer must behave ethically in making decisions. However, he states that "how we judge the ethics of a social marketing campaign will depend on situation-specific features that we can never fully anticipate." He then gives three guidelines to follow - well-being, integrity, and empowerment.

The Paris bicycle-sharing program is one example. WIth the major sponsorship of JCDecaux, an international outdoor advertising specialist, Paris has both escalated a program thought a loss from the beginning by some and created an example of what to look for in retaining a major sponsor for a public-use system. However, JCDecaux is reconsidering its partnership with the city of Paris due to the loss of bicycles to theft, vandalism, and overuse. JCDecaux did not foresee the system as such a success, and are rethinking the costs associated with the upkeep of these bicycles.

The B-Cycle program that was recently launched at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado is currently ran by a nonprofit organization. However, this program has been advertised and co-sponsored by the Crispin Porter + Bogusky advertising agency in Boulder and Miami.

Is it ethical for a corporate sponsor to be a profiting partner of a social good? I think that if we are to follow Kotler’s theory of social marketing, it doesn’t matter if someone (a corporation, nonprofit organization, city, state, or individual) profits from the successful marketing of a social good. Alan R. Andreasen & Minette E. Drumwright discuss in "Alliances and Ethics in Social Marketing" how a social marketer is not focused on profit-maximization, but on the social issue. They state that "A significant and inevitable consequence of these differences is that, in order to have significant impact, social marketers must seek the help of other organizations and individuals to achieve their objectives."

My project will take ideas from each of the bicycle-sharing programs and attempt to eliminate any reason for potential users to not access the program. The reason for the bicycle-sharing program is multidimensional, but one of those dimensions is to bring members of the university community and city of Norman together. If this is done by creating a profit-making business for some, a supplemental program for a community’s mass transit system, and an environmentally-friendly option for those interested, then it must be seen as an ethical solution to a social need. If a bicycle-sharing program is successful, it will only lead to creating similar programs elsewhere and expansion of current programs.