"Many products and activities constitute a direct assault o­n the dignity of the human person, and demonstrate the depths of moral degradation to which our society has sunk. Pornography, prostitution, drug trafficking, abortion drugs, experimentation with human embryos, the dissemination of defamatory or calumnious allegations that undermine people's reputation: all of these are examples of products or services that by their nature should be considered illicit."

In the multi-author book "Globalización, Internet y marketing: una respuesta ética" ("Globalization, Internet and marketing: an ethical response"), Professor Joan Fontrodona of IESE reflects o­n the ethical issues raised by the production, promotion and marketing of goods and services by companies.

According to Fontrodona, certain "products" are to be rejected for what they are, while others are to be rejected for the way in which the related business activity is conducted. There are also products and services that are not in themselves ethically objectionable, "but become illicit due to the way in which they are made or sold, such as businesses involving bribery or extortion, fraud, monopolistic control of primary necessities, or serious damage to the environment".

The author concedes that in environmental matters the limits are not always clearly defined and cites the example of products that are the subject of social controversy, such as tobacco, alcohol or weapons. In some cases our ethical evaluation of such products may vary with new scientific and medical discoveries, as in the case of the carcinogenic properties of asbestos or certain forms of environmental harm.

An ethical evaluation should be based o­n criteria different from those used in sociological analysis, and social demands will not always coincide with ethical demands. Rejecting any temptation to oversimplify, Fontrodona declares that "it would be just as irresponsible to manufacture a product that was morally illicit yet economically very profitable, as it would be to manufacture a product that was ethically acceptable but economically unviable due to lack of demand or poor marketing. The latter would be no more ethically correct than the former, as ethics requires, among other things, that we proceed with due professionalism."

Responsibility for product ethics falls primarily o­n the owners and managers of the company, but not o­nly o­n them. A large number of people are involved in producing and marketing a product, and it is up to them to judge for themselves whether what they are doing is immoral, either because the product itself is immoral or because some other element of the marketing mix such as the promotional policies or the advertising is ethically unacceptable. A company that wishes to create and maintain an ethical working environment must put in place the means for people to exercise conscientious objection when necessary.

Fontrodona points out that, although the individual has the duty to obey the laws dictated by legitimate authority in the service of the common good, "the person has primacy over society, and personal conscience, in its quest for good, is bound to a moral authority higher than human laws". In other words, in the event of a conflict between loyalty to the company and loyalty to the fundamental rights of the person, the latter should take priority.

In this connection the author adds that conscientious objection "does not rely for its justification o­n any hypothetical autonomy of the subject with respect to general rules, much less a disrespect of civil law; rather, it is the expression of a consistent loyalty to the very foundations of civil law, which must always be directed towards serving the moral good. Nor should it be conceived in terms of a conflict between public interest and private interest, but as a higher demand for a consistent and perfected rule of law based o­n respect for human rights. Conscientious objection is proof of the primacy of the person over the state, of the person's freedom and responsibility with respect to the good, and at the same time testifies to the fact that all civil law must accord with moral values."

For the author, the end purpose of business activity is to serve the customer, and serving the customer "should not be seen as something separate from manufacturing (...), as the idea of producing a product for the consumer lies at the very heart of all manufacturing activity". Consumers and users may, therefore, contribute to improving products' ethical quality either by exercising their right to conscientious objection or by working in society to promote ethical excellence in products (environmentally friendly, fair trade, against racial or sexual discrimination, etc.).


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