Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2018

Abstract

Cigarette and E-Cigarette companies use different marketing strategies to promote their product. Some of these marketing strategies could be considered by many to be both unethical as well as illegal. Many ethical and legal issues surround the cigarette industry and these same issues could be relevant in the emerging E-cigarette industry. This research organized cigarette industry behavior into a matrix where a behavior was classified on whether it was ethical, unethical, legal or illegal. In order for a behavior to be considered ethical it must meet the minimum standard of being legal except under moral exception. What is considered to be ethical or legal marketing strategies is dependent on the time frame in which the marketing strategy occurred. E-Cigarettes are a new industry, therefore laws regarding their usage are just now being enacted. This leaves us with the unique situation where the minimum standard for ethical behavior, which is usually legal behavior, has yet to be fully established. The purpose of this conceptual research is to organize E-cigarette marketing strategies into ethical and legal strategies in the matrix similar to the way tobacco company behavior could be organized. Discussion and future research avenues will be provided.

About the Authors

Jason Bruce Kilby received his Ph.D. in Exceptional Learning with a concentration in Literacy from Tennessee Tech University in December of 2016. He is currently working on completing his MBA at Tennessee Tech University.

Ismet Anitsal (Ph.D., The University of Tennessee, Knoxville) is Faye Halfacre Moore Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Marketing at Tennessee Tech University. His research interests emphasize customer productivity, customer value and service quality in services marketing and retailing as well as entrepreneurship, business ethics and online education. He is retailing section editor for Journal of Applied Marketing Theory. He also serves on the editorial boards of several scholarly journals.

M. Meral Anitsal is a Professor of Marketing in College of Business at Tennessee Tech University. She holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her research interests include services marketing, consumer behavior, new product development, business ethics and online education. She serves on the editorial boards of several scholarly journals.

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Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
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