Assessing Ethics With WOMMA

More and more consumers are relying on word of mouth campaigns to make purchasing decisions rather than traditional advertising – online or offline. Marketers may think they are on the right side of the ethics fence, but that thinking can still lead to trouble.

by Kristina Knight

Enter a new ethics assessment tool from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) which can help to identify and eliminate unethical behaviors in word of mouth campaigns. WOMMA is asking for marketers and consumers to test the program for effectiveness.

The new “20 Questions” tool takes online marketers through a list of questions that should be asked before implementing a word of mouth campaign. It’s modeled on WOMMA’s honesty, opinion and identity ethics guidelines. Answers will point out potentially unethical behavior and in a sense filter the good ideas from the bad so that consumers aren’t harmed by campaign actions.

"This is the first item in WOMMA's Practical Ethics program to provide the tools marketers need to ensure ethics are implemented throughout their company," said Jim Nail, Cymfony CMO and co-chair of the project (via MarketingVOX.com).

WOMMA CEO Andy Sernovitz said, "We're going to make it awfully hard for a stealth marketer to get a job."

By allowing all marketers access to the programs everyone in a marketing firm should know the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behaviors and spot potential trouble areas before campaigns are launched.