In response to Prof. Johnson's post...

In her blog, Prof. Johnson talked about a small, struggling company who was offered $8,000 to sell information they had gathered about clients. She asks:

Should John smith sell the names? Also, Does the AMA Statement of Ethics address this issue? What in the AMA's Statement of Ethics relates to John Smith's dilemma?

I believe that John should not sell the names. While the money that John would receive is certainly a very good incentive, John would be violating the trust of his customers. A section in the Statement of Ethics, under the ethical norms, states that marketers must 'Foster Trust in the marketing system'. If John does sell the names, he is infringing on that trust.

More specifically, under the Fairness section of the Statement of Ethics, it states marketers will "Seek to protect the private information of customers, employees and partners." John Smith would be directly disregarding that statement.

While John Smith is just trying to prevent laying off more of his employees, he still must adhere to the criteria that are expressed in the Statement of Ethics.