ethical marketing (and why it matters)

Hey,

2025 has been a year of marketing backlash.

Between American Eagle’s ‘Great Jeans’ eugenics campaign, E.l.f. partnering with internet misogynist Matt Rife, Cracker Barrel’s rebrand that ended in the company folding to MAGA backlash, and Pantone’s Colour of the Year, Cloud Dancer White—which folks immediately clocked as a white supremacist dog whistle—it’s been… bad.

If there were a Spotify Wrapped for things I said this year, “no one on the marketing team flagged this?” would be right at the top.

We could call it a reflection of the times. We started the year watching Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs get axed en masse. An increasingly volatile economy has made marketing efforts significantly more desperate. Underneath all of it is the same question: what does it mean to be an ethical marketer right now?

I will put the American Eagle ‘Great Jeans’ disaster to bed once and for all, but before I do, I have to mention that after the campaign, the company’s CMO defended it—and the company's choice to do absolutely nothing about it—by saying he was thrilled about the results for shareholders.

But this “fuck it, let’s do racism” strategy isn’t the inspiring marketing story that some publications seem to want us to believe. The more this kind of bad behaviour is normalized, the less humanity we have. I don’t think marketing should feel like we’re just henchmen for technofascists, and if you’re reading this, I know you agree.

I’m surrounded by marketers who are also great people with solid values (hello Growclass). I don’t know anyone who went into marketing for nefarious reasons, or hoping to support campaigns that are (un)intentionally racist, sexist, or otherwise ethically off. Despite asking why no one on these teams objected, I know in my gut that some brave folks actually did, but were outnumbered by more senior voices who believed the risk was worth it to increase shareholder value at any cost.

At Christmas dinner one year, I told a family friend what I did for a living. She responded, “I could never live with myself if I manipulated people into buying things for a living.” That line has lived rent-free in my head ever since. I could’ve gone on the defence, but I didn’t.

Is manipulating people into buying things part of my job? Of course. But I fell into marketing because I loved the psychology behind it. I wanted to work with brands whose values aligned with mine and help amplify stories I believe deserve to be told. But being inside this world means I’m also primed to criticize it—and to sit in the cognitive dissonance of it.

Here’s the predictable moment where I say there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism. Having a job almost anywhere, doing anything, means helping the rich get richer. Does that make me want to start a self-sustaining commune on the outskirts of society? Yes. Does it suck to feel complicit in a system I didn’t create? Also yes.

Yet, I truly believe it’s still possible to choose to be an ethical marketer.

That looks like:

• Thinking critically, on purpose
• Developing real awareness of oppressed groups
• Leading with empathy
• Raising your voice, especially when it feels scary
• Defining your personal values and aligning them with the companies and people you work with
• Choosing a different direction than the big guys, even when it’s harder
• Becoming a discerning consumer first
  
  

TL;DR: Being an ethical marketer means giving a shit, and refusing to treat your customers like an experiment to see how far you can push a narrative before your brand loses value.

What I’m holding onto is that for every customer who supports a brand that’s gone full IDGAF mode, there are two customers looking for something else—something better.

So be that something better.

2026 needs it.

See you on the other side,

Ines

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