Chapter 3: Emerging Technologies, Social Marketing and Ethics

Emerging technologies (e.g., augmented reality, virtual reality) have changed the way that people interact. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used for personalised targeting and predicting what people “want” or “need” before they even know it themselves. With these tools comes the possibility of manipulation, deceit or the production of harmful results through errors and misuse. User participation with these technologies can also have unintended consequences, leading to questions of shared social responsibility between social marketers, users and technology creators. In the race to do exciting and helpful things with these technologies, ethical issues can be an afterthought. This chapter argues for nuanced analyses of social responsibility and ethics, taking seriously the role of technology throughout social marketing campaign conception, design and implementation.