Is it ethical for an author to...?

[Michelle]

Is it ethical for an author to be paid by a company to write a non-fiction book that is educational, but that subtly markets/advertises the company?

On one hand, if one measures this by journalistic standards, this seems patently biased and unethical.

On the other hand, however, it is done all the time in various media in the form of "product placement."

CEOs of companies (Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, etc.) write books all the time that are, in part, designed as marketing vehicles for their companies.

In what scenarios would this be unethical, and how could one do it in such a way that is ethical?

Thanks all!
Reader, Vet, et al., excellent answers all - thank you.

Yes, this is a gray area, and one must be directed by one's own morals. I agree there is a big difference between writing such a book with vs. without a disclosure of my association with the company. I think this is my point of unrest.

This is not something a company is making me do, but rather I have suggested it to them. They want to make a bold statement about the future of corporate IT, and I suggested that it would make a provocative message for a book. The topic does not advocate anything harmful or negative; it is rather a dialogue on possible future scenarios. One (out of many) of the predictions will relate to the service offered by the company. And I do believe (to the best of my knowledge) that this future scenario is likely and positive.

So - if my association with the company is disclosed in the book, is it ethical? What if it is not disclosed?

Thanks for your thoughts.
.

 

[reader]

I think it's unethical of a company to produce such a work and were I that hypothetical author I would be miserably uncomfortable with my role in a form of commercial propaganda. I'm not sure that it is exactly wrong but I am sure that it's a grey area.

Of course I think "product placement" is pretty repulsive too. As that author I would much prefer to write straight ad copy with no pretense about it, than to subtly lead people on, especially since it is a fact that many people are not able to read analytically and are very easy to lead down the garden path. I dislike that sneaky subliminal sort of thing because it seems to target those least able to defend themselves and I disapprove of that on general principle. I try to avoid any participation in it.

I don't really think it's comparable for CEOs to do it. After all, no secret is made of their connection to or interest in the company which makes it much easier for more people to look at it, if not skeptically, at least with a somewhat cooler eye. There's nothing stealthy about Bill Gates or Steve Jobs running on about the virtues of their companies.

I'm pretty sure that there is nothing legally unethical about your original scenario so I think it comes down, as so many things do, to ones own personal moral compass and one's understanding of the golden rule. If the book really is intended as a clandestine marketing tool then I'm not sure that there really is a truly ethical way to handle it.

It's all very easy for me to say from my personal Throne of the Hypothetical, but I really do feel strongly about this sort of thing.

*** Nice answer, Vet!

*** Edit) Well, as usual, the devil is in the details. I read your question in the abstract and arrived at one set of conclusions, most of which represent my perception of corporate America as the soul of malevolent evil.

I guess I would say that if you feel strongly positive about what you're doing, and if you are able to present it with some reasonable degree of balance, and you are also open with the readers about your involvement and potential bias then you could probably be proud of your work and lose no sleep over the ethics. Actually, the mere fact of your concern speaks volumes for the likelihood of you managing it both gracefully and professionally, as well as ethically.

 

["Vet"]

I think the ethics, in regard to the author, really only come down to his or her stance on the thing they are being asked to help market.

For instance, it would be unethical for me to write a book that urged people to shop at Wal-Mart rather than locally owned business because I don't believe it is right to shop at Wal-Mart. So in sacrificing my beliefs for an easy dollar I'm being unethical towards myself.

However, if I were writing a book that urged people to drink Shiner Beer products rather than other beer products I'd be ethically sound because I think Shiner Beer products are superior to other brands. In acting according to my beliefs I'm being ethical to myself.

In any scenario where the issue will largely come down to preference or inconsequential beliefs the problem of ethics will be at the personal level, or so it seems to me.

Now, if the author was being asked to write a book praising Monsanto's Genetically Modified Crops while downplaying, or perhaps even blatantly lying about the tremendous amount of harm they do to eco-systems and the perilous situation they put our food supply in then Ethics has a standard to appeal to: It is wrong to lie or deliberately use fallacious arguments. Whether the author cares about GMOs or not, it is unethical for him or her to present only half an argument.

But we can even take that and put it into a personal ethics scenario: If the author was writing a book about which company has the best tasting GMOs, then it would be a decision of personal ethics.

But there is also a train of thought that could lead an author to decide that in a capitalistic system there is nothing unethical about him taking a job that will pay him. Lawyers defend clients who are guilty, bankers take money obtained illegally, etc. After all, one can only be reasonably expected to operate within the system he lives in.

Ethics is a grey area, and a system of principles that have to be applied situationally. There's really no way to absolutely say what would be ethical or not in a general scenario.

But, as a general rule, I think if the author has ears to hear this wisdom from Sophocles, he or she will act ethically an astounding majority of the time:

"There is no witness so terrible and no accuser so powerful as the conscience that dwells inside us." - Sophocles

edit--> I agree with Reader, it doesn't seem like there is any issue with your project.

As far as disclosure, I think honesty is the best policy, but if you want to avoid unintentionally slanting your reader's assessment of the "conversation" it's best not to disclose your relationship. Your ethos will either add to or detract from whatever scenario you are presenting, and consequently influence people's opinions about it. It seems to me that this is less an Ethical issue as it is a Rhetorical issue, and in any case I think you are more than capable of reaching a good decision about what to do.

 

[Zed Wrecked]

Yes and no.

It's perfectly ethical to write in product-placements. I would say it is in bad taste to do so and may undermine your professional credibility, but for a steady paycheck, I'd do it.

I would say it would be unethical if the company tried to get you to in any way exaggerate or lie about their product.

 

[Animangalicious]

I don't really see how this is unethical for an author. If they are paid by the company, then that sounds fair to me.

Writers should never be limited their freedom of speech. Otherwise when the future looks back to the only source, books, then what do they have to gain, if authors are limited or silenced? Not to say that product placement is valuable as far as literature goes. Companies are going to do it anyways. Might as well make money off of it, right?