ADVERTISING ETHICS IN THE MIDDLE EAST: AN

EXAMINATION OF PRACTITIONER
PERSPECTIVES
Sara Kamal, American University in Dubai, U.A.E.
Minette E. Drumwright, University of Texas at Austin
SUMMARY
The topic of advertising ethics has emerged as an important issue, but most empirical investigations have focused
on Western countries. Emerging markets deserve attention. They pose the greatest opportunity for global marketers in terms of market and media expansion (Mahajan
and Banga 2005). The Middle East and North Africa
(MENA) region has experienced exponential economic
growth and provides immense opportunities for global
business. As a result, advertising media and agencies have
flourished. At the same time, incidences that raise important ethical concerns are increasingly frequent, and only a
handful of studies have examined advertising ethics in
MENA (e.g., Mostafa 2011; Marta et al. 2004).
The current study examines industry perspectives on
advertising ethics in the MENA region. In-depth interviews were conducted with advertising practitioners in
the MENA region using a discussion guide adapted from
previous research (Drumwright and Murphy 2004, 2009).
Our observations yielded a complicated story. Unlike in
the U.S. where laws form the foundation for advertising
ethics, the laws in MENA are either highly specific, such
as a ban on alcohol advertising in the mass media, or
nonexistent or unenforced. As such, there is something of
a laissez-faire mentality with respect to many traditional issues of advertising ethics and law. For example,
issues such as false claims, copyright concerns, and privacy issues either have little protection in the law or laws
are not enforced. Consumers appear not to be concerned
about or engaged with these issues, giving undue power to
advertisers.
Emerging markets in the MENA region are undergoing a
huge influx of new residents and exponential commercial
growth. Our informants expressed significant concerns
regarding negative effects of advertising on local culture.
Many advertising decision makers are themselves
imports from countries outside MENA, who come to
work in MENA for short stints. These transient advertising
practitioners often have limited understanding of local
culture and conduct little research to gain insights about

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consumers. They typically adapt international campaigns

and add a few local touches, which are not based on
research. As a result, campaigns often portray local people
and local culture in stereotypical ways, and executions
often are offensive to local consumers. While individual
campaigns may be problematic, the overall impact on
culture is even more of a concern.
Issues of religion and commerce are on the agenda in
interesting ways. Secular influences have been present in
MENA for some time, and our informants spoke of the
modern Islamic consumer. The traditional Islamic consumer saw commerce and religion as presenting conflicting values and struggled with many aspects of the marketplace. The modern Islamic consumer does not experience
these struggles and can more readily embrace the marketplace. Yet, our informants expressed concern that commercial advertising would go too far and contribute to
hyper materialism and the concomitant problems of bad
debt that have plagued the U.S. and Europe. Such criticisms are, of course, made in the West as well, but in
MENA, the worry is more intertwined with Islam and
secularization more generally.
Pressures to meet short-term financial goals tend to have
a negative effect on advertising ethics generally. The
problem is exacerbated in the MENA region. Our informants reported that the transient nature of advertising
workers predisposes them to do whatever it takes to
deliver short-term results irrespective of the ethical implications. Our informants reported that the urgency to
deliver short term financial results is further amplified by
the sense that MENA is playing catch up with the rest of
the world, which also tends to have a negative effect on
advertising ethics.
Although our informants at times generalized about MENA
consumers and regions, they also noted that MENA is not
one culture but many cultures and many sets of norms and
values. This variation further complicates the practice of
ethics in advertising. As one informant explained, Each
market is different in MENA. In one place, advertising
something is considered wrong, but [in another], it is
happening.

Marketing and Public Policy Conference Proceedings / 2012

Some informants reported that they do not assume that it

is their responsibility to know about ethics; they assume
that the human resources area should handle these issues.
While some of the more obvious ethical issues are on their
radar, more subtle issues, particularly those related to
messages, are not.
Our informants, who are employed in the MENA offices
of large agency networks, believed that they are less likely
to act unethically because they are part of a multinational
company with policies that would prevent them from
committing ethical violations. They also perceived that
the smaller agencies were likely to be the ones committing
ethical violations. These are questions for empirical investigation.
Although our informants described a market that is rife
with potential ethical infringements, they also described a
context that they believe is likely to be changing dramatically with respect to business and advertising ethics. The
so called Arab Spring has ushered in a wave of social
change. Although scholars debate the nature and the
effectiveness of the Arab Spring, there is no doubt that it

REFERENCES
Drumwright, M.E. and P.E. Murphy (2004), How Advertising Practitioners View Ethics: Moral Muteness,
Moral Myopia and Moral Imagination, Journal of
Advertising, 33, 724.
____________ and ____________ (2009), The Current
State of Advertising Ethics: Industry and Academic
Perspectives, Journal of Advertising, 38 (1), 83
108.
Mahajan, Vijay and Kamini Banga (2005), The 86 Per-

is changing the social context and affecting business,

marketing, and advertising as well as other social institutions. Our informants perceived that the Arab Spring is
prompting consumers to demand more accountability and
a higher degree of ethical behavior from companies. Our
informants also asserted that they see some evidence of a
new breed of advertising worker. They observed that this
worker also wants more transparency and higher ethical
standards at work.
It would be much too ethnocentric to suggest that all the
problems regarding ethics and advertising are essentially
the same across cultures and that the solutions for these
problems should map onto the U.S. or Western European
models. It would be equally disturbing, however, to imagine that societies in which the laws regulating business are
underdeveloped or more laissez faire, either de jure or de
facto, are indifferent to ethical concerns. Because advertising is undergoing globalization and emerging markets
are becoming key players, it seems particularly important
to try to understand the ethical issues in advertising in
regions such as MENA.

cent Solution: How to Succeed in the Biggest Market

Opportunity of the Next 50 Years, Wharton School
Publishing, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Marta, Janet K. Mullin, Anusorn Singhapakdi, Attia
Ashraf, and Scott J. Vitell (2004), Some Important
Factors Underlying Ethical Decisions of MiddleEastern Marketers, International Marketing Review,
21 (1), 5367.
Mostafa, Mohmmad M. (2011), Egyptian Consumers
Attitudes Toward Advertising, Journal of Promotion Management, 17, 4260.

For further information contact:

Sara Kamal
Department of Marketing & Marketing Communications
School of Business Administration
American University
P.O. Box 28282
Dubai, U.A.E.
Phone: +971.4.318.3411
Fax: +971.4.399.8899
E-Mail: skamal@aud.edu

Marketing and Public Policy Conference Proceedings / 2012

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