The Ethics of Negative Options: The Case of U.S. West Communications

Abstract

Many corporations that engage in direct marketing have been more sensitized to the concept of ethics in marketing than in years past. The marketing manager must be capable of formulating as well as implementing policy that not only calls for economic reasoning but also for ethical awareness. This case study examines the marketing strategies of a major United States telecommunications corporation that employed the use of a negative option approach in its attempt to sign up as many telephone subscribers to a new service when it was first offered in 1982. As it will be shown in this case study, their marketing efforts turned out to be poorly executed and ethically questionable.

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Notes on contributors

Richard C. Leventhal

Richard C. Leventhal (Ph.D. from the University of Denver) is currently a professor of Marketing at Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Leventhal worked for two Fortune 500 corporations as both a sales and marketing manager. Dr. Leventhal’s research interests are currently focused on ethics in marketing management. He has published numerous research works, some of which have appeared in The Journal of Consumer Marketing, Health Marketing Quarterly, The Journal of Services Marketing, and The Journal of Health Care Marketing. He is currently Editor of The Journal of Consumer Marketing.