Social marketing ethical dilemmas: pursuing practical solutions for pressing problems

We discuss calls, and apparent support, for ethical resources to support social marketing practitioners, in the light of research findings from a study of actual ethical dilemmas encountered by social marketing practitioners and resources used to resolve them. We highlight nine key ethical challenges facing social marketers, and highlight the prominence of social marketers' concerns about funders' influence on social marketing activity. The low use of existing general resources indicates the need for social marketing focussed resources, the need to ensure that any resources developed offer practical decision-making support rather than broad general principles, and the need to advocate for an environment in which social marketers can do good-quality work.