I just don't see a need to publicly parade my ethics *before* someone violates them – it's something that should be taken for granted as a business norm.

My point is that legal responsibilities define ethical behavior as a standard practice. To flout that is usually to defy the law and descend into the shady side automatically.

To me, the freedom to do that is crucial.

I have also started jobs for clients and then had red flags go off. I remember telling a client with a book of essays that I was pretty sure one of the essays was not hers, and explaining the rules of plagiarism. Another time, I called up a long-time client and said that he was putting both his doctoral and his masters' degrees (in theology, no less)–both of which I'd assisted with–at risk because I could tell he had plagiarized and his advisors were going to be able to tell also. He was grateful, and the work stopped until he redid that section.

Interestingly, I have found that taking a strong stand on ethics has been *very good* for my business, especially once I started writing books and giving speeches on the topic (e.g., my eighth book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet (co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson), http://www.guerrillamarketinggoesgreen.com )

Does the world really need another product about X? Or is it just part of the never-ending festival of hype where we point people to the newest shiny thing rather than encouraging them to use their own resources (i.e. encouraging Ralph Wolves instead of Sam Sheepdogs :-)?

The upside is that it's possible for a copywriter to have a positive impact in a marketing campaign, even if the product isn't all that necessary or is even borderline crappy.

Also, I've taken encouragement from what Brian Eno said last year in an interview about how he works with U2 in the studio: “'They feed on their own excitement… the point is to keep offering ladders that people can climb up to another place and then you can throw the ladder away afterwards, it doesn't matter.”

So even if it seems like we're selling feelings or it's not the greatest product in the world, as long as it's a ladder, then that's OK.

In professional sales, my situation has been very different. You are the face for the company you represent. I have commented that when I make a sales call, all I really have when I walk in is my reputation and creditability. Just like in copywriting, it is reputation and creditability that you are trying to establish and build on to make the sale. If the sale goes sour regardless of the reason, it is the sales person that they will remember. And believe me, they will remember. I did a large six figure deal and the company was almost 6 months late delivery the software to the client. Years later, I bumped into the project manager and he remembered me.

John Deck