In Repsonse to Professor Johnson's Post: "The Case of John Smith"

I don’t believe that John Smith should sell the names to the car dealership. Most likely the people who took the survey were told that their names were being kept private and confidential. The American Marketing Associations Statement of Ethics addresses this issue in their ethical values, one of them being honesty. They need to embrace these ethical values by building relationships and enhancing the consumers confidence in the integrity of marketing by affirming those core values. In the honesty section, they strive to be truthful in all situations and at all times, and honor their commitments and promises. If John sold those members names under the circumstances that they were going to be kept private, he would be breaking that commitment to the consumers. There are other ways that John could go about not going into bankruptcy. What other ways could he make a profit without having to sell these consumers names?