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

Questions: Should John smith sell the names? (Be sure to answer the poll to the left of this post.) Also, Does the AMA Statement of Ethics address this issue? Go to the AMA website (American Marketing Association) and look at their Statement of Ethics. What in the Statement relates to John Smith's dilemma?

I don’t think that John Smith should sell the names to the car dealership. Even though this would help the car dealer a great amount by giving him names of prospective buyers, it would be wrong because the people who took the survey were most likely told their names would be kept private throughout the survey process. The American Marketing Association’s Statement of Ethics provides information on ethical values a company must uphold. One of which is honesty. It would not be honest of John Smith to hand out the names because the people who took the survey would not know about it. It’s unethical because John Smith would be breaking consumer relationships. Yes, John Smith may have to lay off some employees in his company, but isn’t that the company’s fault that they don’t have the money to keep employees? There are other ways for John Smith to make the money to try to keep employees, what do you think they are?