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Cited by 180Ethics and Social Impacts of AIDigitalization, Law, and RegulationAI in Service Interactions

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Ethical and legal challenges of AI in marketing: an exploration of solutions

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Kumar, Dinesh, Suthar, Nidhi·2024·Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society
DOI 10.1108/jices-05-2023-0068
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Abstract

Purpose Artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked interest in various areas, including marketing. However, this exhilaration is being tempered by growing concerns about the moral and legal implications of using AI in marketing. Although previous research has revealed various ethical and legal issues, such as algorithmic discrimination and data privacy, there are no definitive answers. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating AI’s ethical and legal concerns in marketing and suggesting feasible solutions. Design/methodology/approach The paper synthesises information from academic articles, industry reports, case studies and legal documents through a thematic literature review. A qualitative analysis approach categorises and interprets ethical and legal challenges and proposes potential solutions. Findings The findings of this paper raise concerns about ethical and legal challenges related to AI in the marketing area. Ethical concerns related to discrimination, bias, manipulation, job displacement, absence of social interaction, cybersecurity, unintended consequences, environmental impact, privacy and legal issues such as consumer security, responsibility, liability, brand protection, competition law, agreements, data protection, consumer protection and intellectual property rights are discussed in the paper, and their potential solutions are discussed. Research limitations/implications Notwithstanding the interesting insights gathered from this investigation of the ethi…

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  • Facebook's advertising platform was found to skew the distribution of job and housing ads along gender and racial lines, even when advertisers did not intend to target by those attributes.

    “For instance, a well-documented case involved Facebook's advertising platform (now Meta): investigative journalists and researchers found that Facebook's algorithm for ad delivery was skewing the distribution of job and housing ads along gender and racial lines, even when advertisers did not intend to target by those attributes (Kopalle, 2022;Kumar, V., 2024;Khan, 2024;Kumar, R., 2024).”

    From Surveillance Capitalism, Consumer Subjectivity and Marketing in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (2025) · cites this paper as Kumar, V., 2024

  • Ads for high-paying jobs in tech were shown far more to men than women; housing ads in certain neighborhoods were shown preferentially to white users over minority users.

    “Ads for high-paying jobs in tech were shown far more to men than women; housing ads in certain neighborhoods were shown preferentially to white users over minority users.”

    From Surveillance Capitalism, Consumer Subjectivity and Marketing in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (2025) · cites this paper as Kumar, V., 2024

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References 61 · Cited by 180

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Metadata

Authors
Kumar, D., & Suthar, N.
Affiliations
Lovely Professional University (IN)
Corresponding author
Kumar, Dinesh
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society
Publisher
Emerald
Published
2024-01-22
Volume
22
Issue
1
Pages
124-144
ISSN
1477-996X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1108/jices-05-2023-0068
OpenAlex
W4391040815
Cited by
180
References
61
Citations by year
2026: 78 · 2025: 68 · 2024: 32
FWCI
73.74
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.emerald.com/insight/site-policies (tdm)
Locations
  • Journal of Information Communication and Ethics in Society (publishedVersion)
  • SSRN Electronic Journal (acceptedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
  • Social Sciences › Law › Digitalization, Law, and Regulation
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › AI in Service Interactions
Keywords
artificial intelligence in marketing, AI ethics, AI regulation, algorithmic discrimination, data privacy, targeted advertising, consumer protection, intellectual property, competition law, cybersecurity, job displacement, transparency and explainability, consumer trust, algorithmic bias, brand protection, environmental impact of AI, data protection, consumer manipulation, unintended consequences of AI

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