Tom Farrell

Research student

You can email Tom Farrell directly; but for media enquiries please contact a member of The Open University's Media Relations team.

Current research

Advertising ethics: practitioner and stakeholder perceptions

Ethics is of vital concern to marketers and their advertising agents particularly in the light of increasing stakeholder pressure, government regulation and criticism of marketing practices. It also has implications for marketing management strategy and implementation of corporate social responsibility policies. Tom's PhD research explores the issue of controversial advertising, its regulation and practitioners' ethical decision making.' The study is examining how practitioners perceive and engage with ethical issues and dilemmas when creating controversial marketing communications. The project is currently in its final write up stage and builds on previous qualitative work he has done within UK advertising agencies, which identified a research gap to compare the advertising practitioners’ views with client marketers and key stakeholders, particularly advertising regulators. The findings thus far present a new understanding of the nature of controversial advertising in the UK, the process of advertising regulation and factors influencing practitioner ethical decision-making; perceptual differences between the various players and the impact of regulatory codes and ethical culture.

Supervisors

• Professor Sally Dibb
• Dr Anja Schaefer

Publications