4 ms·

Is it ethically OK to take an advert out on a competitors website?

• SamReidHughes 15y ago
  If you're a human and apparently incapable of answering this question, what makes you think we are?
  • pavel_lishin 15y ago
    Why ask any questions at all, then?
    • SamReidHughes 15y ago
      Because most questions are not about whether something is morally acceptable. You shouldn't have to ask the question "Is it morally wrong to do X?", you should know, based on your own sense of things. Unless you're a utilitarian and it's hard to calculate the side effects of doing X, but that's not the case here. So I believe the OP is being disingenuous with this question. One way this thread could possibly affect the OP's behavior is by getting him to do something he himself deems unethical. I have no wish to help that. The other way is that he could behave in a way more restricted than his ethical boundaries would allow, and he wants to know exactly how far he can go without crossing the line. If that's his tack, I have no wish to give information helping him there, I'd rather force simulators of scruples to have to play it extra safe. Or maybe two people are in a disagreement and they decided to resolve things by posting a thread here. In which case I'd say going by majority decision is a poor way to resolve ethical problems. People should have their own sense of ethics.
      • ohashi 15y ago
        You're basically saying outside perspective and advice on moral issues is bad. How would we learn morals if it wasn't for society (in whatever shape/form)? People make mistakes, some people are cautious enough to ask others for input before trying something to see if their own justification is reasonable. I see no problem with that.
      • TomGullen 15y ago
        There's two of us in this company, we are conflicted on the issue. I wanted more opinions.
      • antinome 15y ago
        By "your own sense of things" do you mean how you innately feel about it? Speaking for myself: I have a strong innate moral sense that kicks in automatically to make me feel good or bad about certain actions. So, my brain puts in some effort and constructs a model of how to act in order to maximize the good and minimize the bad feelings. Like most (all?) models, this model can be generalized -- applied to inputs other than those that informed its construction. The strange thing is, once my brain has made such a model, I will then feel bad about doing anything that it says I should feel bad about -- even if I wouldn't have cared before I made the model. Sometimes I feel conflicted -- this is either because it is unclear how to apply my model to a situation or because my innate moral sense pops up and contradicts my model. The only thing to do then (if I am to avoid the path of ignoring and trying not to think about it) is to refine my model to account for the new situation or new innate "moral data". This can require some serious thinking. Sometimes it helps to consult with other people who have already done some thinking along similar lines. It is like when physicists consult with each other because they are not sure how to apply their model in a particular situation, or because an experiment contradicts their model.
    • deleted 15y ago
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• dholowiski 15y ago
  Your competitor has the capability of blocking you from buying ads on their site (it's part of the adsense interface). If they're not, I would say fair game. Honestly, if they're making money off of your ad they might not care! It's a bit dirty, but I wouldn't call it unethical.
  • ohashi 15y ago
    What's the difference between dirty and unethical out of curiosity?
• adrianwaj 15y ago
  You could always ask or warn them in advance, that'd be the polite thing to do - it's what I'd do.
• parasitius 15y ago
  Who cares. The only thing it does is "define" a bit of the personality of your company as a company that would do such a thing. The world is full of varied folks, the markets would be crap if companies weren't just as varied!
• anujkk 15y ago
  I've seen ads of "Facebook Ads" in "Google Ads". I think there is nothing wrong in it if your competitor don't care about it. If they care, they have the option to remove it.
• lukevdp 15y ago
  Yes it's fine. Adsense is contextual, they know competitor ads will be running in their ad unit.
• tommccabe 15y ago
  If you had Google Ads on your own website, do you think that your competitor would hesitate to buy keywords and try to take your business away? Probably not. It's fair game.