Teaching Marketing Law: A Business Law Perspective on Integrating Marketing and Law

Abstract

In today's legal environment of large financial penalties against both firms and managers, criminal liability for some types of marketing conduct, and increasing government regulation of the marketing function, the future marketing manager needs more exposure to legal topics than is available from an introductory business law course. This article examines the likely education in law currently available to marketing students and the cross-disciplinary concept of marketing law before focusing on two interrelated topics: how to teach legal topics to marketing students and how to include additional legal coverage within the marketing curriculum.

Why Managers Fail to do the Right Thing: An Empirical Study of Unethical and Illegal Conduct

“…Measures at the industry and firm level might increase the effect of formal sanctions on outcome expectancies and moral evaluations. Managers are often ignorant of the law (Petty 2000). Consistent with deterrence theory and the findings of this study, there appears to be a case for interventions that better familiarize managers with the law and convey the moral opprobrium attached to illegal conduct (signaling societal expectations).…”

Prison Field Trips: Can White-Collar Criminals Positively Affect the Ethical and Legal Behavior of Marketing and MBA Students?

“…If marketing students achieve this objective, it also will help them realize that for some issues, there is a clearly drawn line between right and wrong, something that Chapman et al (2004) say is missing for many marketing students. This objective also speaks to the goal set out by Allison (1991) and Petty (2000) that students have an appreciation for legal issues. Objective 2 also is consistent with what others have attempted to accomplish in their courses using other types of ethicsteaching tools.…”

Patenting Marketing Methods: A Missing Topic in the Classroom

“…At many institutions, the curricular area traditionally responsible for offering students coverage of intellectual property, including patents, is within a business law or similar legal course. Although coverage in these courses may provide an adequate foundation for understanding basic legal principles, law courses generally do not provide the depth needed to address legal issues specific to marketing (Petty 2000). In addition, patent coverage within business law courses often is not directed at understanding how patents affect marketing practices.…”