Would You Recommend Something Unethical For Money?
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Aug 20, 2012
Before I forget, I want to let you know that I wrote a guest post on a blog called Marcie Writes, which works well since the owner is Marcie Hill. It’s titled 5 Steps Towards Blogging Integrity and I think it’s a very good post, not necessarily because I wrote it but because I wrote a guest post for someone who asked for it and I wanted to make sure it would be really good. That’s how guest posting is supposed to work when you ask people if you can write a guest post for them or if they ask you; always give your best. In its own way it segues into today’s topic.
How many of you have heard of something called “payday loans“? If you haven’t, the concept is that if you need money and know you’re getting paid on Friday, if you will, but it’s Wednesday, you can go to an establishment, take out money now, then pay it back on Friday at a “nominal” interest rate.
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To some people it sounds like a great way to get an advance on their pay, but the way I see it, and if you follow the link above you’ll see more reasoning, it’s a scam perpetrated against those without a lot of financial acumen and can lead to both untold debt and dangers people aren’t ready for. It’s people allowing themselves to be taken advantage of, with interest rates that can skyrocket at a moment’s notice and, in some cases, being charged daily, and eventually leave a person not being able to keep up and, well, leaving bankruptcy as a final decision to make if they’re not able to pay off the entire amount immediately.
Yes, I think this is unethical, and I’m not the only one. The Federal government is now investigating mainstream banks that are participating in this, including many that were bailed out by the government back in 2009. Eventually they may get to everyone, but this shows that they’re concerned enough to worry about it.
It’s under this belief in ethics that I was dismayed when I came across a post some weeks ago by someone I usually think is pretty cool, Zac Johnson, who wrote a post titled Is It Time You Started Looking At Promoting Pay Day Loans? In the article, he talks about how it’s one of the fastest growing programs in the world and how some affiliate marketers might want to think about hopping on the bandwagon financially, even though there’s a “slight” disclaimer near the end of the article: “No matter what your personal opinions are on pay days loans and whether they are ethical or not, you need to think of the situation from an advertising stand point.”
I’m sorry, but I personally disagree. The statement alone proves that even Zac knew there was an ethical standard being crossed when he wrote it, and he talked about it in a positive way anyway. There are a lot of people going to dog fighting matches or watching videos of the clubbing of baby seals; would you promote that in positive ways if they were making lots of money?
Along the lines of when I asked the question What Will You Do For More Followers, I ask just what will you do for money? If you truly believed payday loans were the greatest thing on planet Earth and decided to promote it, that’s one thing; if you know up front that there’s an unethical component to it, are you going to do it just because it might pay well? If racism paid well would you promote it if it didn’t fit in with your morality? What about child porn, videos of death, cruelty to animals, etc?
There may be things you find unethical that you’ll complain to someone else about that doesn’t find it unethical. In that case it’s more on you than on the other person. But if you know it’s unethical and you promote it anyway, or the other person knows or believes its unethical and promotes it anyway, what does that say about your commitment to principles? Is making a buck, no matter how much it is, really worth your self respect, let alone the respect of others?
I know what I think; what say you?
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Mitch Mitchell





I don’t think that I would promote something like this either. With karma and conscience aside, I feel that in order to promote a product to its maximum potential one would need to fully believe in the product and honestly think that it provides value.
If those elements are not there it will be hard to put in 100 percent and the affiliate could be better off promoting a product that they believe in, even if it’s not “one of the fastest growing” products.
Plus, it would ruin your reputation and make any future promotions hold less credibility.
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Mitch Mitchell Reply:
August 20th, 2012 at 4:03 PM
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Acting ethically, with integrity and line with my values is really important to me – knowingly promoting something that will disadvantage someone goes against all I agree with. It’s not worth sleepless nights and my professional reputation.
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August 20th, 2012 at 8:56 PM
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August 21st, 2012 at 5:34 PM
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Carl Reply:
August 22nd, 2012 at 7:05 AM
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August 22nd, 2012 at 3:50 PM
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Mitch Mitchell Reply:
August 21st, 2012 at 6:23 PM
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I wouldn’t touch this type of promotion with a barge-pole. The only things I promote are products or services that I use personally and bring benefit to my business.
Very thought provoking post
Jacs
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August 21st, 2012 at 6:29 PM
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Jacs Henderson Reply:
August 21st, 2012 at 6:58 PM
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Mitch Mitchell Reply:
August 21st, 2012 at 7:30 PM
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It is very hard to obtain earnings from ideas or projects you don’t believe in. There are a lot of ways to get paid and letting down your personal belief only for a quick buck could bring you down on the long term.
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Mitch Mitchell Reply:
August 21st, 2012 at 6:30 PM
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Saru Reply:
August 24th, 2012 at 5:40 PM
Sticking to your topic the unethical characteristic of the “pay day loans” is the great amount of interest that finally would make the customer go broke. If the interest would have had a decent rate (i.e. like a bank’s loan rate) then the loaner would have been seen as a social service provider since he would have helped the customer with some money to pass a bad period.
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Mitch Mitchell Reply:
August 21st, 2012 at 7:15 PM
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If it’s something I feel is unethical then I wouldn’t promote it. Especially payday loans.
I learned the horrors of these places about 15 years ago first hand and I’d never use one again, nor would I ever suggest that anyone else use one.
I will admit though, that there have been times in my life where I decided “I don’t care what I have to do, I have to get this money!”
Well, it turns out I did care, because I just can’t go through with some things. One time I was going to work for an insurance company, and in the training the guy is telling we have to convince people to buy things they don’t need and to try to scare people. The money looked good but I just couldn’t do it so I had to leave that alone.
Sometimes I wish I was a ruthless cutthroat money grubber, though. I’d likely have that yacht and beach-house already
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Mitch Mitchell Reply:
August 21st, 2012 at 7:23 PM
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I think there are many people out there who would actually say yes because they are seeing it in the business point of view but for me it would be No!. No, because I certainly have gone through the experience of promoting bad stuffs and losing genuine clients. I think when promoting products or stuffs, it should be noted that its not only about right now but also about the future.
Promoting something unethical or something which is a complete waste and not useful for the customer can jeopardize your online reputation and well even the promoter himself/herself will not have the peace of mind because he knows that he is doing something wrong by promoting something unethical. Isn’t it?
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August 21st, 2012 at 7:25 PM
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Mitch Mitchell Reply:
August 22nd, 2012 at 2:19 PM
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Yes , The age old question when it comes to business. Personally – Especially when your business’s bread and butter (main income) comes from online sources and or websites, Being unethical in the long run might mean closing your website and registering a new domain when it comes to new algorithms from the search engines. And once you’ve been exposed to using unethical business tactics – then who would want to do business with you?
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August 22nd, 2012 at 2:20 PM
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August 22nd, 2012 at 2:27 PM
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Great thought provoking article and I agree with you whole heartedly. There is no way that any self respecting person should promote unethical things. I must admit this is something of a sore point at the moment, as you know the Olympics has been on in the UK and the Paralympics is about to start and do you know what the main food service is available on the Olympic Park.. Macdonalds – I know you don’t have to buy the food they sell, but I think it’s on a parallel with what you are saying – someone in the UK Government is making a ton of money at a sporting event that promotes fitness and health but offering one of the most unhealthiest food options available.
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August 22nd, 2012 at 3:49 PM
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August 22nd, 2012 at 3:51 PM
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I’m really surprised that Zac mentioned this even knowing that it’s unethcial. It’s like knowing the government if fixing to shut something down but you’re promoting it anyway just to make that last red cent because some sucker will fall for it. That’s not building a business with integrity, that’s just down right dishonest to me.
I see a post coming from this as well. Glad you sparked the light too Mitch. Thanks for bringing this to light.
~Adrienne
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Mitch Mitchell Reply:
August 22nd, 2012 at 4:05 PM
Yeah, I was kind of surprised he did that as well. I commented on his post and he said he wouldn’t be doing his job if he didn’t bring it up. The thing is you never, and I mean I’ve never, heard a single person say that payday loans has been beneficial to them, which is why I think it’s unethical. If someone didn’t think it was and decided to promote it, that would be a different thing. But once the disclaimer was added… you know.
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No, I wouldn’t.
But, I have to be honest here – depends a lot on what’s the act and the amount of money you offer me.
How do we define something as ethical or non ethical? It is very much subjective, right Mitch?
To a person who need money immediately, he doesn’t care about the ethics of pay day loans (will he? will he ever? Even if he was recipient of the loan?).
Money is an essential part of our life – we need money to live, but we don’t need it excessively. For some, they may not have enough money to survive (they perceive to not have), but in reality, they may have the money.
For others, they may have a lot of money but perceive to not have any.
It all depends.
Then there is man’s greed.
Greed causes people to do many things – even betray their own friends or spouse.
But, it all depends.
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Mitch Mitchell Reply:
August 22nd, 2012 at 3:59 PM
I think ethical is ethical, no matter what. Based on what you said, a person who thinks killing others is ethical is a subjective thing; sorry, but it’s not. You could say it’s an extreme but people often fall back on “well, that’s a different thing”; no it’s not. The degree of ethical and non-ethical behavior doesn’t work that way. Ethics do work based on what’s in front of you, such as the scenario I pointed out to someone earlier where I said if you have to save a family member from being killed by doing something that’s unethical, your ethics are still your ethics but those are in putting family above all harm. In the same breath, you wouldn’t condone someone breaking into your house, stealing your stuff, and beating up your family members so they could feed their families. At least I assume that’s correct; is it?
If a person’s ethics can cause someone else harm in any way but you don’t care because it’s all about you, then those are your ethics, good or bad. But if there’s even one slight bit of reluctance because ethically you know what you’re doing isn’t totally right, well, that’s something one would have to live with. Maybe this makes you a better businessman than me; I’ve heard that my ethics can be tough sometimes. lol
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I used to be excited when someone asked me to post something that I rarely researched it, because I thought it was legitimate because it came from someone I knew. I don’t do that anymore. I make sure that I have good background information before I share it.
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August 22nd, 2012 at 4:07 PM
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August 22nd, 2012 at 11:35 PM
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I have come across people that promote unethical programs and strangly enough they did not know that the program that they are promoting are unethical. Knowledge is power and lack of it will make many people join such schemes only to realise that they have been scammed.
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August 23rd, 2012 at 9:01 AM
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A nice awakening for many. I would like to speak for myself. Regardless of the money involved, I would never recommend anything which is not ethical nor will I write anything, which my conscience does not approve of. I mean it.Frankly speaking, I was never in a situation where I had to decide between ethical and unethical. Nonetheless, ethical is what is correct for me.
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August 23rd, 2012 at 3:03 PM
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August 24th, 2012 at 12:05 AM
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August 24th, 2012 at 11:18 AM
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So… this is a resounding NO I would never endorse anything or anyone that I don’t know personally. How could I? I don’t know them … I don’t know what they do, we don’t have a relationship and I try to come from a place integrity. Not some place where I have something to gain at someone else’s expense. Hmmph.
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August 28th, 2012 at 11:31 PM
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August 29th, 2012 at 6:57 AM
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September 7th, 2012 at 9:26 AM
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