Maximising Eyeballs but Facilitating Cybercrime? Ethical Challenges for Online Advertising in New Zealand

Rogue websites support their operations through advertising, where advertising networks facilitate the placement of advertising banners paid for by advertisers who seek the most "relevant" eyeballs. While mainstream advertisers risk harm to their brands by being associated with illicit activities on the internet, they also risk harms to users through the co-location of ads for high-risk activities, such as gambling, pornography, and scams. In this paper, we present a quantitative analysis of high risk and mainstream advertising being served to New Zealand consumers. We explore the ethical challenges facing advertisers and advertising networks in potentially facilitating cybercrime and harms to users, in the context of theories of marketing ethics. These theories can be used to explore policy and individual responses to guide ethical conduct in marketing.