ethical marketing movement
The Ethical Move
Industry Advertising
A movement and pledge project challenging psychological manipulation, scare tactics, and dishonest marketing. The Ethical Move scores well because it names marketing power directly and pushes sellers toward transparency and responsibility, but a voluntary pledge and badge are weaker than enforceable governance or verified institutional control.
Why this matters: The Ethical Move is a useful positive anchor for marketing ethics because it criticizes manipulation from inside the selling profession.
Letter grade B Qualified Medium confidence (AI) Rubric gcd-rubric-v1
* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.
This entry is classified as a small business using observable scale signals: independent control, local or limited operations, and no evidence of public-company or national-chain scale. The small-business calibration keeps the ordinary rubric but reads evidence at person scale: living-wage pricing is not extraction by itself, while worker and contractor treatment, owner surplus, transparency, advertising pressure, dissent tolerance, and recourse matter more. Harm, toxicity, surveillance, labor, coercion, opacity, and hidden-parent penalties are not relaxed.
Applied cap: No structure cap
Request verification to have the evidence record checked against primary materials and organization-supplied documents. Verification does not buy a higher score; scores change only when review finds factual errors, omissions, or miscalibration.
Evaluation Overview
B - Qualified
The score turns mainly on Extraction, with the largest penalty coming from Ideological Disavowal.
Strengths
- Extraction6/10
- Ownership5/10
- Governance5/10
Penalties
- Ideological Disavowal-1
Evidence state
- ConfidenceMedium confidence (AI)
- ThoroughnessDeveloped (AI)
- Linked claims11
- Direct axis claims11
- Coverage11/14
Scoring Axes
| Axis | Score | Why this score |
|---|---|---|
Ownership
?
Control rights: shareholder-dominated at 0, worker cooperative control
at 10.
|
5 / 10 |
The Ethical Move is organized around the structure described in its public materials rather than democratic ownership by all affected users or workers. Linked evidence
|
Governance
?
Binding decision authority: centralized control at 0, democratic
stakeholder control at 10.
|
5 / 10 |
The Ethical Move's linked public materials show a governance model where ordinary users, advertisers, members, or pledge participants do not have full binding control over institutional direction. Linked evidence
|
Extraction
?
Surplus allocation, wage share, CEO pay ratio, margins, and structured
extraction judgment.
|
6 / 10 |
The Ethical Move's model changes the flow of advertising, attention, data, or creator revenue compared with ordinary surveillance advertising. Linked evidence
|
Labor Sovereignty
?
Worker power: coercive conditions at 0, co-determination or ownership at
7. Employee dissatisfaction matters only when source-backed evidence
shows concrete limits on worker agency, such as coercive scheduling,
retaliation, wage theft, harassment, unsafe conditions, suppression of
worker voice, or extreme turnover.
|
3 / 7 |
The Ethical Move is organized around the structure described in its public materials rather than democratic ownership by all affected users or workers. Linked evidence
|
Solidarity with the
Unemployed
?
Treatment of exits and nonworkers, including severance, redeployment,
and non-competes.
|
4 / 7 |
The Ethical Move is organized around the structure described in its public materials rather than democratic ownership by all affected users or workers. Linked evidence
|
Loss-Bearing Fidelity
?
Willingness to absorb costs to preserve values, workers, users, and
public obligations.
|
5 / 7 |
The Ethical Move is organized around the structure described in its public materials rather than democratic ownership by all affected users or workers. Linked evidence
|
Market Conduct
?
Pricing fairness, switching costs, lock-in, and rent extraction.
|
5 / 5 |
The Ethical Move operates in or against the advertising and attention market by changing how consent, tracking, ad placement, creator funding, or marketing ethics work. Linked evidence
|
Product Integrity
?
Preservation of quality rather than degradation for monetization.
|
5 / 5 |
The Ethical Move's core product or program is aimed at changing advertising, tracking, data markets, or marketing practice rather than simply maximizing hidden behavioral extraction. Linked evidence
|
Scale Integrity
?
Whether growth improves or degrades fairness and accountability.
|
4 / 5 |
The Ethical Move's model can scale through software, standards, pledges, advertising buyers, or data-market infrastructure, with different accountability risks depending on control structure. Linked evidence
|
Penalties
| Penalty | Applied | Why this penalty |
|---|---|---|
Ideological Disavowal
?
Concealed ideology presented as neutrality, expertise, professional
necessity, public-service administration, market inevitability, or
non-ideological common sense while exercising power. Range: -3 to 0.
|
-1 |
The Ethical Move frames contested choices about advertising, consent, misinformation, attention, or data markets as responsible infrastructure or reform rather than as a situated institutional position. Linked evidence
|
Bonus Credits
| Bonus | Credit | Why this credit |
|---|---|---|
Openness to Dissent
?
Credit for tolerating internal, user, customer, worker, and public
dissent without retaliation, capture, or viewpoint laundering.
|
2 / 3 |
The Ethical Move publicly challenges dominant advertising or tracking practices, creating room for criticism of the existing attention economy. Linked evidence
|
Constitutional Spirit
?
Credit for respecting constitutional rights and civil-liberties norms
even where private law does not strictly require it.
|
2 / 3 |
The Ethical Move's public work supports privacy, user autonomy, speech, or information-integrity norms beyond bare legal compliance. Linked evidence
|
Good Deal
?
Credit for unusually fair value: durable quality, fair pricing, low
lock-in, and clear customer surplus.
|
1 / 3 |
The Ethical Move gives users, creators, or participating organizations a more legible or fairer value proposition than ordinary opaque advertising markets. Linked evidence
|
Cost Transparency
?
Credit for clear posted prices, all-in fees, unit costs, public rate
cards, margin/cost visibility, or surplus-allocation transparency,
especially in markets where opaque quotes, hidden fees, or
individualized pricing are normal.
|
1 / 3 |
The Ethical Move's public materials make parts of the advertising, reward, pledge, or creator-payment exchange more visible than conventional adtech. Linked evidence
|
Confidence Basis
Confidence Basis
Confidence is computed from the evidence trail and review state, not typed into the profile by hand.
Medium 76/100
11 verified linked claims 11 direct axis claims 0 disputed claims 11/14 components covered
This confidence label measures the source-backed evidence trail. AI-scaffolded scores remain tentative until human review.
Claim confidence 19/20
11 verified linked claims
Source quality 11/18
Best source per verified claim, weighted by institutional reliability
Direct axis-specific claims 9/18
11 direct claims across 14 active components
Dispute load 12/12
0 disputed claims on this entity
Recency 10/10
Newest accepted timestamp: May 13, 2026
Reviewer status 7/12
Human-reviewed components score higher than AI scaffolding
Component coverage 8/10
11/14 evidence-bearing components have direct support
Evidence State
Evidence State
Claims and Sources
Claims are the evidence record. Each claim needs a source link, axis category, status, confidence level, and timestamp before it can support a score.
* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.1The Ethical Move is organized around the structure described in its public materials rather than democratic ownership by all affected users or workers.
- The Ethical Move pledgeGeneral web source · 58%
2The Ethical Move's public materials show a governance model where ordinary users, advertisers, members, or pledge participants do not have full binding control over institutional direction.
- The Ethical Move pledgeGeneral web source · 58%
3The Ethical Move's model changes the flow of advertising, attention, data, or creator revenue compared with ordinary surveillance advertising.
- The Ethical Move pledgeGeneral web source · 58%
4The Ethical Move operates in or against the advertising and attention market by changing how consent, tracking, ad placement, creator funding, or marketing ethics work.
- The Ethical Move pledgeGeneral web source · 58%
5The Ethical Move's core product or program is aimed at changing advertising, tracking, data markets, or marketing practice rather than simply maximizing hidden behavioral extraction.
- The Ethical Move pledgeGeneral web source · 58%
6The Ethical Move's model can scale through software, standards, pledges, advertising buyers, or data-market infrastructure, with different accountability risks depending on control structure.
- The Ethical Move aboutOfficial self-description · 68%
7The Ethical Move publicly challenges dominant advertising or tracking practices, creating room for criticism of the existing attention economy.
- The Ethical Move aboutOfficial self-description · 68%
8The Ethical Move's public work supports privacy, user autonomy, speech, or information-integrity norms beyond bare legal compliance.
- The Ethical Move aboutOfficial self-description · 68%
9The Ethical Move gives users, creators, or participating organizations a more legible or fairer value proposition than ordinary opaque advertising markets.
- The Ethical Move pledgeGeneral web source · 58%
10The Ethical Move's public materials make parts of the advertising, reward, pledge, or creator-payment exchange more visible than conventional adtech.
- The Ethical Move pledgeGeneral web source · 58%
11The Ethical Move frames contested choices about advertising, consent, misinformation, attention, or data markets as responsible infrastructure or reform rather than as a situated institutional position.
- The Ethical Move aboutOfficial self-description · 68%
Help Improve This Profile
Submit source-backed evidence or challenge a specific claim, source, axis value, or calculation below.
How This Page Is Maintained
Evidence comes in through contributors, is checked by verifiers, and is synthesized by reviewers. Founder authority remains narrow and visible; scores recalculate when verified claims or the rubric change.
Civic Note
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