This post originally appeared on the Medium. It was published by Bruce Clark

I recently shared an article on social media detailing a consulting firm's use of classic marketing tactics in a way that ended up turning out very badly for customers and, arguably, society. This provoked some complicated conversations both online and privately. Speaking from my not quite “ivory tower” as a business school professor, I like to think we can do better than this.

Here is an article about how we can help customers avoid bad choices.

One of my arguments, and I am comfortable calling it a belief, is that we as marketers and organizations have a higher “duty of care” in some situations than others. This article develops that argument and also includes a variety of suggestions on what we can do. It is organized as follows:

· Marketing as Closing Gaps

· Reducing the Negative Consequences of Choices

· Improving the Decision Processes around Choices

· “Stupid” Choices

· Our Choices: Tough and Humble

As a summary, organizations and marketers love to talk about the benefits of our products and the customers who benefit from our products. But there are always consequences to products. Sometimes they are substantial, and sometimes they affect some groups more than others. When products can have substantial negative consequences, can we shift the odds away from them:

· Can we reduce the odds that customers experience negative consequences from our products?

· Can we increase the odds that customers choose a product that is likely to be better for them?

Read more at Medium.com