Marketing and Corruption

Introduction Corruption is like the slow rotting of a dead body says a modern author. Unsatisfied with a “rotten body” analogy, one may want a non‐moralist definition of corruption. The subject of corruption and bribing has been treated in several theoretical essays but few empirical studies. Corruption has attracted the interest of sociologists, anthropologists, economists and political scientists. Drawing upon some of this corruption literature this paper aims at discussing corruption from a “narrow” marketing perspective. What makes a marketer corrupt? Are the consequences of “discovery” a deterrent? What uncertainties are there in corruption practice? Those are the pragmatic questions we will set out to discuss.