Creativity is not ethical

I once sat across the desk from a VP for a Major Telco who was asking me to design something that I knew for sure was unethical. It was not, to the best of my knowledge illegal, at least not at the time, but may be now. 

VP: When they put our installation CD into the drive I want the first thing it does is to change their browser home page to the [Major Telco] home page.

This was the turn of the century and CDs where still the main way software was installed. I was being tasked with redesigning the Major Telco’s business services installation and onboarding software.

Me: Ok, we can do that after a user confirmation.

VP: No, first thing. I don’t want them to have a choice.

Me: But that would be unethical.

VP: I don’t care. Do it.

As ethical crimes go, this one seems pretty minor, I know. He was asking me to, essentially, hack their potential customers’ computers to override a user1 preference that the user probably did not want changed.

Realizing he was serious, I did something unethical: I lied.

Me: We can’t do that for technical reasons.

I didn’t really know if this was true, but I knew he didn’t either and my developer stayed quiet. The matter was tabled until we could look into the technical feasibility. It was a very low priority.

As a creative director, my job was to look out both for my customer as well as the people using their products. I knew this was unethical because it removed the users’ agency. I also knew that once enough people started sharing this bad experience it would harm the Major Telco’s brand. Maybe not enough to bring the mighty Major Telco to its knees —That would happen soon enough when they were acquired by an even More Major Telco a few years later — but enough to cost it business. So, I stood by my ethical beliefs and refused to provide my creative ability to help him do something I felt to be unethical.

Creativity does not come with a certain ethical point of view. I could have easily found creative solutions to make what the VP asked of me a reality. I could have even found creative ways to sell the user on the idea that we were doing them a huge favor by taking care of that pesky home page for them.

Creativity is a force that can be used and directed for whatever ends the wielder is willing to aim it. When your personal ethics come up against the desires of a client, though, the distinction between applying it to solve problems with solutions you believe will be helpful instead of harmful can become murky. 

In the case above, rather than calling the VP out and refusing to develop the solution he wanted, I did something unethical and lied. Had I stood my ground and been honest, however, it would have likely meant being pulled off the project or even fired.

My Point

Making these kinds of ethical distinctions is part of creativity. You can use your creative ability to help people or exploit people. Whatever your own ethical stance is as to when help becomes exploitation, there are times you will have to choose between doing what you feel to be right or doing what you feel to be wrong. There will be repercussions either way.

For me, preventing this relatively minor exploitation of the Major Telco’s customers was not worth risking my job and the burden that would place on me and my family. However, lying was a small enough ethical hit on my conscience to take for a greater ethical good. 

Was I right? What would you have done?