54.3 F
San Diego
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
-Advertisement-

Matchmaking Firms Must Deal With Ethical Issues

Whether they’re pitching online profile matches or raging singles parties, businesses going after the dater’s dollar are in a unique position, ethically and legally, when it comes to selling and marketing their product.

“In respect to business ethics, there are commonalities and uniqueness for any type of business,” said professor Marc Lampe, who teaches business law and social responsibility at the University of San Diego. “By the nature of (the dating industry) business, I would think there are quite a few unique issues they must deal with. In particular, issues of privacy, health and safety and how they market their service. For example, exaggerating their ability to assist someone in finding their ‘dream’ mate.”

Professor George Belch, who chairs the marketing department at San Diego State University, agrees that there are ethical dilemmas to be faced by businesses in the dating industry, but stops short of naming any legal barriers specific to the industry.

“Ethically, there are issues, certainly,” Belch said. “But legally, I don’t know of any.”

Lampe agrees.

“Unfortunately, at least in my opinion, there is a good deal of latitude for companies in any industry to ‘puff’ and exaggerate claims before an action would be brought by government, or could be brought by a consumer,” Lampe said.


The Law

While neither Lampe nor Belch is aware of any specific legal restraints on the dating industry, both agree that companies should be aware that there are other laws on the books that could spell disaster for an over-zealous date peddler.

Belch said that deceptive advertising laws and advertising media morality codes could be used to challenge a company’s conduct.

Lampe said that companies should have mechanisms in place to screen, protect and warn daters about any problems with other clients or risk possible legal action.

“This could become a legal issue if someone is injured and a jury attributes it to the service having been negligent in their security and safety processes and procedures,” Lampe said.

Of all the types of businesses pursuing the dater’s dollar, the most prevalent is the online matching service, according to

Forbes Magazine,

which predicts Internet dating services will generate $516 million in revenues this year for U.S. companies. Coincidentally, because the Internet is so difficult to regulate, online matchmaking services tend to get very little monitoring, although they are the largest paid-for-content business on the Web today, according to Forbes.


Ignored Territory

“It’s a side of society that gets overlooked because the federal government has to worry about whether drug makers are accurately displaying risks and things like that, singles sites fall low on the priority list,” Belch said. “I think it’s an interesting issue, but at the end of the day, the Internet really is an unregulated medium.”

Despite the loose legal issues surrounding the online dating industry and other businesses vying for dater dollars, Belch says the consumers themselves keep companies in line.

“If people have a bad experience with them, word-of-mouth could kill (a business),” Belch said. “The guiding hand of the market controls it.”

Darlena Del Mar, owner of Darlena’s Turning Point, doesn’t offer online matchmaking services, but she does advertise upcoming singles parties on the Internet and has made a point of keeping her regular clients happy while striving to find new ones.

“When people are loyal to you, then you’ve got to be loyal to them,” said Del Mar, who frequently offers discount admission incentives to newcomers and repeat clients alike.

Del Mar also said she’s not afraid to kick out clients from her parties if their behavior poses a risk to others.

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-