"IT'S LIKE
STEROIDS
FOR YOUR
CAREER."

Hmmm.

Let's list the way in which this message is irresponsible and ethically misguided, shall we?

1. Performance enhancing steroids are illegal. The message implies that the advancement of one's career can justify illegal means.
2. Using steroids to enhance performance in sports is cheating. The ad suggests that cheating is acceptable.
3. Since the use of steroids is always hidden by athletes, who seek to deceive authorities and other athletes into believing that they are not violating rules and laws. Steroids therefore imply dishonesty. Using dishonesty in negotiations is unethical.
4. It is well documented that steroids damage users' health and occasionally cause death. The ad suggests that pursuing career success trumps such basic values as safety and welfare.
5. Steroids are a serious problem in American society that require a consistent message of disapproval. Referencing steroids in a manner that emphasizes its benefits undermines efforts to convey that message.
6. The use of steroids by teens is increasing nationwide, and educating our youth about the dangers of steroid use is vital. Nothing stops teens traveling by air from seeing the Karrass ad.

Unethical six ways in a six word sentence…impressive! Apparently it never occurred to the copywriter who drafted the ad, nor the VP who approved it, nor anyone else in the process of bringing the ad to print (including the publishers of the in-flight magazines) that there are any negative connotations to steroids at all. Given the recent travails of Rafael Palmeiro, Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi and Mark McGwire, the public pronouncements of Senator John McCain and Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, the clouds hanging over the reputations of Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong, and the indictments of major figures in the illegal steroid distribution business, their cluelessness is both incompetent and negligent, not to mention inexplicable. Before you analogize your product to something else, it is essential that you do some research to determine, at the very least, whether that something is illegal, dishonest, and deadly.

Then again, it's possible the Karrass people know all that, and think steroids are just nifty-keen. In either case, few Ethics Dunce awards have been more deserved.