Welcome back. I took a much-needed sanity break, but while I was out – ethics issues didn’t stop. A few highlights this week include ethical issues with sponsored content, ethicswashing and AI

Spring has sprung and so have new ethical issues. This week we look at agencies’ role in the opioid crisis, when is bribery, bribery, and what is a great new resource?

This week the key ethics issues all dealt with creation in one way or another. Is eliminating bias enough in AI development? Can you sabotage Linux for research? What about creating chimeras for medical research?

I was planning a nice, simple update on ethics topics this week – AI, hiring, and maybe being quirky with a story from Wichita. Then on Wednesday, I was hit with my favorite ethics story of the year from the Harvard Business Review – and a story so bad, I had to spend 20 minutes confirming it was real. Read on below.

This week in PR Ethics studies and reports came to the fore. From PRCA’s Annual Perspective, to an HBR study that shows banks with diverse boards commit less fraud, to a great study on what ethical managers should do more often – there is a lot of meaty reading to dig into.

This week in PR ethics virtue was a key theme – from April Fool’s lies to the virtues of a successful leader to taking a stand against Georgia’s new laws – business were living up to their virtues or failing to do so. There was also an interesting report on a growing whistleblower dichotomy.

This is NOT an April Fool’s Joke. This week the most interesting ethics stories were all global. The PRCA looked at top ethics challenges globally, LinkedIn shared advice for moving beyond hashtag activism. There was a fascinating interview on global disinformation about climate change and there was a global gaming cheating scandal.

What I loved about PR ethics this week is learning about two campaigns that are focused on ethics and addressing key issues of our time – disinformation, licensing and trust. There were also ethics examples around disclosure, sustainability and whistleblowers.

This week, Gov. Cuomo continued to provide myriad examples ripe for ethical discussion. A global PR firm was questioned on it if was staying true to its purpose, and the EU took a different approach to whistleblowers than the US.

I like to tell my students that just because something is stupid, doesn’t mean it is unethical. But most stupid things can lead to great discussions on related ethical issues – and boy do we have a lot to talk about this week. From Royals to Racism to Fast Food and Kant, it was tough for me narrowing it down to just a few issues this week