Modeling ethics in AI-driven marketing strategies to enhance market demand: evidence from the Iranian pharmaceutical industry

Purpose As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into marketing systems, it brings not only operational advantages but also a host of ethical challenges that demand critical examination by researchers. Focusing on Iran’s pharmaceutical industry, this study aims to explore the use of ethics in AI-driven marketing strategies to enhance market demand. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a qualitative approach to identify the role of ethics in AI-driven marketing strategies and illustrates their complex influence on market demand. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with senior marketing managers in Iran’s pharmaceutical industry. Thematic analysis was used to extract key concepts from the interviews. Based on the results, a system dynamics model was developed using Vensim software to simulate the causal relationships between variables. Findings The findings were classified into four scenarios: in the product domain, transparency serves as a key ethical safeguard, enabling customers to make informed decisions while reducing the risk of bias and misinformation regarding product features. In the pricing realm, AI’s capacity to personalize and optimize prices raises concerns regarding fairness and the risk of discrimination. With respect to place, the automation of logistics and inventory management through AI introduces new ethical accountabilities related to equitable access and data-driven supply chain decisions. Promotional activities, particularly those generated by AI, should avoid ethical risks, such as deceptive messaging, psychological manipulation and reinforcement of bias, as these can undermine customer autonomy. The results showed that AI-driven marketing strategies, when guided by these ethical principles, foster long-term relationships between buyers and sellers by creating a reciprocal sense of trust and increasing market demand. Originality/value This study makes a novel contribution by conceptually linking ethical considerations in AI-driven marketing strategies to market demand, an area that remains underexplored in the literature. Focusing on the intersection of AI, ethics and marketing strategies in the context of the Iranian pharmaceutical industry, this study sheds light on how ethical marketing strategies influence market demand in this sensitive market. By adopting a system dynamics approach and grounding the analysis in an underexplored emerging market context, this study extends the literature by offering a structured ethical framework tailored to real-world marketing functions and capturing practitioner insights from an emerging economy.