Un ethical Advertising

ADVERTISING
Advertising, a form of commercial mass communication designed to promote the sale of a product or service, or a message on behalf of an institution, organization, or candidate for political office.

THE AMERICAN ADVERTISING FEDERATION

an organization of leading national advertisers, has long campaigned for truth in advertising. Other organizations that promote ethical standards are the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers. The Institute of Outdoor Advertising encourages its members to improve the design of their advertising posters and signs and, more importantly, to make sure they do not erect advertising billboards in locations where they will mar the landscape or otherwise offend the public. The best-known and most active watchdogs in the advertising field are the Better Business Bureaus, which bring pressure to bear on unethical advertisers through persuasion, publicity, or, in extreme cases, legal action. The fact that local and national bureaus are subsidized by both advertisers and media reflects the conviction of modern business management that good advertising is good business.

IN CANADA:
Canadian advertising regulations are even stricter than those in the United States. The Competition Act is the Canadian federal statute that seeks to prevent false and misleading advertising. The act is administered by the Bureau of Competition Policy which is part of Consumer and Corporate Affairs. If the bureau finds advertising to be misleading, it may simply ask the advertiser to stop running the ad or it may ask a company to take certain steps to correct the impression made by the false claims. The bureau may also take legal action against the advertiser in which case it will turn over its evidence to the Attorney General of Canada who will decide whether the evidence warrants a criminal prosecution. Canadas self-regulatory body, the Canadian Advertising Standards Council, has the right to take a commercial off the air if it offends taste and public decency. Moreover, in Canada ads that deal with products regulated by the government (for example, food, drugs, alcohol, and children's products) have to be approved before they air and can also be pulled if complaints arise after they run. In the United States, action can only be taken after the advertisement runs. Finally, beginning in 2001 tobacco advertising in Canada was limited to direct mail and to adults-only environments such as bars.

IN OTHER COUNTRIES

Advertising is often heavily regulated in other countries as well. But the regulations vary from country to country. For example, in Mexico advertising for tobacco and alcohol is limited to late evenings after children have gone to bed. France prohibits any reference to health in tobacco ads, and Italy allows alcohol advertising to promote the brand name but not product attributes such as 'cold filtered' or 'smooth tasting.' Advertising regulations in other countries are often designed to protect culture and morals. France prohibits the use of foreign expressions where there are equivalent French terms as a way of protecting the French language. Advertising regulations in Malaysia bar the depiction of nudity, disco dancing, seductive clothing, and blue jeans in ads and require ads to project the Malaysian culture and identity. Varying regulations present numerous challenges to multinational corporations that advertise their products in many different countries.

HISTORY
Archaeologists have found evidence of advertising dating back to the 3000s BC, among the Babylonians. One of the first known methods of advertising was the outdoor display, usually an eye-catching sign painted on the wall of a building. Archaeologists have uncovered many such signs, notably in the ruins of ancient Rome and Pompeii. An outdoor advertisement excavated in Rome offers property for rent, and one found painted on a wall in Pompeii calls the attention of travelers to a tavern situated in another town. In medieval times word-of-mouth praise of products gave rise to a simple but effective form of advertising, the use of so-called town criers. The criers were citizens who read public notices aloud and were also employed by merchants to shout the praises of their wares. Later they became familiar figures on the streets of colonial American settlements. The town criers were forerunners of the modern announcer who delivers radio and television commercials. Although graphic forms of advertising appeared early in history, printed advertising made little headway until the invention of the movable-type printing press by German printer Johannes Gutenberg about 1450. This invention made the mass distribution of posters and circulars possible. The first advertisement in English appeared in 1472 in the form of a handbill announcing a prayer book for sale. Two hundred years later, the first newspaper ad was published offering a reward for the return of 12 stolen horses. In the American colonies, the Boston News-Letter, the first regularly published newspaper in America, began carrying ads in 1704, and about 25 years later Benjamin Franklin made ads more readable by using large headlines. In the United States, the advertising profession began in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1841 when Volney B. Palmer set up shop as an advertising agent, the forerunner of the advertising agency. Agents contracted with newspapers for large amounts of advertising space at discount rates and then resold the space to advertisers at a higher rate. The ads themselves were created by the advertisers. In 1869 Francis Ayer bought out Palmer and founded N. W. Ayer & Son, an agency that still exists today. Ayer transformed the standard agent practice by billing advertisers exactly what he paid to publishers plus an agreed upon commission.

Soon Ayer was not only selling space but was also conducting market research and writing the advertising copy. Advertising agencies initially focused on print. But the introduction of radio created a new opportunity and by the end of the 1920s, advertising had established itself in radio to such an extent that advertisers were producing many of their own programs. The early 1930s ushered in dozens of radio dramatic series that were known as soap operas because they were sponsored by soap companies. Television had been introduced in 1940, but because of the high cost of TV sets and the lack of programming, it was not immediately embraced. As the American economy soared in the 1950s, so did the sale of TV sets and the advertising that paid for the popular new shows. Soon TV far surpassed radio as an advertising medium. The tone of the advertising was also changing. No longer did advertising simply present the product benefit. Instead it began to create a product image. Bill Bernbach, founder of Doyle Dane Bernbach in New York City; Leo Burnett, founder of the Leo Burnett agency in Chicago, Illinois; and David Ogilvy, founder of Ogilvy & Mather in New York City, all came to prominence in the late 1950s and 1960s and led what has been called the 'creative revolution.' Bernbach's agency captured the spirit of the new age. Bernbach believed that advertising had to be creative and artistic or it would bore people. He also believed that good advertising began with respect for the public's intelligence. The ads his agency created were understated, sophisticated, and witty. For example, when Bernbach's agency picked up the account for the Henry S. Levy Bakery in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, the agency created an ad that entertained New Yorkers and provided fodder for many conversations. The ad showed a Native American eating a slice of the bakery's rye bread with the headline, 'You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's.' But it was the advertising for Volkswagen that made the agency's reputation. At a time when American cars were getting bigger and bigger and the advertising for them trumpeted that bigger was better, Doyle Dane Bernbach created a magazine ad that showed a small picture of the Volkswagen Beetle surrounded by a sea of white space with the headline, 'think small.' An equally unconventional ad carried the headline 'lemon' beneath a photo of an apparently flawed Volkswagen. The ad's copy explained that 'this Volkswagen missed the boat. The chrome strip on the glove compartment is blemished and must be replacedWe pluck the lemons; you get the plums.' In an era of hype and bombast, the Volkswagen ads stood out because they admitted failure in a witty way and gave facts in a believable manner that underlined the car's strengths. This wit together with a conversational and believable style was a hallmark of the advertising created by Doyle Dane Bernbach and that style became highly influential. The creative foundation established by Bernbach and others has been critical to the success of contemporary advertising. The introduction of the TV remote control and access to hundreds of cable channels mean that today advertising must interest and entertain consumers or else they will simply use the remote to change the channel. New digital devices even threaten to make it possible to edit out commercials. The development of interactive television, combining the functions of a computer with access to high-speed transmission over cable lines or optical fibers, will likely enable consumers to select from a vast video library. Consumers will be able to determine not only when they watch something, but also, to a greater extent than ever before, what they will watch. Some industry observers believe that as

consumers gain greater control over their viewing activities, they will find it easier to avoid advertising. No one can predict what new forms advertising may take in the future. But the rapidly increasing cost of acquiring new customers makes one thing certain. Advertisers will seek to hold onto current customers by forming closer relationships with them and by tailoring products, services, and advertising messages to meet their individual needs. So while advertising will continue to encourage people to consume, it will also help provide them with products and services more likely to satisfy their needs.

The Joe Camel character came under fire in the late 1990s as an example of harmful advertising targeted to the young. In 1998 the tobacco industry and the attorneys general of 46 states agreed to ban the use of cartoon characters in tobacco advertising, a practice that many thought had encouraged young people to start smoking.