Advertisement ethics

Significance and objective of research

Advertisement today has gone beyond the boundaries of regular advertisement media like the
television and radio. Print and internet media are by far the biggest source of advertisement
identified by most business houses.
Advertisement houses are quick to identify who actually are the users (i.e. the youth mostly)
of these media and found out easy ways to attract them and some times crossing beyond the
boundaries of ethics forgetting their Corporate Social Responsibility.
Though there are rules and regulations regarding the same even then they have loop holes
like any other law and such has been utilized to make a mockery of the ethics.
The objective of the study is to find out how important it is to have ethics in advertising and
at the same time what could be the hazards of having unethical advertising both for the
organization and the society as a whole in long run.

Literature review

The subject of ethics in advertising has a long history, and many of the same ethical concerns
and criticisms of advertising have persisted through many decades and into the twenty-first
century. More than 55 years ago, F. P. Bishop, formerly a Member of Parliament and editor
of The Times of London, published one of the first books on advertising ethics where he
chronicled several "moral indictments" of advertising: It stimulates unworthy desires,
misleads the consumer, and encourages "consumptionism." This 11-chapter book titled The
Ethics of Advertising (1949) examined many of the issues that some believe still plague
advertisers and agencies, and his introduction addresses what many would consider a major
question currently facing advertising:

Advertising has come to occupy a key position in the great argument of

today--the argument about the right balance between social
control and individual liberty. Hitherto the effect of its use has
unquestionably been to promote individual liberty, at the expense,
some would say, of good order and social discipline.

Another book by two journalists during that era dealt with ethics in business (Childs and
Cater 1954) and spoke directly to advertising with the following:

The advertiser must accept some responsibility for the confusion of

values that is a symptom of our times of troubles. Words such as
character, faith, belief, integrity, are used to commend the
quality of beer and pills. If you buy a certain car you are
exalted, exultant, magnificently at ease. In some instances the
advertising mind is so dogmatic that any criticism brings a sharp
challenge as though it were heretical even to question.
About 45 years ago, Thomas Garrett, S.J. (1961), a philosophy professor and priest,
examined several ethical problems of "modern American advertising," including economic
growth, persuasion, consumption, and potential monopoly power. Garrett lauded Bishop's
work as "an excellent book filled with good sense and balanced judgment," but noted its
limitation in that Bishop is "not an ethician and so avoids coming to grips with what we may
call the ultimates" (p. 6). Garrett's book was both scholarly (a 25-page bibliography and
footnotes on virtually every page) and wide ranging, and it made the following timeless
observation: "Persuasive advertising, however, poses a real problem since some of the
persuasive techniques used are intended to by-pass the intellect and reduce rationality, and
may, if succesful, lead to improvident actions" (p. 173; emphasis in original). Garrett
concluded the book with a checklist of questions for advertisers. These 13 questions are
applicable today and have been reprinted recently (Murphy et al. 2005). His focus on both
intent and technique represents critical issues in the ongoing evaluation of marketing and
advertising (Laczniak and Murphy 2006).

Industry acceptance

A well-made ad will create AWARENESS (and curiousity) in the consumer. At its most
effective, it will create the DESIRE TO PURCHASE, when the customer is in a position to
do so. When discussing ethics in advertising, you need to approach the issue from two
directions: FALSE PRODUCT ADVERTSING and CORPORATE ETHICAL
RESPONSIBILITY.

ETHICALRESPONSIBILITY

This section governs the company's responsibilty to society and because of their particular
susceptibilityn to advertising, society's young........

A) The creation and placement of ads that create awareness in teens and young adults of a
product, where that product is detrimental to their health/behaviour (eg, alcohol and tobacco).

B) The inclusion of inappropriate materials - overt violence and sexual content - that would
be especially titillating and create greater AWARENESS.

This is area is trickier, and more significant, than false advertising (with its more obvious
long term business impact): The company's stand on the production of high impact, targetted
advertising - which ensures high awareness and customer sampling - with the corporation's
societal responsibility.

Some laws have been enacted to ensure responsible behaviour (eg, "responsible drinking"
messages in alcohol ads) to address issues in this arena. Other areas are still decisions that
have to weigh by a company's management.
The temptation to develop an ad that is inappropriate in its target customer, content, ad
placement, or a combination thereof, and the sales it will generate must be weighed against
the overall "good" of society and our primal desire (not to mention, ethical responsibility) to
protect the young and vulnerable.

More often than not, this can have significant impact on business in the long term, in terms of
both societal perception of the company and/or product, and restricting legislation. You'll
have noted how tobacco companies are producing ads that attempt to convey their
responsible ethical positions. (It's rather ironic that those self-same ads allow them
advertising exposure that would not have been possible otherwise.)

The tobacco companies have come to this pass after years of ethical irresponsibility in their
promotional efforts. Now they are hampered by negative customer perception as well as
legislation that restrict advertising and product usage. Again, the impact is long term, but
very severe.

Ethical conduct in advertising is a good, long term, business decision.