DID ADVERTISING CHANGE ITS

MORAL LENS DURING THE PANDEMIC?

(Dissertation Proposal)

Submitted By:
Deveshi Jaisalmeria
(20200402009)

Under the guidance of:

Prof. Nitesh Mohanty
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Topics Page No.

Introduction 02

Research Objective 04

Literature Review 05

Research Methodology 08

Plan of Analysis 09

Expected Outcome 10

References 11

1
Introduction

The world is ever-evolving, and advertising is evolving with it. The exact time when
businesses first started using the advertising mechanism to distinguish themselves is
untraceable. Advertising has become about chasing people, to seize control over the human
mind. Advertising is the most influential institution of socialization in modern society (Jhally,
1990). As and when advertising began to materialize in commercial art like movies, or
streamed on various media channels like the television, it became a universal phenomenon.
To climb up the social ladder, the consumers were made to believe that they needed more
than the ‘regular’ products they were using via showcasing advertisements on mass media.
The commercials manipulate the consumers to create a set of values and preferences
(consumerism) which is not natural. Hence, we all become passive consumers.

Relatively nothing had an effect on the development of advertising throughout the years,
however, the ever-increasing quick growth in the population throughout the globe combined
with the exploration passion of humans made capitalism ascensive. The idea of capitalism
meeting our daily needs, while preventing the development of fundamental demands or
anything revolutionary, poses a threat and hence must be restrained. Advertising plays on the
consumer psychology of ‘consumerism equates happiness’, and suggests that we become
‘better’ by the unwanted commodities whose ‘false needs’ have been created.

Just like the coin has two sides, advertising can be viewed with more than one perspective of
being the central form of ideology in capitalist society. While businesses tend to promote
their products and services in a manner so as to garner as much awareness and engagement as
possible, it is important to always have an ethical filter while advertising your business.
Moreover, when we talk about humans, we are talking about aspiring creatures, and
advertising does nothing but create the need for aspiration.

In 2020, the world was hit by the pandemic, something for which no one was prepared, and
during this time, the advertising lens has completely shifted its focus. Marketing and
advertising have come up with new strategies to cope up with the emerging trends, whilst
creating a few of their own. However, the elephant in the room is about advertising and its
moral lens, which seems to be shifted. Advertising is now more about connecting everything
to the current situation, nay the ‘crisis’, however, capitalizing upon a crisis is ethical or not?
2
Many companies have centered their advertisements around COVID-19, by subtly plugging
in their objective of promoting their products and/or services. The world is dynamic and the
advertising industry, especially is adaptable, so it seems understandable when the brands want
to center their marketing around the crisis, however, the main question that arises here is
where do we draw the line? When we talk about ethics in advertisements, there have been
certain guidelines that the marketers have been issued, however, the receivers and the
interpreters are the main judges of an advertisement being ethical or unethical.

3
Research Objective

The aim of this paper is to identify whether advertising has completely shifted its moral lens
after the onset of the pandemic or not. This has to be accomplished while taking into account
the major advertising platforms, and the major established brands. The paper will dive deep
into the consumer behavior that has changed after the pandemic, especially related to how
they consume the advertisements now. Further, the paper will shed light on the subject matter
of the hour: Advertising after COVID-19 is ethical or not?

After the pandemic, the ‘clever’ advertisements have just become ‘tone-deaf’. While many
industries like travel or retail cut down on their ad spend, others heavily promoted their
products or services, especially digitally. With the ‘stay-at-home’ trend, advertisers began
making ads at home and tried to showcase the exact common sentiment that was being felt by
society, the people at large. It can be noted that the consumer behavior after the pandemic has
completely changed, people are buying necessities out of the fear of the crisis, and
non-essential items out of depression.

Advertisements are of various forms, and I aim to engage with the maximum platforms I can
indulge in the study so as to uncover the cultural shift (if any) in the advertisements on any of
the platforms. Furthermore, with this paper, I aim to find whether advertising intervened with
proper communication, or was it just on a superficial surface level. I aim to find whether the
communication that was done during and is going on after the pandemic was solely based on
the emotive needs of the pandemic or not.

Finally, with this study the following aspects will be covered:

1. Effect of COVID-19 on advertising
2. Consumer behavior towards consumption of advertisements
3. A cultural shift in the advertising industry

The research will stand to incorporate the correct stakeholders in order to determine the
moral/cultural shift on any of the advertising platforms after the pandemic while also
incorporating the shift in consumer behavior.

4
Literature Review

‘Examining the effects of advertising credibility on brand credibility, corporate

credibility, and corporate image: a qualitative approach’ (Shahzeb Hussain, T.C.
Melewar, Constantinos Vasilios Priporas, and Pantea Foroudi)

The aim of this research paper was to look deeper in the credibility of the advertising and
how it impacts the credibility of the brand, its image as well as the credibility of corporate
and its image using signalling theory. The research threw light on and formed an opinion that
the advertising credibility is a combination of different terms and is proven to have a brighter
positive effect on the whole brand. This specific theoretical model that has been employed in
this study, backed by data, is flawless and hence, proves that advertising and its credibility
has a positive, and beneficial impact on various variables. Its implications on other
believability dimensions are similarly underappreciated.

‘The emotional side of organizational decision-making: examining the influence of

messaging in fostering positive outcomes for the brand’ (Elyria Kemp, Elten Briggs,
and Nwamaka A. Anaza)

Organizational purchasing, according to researchers and practitioners, necessitates logical

decision-making. Individuals in organizations, on the other hand, make everyday decisions
based on a mix of emotions and rationalizations. The aim of this particular research is to look
at the roles and significance of one’s personal sentiments, proven facts, and the concept of
emotional advertising having an impact on the decision-making processes of the
organizations. The findings show that employing emotion-based themes in advertising can
assist to build brand engagement and advocacy.

‘The impact of advertising self-presentation style on consumer purchase intention’ (Fue

Zeng, Wenjie Li, Valerie Lynette Wang, and Chiquan Guo)

The goal of this article is to argue that advertising's self-presentation styles impact customer
self-image, which influences buy intent. The data that has been gathered by this particular
research about customer purchase intention and self-image in the context of various
advertising techniques with the use of virtual brands as a form of stimuli in a number of trials.
Consumer self-image acts as a mediatory link between the style of advertising as presenting

5
itself and the purpose of buying, as well as the public vs. private consumption context act as a
moderator of the link that is evident between the image of the consumer as self, purchase
intention as well as self-presentation style. This study shows how important it is for
product/brand managers and marketers to match the style of advertising as presenting itself to
the consuming scenario of the service or product being marketed.

‘Forgotten Classics: Advertising in a Free Society, by Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon
(1959)’ (Andrew D Pressey)

The aim of this particular paper is to reanalyze Advertising in a Free Society. The UK
witnessed a period of wealth and rising consumption, due to which the business of
advertising was faced and analyzed by the intellectual critics during the 1950s, as well as in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Re-analysis of the text indicates that the book may be
seen as a conflict artifact, employing historical rhetoric to defend the advertising business and
emphasize the beneficial factor advertising has in a free and open society.

‘The unwitting corruption of broadening of marketing into neoliberalism: a beast

unleashed?’ (Nikhilesh Dholakia, Aras Ozgun and Deniz Atik)

The objective of this research is to look for linkages, impact flows, and overlaps, between
two historical processes that seem to be unrelated seemingly unrelated: the extension of the
concept of marketing and the extreme quick increase in the ascent of the ideology of
neoliberalism, as well as the economic and social policies that are associated with it. The
marketing strategies that are pervasive globally- on the basis of the extension of this
marketing notion – have been enmeshed in today's growing difficulties. Marketing practices
and theories must reorient towards new ideas that go beyond the generic and broad principles
of marketing so as to shift towards serving the needs and wants of people all over the globe
and away from serving the desires and demands of concentrated capital.

‘Mediatisation and the Transformation of Capitalism: The Elephant in the Room’

(Graham Murdock)

The recent years have witnessed the concept of mediatization being promoted as a single
unified phenomenon that can be used to address the significance as well as ubiquity of media
spread across all the facets of personal as well as institutional life. By examining significant

6
works on mediatization, this article demonstrates the importance of incorporating critical
political economics into its fundamental goal.

‘Adversaries of advertising: anti-consumerism and subvertisers’ critique and practice’

(Eleftheria J. Lekakis)

The work makes a unique addition to the topic of anti-consumerism. Subvertising is a term
that refers to both, a movement as well as a bucket of strategies and techniques used by
movements. As a developing social movement focusing on anti-consumerism, it has
continuously been linking people and collectives in international anti-advertising activities.
Subvertisers are using all of the tools at their disposal to fight consumer capitalism on a
cultural and material level. Subvertisers are linked in a worldwide social movement which is
anti-consumerist by the way they articulate resistance narratives and coordinate their
operations.

‘Consumerism in the Digital Age’ (S. Umit Kucuk)

The term "digital consumerism" refers to the application of conventional consumer ideas to
consumer vulnerabilities in digital markets. Using examples from the literature, the link
between digital consumerism and concepts of consumer empowerment and consumer
vulnerability is examined in this paper. This literature review identifies new dimensions of
consumption in digital markets that have the potential to improve consumer happiness.

7
Research Methodology

Both qualitative and quantitative research would be used to create insights for the mentioned
topic, hence, the suggested research approach for the identified gaps would be mixed, i.e.,
qualitative and quantitative.

For a better and thorough understanding of the shift in advertising and consumer behavior
after the pandemic, qualitative research will be performed, and in-depth interviews will be
done on a large sample size that may be extrapolated to the actual at a later stage.

We will need to do quantitative analysis and data gathering in order to demonstrate a link
between the many parameters revealed by the literature gap.

Data Collection: Data will be collected via in-depth interviews over telephone calls, surveys
using tools like Google Forms, and the sample size for the surveys especially, would be large
so as to generalize for the whole geography.

Data Analysis: The data collected from the in-depth interviews can be analyzed according to
my understanding, and for the quantitative data tools like Google forms, inbuilt analysis or
MS-Excel can be used. SPSS or similar tools can be used for correlation analysis to establish
facts and complete the study making it appropriate for extrapolation.

Data Representation: Data can be represented using various tools like MS-Excel, Tableau,
etc.

8
Plan of Analysis
As part of the research project, the objective will be to look at the moral/cultural shift (if any)
in the advertising segment after the pandemic by analyzing the stakeholders involved as well
as conducting secondary research to ascertain the change in consumer behavior. This would
further help understand the mechanism of the advertising industry, whether bending morals
and capitalizing on a crisis is unethical or just adaption to the dynamics of the world.

9
Expected Outcome

The expected outcome of the study is unpredictable, since questioning ethics when it comes
to advertising differs from person to person. I, for one, feel that while addressing the current
situation is of grave importance, the deep-rooted societal questions should not be ignored.
Furthermore, building around a pandemic, while subtly plugging in and promoting your
product/ service just seems unethical. Therefore, in my opinion, advertising did change its
moral lens during the pandemic.

10
References:

1. Hussain, S., Melewar, T.C., Priporas, C.V., & Foroudi, P. (2020). Examining the
effects of advertising credibility on brand credibility, corporate credibility, and
corporate image: A qualitative approach. Journal of Business Research, 109, 472-488.
2. Kemp, E., Briggs, E., & Anaza, N.A. (2020). The emotional side of organizational
decision-making: examining the influence of messaging in fostering positive
outcomes for the brand. European Journal of Marketing, 54 (7).
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EJM-09-2018-0653/full/html
3. Zeng, F., Li, W., Wang, V.L., & Guo, C. (2019). The impact of advertising
self-presentation style on consumer purchase intention. Asia Pacific Journal of
Marketing and Logistics, 32 (6).
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/APJML-03-2019-0150/full/htm
l
4. Pressey, A.D. (2016). Forgotten Classics: Advertising in a Free Society, by Ralph
Harris and Arthur Seldon (1959). Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 8(1),
174-196.
5. Dholakia, N., Ozgun, A., & Atik, D. (2020). The unwitting corruption of broadening
of marketing into neoliberalism: a beast unleashed?. European Journal of Marketing
55(3), 868-893
6. Murdock, G. (2017). Mediatisation and the Transformation of Capitalism: The
Elephant in the Room. Journal of the European Institute for Communication and
Culture, 24, 119-135.
7. Lekakis, E.J. (2020, October). Adversaries of advertising: anti-consumerism and
subvertisers’ critique and practice. Social Movement Studies.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14742837.2020.1837102
8. Kucuk, S.U. (2016, March). Consumerism in the Digital Age. The Journal of
Consumer Affairs, 50 (3), 515-538.
9. Softcube. (2020, August 04). The Entire History of Advertising.
https://softcube.com/the-entire-history-of-advertising/
10. Crosta, A.D. and Ceccato, I. (2021, August). Psychological factors and consumer
behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS ONE 16(8), e0256.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256095
11
11. Charm, T. (2021, October 18). US Consumer Sentiment and Behaviors during the
Coronavirus Crisis. McKinsey and Company.
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/surve
y-us-consumer-sentiment-during-the-coronavirus-crisisn
12. Graham, M. (2021, March 31). How a stay-at-home trend accelerated three trends in
the advertising industry. CNBC.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/13/how-covid-19-changed-the-advertising-industry-.h
tml
13. Li, C., Hall, S. (2020, June 08). This is how COVID-19 is affecting the advertising
industry. World Economic Forum.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/coronavirus-advertising-marketing-covid1
9-pandemic-business/
14. Balis, J. (2021, March 10). 10 Truths about Marketing after the Pandemic. Harvard
Business Review.
https://hbr.org/2021/03/10-truths-about-marketing-after-the-pandemic

12