1 / 33

Ethics and Taste in Advertising

Ethics and Taste in Advertising. Why should this be a significant issue of concern ?. Four Fundamental Assumptions of the Free Market. 1. Self Interest – want more for less 2. Many buyers and sellers 3. Complete Information 4. Absence of externalities (social costs).

curt
Download Presentation

Ethics and Taste in Advertising

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Ethics and Taste in Advertising Why should this be a significant issue of concern ?

  2. Four Fundamental Assumptions of the Free Market • 1. Self Interest – want more for less • 2. Many buyers and sellers • 3. Complete Information • 4. Absence of externalities (social costs)

  3. Ethical Concerns • Ethical lapses and moral indiscretions can occur under the pressures in today’s marketplace to generate profits. • In general, business people, students, customers know the difference between right and wrong! • Ethics in this course related to matters of right and wrong or moral conduct pertaining to marketing communications.

  4. Central Issues of Ethics • Advocacy • Accuracy • Acquisitiveness

  5. Criticisms of Advertising • Short-term manipulative arguments • Focusing on style of advertising • Targeting Kids, Teens and the Elderly • Long-term macro arguments • Focus on the social or environmental impact of advertising • Complete information • Deception • Absence of externalities • Social costs

  6. Targeting Kids and Teens • Concerns about realistic expectations and understanding advertising • Food and Beverages • Childhood Obesity – fat, sugar, caffeine • Surge and Coca Cola • Healthful Choices (McDonald’s) • Media choices … Saturday morning TV

  7. Ethics and Tobacco • Tobacco and Alcohol Products • Budweiser – the “fur factor” • Cigarette products such as Dakota, product placement in movies and TV

  8. Targeting the Elderly • Susceptible to Fear ads • Mortality • Financial concerns • Illness and Dependence • Is targeting unethical, good marketing or both??

  9. Ethical Issues in Advertising • 2/3 of Americans think advertising is often untruthful • Deceptive advertising harms consumers • Labeling is a tool to help reduce potential deception • Advertising is Manipulative and Makes People BUY! • Causes ‘wants’ • Encourages materialism • Subliminal ads attempt to subvert conscious decisions

  10. Ethical Issues in Advertising • Advertising Plays on Fears and Insecurities • Elderly and illness • Consequences of NOT buying a product (deodorant) • Advertising Creates and Perpetuates Stereotypes • Is advertising worse than society as a whole?

  11. Ethical Issues in PR • Negative Publicity • Product Failure (real or perceived) Audi, Ford, Firestone • Product Side Effect - Vioxx • Product Tampering - Tylenol • Status Vulnerability – Uptown Cigarettes

  12. Ethical Issues in Packaging and Branding • Label Information – suggests more of a nutritional item than actual (Hawaiian Punch) • Brand naming – name suggests product has features and benefits it does not possess i.e., powerglider

  13. Ethical Issues in Packaging and Branding • Safety - • Packaging graphics – toy appears bigger on the box of cereal • Environmental implications of packaging • Sales Promotion Ethics • Unmailed rebates • Consumers using coupons for unpurchased products

  14. Deceptive Considerations • Puffery • If taken literally • Excluded from deception generally because it is assumed consumers do not believe it anyway! • Used to enhance images • Pepsi - the choice of the new generation

  15. Puffery • advertising or other sales presentations which praise the product to be sold with subjective opinions, superlatives, exaggerations, or vaguely - generally stating no specific facts

  16. Deceptive Considerations Subliminal Advertising • A message transmitted in such a way that the receiver is not consciously aware of it. • Problems • Distance • Individual Differences (Perceptual Thresholds) • Effect of Recognizable Material

  17. Deceptive Advertising* • False Promises • Incomplete Description • Stating some but not all of the product’s contents • Solid oak furniture (only desktop solid) • Misleading Comparisons, visual distortions • False Testimonials, false demos • Partial Disclosures • Kraft cheese slices made with 5 oz. of milk but omit the processing loses about 2 oz. of the milk • Small-Print Qualifications • Bait and Switch *as defined by the courts

  18. Ethics vs. Social Responsibility • Ethical advertising • Doing what is the advertiser and advertising peers believe is morally right in a given situation • Social responsibility • Doing what society views as best for the welfare of people in general

  19. Style Considerations • Stereotyping • presenting one group in an unvarying pattern that lacks individuality • Offensiveness in Advertising

  20. Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes • Portrayals of groups in subservient or unflattering lights • Example • Southerners portrayed as dumb or hicks

  21. Offensiveness in Advertising • What is viewed in bad taste by some is quite acceptable to others … in other words, taste is subjective and individual .. • Taste is also affected by locale • European ideals of sexuality vs. U.S. • Advertisements more overtly sexual in Europe

  22. Advertising and the Law • Agencies Involved • FTC, FCC, FDA • Problem Areas • Deceptive Advertisements • Misrepresent, mislead, omit • Bait Advertisements • Endorsers • Unfair Advertising • Unjustifiably injured or violate public policy • Inadequacy of complete disclosure or other externality

  23. Agency Roles • FDA • Monitors drugs, cosmetics, food products • Labels, packaging, branding of these products its domain • Seeks complete information for consumers • Requires warning labels • Monitors terms such as “low fat,” “fat-free,” etc. • Nutritional labels

  24. Agency Roles - FCC • Maintains jurisdiction over radio, TV, telephone, satellite, the Internet and the cable industry • Indirect impact on advertising as it enforces cease and desist orders • Monitors profanity and obscenity issues

  25. First Amendment Protections • There is a distinction between “speech” and “commercial” speech in the court system • Twenty year history favors significant protection for truthful advertising under free speech, hence use of advertising by professionals such as attorneys and physicians

  26. Bait Advertising • Attractive but insincere effort to sell something • Example: See the Eckerd’s Sunday Flier for a great promotional price, not available when you get there. • Bait and Switch - not available and try to sell up!

  27. Corrective Advertisements • If lingering effects known - cease and desist or consent decree not sufficient or agreed upon • must correct the false impression made that consumers use for future purposes • Examples: Listerine, Ocean Spray

  28. Guidelines to Ethical Advertising • Truthful • Substantiate Claims • Refrain from False Comparisons • no bait! • explicit guarantees • no false price claims • competent witnesses • tasteful and decent

  29. Arguments against advertising to children • Children, especially young ones, are vulnerable to advertising because they lack the necessary experience and knowledge to understand and evaluate the purpose of persuasive advertising appeals. • Children cannot differentiate between commercials and television programs, do not perceive the selling intent of commercials, and cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality. • Children must be able to understand how advertising works and develop a skeptical or critical attitude to defend themselves against it. • Advertising to children is inherently unfair or deceptive. Irwin/McGraw-Hill Slide 22-2 • The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1998

  30. Arguments in favor of advertising to children: • Advertising is a part of life and children must learn to deal with it as part of the consumer socialization process of acquiring the skills needed to function in the marketplace. • Studies have shown that children are capable of perceiving persuasive intent and the inability to perceive such intent does not necessarily lead to incorrect beliefs about a product. • Parents should be involved in helping children interpret advertising and can refuse to purchase products they feel are undesirable for their children. • Advertisers have a right under the First Amendment to communicate with consumers who make up their primary target audience Slide 22-3 • The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1998

  31. Arguments For Advertiser Control of the Media • The media's dependence on advertising revenue can make them susceptible to advertisers because advertisers can influence the media by: • exerting control over editorial content • biasing editorial opinion • limiting coverage of controversial issues Slide 22-6 Irwin/McGraw-Hill • The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1998

  32. Arguments Against Advertiser Control of the Media • It is in the best self-interest of the mediato report the news fairly and accurately and not be perceived as biased to retain public confidence. • It can be argued that advertisers need the media more than the media need any individual advertiser. Slide 22-7 Irwin/McGraw-Hill • The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1998

  33. Proposed Restrictions on Use of the World Wide Web • Banning unsolicited e-mail that cannot automatically be screened out. • Disclosing fully and prominently both the marketer’s identity and the use for which information is being gathered. • Giving consumers the right to bar marketers from selling or sharing any information collected from them and to review the personal information collected. Irwin/McGraw-Hill Slide 21-6 • The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1998

More Related