Ethics in Advertising

Making money and the role of advertising

Making money is typically a business's primary goal. Therefore, advertising plays a big role in encouraging the sale of its goods and services. Advertising, however, can be beneficial or damaging depending on the multiple efforts made by individuals. A company should take into account elements like differentiation, honesty, environmental awareness, and social conscience in order to make a clear contrast between ethical and unethical advertising.

What constitutes false, misleading, or unfair advertising?

Deceptive advertising implies marketing or publicizing products using fraudulent means. Deceptive advertising is prohibited by the Lanham Act, Section 43(a), of the Federal Trade Commission (Ferrell, 2015). Further, unethical advertising often resorts to lies and does not respect the honesty of the company’s products. Instead, it misrepresents and distorts the actual value of these items while using secretive ways of luring its target customers to buy them. On the other hand, ethical advertising makes its intentions clear and keeps away from presenting hidden agendas to the potential target audience. While ethical advertising aims at differentiating its goods from its competitor’s items, unethical business attempt to create products that are similar to those of its rivals. It thus seeks to create confusion in the market by producing similar but, counterfeit goods which end up in the hands of unaware customers (Ferrell, 2015).

Manipulation and undermining of people's autonomy through ads

Ads can be said to influence people’s independence if they influence the customer in ways that are not morally acceptable. Such unethical ads techniques include puffery, subliminal advertisement, and transfer of indirect information (Arrington, 1982). Puffery involves making vague or exaggerated claims regarding a company’s product which can neither be disapproved or approved. Despite being a popular legal tactic of advertising, puffery should not be confused with deception which intends to make false claims or give a misleading comparison with the competitor’s product. Subliminal advertisements can undermine the ability of people to make independent decisions since such ads use sounds and images that affect the customer’s subconscious level (Arrington, 1982). In other words, subliminal ads prevent buyers from using their rational will. Additionally, advertisements that have hidden intentions such as concealed fees compromise the autonomy of the consumers who end up purchasing the product unconsciously. On the other hand, Stuff argues that “Most of us have a benevolent sub-consciousness which does not overwhelm our ego and, its reason for action. Therefore, we can respond to subliminal advertising without thereby risking our autonomy” (Arrington, 1982). Also, he adds that ads do not control or manipulate the desires of humans. Instead, they provide information which appeals to individual desires, which the buyer has already.

Ads and privacy

A lot of personal information is gathered by advertisers and their affiliated third-party companies when a buyer visit their online or physical locations (Ferrell, 2015). Such data includes the email address, the customer’s name, telephone number, and address. Usually, many businesses disclose such confidential information to third-party firms which use the contact to market their products directly to the consumer. This is unethical despite the fact that when a customer agrees to submit their personal information, they agree to the terms as well as conditions of the given privacy policy. Ethical advertising is guided by the principle of disclosing confidential information. Of the five levels of data that the advertiser is allowed to reveal, the Modified Minimal Information rule is the most appropriate for the customer’s privacy. It enables buyers only to disclose contact details that are necessary thus minimizing the risk involved (Arrington, 1982).

Inappropriate ads that do not deceive

Some ads are unethical but, they are within the law. This form of advertising is more of a self-regulating issue. According to Arrington, ethical ads are guided by the human conscience of what is wrong or right as well as respecting other persons’ dignity (1982). If by any chance, a business fails to regulate itself consciously, the community is allowed to come in and exercise its ethical mandate of patronage denial. For instance, an unhappy buyer may decide to use the social media to notify the public of the inappropriate ads by a particular business. In turn, the advertiser may be fined heftily for going against the norms of the community.

Freedom of advertising and speech

In the modern-day United States, the constitution and the judicial systems regulate the rights of businesses to advertise their commercial goods. This government regulation is regarded as violating the First Amendment (Ferrell, 2015). However, the supreme court has defended itself in a series of cases stating that it only restricts commercial advertisements or speeches if their location is inappropriate and if the content is not neutral. For example, if a particular sign-post erected by a business enterprise is located in an area that risks the safety of motorists, then the state can order it to be brought down. However, the law gives advertisers the freedom to provide any useful information to consumers. Withholding such details as drug prices, for example, is a violation of the First Amendment. The law also dismisses the use of obscene language in ads, illegal products or activities, and ensures strict scrutiny of ads from the freedom of speech (Ferrell, 2015).

Advertising’s treatment/depiction of women

Unethical advertisements seek to create an emotional sense of lust or greed in its target buyers. It thus exploits the social consciousness and stereotypes that come as a result of the female gender (Arrington, 1982). For example, instead of focusing on the qualities, value, or unique features of their products, unethical businesses use images or videos of women that are sexually explicit to draw the attention of their target buyers. These visual pictures are usually sexually appealing and therefore attract their emotional interests which redirects them to the advert. Secondly, unethical advertising uses images that are socially disgraceful. For instance, ladies may be depicted as desensitized sexual objects that are subject to the desires of the male gender (Ferrell, 2015).

Limits on where ads should go and places ads don’t belong

In the recent past, there has been an uncontrolled increase in the forms of advertisement. Such is attributed to the global scientific and technological advancement. The results of unrestricted, ads will bring about environmental and social problems. Thus, this calls for regulations to manage advertisements (Ferrell, 2015). Further, people should be provided with a property–right regime which gives individuals the freedom to choose where to direct their desires and attention. Ads should not be imposed on people as is the current situation. When browsing the internet, pop-ups and ads haunt your every move causing such exploitations as destructions, irritations, and incurring unwarranted charges. Advertisers, as well, should desist from sharing confidential information with third-party companies. Secondly, ads should not be mainly directed towards the vulnerable groups. The minors in general, are exposed to ads that cause their obsession with material things. Since fashionable products are often displayed on their television sets, the internet, and the print media, the young generations are subjected to commercial pressure which, in turn, leads to mental health challenges (Ferrell, 2015).

Ethics of green marketing and green-washing

The demand for green products that are environmentally friendly has been on the rise. Therefore, today many companies are using the Green marketing strategy which is a primary driver of consumption (Stoll, 2015). In a bid to retain a positive public image, many businesses promise to deliver on products that are environmentally sustainable. On the contrary, only a few firms can live up to their word as most of them end up engaging in green-washing. This refers to companies declaring in the public that their products meet the sustainability standards whereas they are not. Such claims are considered unethical, misleading, and misrepresenting the image of the firm through unjustifiable lies. Further, these businesses may point out a few virtual sustainable projects that they have previously engaged in, while in actual sense they are hiding a corporate stench of environmental degradation in their backyards (Stoll, 2015).

Advertising to children

There are some loopholes in the Federal Trade Commission laws that may end up giving room for unethical behavior among children. For instance, the regulation requires that when it comes to youngsters, all advertisements targeting them should demonstrate truth. According to Starek B. Roscoe, a former commissioner of FTC, children are unlikely to understand images and statements that are exaggerated (Ferrell, 2015). He goes on to add that most kids may not recognize that toy helicopters need to be assembled before they can use them. Instead, they assume that such toys came while fully assembled. On the contrary, these legal interpretations of advertisement laws tend to ignore the long-term effects of unethical promotion of products to the young generation. As a result, children may develop brand loyalty aspects even before they can figure out their meanings (Ferrell, 2015). Also, kids are likely to acquire a negative self-image or even develop an addiction for indoor games as opposed to outdoor sporting activities. In turn, their social lives and development are significantly affected.

References

Arrington, R. L. (1982). Advertising and behavior control. Journal of Business Ethics, 1(1), 3-12. doi:10.1007/bf00382800

Ferrell, O. C. (2015). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases, 10th Edition. CengageBrain Bookshelf.

Stoll, M. L. (2015). Greenwashing and Green Marketing Virtues. Handbook of Virtue Ethics in Business and Management, 1-10. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6729-4_88-1