Ethics in Advertising Essay

Ethics in advertising to most sounds like the definition for irony. However, the practice of truthful advertising is commonplace in today’s society. Advertisers are held accountable for the messages they produce. So too are the manufacturers, whom are held accountable for their products meeting the standards set forth by the advertisement. For the most part this is a self-regulated practice. Once an advertised product is called out for not living up to expectation, recovery of reputation and overall positive brand imaging are rarely had. The added fear of civil lawsuits pertaining to deceptive advertising coupled with penal laws which prohibit such dishonest acts, make for an industry centered on truthful intent. The Federal Trade Commission is the governing authority against “unfair and deceptive acts or practices in commerce”. Meaning false or misleading information in advertising media is punishable by judicial law. There seems to be a fine line as to what is unlawful in terms of “false” advertising. The act of being deceptive is not the same as producing deception. Wikipedia states illegal deception as, “the potential to deceive, which is interpreted to occur when consumers see the advertising to stating to them, explicitly or implicitly, a claim that may not realize is false or material. The latter means that the claim, if relied on for making a purchasing decision, is likely to be harmful by adversely affecting that decision.” Recently the F.T.C. exercised their authoritative power against the tobacco industry through their use of previously undefined terms such as “low tar”, “lights”, “ultra-lights” used on cigarette packaging. The terms were used to mistakenly identify varying levels of additives such as nicotine or tar for which no variance actually exist. All cigarettes contain the same basic levels of such. The difference between “lights” vs. “ultra-lights” for example, is the cigarette’s filter which vary in size and/or viscosity. I think

References: Wikipedia. Ethics in Advertising.[Internet] MediaWiki version 1.16. April 2010. Oledm.com. Health Issues:SODA KILLS.[Internet]May 2010. Google Image Search.Vintage Coca-Cola, Soda, Marlboro, Ethical Ads, Caffeine.[Internet] May 2010. Johar, Gita,”Intended and Unintended Effects of Corrective Advertising on Beliefs and Evaluations: An Exploratory Analysis”, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 1996, 5(3), 209-230. Richards, Jef I., “Deceptive Advertising”, Earlbaum (1990) at p.20.