Ethical Issues in Advertising
ETHICAL ISSUES IN ADVERTISING
Advertising is a paid non personal communication about an organization and its products that is transmitted to a target audience through a mass medium. It is a kind of promotional activity. Advertising is widely criticized. Advertisements often do not include much objective information for the simple reason that their primary function is not that of providing unbiased information. Exaggerated claims and outright falsehoods are the most obvious targets for complaints, followed closely by the lack of taste, irritating repetition, and offensive character of many ads. More recently, questions have been raised about the morality of specific kinds of advertising, such as advertising for alcohol and tobacco products and ads aimed at children. Particular ads are also faulted for their use of excessive sex or violence or for presenting negative stereotypes of certain groups. Other critics complain about the role advertising plays in creating a culture of consumerism. There are some social and psychological effects of advertising. A familiar criticism of advertising is that it debases the taste of the public by presenting irritating and aesthetically unpleasant displays. To be effective, advertisement must often be intrusive, strident and repetitive. Advertising necessarily emphasizes the consumption of material goods, people are led to forget the importance of their other, more basic, needs and of other more realistic ways of achieving self-fulfillment. As a result, personal efforts are diverted from non materialistic aims and objectives, which are more likely to increase the happiness of people, and are instead channeled into expanded material consumption. The difficulty with this criticism, however, is that it is uncertain whether advertising actually has the large psychological effects the criticism attributes to it. A second major criticism brought against advertising is that it is wasteful. Resources consumed by advertisements
Advertising is a paid non personal communication about an organization and its products that is transmitted to a target audience through a mass medium. It is a kind of promotional activity. Advertising is widely criticized. Advertisements often do not include much objective information for the simple reason that their primary function is not that of providing unbiased information. Exaggerated claims and outright falsehoods are the most obvious targets for complaints, followed closely by the lack of taste, irritating repetition, and offensive character of many ads. More recently, questions have been raised about the morality of specific kinds of advertising, such as advertising for alcohol and tobacco products and ads aimed at children. Particular ads are also faulted for their use of excessive sex or violence or for presenting negative stereotypes of certain groups. Other critics complain about the role advertising plays in creating a culture of consumerism. There are some social and psychological effects of advertising. A familiar criticism of advertising is that it debases the taste of the public by presenting irritating and aesthetically unpleasant displays. To be effective, advertisement must often be intrusive, strident and repetitive. Advertising necessarily emphasizes the consumption of material goods, people are led to forget the importance of their other, more basic, needs and of other more realistic ways of achieving self-fulfillment. As a result, personal efforts are diverted from non materialistic aims and objectives, which are more likely to increase the happiness of people, and are instead channeled into expanded material consumption. The difficulty with this criticism, however, is that it is uncertain whether advertising actually has the large psychological effects the criticism attributes to it. A second major criticism brought against advertising is that it is wasteful. Resources consumed by advertisements
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