ethics of advertisement

Advertisement Ethics by Shuva Brata Basak 2009

PAILAN COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY

BBA[H] FINAL SEMESTER 2009

STUDY PAPER: MARKETING

AREA OF SPECIALIZATION :

ADVERTISEMENT ETHICS

(A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of bachelors in

business administration in WBUT)

Submitted by:

SHUVA BRATA BASAK

Roll No: 15650061044

Registration No: 156205041004

Acknowledgement

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I am extremely indebted to the help that I have received in the making of this study paper. It would have been an extremely difficult job for me if my teachers wouldn’t have helped me in the making of this study paper.

I am thankful to:

Mr. Apoorva Saha

Mr. P. S. Chakraborty

Mr. A. K. Roy

Mz. Saswati Roy Chel

Mr. Dipanjan Dutta

Mz. Nabanita Maity

I am also thankful to my friends & my family.

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CONTENTS

Sl No Description Page No

1. Acknowledgement 2

2. What is meant by Advertisement 4

3. What is Ethics? 5-7

4. Ethics of Advertisement : Introduction 8-9

5. Ethics & Advertising 10-17

6. Ethics of Advertising 18-21

7. Some Ethical & Moral principles 22-26

8. The Ethics of Behavioral Advertisement 27-30

9. Attention, But at What Cost! 31-38

10. Benefits of Ethical Advertising 39-42

11. Harm done by Unethical Advertising 43-48

12. Conclusion 49

13. Bibliography 50

What do you mean by advertisement?

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Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. “While now central to the contemporary global economy and the reproduction of global production networks, it is only quite recently that advertising has been more than a marginal influence on patterns of sales and production. The formation of modern advertising was intimately bound up with the emergence of new forms of monopoly capitalism around the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century as one element in corporate strategies to create, organize and where possible control markets, especially for mass produced consumer goods. Mass production necessitated mass consumption, and this in turn required a certain homogenization of consumer tastes for final products. At its limit, this involved seeking to create ‘world cultural convergence’, to homogenize consumer tastes and engineer a ‘convergence of lifestyle, culture and behaviors among consumer segments across the world’.”

What is ethics?

Ethics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality, such as what the fundamental

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semantic, ontological, and epistemic nature of ethics or morality is (meta-ethics), how moral values should be determined (normative ethics), how a moral outcome can be achieved in specific situations (applied ethics), how moral capacity or moral agency develops and what its nature is (moral psychology), and what moral values people actually abide by (descriptive ethics).

The significance of ethical formulations, today, as in all times, is in their power for shaping attitudes and constraining behaviors. Ethics provide for a basic social need by defining the behaviors we expect and will accept from one another. In the ideal, our ethics allow us to live together, productively and in harmony.

But within our generation there is the appearance of a growing disregard for the ethical standards we have been given. The erosion of these ethical norms is a source of social anxiety, creating distrust and moral callousness. In order to prevent further deterioration of the underpinnings of our society, we must act to discover and remedy the sources for our growing moral confusion. But I also believe we must act carefully and thoughtfully. As with any complex social problem, this ethical crisis will resist simplistic attempts at resolution. It is a mistake to equate a break-down in the function of the ethics with a deterioration of public morality. Our generation is not simply more self-centered or less moral than our predecessors. I contend that this appearance of moral degeneration is more accurately perceived as moral confusion.

When we ask why individuals act unethically, we must also be prepared to ask why it is that our ethics make it seem to be in the individual self-interest to do so. Because our common morality limits our freedom to behave in ways we might otherwise choose to, it is not enough to simply proclaim the wrongness or rightness of an act. In order for

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our ethical foundation to work, we must agree individually and together on the basis for those morals. Our ethics must provide understandings which help compel us to act with intelligence, compassion and understanding.

I contend that many of the ethical formulations of our time lack insight, scope and compassion. The confusion we are faced with is the result of having ethical forms inadequate to our situation. As we confront our crisis in ethics we must ask whether the ethical norms we are attempting to sustain have meanings for individuals which are empowering, meanings which, of their own force, compel us to believe that adherence is overwhelmingly in our common and individual self-interests.

Different people have different beliefs about what constitutes ethical behavior. The law defines what is and is not legal, but the distinctions between moral right and wrong are not always so clear. In many situations lines between right and wrong are blurred. Such situations can lead to ethical dilemmas.

When faced with ethical dilemmas, it’s important to consider outcomes of the decision-making process. One way of dealing ethical dilemmas is by using the four way test to evaluate decisions. This test involves asking four questions:

1. Is my decision a truthful one? 2. Is my decision fair to everyone affected?

3. Will it build goodwill for the organization?

4. Is the decision beneficial to all parties who have a vested interest in the outcome?

When these four questions can truthfully be answered with a “yes,” it is likely that the decision is an ethical one.

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Another way of making sure decisions are truly ethical is by using the publicity test. Ask yourself how you would feel if your actions were published in your hometown newspaper. If you would be comfortable having your parents, grade school teachers, and other people find out what you did, chances are that your decision is an ethical one. However, if you would not want these individuals to learn about your actions, you probably need to rethink your decision.

Ethics of Advertisement: An Introduction

Advertising is the most competitive industry in America. It facilitates both performance and price competition among products and services. To do so it must compete for the consumers’ limited time and attention. It must be persuasive and credible, and as I believe and urge—ethical—to build brand loyalty and trust. In my view not enough attention is given to advertising ethics.

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It is understandable that professionals and students of advertising stress the Four P’s of Marketing: Product, Price, Promotion and Place. Yet, how often are the positive and negative consequences of advertising ethics proactively taken into consideration? Not often enough. To the contrary, clients are forced to deal reactively with irate consumers who have taken offense from claims and depictions in their ads.

Take the print ad for Dolce & Gabbana that appeared in Esquire magazine: “A woman, fully clothed in a tight dress and spiked heels, lies on her back, hips raised as a bare-chested man holds her down and four other men look on. The menace in the situation is underscored by the fact the woman is blankly unsmiling and some of the men appear to have slight sneers on their faces.” Brandweek, February 20, 2007. Women and women’s organizations quickly took offense. The National Organization for Woman charged that the ad depicted “Stylized gang rape.”

It is difficult for me to see how this ad advanced Dolce & Gabbana, which markets upscale Italian fashions to women. Moreover, it certainly did not advance the image of the advertising industry.

This ad ran afoul of what I would call “taste and decency,” a most difficult area of advertising ethics. I want to make it clear that I do not believe in politically correct speech, and I would be the first to combat any attempt by government to regulate in this area. But we must be very sensitive to the ethical concerns of our consumers.

It is up to the company and its ad agency to internally articulate and practice advertising ethics for its brands. I believe this will enhance brand reputation and consumer loyalty. Take the time in advance to proactively discuss the ethical consequences of ad claims and depictions. I know the devil is in the details. I don’t want to suggest a burdensome

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process here. In future columns I will provide my guidelines, and I would appreciate your suggestions.

Advertising ethics in my view also includes truthfulness and fairness, which includes the nature of the audience and the nature of the product. Over the next few months I would like to open a dialogue on questions regarding children’s advertising, multicultural marketing and other challenges presented by taste and decency. Please join in the discussion by leaving comments below.

Ethics and advertisingHuman beings are world creators. One of the worlds that human beings have created is the world of money, commodities, trade, exchange. To me, it's a world full of beauty and ugliness in equal proportions, messy, flashy, exotic, scary. No-one who has made their home in this world would see this the way an outsider — and being a philosopher makes me by definition an outsider — can see this.

I regard the business arena — the world of buyers and sellers, bosses and workers, producers and consumers, the world of money — as nothing less than an ontological category, a way of Being. It is not accidental to who we are. It defines the way we relate to each other and to the world around us. But it is not the only way of Being. There are other ways, and the most fundamental of these is ethics.

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Ethics, as understood here, is defined by the I-thou relationship:When I engage another person in moral dialogue, there are not two parallel processes of practical deliberation going on, his and mine, but only one.(Contrast this with the case of a 'dialogue' between politicians or traders, where each is privately deliberating how to gain the upper hand.) In opening myself up and addressing the other as a thou I am already committed to the practical consequences of agreement, of doing the action which, by the combined light of his valuational perspective and mine is seen as the thing to be done. -- Geoffrey Klempner The Ethics of Dialogue (1998)

As a professional metaphysician, I am fascinated by the idea that human beings can belong to more than one world, or move between worlds. Anthropologists who 'go native' in order to study their subjects more closely have an inkling of what I am talking about. We live in the marketplace and also outside it. We can play the various roles assigned to us in the game, or we can stand outside our economic personae and observe ourselves from an ethical point of view. The only difference between us and the anthropologist is that, most of the time, we don't realize that we are doing this. In my recent article, The Business Arena, I put forward three propositions, as a 'prolegomenon to a philosophy for business':Business and commerce take place in a frame, an arena defined by unwrittenrules.Within the business arena, normal ethics is suspended.The aim of a philosophy for business is to understand the rules that define the business arena, in other

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words, to grasp from an ethical perspective how business is possible.Geoffrey Klempner The Business Arena (2004)To claim that in the business world 'normal ethics is suspended' is not to deny thevalidity of rules of conduct, such as fairness and honesty. Without these universal rules, these values, the game could not be played. However, these obligations fall far short of the demands of ethics, as I have defined it here. Advertising: for good or evil?But how fair is the business game, really? On the face of it, producers and consumers have a very different view. The marketplace is not a level playing field, and the chief culprit is advertising.Here are three charges levelled against advertisers:They sell us dreams, entice us into confusing dreams with reality.They pander to our desires for things that are bad for us.They manipulate us into wanting things we don't really need.All this can be summed up in the popular sentiment that advertisers cynically use a world of fantasy and illusion in an attempt to control us.Most people who express this sentiment, however, would add that the attempt doesn't succeed. We see through the ruse. (Or, at least, it is always other people who seem to have the wool pulled over their eyes, never ourselves.) That's a claim to take with a big pinch of salt.In recent times advertising has become increasingly regulated by codes of practice. These codes may be adequate to curb the worst excesses of advertising. It is much harder nowadays for advertisements to get away with telling outright lies. But they still fall far short of answering these three indictments. That suggests the following question: suppose that you were an advertiser who wanted

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to be truly ethical and not just legal. What would you have to do? Let's look at each of the indictments in turn. Selling dreamsLet me start with a personal example. What initially attracted me to philosophy was the life of Socrates. In the same way that few, if any Christians could live the way Christ lived, so few if any philosophy students are capable of emulating the life of Socrates. I knew this. I was sold the dream of philosophy. And I am glad for that. I don't feel I was cheated. Plato, the greatest of all salesmen for philosophy, seduced me — along with countless thousands of students before and since — with his brilliant dialogues depicting the life of his mentor.Gilbert Ryle in his book Plato's Progress (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1966) argues that the dialogues were performed live. You can see audiences of Plato's dialogue Phaedo sobbing, or swooning as Socrates calmly drinks the hemlock, with words of reassurance for his gathered friends, facing death with courage and dignity.The dream is not extraneous to the product. It is part of the complete package. The treasure that is the collected works of Plato has added to the value of philosophy, not just through novel arguments or its addition to the storehouse of human knowledge but through the sheer seductive power of Plato's storytelling. Living and breathing theatmosphere of the dialogues we become more, we become better, we are enhanced.But is that also true out there in the commercial marketplace, where humans barter their love of material goods, succumb to the dreams that advertisers sell? It is very tempting to say no. It is so easy to take the moralistic high ground. Yet, as I want to argue, that would be a serious error. Anyone who is serious about deconstructing the dream world of advertising should start by considering the meaning of fashion and style, not as illusions that human beings fall helplessly victim to, but as part of the scaffolding of human

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culture. A world without fashion or style would be obnoxious, alien, brutal — in the true senseof being fit only for brutes.Think of the clothes one wears as a kind of advertising. To say that the appearance that clothes create is a mere illusion is to class a well cut or well designed suit with cod pieces and false breasts.A philosopher might object that my example of the 'dream of philosophy' is not fair. Philosophy is an ideal. Advertisers try to sell us material things. The two could not be more different. I totally disagree. Philosophers, so quick to analyse, look at an object as a mere bearer of physical properties, or as a tool with a function, or, possibly, one of those rare objects that attains the status of a 'work of art', a bearer of sheer disinterested aesthetic value.None of these ways of analysing an object explain why we love things. All parents know how children lust for toys. We grow up. We put away childish things. We do not lose that lust, we merely look for different things to attach ourselves to, to project our emotions onto. This is normal, not pathological behaviour.Object-love is one of the most profound facts about our human relation to the world. That is something Freud saw.These are passing observations (as Wittgenstein would say) concerning the 'natural history of mankind'. It ought to be seen as surprising, worthy of note, in the same way as we ought to be surprised at the capacity of the human imagination to be captured by storytelling, by fiction. Maybe Martians are not so lucky. Pity them.In the commercial world, there are plenty of examples of manufacturers who believe passionately in their product. Apple Macintosh is the best example I can think of. Macs are good, not only because they function well, but because they are beautiful, stylish,designed with loving attention to detail (most of the time, anyway — there have been occasional, humorous exceptions

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when in the face of competition cost-cutting was allowed to take precedence over quality).I am happy to buy into a dream I can believe in. But not one that has been cynically created with the sole aim of making me spend my money.So is this true? — 'As an advertiser, it's OK to sell a dream if you believe in it too.'When a consumer buys an Apple Mac, the value of the product is not just its beauty and functionality, but the love that has been lavished on it. The image that the advertisers have created is not only true, but also enhances the pleasure of using the product.But we're on risky ground here. Consider the religious cults who send their followers on the streets seeking converts. They believe in the dream that they are selling too. Even if the dream selling is not done cynically, it all-too easily becomes an attempt to brainwash, to control.A campaign which Apple ran a couple of years ago featured 'real people' explaining why they switched to Macs and recounting the misery of badly designed, unreliable PCs. The campaign backfired because PC users found it offensive, while Mac users resented being patronised. They were rudely awakened from the dream.PanderingWe tell a child, 'You'll feel sick if you eat that second chocolate bar.' yet advertisers are only too willing to sell us as many chocolate bars as we can eat — or, whatever our particular vice may be.In today's climate, as a would-be ethical advertiser, there's no way you could accept a cigarette advertising account. With the current problem of binge drinking in the UK amongst young people, one would have to be very careful in accepting a drinks account. I have yet to see a drinks advert whose message was, 'Enjoy our beer — but don't get drunk!'Advertisements can set out with the laudable aim of educating people. 'Eat our cereal because it's low in fat and high in fibre'. This is good advice, offered, however, not in a

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spirit of social conscience but as part of the sales pitch. If consumers were less sensitive to such appeals to improve their health and life style, then advertisers would not waste time and money making them.Ever-resourceful advertisers have even found ways to openly admit that their product is bad for you. A recent advert for meat pies portrays impressively overweight men — a construction worker, a welder, a tyre fitter, a fireman — as everyday 'heroes'. A potentially damaging admission is turned round into something positive with theclever use of humour. A real man likes his beer and pies.This illustrates the important point that advertisements can be very knowing — showing an awareness of the ethical issues which marketing that particular product raises, while at the same time deftly deflecting criticism. We are not offended because we get the point, we smile at the irony — and we buy the product.ManipulatingSuppose you are a deodorant manufacturer who has conceived the idea of an ethical advertising campaign. It goes without saying that the deodorant has got to work effectively, as claimed. It should not contain chemicals which are bad for your health (when the product is used according to instructions). This is more or less where we are now, in relation to current rules on advertising. But what does it mean for a deodorant to be effective? On a hot day, you will be more confident in the company of other people, because they will not be able to detect your body odour. Critics of deodorant advertising have pointed out, however, that although it is true that the deodorant has the power to prevent odour, and this is a ground for extra confidence, the reason why it is a ground for confidence is at least partly due to a belief or attitude which has itself been inculcated by advertising. 'Body odour' is one of the classic phrases invented by advertisers, embodying the concept that any natural human smell is, or ought to be regarded as offensive. It is hard to question a belief when it has become part of

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language itself. If you have B.O. that is something bad, by definition. B.O. is unpleasant and offensive, because being offensive is part of its concept. But that begs the question whether all bodily odours are unpleasant, or only some. So let's take our imaginary scenario from here: The ethical deodorant marketing team take the brave decision to question this assumption. The design and advertising of the product will be based around the idea that there are pleasant as well as unpleasant bodily odours. The chemists are asked to come up with a product which gets rid of the unpleasant odours while not masking the pleasant ones. After extensive research and testing, the product is launched. The campaign is a great success. The concept captures the public imagination, better than anyone had dared hope. However, a new trend emerges from the on-going market research. A significant proportion of the people questioned express a willingness to try a product which enhances their 'naturally pleasant' bodily smell. The chemists identify a complex blend of chemicals, some of which are capable of synthesis in a laboratory. The ethical marketing team now face a difficult dilemma. How can it be wrong to market the chemically enhanced product, if this was what people want? The argument for not doing so is that it was the success of the first campaign that created the demand for an added 'natural bodily smell', where none had existed before. This is the very thing that the ethical advertising team had sought to avoid! Against competitors who show no such scruples, however, the ethical advertisers face a losing battle in the marketplace.

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Ethics of AdvertisingAdvertising has been universally praised and condemned. It has been cheered by those who view it as emblematic of the American Dream - the notion that anyone with money and moxie can promote a product to masses of consumers, along with the promise, cherished by immigrants that an escape from brutal poverty can be found through purchase of products and services not available in more oppressive economies. Advertising has been roundly condemned by those who despise its attack on our senses, its appropriation of language for use in a misty world located somewhere between truth and falsehood, and its relentless, shameless exploitation of cultural icons and values to sell goods and services.It is a lot easier to document advertising effects than to arrive at universally accepted conclusions about its ethics. Long before the arrival of Old Joe Camel and the Budweiser frogs, critics debated the ethics of advertising. Adopting a deontological approach, critics have argued that the test of ethical communication is whether it treats people as an end, not a means or, more practically, whether the communicators' motives are honorable or decent. Viewed in this way, advertising can fall drastically short of an ethical ideal. Advertisers develop ads that make promises they know products can't deliver. Cigarettes don't offer hedonistic pleasure; cars don't make you rich or famous; and making pancakes for your kids on Saturday won't assuage your guilt about neglecting them all week, despite the plaintive plea of a Bisquik pancake commercial. Advertisers want consumers to project fantasies onto products in order to hook individuals on the image of the brand. Viewed from a deontological perspective, advertising is not ethical because advertisers are not truthful. If the decency of the communicators' motives is the criterion for

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ethical communication, advertising fails. Advertisers deliberately construct fantasies to serve their clients' needs, not to aid the customer in living a healthier, happier life. Responding to these criticisms, defenders of advertising note that consumers recognize that advertising creates untruths. They do not expect ads to tell them the way things really are in society. Almost by definition, he says, the portrayals of the good life presented in ads carry with them the implicit understanding that they are idealizations, not documentary reports. In effect, advertising defenders say, Don't worry; be happy. Advertising is capitalism's playful communication, an effort to give people an outlet for universal human fantasies. In the end, the verdict on advertising depends on the criteria we use to judge it. Judged in terms of consequences on society, advertising's effects are ambiguous. Exposure to beautiful people or unimaginable wealth may cause dissatisfaction in some consumers, but can lead others to reach for loftier goals. Judged strictly on truth-telling criteria, advertising rarely makes product claims that are demonstrably false. However, it almost always exaggerates, puffs up products, and links products with intangible rewards. All advertising tells lies, however, she notes that there are little lies and there are big lies. Little lie: This beer tastes great. Big lie: This beer makes you great. In the final analysis, advertising will remain an ethically problematic, but necessary, part of capitalist society. Needed to differentiate and promote products that (truth be told) differ only trivially from one another, advertising keeps the engines of the free market economy rolling. It increases demand and allows companies to sell products, prosper, and employ managers and workers. On the macroeconomic level, advertising plays an essential, critical role in contemporary capitalism. From an ethical perspective, advertising remains an uneasy persuasion.

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Advertising is such a pervasive part of American culture that is difficult to conjure up images of products that are not influenced by what we have seen in commercials. If you were asked to free-associate about Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Nike, Herbal Essence, or cars running the gamut from Mustangs to minivans, your mental images would undoubtedly contain ideas and pictures gleaned from commercials. It is physically difficult, if not impossible, to call to mind an advertising-free image of products. This is because advertising plays a critical role in shaping, reinforcing, even changing attitudes toward products. Little wonder that critics have charged that advertising's power comes from subliminally embedded messages that elude conscious awareness. Research finds that subliminal communications exert virtually no impact on attitudes. However, the conscious belief that a message contains a subliminal message can influence attitudes. The subliminal notion is more hoax than reality, but it persists because people cling to simplistic ideas about how advertising works. Advertising works through different pathways under low and high involvement. When viewing ads for low-involvement products, consumers process information peripherally. Repetition, associational appeals, and celebrity source endorsements are influential. Association, whose theoretical foundations run the gamut from classical conditioning to accessibility, is a potent weapon in advertising campaigns. When thinking about more personally consequential purchases, consumers process ads centrally, taking into account the benefits products offer and the psychological functions that products serve. When directing ads at highly involved consumers, advertisers use factual messages and symbolic appeals targeted to particular attitude functions. Although advertising is pervasive, it does not magically alter attitudes. As social judgment theory reminds us, advertising will not mold deep-seated attitudes toward products. It is not apt to change attitudes on the spot. Instead, it works gradually, influencing cognitions, enhancing positive effect,

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and meshing with consumers' values, lifestyles, and even fantasies about products. Ever controversial, advertising has been condemned by those who see in it a ready way to manipulate Americans into buying products they don't need. Critics argue that advertising inculcates a strange philosophy of life that puts great faith in the ability of products to satisfy universal human desires. Yet even those who criticize advertising ethics acknowledge that people seem to have a need for the things advertisers promote. Whether due to human nature, contemporary capitalism, or a complex combination of both, things are in the saddle. But if some of us want to think that things are riding us, that's fine. The rest of us know better.

Some Ethical & Moral Principles

The Second Vatican Council declared: "If the media are to be correctly employed, it is essential that all who use them know the principles of the moral order and apply them faithfully in this domain."The moral order to which this refers is the order of the law of human nature, binding upon all because it is "written on their hearts" and embodies the imperatives of authentic human fulfillment.

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For Christians, moreover, the law of human nature has a deeper dimension, a richer meaning. "Christ is the ?Beginning' who, having taken on human nature, definitively illumines it in its constitutive elements and in its dynamism of charity towards God and neighbor." Here we comprehend the deepest significance of human freedom: that it makes possible an authentic moral response, in light of Jesus Christ, to the call "to form our conscience, to make it the object of a continuous conversion to what is true and to what is good."

In this context, the media of social communications have two options, and only two. Either they help human persons to grow in their understanding and practice of what is true and good, or they are destructive forces in conflict with human well being. That is entirely true of advertising.

Against this background, then, we point to this fundamental principle for people engaged in advertising: advertisers — that is, those who commission, prepare or disseminate advertising — are morally responsible for what they seek to move people to do; and this is a responsibility also shared by publishers, broadcasting executives, and others in the communications world, as well as by those who give commercial or political endorsements, to the extent that they are involved in the advertising process.

If an instance of advertising seeks to move people to choose and act rationally in morally good ways that are of true benefit to themselves and others, persons involved in it do what is morally good; if it seeks to move people to do evil deeds that are self-destructive and destructive of authentic community, they do evil.

This applies also to the means and the techniques of advertising: it is morally wrong to use manipulative, exploitative, corrupt and corrupting methods of persuasion and motivation. In this regard, we note special problems associated with so-called indirect advertising that attempts

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to move people to act in certain ways — for example, purchase particular products — without their being fully aware that they are being swayed. The techniques involved here include showing certain products or forms of behavior in superficially glamorous settings associated with superficially glamorous people; in extreme cases, it may even involve the use of subliminal messages.

Within this very general framework, we can identify several moral principles that are particularly relevant to advertising. We shall speak briefly of three: truthfulness, the dignity of the human person, and social responsibility.

1. Truthfulness in Advertising

Even today, some advertising is simply and deliberately untrue. Generally speaking, though, the problem of truth in advertising is somewhat more subtle: it is not that advertising says what is overtly false, but that it can distort the truth by implying things that are not so or withholding relevant facts. As Pope John Paul II points out, on both the individual and social levels, truth and freedom are inseparable; without truth as the basis, starting point and criterion of discernment, judgment, choice and action, there can be no authentic exercise of freedom. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting the Second Vatican Council, insists that the content of communication be "true and — within the limits set by justice and charity — complete"; the content should, moreover, be communicated "honestly and properly."

To be sure, advertising, like other forms of expression, has its own conventions and forms of stylization, and these must be taken into account when discussing truthfulness. People take for granted some rhetorical and symbolic exaggeration in advertising; within the limits of recognized and accepted practice, this can be allowable.

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But it is a fundamental principle that advertising may not deliberately seek to deceive, whether it does that by what it says, by what it implies, or by what it fails to say. "The proper exercise of the right to information demands that the content of what is communicated be true and, within the limits set by justice and charity, complete. ... Included here is the obligation to avoid any manipulation of truth for any reason."

2. The Dignity of the Human Person

There is an "imperative requirement" that advertising "respect the human person, his rightduty to make a responsible choice, his interior freedom; all these goods would be violated if man's lower inclinations were to be exploited, or his capacity to reflect and decide compromised."

These abuses are not merely hypothetical possibilities but realities in much advertising today. Advertising can violate the dignity of the human person both through its content — what is advertised, the manner in which it is advertised — and through the impact it seeks to make upon its audience. We have spoken already of such things as appeals to lust, vanity, envy and greed, and of techniques that manipulate and exploit human weakness. In such circumstances, advertisements readily become "vehicles of a deformed outlook on life, on the family, on religion and on morality — an outlook that does not respect the true dignity and destiny of the human person."

This problem is especially acute where particularly vulnerable groups or classes of persons are concerned: children and young people, the elderly, the poor, the culturally disadvantaged.

Much advertising directed at children apparently tries to exploit their credulity and suggestibility, in the hope that

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they will put pressure on their parents to buy products of no real benefit to them. Advertising like this offends against the dignity and rights of both children and parents; it intrudes upon the parent-child relationship and seeks to manipulate it to its own base ends. Also, some of the comparatively little advertising directed specifically to the elderly or culturally disadvantaged seems designed to play upon their fears so as to persuade them to allocate some of their limited resources to goods or services of dubious value.

3. Advertising and Social Responsibility

Social responsibility is such a broad concept that we can note here only a few of the many issues and concerns relevant under this heading to the question of advertising.

The ecological issue is one. Advertising that fosters a lavish life style which wastes resources and despoils the environment offends against important ecological concerns. "In his desire to have and to enjoy rather than to be and grow, man consumes the resources of the earth and his own life in an excessive and disordered way. ... Man thinks that he can make arbitrary use of the earth, subjecting it without restraint to his will, as though it did not have its own requisites and a prior God-given purpose, which man can indeed develop but must not betray."

As this suggests, something more fundamental is at issue here: authentic and integral human development. Advertising that reduces human progress to acquiring material goods and cultivating a lavish life style expresses a false, destructive vision of the human person harmful to individuals and society alike.

When people fail to practice "a rigorous respect for the moral, cultural and spiritual requirements, based on the dignity of the person and on the proper identity of each community, beginning with the family and religious

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societies," then even material abundance and the conveniences that technology makes available "will prove unsatisfying and in the end contemptible." Advertisers, like people engaged in other forms of social communication, have a serious duty to express and foster an authentic vision of human development in its material, cultural and spiritual dimensions.31 Communication that meets this standard is, among other things, a true expression of solidarity. Indeed, the two things — communication and solidarity — are inseparable, because, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church points out, solidarity is "a consequence of genuine and right communication and the free circulation of ideas that further knowledge and respect for others."

The Ethics of Behavioral Advertising

Recently, both the advertising industry and the government have turned their attentions toward online behavioral advertising, or behavioral targeting. Central to the Federal Trade Commission’s focus is consumer concerns that behavioral targeting compromises personal privacy. On the other hand, marketers are interested in using behavioral targeting to send relevant and cost-effective ads to online users.1 But this issue isn’t merely a regulatory question; an ethical analysis by marketers as to the use of behavioral targeting will build consumer trust.

Behavioral targeting segments consumers according to the interests they express in online activities. eMarketer recently completed an analysis on the scope of this marketing process:

Behavioral targeting segments the audience based on observed and measured data—the pages or sites users visit,

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the content they view, the search queries they enter, the ads they click on, the information they share on social internet sites and the products they put in online shopping carts. This data is combined with the time, length and frequency of visits. Recency counts a lot too—data from two weeks ago is far less accurate at predicting interest than from two days ago.2

An ethical analysis centers on consumers’ feelings that behavioral targeting infringes on personal privacy. Recent consumer research shows that, “A six in ten majority (59 percent) are not comfortable when Web sites like Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft (MSN) use information about a person’s online activity to tailor advertisements or content based on a person’s hobbies or interests.” Consumer concern, according to the eMarketer findings, is one of the factors holding back the growth of behavioral targeting by marketers.

While there are privacy laws that protect consumers’ medical and financial information, there are not laws that currently prohibit online marketers from collecting and using personally identifiable information (PII) or other possibly sensitive information, including Internet protocol (IP) addresses. But this issue goes beyond legalities to the ethical question of what is the right and fair way for businesses to advertise to consumers, who bear the benefits and burdens of behavioral targeting.3

What is the right way for businesses to treat consumers? Is it right for marketers to give total control to consumers of the collection and sharing of their information? Or is it right for a business to be able to provide consumers with more relevant, targeted information about products and services?4

We start by analyzing the consequences of these two sides to the issue—the positive and negative impact upon consumers. This is the approach the government would follow in determining the costs and benefits of laws and

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regulations. Giving the consumer total control over sharing his interests and online activity with marketers would protect his privacy in an absolute sense, but at what cost? Opting in at every Web site or even disabling cookies could make online commerce and transactions burdensome for the consumer. And Web visitors routinely benefit from the product information that stems from online behavioral targeting. Pepsi recently launched its new low-calorie Aquafina Alive drink by advertising on sites that were visited by users who were interested in healthy lifestyles—a strategy made possible because of the assistance of behavioral targeting.

Next, we can determine if there is a universal rule that could guide our ethical analysis. To my knowledge there is no such rule in existence. It would be difficult to administer and enforce an absolute prohibition on the collection and sharing of all consumer information. A better rule would be for the consumer to receive specifics as to how his information will be shared and protected.5 The research conducted by the Harris Poll found that consumers’ level of confidence with behavioral targeting went up slightly after being exposed to information on how their information would be shared and protected.

In order to ensure that their marketing practices are ethical, businesses engaging in behavioral targeting should first review research on consumers’ attitudes and beliefs about the issue and then develop online advertising policies that demonstrate their commitment to protecting the privacy of their customers.

Advertising is at its best when it’s helping consumers make informed decisions about their purchases. And behavioral targeting is one of the most effective ways for marketers to reach the right audience. But this practice is contingent on the protection of consumer privacy. Once advertisers

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commit to using behavioral advertising ethically, both marketers and consumers can benefit.

Footnotes:1 The AAF and other industry associations have filed comments with the Federal Trade Commission on behavioral targeting.

2 Behavioral Targeting: Marketing Trends, e-Marketer, June 2008.

3 My definition of ethics includes fairness, in terms of both the nature of the product and the nature of the audience and the manner in which they’re treated.

4 My analysis is aided by an ethical process refined by author Rushworth Kidder in his book, How Good People Make Tough Choices.

5 The Federal Trade Commission has proposed for discussion behavioral advertising self-regulatory guidelines.

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Attention, But at What Cost?

Belvedere Vodka has introduced a new provocative print and television campaign to compete against Grey Goose in the luxury vodka market. “The brand is donning fishnets, getting spanked in public and otherwise behaving lewdly in an attempt to stand out in the increasingly crowded luxury vodka category.”

In my previous column, I defined ethical advertising to include Taste and Decency and counseled that the client and agency should proactively consider the ethical consequences of advertising that could be considered offensive by the brands customers.

Apparently in this case client and agency agreed on the shocking portrayal of women to attack competitor Grey Goose’s “uptown” image. Paul Ashworth, Moet’s senior VP – Belvedere, said of the new $20 million campaign, “We want to be sexy, and we want to be provocative.” Ewen Cameron, Berlin Cameron executive creative director, said the campaign is meant to make consumers take sides: “Brands need to say, ‘are you with us or with them?’”

But did they consider the ethical consequences of a campaign that may offend woman vodka drinkers? Women

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constitute 49 percent of the luxury vodka market1. Clearly they were aware of the negative implications. From the same AdAge.com article: “According to Mr. Ashworth, several cable networks refused to run the original spot. Outtakes—including several shots using the bottle as an explicitly sexual prop—will be featured on a new Web site set to launch in early December.”

Perhaps the Spirits category is different from other brand marketing. Arthur Shapiro, a veteran spirits industry consultant, opines “One way to stand out at a crowded party is to put a lampshade on your head. It doesn’t necessarily make a good impression, but it does make one.”

This is an assumption that is often heard in the industry: “It’s good to get the customer’s attention even if it makes them mad.” But how can we conclude that a potential customer angered by advertising will purchase the brand? I believe that women searching for an upscale vodka would be more attracted to a brand connecting to them through ethical advertising. This seems to have been proven by Dove’s very successful Campaign for Real Beauty, which was still risky in its depiction of women but was also developed with them in mind.

Advertising, like human beings, lives where Reason meets Desire. Years ago, The Coca-Cola Company invented a better product. No consumer product had ever been so thoroughly tested with so many consumers. This new Coke was probably much better. But consumers not only didn't buy it, they demonstrated against it. Because a lot of what they loved about "real" Coke wasn't inside the bottle. It was the idea of Coke and their experiences with it and how those experiences were connected to so much of what we imagine life in America should be like. Advertising isn't just about the things we buy. It's about how we feel about things, including ourselves. That's what makes it interesting.

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1. Cause-related marketing

Speaking of feelings, 80% of Americans say they feel better about companies that are aligned with social issues. Two thirds of us say we'd be inclined to switch to a brand that we identify with a good cause. It's why American Express put on the Tribeca Film Festival in lower Manhattan to help bring people back to the area after September 11th. Wal-Mart focuses on community efforts of their associates and stores. General Mills' "Spoonfuls of Hope" campaign features Lance Armstrong promoting cancer research. Johnson & Johnson - always at the top of polls as a socially responsible company -- has been running a campaign to help promote nursing as a career:

Does the extra business and good will these companies stand to gain compromise the good that the causes do? What are the ethics of enlightened self-interest? Not long ago a major advertiser donated a quarter-million dollars in food aid to Bosnians in the wake of the war there. By all accounts, the aid did a lot of good. Later, the company spent over a million dollars to advertise their good deed to American audiences. What decision would you have made?

2. Tobacco Advertising

Ronald Reagan once appeared in ads touting the health benefits of a cigarette brand. Times have changed. Now the space in which tobacco can be promoted in any form is growing more restricted every day. And tobacco isn't the only legal - and potentially lethal - product that poses ethical, not to mention public policy questions for us.

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Ad agencies and individual advertising people make their own decisions about categories like tobacco and guns. Many say, "No, thanks" to working on certain businesses. But would you turn down the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese assignment because another division of the same corporation makes Marlboros? That's a tougher question.

3. Alcohol

There are hundreds of beer commercials on the air, but not one of them shows somebody actually drinking the beer. Does that make them more ethical? And although there's the same amount of the same chemical in a can of Bud and a shot of Jack Daniels, you don't see hard liquor advertised on television. In the case of alcohol, advertisers themselves have made these "ethical" choices. But do they make rational sense? The Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) probably don't make the same distinction between beer and bourbon that advertisers do.

Incidentally, advertising people working for free because they believe in the cause create MADD's ads. Ad folk like to work pro bono for nonprofits and good causes. Public service campaigns, including anti-smoking messages, got over $1.5 billion dollars in free media last year. Altogether, they'd be the fifth largest advertiser.

The ethical issue isn't the alcohol in the product, it's the brand name on the bottle (Smirnoff Ice). When I say the word "Smirnoff", what do you think of? - you're not alone. A rival company says this commercial is misleading you because there's no vodka in Smirnoff Ice. It's a malt beverage. Does the name "Smirnoff" mean "vodka" or is it just a name? Many of you are in the target audience. Are you being fooled here? And if you thought Smirnoff Ice contained vodka, did you also think it contained ice? You don't have to

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take time from your studies to decide this case. As we speak, it's being examined by the ATF (Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms).

4. Condoms

I assume these are not unfamiliar to you. Should they be advertised? Most networks won't accept condom ads because they might offend certain audiences. Even where condom ads are okay, there are ethical choices to make about what kind of product demonstration is appropriate. And in what context? One example of context is that people in condom ads usually wear wedding rings. Because even though the biggest market probably lies outside the Marital Bed, the truth about where all those condoms are really going raises some touchy issues. If you were the Creative Director on the Trojans account, is that an ethical issue? Do you show the real truth and take the consequences?

5. Children

Society imposes context on advertising ethics all the time - especially in advertising that involves children. Here's a commercial for children's shampoo. On behalf of Society, can you see what's wrong with this message?

The problem isn't something in the spot - it's what's missing. There is no adult supervision shown around the swimming pool. The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Better Business Bureau (BBB), which also monitors kid's programming, requires that adults be shown supervising children when products or activities could be risky. So

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L'Oreal changed the commercial to model good parental behavior. Score one for Society. Another commercial for Aim toothpaste showed a child who went to the bathroom in a museum to brush her teeth. Good hygiene or not, it had to be taken off the air when teachers complained that they'd never, ever, let a child leave the group unattended.

Advertisers spend most of their waking hours trying to anticipate what their audiences will want and how they'll react. We try our best, but sometimes we miss.

6. Pharmaceutical advertising

Information is ethically neutral. In an academic setting like this, we welcome more information because the marketplace of ideas enables individuals to form their own judgments - which brings us to advertising about prescription drugs. Not long ago, only a doctor could tell you about a new medicine. You probably never heard of it before you walked in; you didn't know if it was the only one in the world or one of dozens that did pretty much the same thing. Now advertisers spend millions of dollars telling you about their medicines. Advertising puts more information in people's hands. Studies show that drug ads raise awareness of some conditions so more people seek treatment. And they know more about their options before seeing the doctor. That's good, right?

But of course the drug companies don't advertise their cheapest products. They promote the big moneymakers. There's more information out there, but it comes with a heavy dose of Point-of-View. Sometimes there are two points of view in the same commercial. The FDA requires that, if you promote the benefits of your medicine, you must also reveal any significant risks or side effects. So we have them to thank for the now legendary disclaimer for a weight-loss drug. The medicine worked miracles, but the company was

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also obliged to mention it's unpleasant side effects, with the result that the drug turned into a national joke! Does more information elevate the national dialogue?

7. Product placement

What are the ethics of advertising that doesn't look like advertising? In a movie chase scene, the hero and the bad guy are going to need some kind of car to drive. In the theatre we have no way of knowing whether the director chose those cars because they fulfilled his artistic vision - or because the car manufacturer made a deal with the producer. The car people get exciting exposure for their brand and she saves a nice piece of change on her production budget. Audiences like realism in movies. Made-up brands break the spell because they're obvious fakes. But the difference between something that's just a prop and something that's a product promotion is getting murkier all the time, on TV shows as well as movies.

This kind of "product placement" happens in real life, too. If you go out to a club tonight, you might see some particularly good-looking young people using a new kind of cell phone. It lets them shoot pictures of people to their friends across the room: "Here's a cute guy - want to come and meet him?" Fun stuff like that. If you're curious, maybe they've taken your picture and they'll be happy to show you the phone and let you try it. The phone is very cool. And the people are what advertisers call "aspirational" because they're way cooler than you are. They're people you want to be. They're also actors and this is a gig for them. Their job is creating the impression that using this phone is The Next Trend. If you ask them directly if they are actors, they won't lie. But if you don't ask, they won't tell. This is the reverse of the Volvo story. Volvo's demonstration was rigged, no question, but what viewers saw on TV was the truth. With this cell phone,

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the demonstration is the absolute truth, but the scene in the club is pure theater.

(Note: This new "guerrilla" marketing campaign for Sony Ericsson has received a great deal of negative publicity already for being deceptive in its approach.)

8. Subliminal advertising

There's one more thing I know you want me to talk about. If you believe subliminal advertising exists, you don't any more because I embedded a convincing subliminal denial in this talk. In case you missed it, subliminal advertising is one of those "urban legends." Try this experiment. Take a photograph of a glass of ice water or the beverage of your choice and make a fake ad out of it. Then invite people in your Psych department to find the subliminal messages in your ad. They won't disappoint you.

If a bunch of students can create subliminal messages, imagine what the pros on Madison Avenue can do.

The Benefits of Ethical Advertising

Enormous human and material resources are devoted to advertising. Advertising is everywhere in today's world, so that, as Pope Paul VI remarked, "No one now can escape the influence of advertising." Even people who are not themselves exposed to particular forms of advertising confront a society, a culture — other people — affected for good or ill by advertising messages and techniques of every sort.

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Some critics view this state of affairs in unrelievedly negative terms. They condemn advertising as a waste of time, talent and money — an essentially parasitic activity. In this view, not only does advertising have no value of its own, but its influence is entirely harmful and corrupting for individuals and society.

We do not agree. There is truth to the criticisms, and we shall make criticisms of our own. But advertising also has significant potential for good, and sometimes it is realized. Here are some of the ways that happens.

a) Economic Benefits of Advertising

Advertising can play an important role in the process by which an economic system guided by moral norms and responsive to the common good contributes to human development. It is a necessary part of the functioning of modern market economies, which today either exist or are emerging in many parts of the world and which — provided they conform to moral standards based upon integral human development and the common good — currently seem to be "the most efficient instrument for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs" of a socio-economic kind.

In such a system, advertising can be a useful tool for sustaining honest and ethically responsible competition that contributes to economic growth in the service of authentic human development. "The Church looks with favor on the growth of man's productive capacity, and also on the ever widening network of relationships and exchanges between persons and social groups....[F]rom this point of view she encourages advertising, which can become a wholesome and efficacious instrument for reciprocal help among men."

Advertising does this, among other ways, by informing people about the availability of rationally desirable new products and services and improvements in existing ones,

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helping them to make informed, prudent consumer decisions, contributing to efficiency and the lowering of prices, and stimulating economic progress through the expansion of business and trade. All of this can contribute to the creation of new jobs, higher incomes and a more decent and humane way of life for all. It also helps pay for publications, programming and productions — including those of the Church — that bring information, entertainment and inspiration to people around the world.

b) Benefits of Political Advertising

"The Church values the democratic system inasmuch as it ensures the participation of citizens in making political choices, guarantees to the governed the possibility both of electing and holding accountable those who govern them, and of replacing them through peaceful means when appropriate."

Political advertising can make a contribution to democracy analogous to its contribution to economic well being in a market system guided by moral norms. As free and responsible media in a democratic system help to counteract tendencies toward the monopolization of power on the part of oligarchies and special interests, so political advertising can make its contribution by informing people about the ideas and policy proposals of parties and candidates, including new candidates not previously known to the public.

c) Cultural Benefits of Advertising

Because of the impact advertising has on media that depend on it for revenue, advertisers have an opportunity to exert a positive influence on decisions about media content. This they do by supporting material of excellent intellectual, aesthetic and moral quality presented with the public interest in view, and particularly by encouraging and making

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possible media presentations which are oriented to minorities whose needs might otherwise go unserved.

Moreover, advertising can itself contribute to the betterment of society by uplifting and inspiring people and motivating them to act in ways that benefit themselves and others. Advertising can brighten lives simply by being witty, tasteful and entertaining. Some advertisements are instances of popular art, with a vivacity and elan all their own.

d) Moral and Religious Benefits of Advertising

In many cases, too, benevolent social institutions, including those of a religious nature, use advertising to communicate their messages — messages of faith, of patriotism, of tolerance, compassion and neighborly service, of charity toward the needy, messages concerning health and education, constructive and helpful messages that educate and motivate people in a variety of beneficial ways.

For the Church, involvement in media-related activities, including advertising, is today a necessary part of a comprehensive pastoral strategy. This includes both the Church's own media — Catholic press and publishing, television and radio broadcasting, film and audiovisual production, and the rest — and also her participation in secular media. The media "can and should be instruments in the Church's program of re-evangelization and new evangelization in the contemporary world." While much remains to be done, many positive efforts of this kind already are underway. With reference to advertising itself, Pope Paul VI once said that it is desirable that Catholic institutions "follow with constant attention the development of the modern techniques of advertising and... know how to make opportune use of them in order to spread the Gospel message in a manner which answers the expectations and needs of contemporary man."

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Harm Done by Unethical Advertising

There is nothing intrinsically good or intrinsically evil about advertising. It is a tool, an instrument: it can be used well, and it can be used badly. If it can have, and sometimes does have, beneficial results such as those just described, it also can, and often does, have a negative, harmful impact on individuals and society.

Communio et Progressio contains this summary statement of the problem: "If harmful or utterly useless goods are touted to the public, if false assertions are made about goods for sale, if less than admirable human tendencies are exploited, those responsible for such advertising harm society and forfeit their good name and credibility. More than this, unremitting pressure to buy articles of luxury can arouse false wants that hurt both individuals and families by making them ignore what they really need. And those forms of

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advertising which, without shame, exploit the sexual instincts simply to make money or which seek to penetrate into the subconscious recesses of the mind in a way that threatens the freedom of the individual ... must be shunned."

a) Economic Harms of Advertising

Advertising can betray its role as a source of information by misrepresentation and by withholding relevant facts. Sometimes, too, the information function of media can be subverted by advertisers' pressure upon publications or programs not to treat of questions that might prove embarrassing or inconvenient.

More often, though, advertising is used not simply to inform but to persuade and motivate — to convince people to act in certain ways: buy certain products or services, patronize certain institutions, and the like. This is where particular abuses can occur.

The practice of "brand"-related advertising can raise serious problems. Often there are only negligible differences among similar products of different brands, and advertising may attempt to move people to act on the basis of irrational motives ("brand loyalty," status, fashion, "sex appeal," etc.) instead of presenting differences in product quality and price as bases for rational choice.

Advertising also can be, and often is, a tool of the "phenomenon of consumerism," as Pope John Paul II delineated it when he said: "It is not wrong to want to live better; what is wrong is a style of life which is presumed to be better when it is directed toward ?having' rather than ?being', and which wants to have more, not in order to be more but in order to spend life in enjoyment as an end in itself." Sometimes advertisers speak of it as part of their task to "create" needs for products and services — that is, to cause people to feel and act upon cravings for items and

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services they do not need. "If ... a direct appeal is made to his instincts — while ignoring in various ways the reality of the person as intelligent and free — then consumer attitudes and life-styles can be created which are objectively improper and often damaging to his physical and spiritual health."

This is a serious abuse, an affront to human dignity and the common good when it occurs in affluent societies. But the abuse is still more grave when consumerist attitudes and values are transmitted by communications media and advertising to developing countries, where they exacerbate socio-economic problems and harm the poor. "It is true that a judicious use of advertising can stimulate developing countries to improve their standard of living. But serious harm can be done them if advertising and commercial pressure become so irresponsible that communities seeking to rise from poverty to a reasonable standard of living are persuaded to seek this progress by satisfying wants that have been artificially created. The result of this is that they waste their resources and neglect their real needs, and genuine development falls behind."

Similarly, the task of countries attempting to develop types of market economies that serve human needs and interests after decades under centralized, state-controlled systems is made more difficult by advertising that promotes consumerist attitudes and values offensive to human dignity and the common good. The problem is particularly acute when, as often happens, the dignity and welfare of society's poorer and weaker members are at stake. It is necessary always to bear in mind that there are "goods which by their very nature cannot and must not be bought or sold" and to avoid "an ?idolatry' of the market" that, aided and abetted by advertising, ignores this crucial fact.

b) Harms of Political Advertising

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Political advertising can support and assist the working of the democratic process, but it also can obstruct it. This happens when, for example, the costs of advertising limit political competition to wealthy candidates or groups, or require that office-seekers compromise their integrity and independence by over-dependence on special interests for funds.

Such obstruction of the democratic process also happens when, instead of being a vehicle for honest expositions of candidates' views and records, political advertising seeks to distort the views and records of opponents and unjustly attacks their reputations. It happens when advertising appeals more to people's emotions and base instincts — to selfishness, bias and hostility toward others, to racial and ethnic prejudice and the like — rather than to a reasoned sense of justice and the good of all.

c) Cultural Harms of Advertising

Advertising also can have a corrupting influence upon culture and cultural values. We have spoken of the economic harm that can be done to developing nations by advertising that fosters consumerism and destructive patterns of consumption. Consider also the cultural injury done to these nations and their peoples by advertising whose content and methods, reflecting those prevalent in the first world, are at war with sound traditional values in indigenous cultures. Today this kind of "domination and manipulation" via media rightly is "a concern of developing nations in relation to developed ones," as well as a "concern of minorities within particular nations."

The indirect but powerful influence exerted by advertising upon the media of social communications that depend on revenues from this source points to another sort of cultural concern. In the competition to attract ever larger audiences and deliver them to advertisers, communicators can find

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themselves tempted — in fact pressured, subtly or not so subtly — to set aside high artistic and moral standards and lapse into superficiality, tawdriness and moral squalor.

Communicators also can find themselves tempted to ignore the educational and social needs of certain segments of the audience — the very young, the very old, the poor — who do not match the demographic patterns (age, education, income, habits of buying and consuming, etc.) of the kinds of audiences advertisers want to reach. In this way the tone and indeed the level of moral responsibility of the communications media in general are lowered.

All too often, advertising contributes to the invidious stereotyping of particular groups that places them at a disadvantage in relation to others. This often is true of the way advertising treats women; and the exploitation of women, both in and by advertising, is a frequent, deplorable abuse. "How often are they treated not as persons with an inviolable dignity but as objects whose purpose is to satisfy others' appetite for pleasure or for power? How often is the role of woman as wife and mother undervalued or even ridiculed? How often is the role of women in business or professional life depicted as a masculine caricature, a denial of the specific gifts of feminine insight, compassion, and understanding, which so greatly contribute to the ?civilization of love'?"

d) Moral and Religious Harms of Advertising

Advertising can be tasteful and in conformity with high moral standards, and occasionally even morally uplifting, but it also can be vulgar and morally degrading. Frequently it deliberately appeals to such motives as envy, status seeking and lust. Today, too, some advertisers consciously seek to shock and titillate by exploiting content of a morbid, perverse, pornographic nature.

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What this Pontifical Council said several years ago about pornography and violence in the media is no less true of certain forms of advertising:

"As reflections of the dark side of human nature marred by sin, pornography and the exaltation of violence are age-old realities of the human condition. In the past quarter century, however, they have taken on new dimensions and have become serious social problems. At a time of widespread and unfortunate confusion about moral norms, the communications media have made pornography and violence accessible to a vastly expanded audience, including young people and even children, and a problem which at one time was confined mainly to wealthy countries has now begun, via the communications media, to corrupt moral values in developing nations."

We note, too, certain special problems relating to advertising that treats of religion or pertains to specific issues with a moral dimension.

In cases of the first sort, commercial advertisers sometimes include religious themes or use religious images or personages to sell products. It is possible to do this in tasteful, acceptable ways, but the practice is obnoxious and offensive when it involves exploiting religion or treating it flippantly.

In cases of the second sort, advertising sometimes is used to promote products and inculcate attitudes and forms of behavior contrary to moral norms. That is the case, for instance, with the advertising of contraceptives, abortifacients and products harmful to health, and with government-sponsored advertising campaigns for artificial birth control, so-called "safe sex", and similar practices.

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ConclusionI raised the question whether it is possible to be an ethical advertiser — in the true sense of 'ethical', and not merely in the minimalist, legal sense of respecting the rules that govern play in the business arena, such as honesty and fairness. I have argued that reflection on what ethics demands makes the hurdles impossibly high. The stark truth is that manufacturers and advertisers are as much controlled by the fickle consumer as in control. Rules can be set down concerning what is factually truthful, decent and fair. It is not the advertiser's job to make people better than they are, or want better things than they want. That is the work for politicians and preachers, or, possibly, philosophers. A defence of advertising against unjustified demands is bound to be less spectacular than an attack. However, don't forget the point of all this. My aim is to defend ethics against pressures that would weaken or dilute its requirements in order to fit in with a so-called 'business ethic'. Ultimately, we are all members of the moral world, whatever games we choose to play, whatever other worlds we may inhabit. No-one escapes ethics.

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Bibliography

1. www.google .co.in

2. www.yahoo.com

3. www.wikipedia.org

4. Chris Moore of Ogilvy & Mather

5. Philip kotler

6. Advertising Management: Rajeev Batra, John

G. Myers & David A. Aaker: Prentice Hall India.

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