Running Head: ADVERTISING ETHICS

Advertising Ethics
By Eric Hansen
Business 1050
SLCC

ADVERTISING ETHICS

Youve seen that commercial, the one that makes you wonder who let it on the air or
whose idea it was to advertise a product in such as way. The way things are advertised has
changed a lot over time, so we are going to take a look at the todays advertisements and the
ethics behind them. What once were considered unethical forms of advertising in the past have
become all too common in todays world and we dont seem to care.
There are many reasons why ethical advertising is important, not only to the consumer,
but also to those who advertise, but here we will only discuss a few. First and foremost,
advertising exercises a significant influence on people and society in large, shaping their
attitudes behavior and priorities, and we will look at how ethical and unethical advertisements
can affect us. (Srivastava, Nandan, 2010) Next, we will discuss the ethical views of Advertising
Practitioners, or in other words, those who create the ads we see, and how and why their views
on ethics affect the consumer. And lastly, we will look at why it is so essential for companies to
advertise ethically and how it will benefit them and the consumer.
Advertising [has been] found to be of enormous value not only for producers and
distributors but also for consumers. It enables contact with widely scattered and often unknown
customers by assisting in selection of goods and services, based on their particular requirements.
(Srivastava, Nandan, 2010) Because of advertising, we are exposed to so many great products
and services we wouldnt know about and use otherwise. There is a great system that allows us
to see what is available and helps sustain a market and essentially an economy. Businesses
depend on advertising to gain customers in order to produce a profit. In the same fashion,
customers depend on advertising to know what is available to them for use. The advertising of

ADVERTISING ETHICS

these products then in turn influences the consumer to act. Lets take a look at Apple for
example. Through the creations and advertisements of one company, the way we communicate
and interact has completely changed. Without advertising, it would have taken a lot longer for all
those creations to have such a lasting ripple effect on the world and have such a literal influence
in each one of our lives. In a more subtle way, think about how the countless ads we see
throughout the day influence our buying and lifestyle decisions. What we perceive as in or
cool will shape the way we purchase products and live our lives and if advertisements are
telling us what is in and cool, then they will obviously have an impact on us. If you love
basketball and see a commercial of Labron James using a certain type of deodorant, chances are,
you will subconsciously think about that the next time you think about buying a stick of
deodorant because you think Labron is cool and if he uses Old Spice, then you might want to
use Old Spice too.
Now, think about this impact that adds have on us that we have just talked about, and
throw unethical ads into the mix. What if Old Spice advertises a new deodorant that claims to
make you play basketball better? How many kids are going to want that deodorant now?
Unethical ads can have strong influences on us as well as the ethical ones, but what makes
advertising ethical or unethical? This is a tricky topic because, as noted in A Study of Perceptions
in Society Regarding Unethical Practices in Advertising by Vibhava Srivastava and Tanuj
Nandan, much of what is judged as ethical or unethical comes down to personal judgment.
Each one of us has been brought up in different settings and our views on ethics will invariable
change from person to person. Some of us have religious backgrounds that have effects on our
ethical views, others of us go by our good conscious to help shape what we believe to be ethical
or not. In either case, we are all different which means its almost impossible to draw a line

ADVERTISING ETHICS

between ethical and unethical, but we can lay down some guidelines. Vibhava Srivastava and
Tanuj Nandan carried out a study to explore and identify various factors for making an
advertisement unethical. In order to do this, a self-administered questionnaire based survey
was planned. Residents of Auahahad city were identified as the universe. In order to draw a
sample, convenience sampling method was used and the sample size was kept at 100 so that
inferences could be drawn. The sample comprised different individuals from both the genders,
different age categories, educations, occupations, income groups and locality. (Srivastava,
Nandan, 2010) The study concluded that advertisements having false and dishonest claims can
be regarded as unethical. Advertisements with offensive and unacceptable contents also imply
unethical practices. It, further, includes the discriminate use of advertisement and unfairness
towards competition. Based on this research, we can establish a framework that depicts what is
ethical and unethical in the advertising world. If we are being exposed to unethical advertising
that is lying or deceiving, then that will negatively impact society. Furthermore, it creates
consumer disloyalty and distrust, which we will discuss later.
In-depth, elite interviews with advertising practitioners were conducted by Minette E.
Drumwright and Patrick E. Murphy to see how those working in the 29 advertising agencies they
interviewed viewed ethics. They noted that many of [their] informants reported few ethical
concerns in their own work or in advertising in general. They exhibited "moral myopia," a
distortion or moral vision that prevents moral issues from coming into focus, and "moral
muteness," meaning that they tartly talk about ethical issues. (Drumwright, Murphy, 2004)
Drumwright and Murphy explained that there is a lack of ethical sensitivity, [which] is vital to
problem solving in social and nonprofit marketing. This lack of sensitivity is due to educators
not teaching these things in schools. They believe that educators should expose and sensitize

ADVERTISING ETHICS

students to ethical questions and dilemmas that they are likely to encounter as practitioners. After
all, to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Forethought as to how one might deal with a situation
before it occurs often leads to better decisions at the time of dilemma or crisis. This is a cardinal
rule in business generally-indeed, in many of life's activitiesand yet for some reason,
educators shy away from this fundamental teaching goal when it comes to ethical situations.
What constitutes the ethical thing to do is sometimes debatable, but it does not follow that we
should therefore ignore the fact that one should be the best prepared to wrestle with it when it
occurs. What constitutes the "right" action plan for a business may also be debatable, but there
often is a set of helpful principles or concepts that can be helpful in ethical decision making. In
other words, we arent teaching ethics in schools and because of this, we are seeing a lack of
ethics in the business world, and in our discussion, in advertising.
As you can note, advertising has an essential role in our world today. Without it, things
would be very different. Advertising also has significant impacts on the way society is shaped
and formed, which is why it is so very important that it be ethical. Wally Snyder, regulator and
counselor at The Institute of Advertising Ethics noted that although the U.S. government and
the Supreme Court have been active in protecting the right to advertise in a truthful manner it
is reported that consumers rank advertising at the bottom of the list on honesty and ethics.
(Snyder, 2011) We as the consumers know that the advertisements we see can be dishonest and
unethical, and it can hurt our relationship and customer loyalty with the company. Snyder goes
on to say that It would be impossible to be ethical without being truthful, which is why honesty
plays such a big role in ethical advertising. On a small scale, how often do we see a picture of a
cheeseburger that looks spectacular and perfectly made to fill ones appetite, only to receive it
after ordering to find a flat burger that only very slightly resembles the one in the photograph?

ADVERTISING ETHICS

And on a much larger scale, we hear and see ads for new medications claiming to cure this or
that, and then find out later that it actually caused another sickness or had a painful side effect.
Honesty is obviously very crucial in ethics, especially when dealing with advertisements.
Honesty is also very essential for consumer loyalty. Research [by a group of Capstone students
at the Missouri School Of Journalism] found that Honest Advertising was the top-ranked
aspect that would make a company ethical. Another research reported in the Wall Street
Journal showed that consumers are willing to pay more for an ethically produced product.
Consumers were asked how much they were willing to pay for a pound of coffee depending on
whether it was produced ethically or unethically. The group receiving information regarding
ethical production was willing to pay significantly more than the control group. And the group
receiving information regarding unethical production punished the company by saying they
would pay far less than the control group. (Snyder, 2011) If honesty is directly correlated to
ethics and people are willing to pay more for ethically produced products, then wouldnt it be
extremely beneficial for companies to be honest? Now days with social media controlling a large
chunk of the advertising world, loyal customers will like and share the products and services
they use. The opinions of those around you significantly influence the things you purchase and if
people trust your company, they will tell those around them to trust you too, and your business
will benefit from it. In the same manner, if you are untrusted, word will get around and your
business will be negatively affected and your customers will go elsewhere. Honesty really is the
best policy.
In conclusion, we can see that advertising ethics is much deeper than we notice. There are
many more aspects that werent mentioned here, but the ones that were are important.
Advertising has a great influence on society as a whole, and if we arent teaching ethics in our

ADVERTISING ETHICS

educational systems, those students will grow up to produce unethical and dishonest ads in the
future, not because the intentionally want to, they will just suffer from moral myopia, that
distortion.. that prevents moral issues from coming into focus. (Drumwright, Murphy, 2004)
Then in turn, consumers wont trust them and businesses will suffer because of it. We will all be
better off if we, as a society, practice ethical advertising. Obviously, it is very difficult to say
what is and isnt ethical because we cant draw a line and say this is where ethical meets
unethical. That is nearly impossible, but if we set some framework or at the very least a
foundation based on ethics, we can build up from there and figure out together how we can better
the societies we live in through advertising.

ADVERTISING ETHICS

References
Drumwright M, Murphy P. HOW ADVERTISING PRACTITIONERS VIEW ETHICS. Journal
Of Advertising [serial online]. Summer2004 2004;33(2):7-24. Available from: Business
Source Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed December 11, 2014
Snyder W. Making the Case For Enhanced Advertising Ethics. Journal Of Advertising
Research [serial online]. September 2011;51(3):477-483. Available from: Business
Source Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed December 11, 2014
Srivastava V, Nandan T. A Study of Perceptions in Society Regarding Unethical Practices in
Advertising. South Asian Journal Of Management [serial online]. January 2010;17(1):6169. Available from: Business Source Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed December 11,
2014.