Ethical Advertisement Essay

Much of the controversy over advertising stems from the ways many companies use it as a selling tool and from its impact on society’s tastes, values, and lifestyles. In the ads where sexual stereotyping is used, there is a relationship between the recall of the ad and the consumer’s subsequent purchasing decision. Similar relationships are also evident in ads that use cultural stereotyping and emotional exploitation. Consumers also tend to remember the ad and get motivated to purchase products/services when they feel that the information in the ad is truthful and not deceptive. The six most important ethical issues in advertisements are as follows: 1) Advertisements targeting Vulnerable Groups 2) Cultural issues in advertisements 3) Comparative and Competitive Advertisement 4) Subliminal advertisements 5) Use of deception in advertisements 6) Advertisements of Controversial Products Advertisements targeting Vulnerable Groups Companies are targeting children in their advertisements irrespective of the negative impact and affect on their personality. While advertising several elements regarding ethics are not considered, and in this report we will focus on few of those issues. Adults are also targeted by the companies. Later in this report it will be discussed how companies build perceptions and image of different cultures in minds of young generation. How the youth is being affected by the companies’ unethical practices? Advertisement regarding Culture The importance of recognizing human differences such as age, gender, and ethnicity do exist and can significantly impact a practitioner’s work. Advertisers are manipulating the cultural ethnicity and are trying to build their own culture. However their practice is considerably raising the cultural issues in different and diversified geographical areas around the globe. Comparative and Competitive Advertisement Comparative advertising is an advertisement in which a particular product, or service, specifically mentions a competitor by name for the express purpose of showing why the competitor is inferior to the product naming it, where as Competitive advertisement points out features of a brand which may not be available in other brands, but does not directly name a competitor. Subliminal Advertisement A subliminal message is a signal or message embedded in another medium, designed to pass below the normal limits of the human mind’s perception. The use of subliminal messages in advertisement is called subliminal advertisement. Deception in Advertisements The miss-presentation or omission of the product’s features in the ads is a routine practice of companies to deceive consumers. Misleading messages or images are just lies and unfair. The aim of this type of advertisements is just to deceive the consumer. Ethics have some power in deceptive and misleading advertising. Later in this report various ways of deception will be discussed to clarify the unethical practices. Advertisements of Controversial Products The advertisements of controversial products were once not acceptable but now marketers are showing the advertisement of these products frequently because of which consumers are getting immune to the advertisements of such products. Later in this report we will discuss what kind of unethical practices marketers are using in the advertisements of such products. Companies design the advertisement of their products in such a way that even if a person has no need for the product will buy it. Companies take â€Å"Persuasive advantage† of vulnerable groups such as Children, the elderly, and people in developing countries etc. to sell their products. Children Ads for kids serve as training for consumer culture; hence, their role in culture formation and socialization should not be underestimated. The impact of advertisement on their behaviors and attitudes is highly affective. As children are the emerging seeds of any civilization hence it should be seriously considered that they are exposed to what kind of ethics. Things which they learn in their early stages of life are reflected in their later life stage. Following topics will further elaborate this concept. Children’s Exposure to Advertisement Commercials are highly effective in presenting the formal features of products, to attract children’s attention, such as unique sound effects and auditory changes, rapidly moving images, and audiovisual gimmicks and special effects. The most common persuasive strategy employed in advertising to children is to associate the product with fun and happiness, rather than to provide any factual product-related information. For example, a commercial featuring Ronald McDonald dancing, singing, and smiling in McDonald’s restaurants without any mention of the actual food products nutrition available, reflects a fun/happiness theme. Effects of Food Advertisement on children It is evident from the available sources that children are highly influenced by the food advertisement and that they are highly important for the marketers to be targeted. Unhealthy Eating Habits It is found that kids are attracted by entertaining products that’s why companies are showing them the enjoyable advertisements instead of focusing on the nutrition of the products. As done by McDonald which shows entertaining toys provided with the package of burger, in this way, children start buying burgers without considering the amount of calories and other nutritious in those eatables. This practice has lead to the obesity of children specifically in United States of America. The children are shown those eatables which are unhealthy for them but still they enjoy purchasing them and they force their parents to make those eatables available for them. Cause of Obesity Currently 15% of US youth are overweight, a prevalence nearly twice as high in children and three times as high in adolescents compared to 1980 prevalence rates. Almost two-thirds (60%) of overweight children have at least one cardiovascular risk factor (e.g., hypertension, hyperlipidemia) and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus is increasing in youth.