Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
ON
ETHICAL ISSUES PREVAILING IN ADVERTISING INDUSTRY
SUBMITTED FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
of
Punjab technical university
By
Rushil Vashisht
94302450237
BBA VI SEMESTER
UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF
Mr.Parminder Singh
Certificate of Supervisor
This is to certify that Ms.Rushil Vashisht, Roll No.94302450237 has completed the
research project titled Ethical issues prevailing in advertising industry under my
supervision in partial fulfillment of the BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
degree of Punjab technical university.
Supervisors signature:
Supervisors name:
Supervisors Designation:
Date:
Place:
2|Page
Declaration
I, hereby declare that the research project report titled Ethical issues prevailing in advertising
industryis my own original research work and this report has not been submitted to any
University/Institute for the award of any professional degree or diploma.
Rushil Vashisht
BBA 6Sem
Chandigarh Business School
Date:
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is my great pleasure to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of number
of people who helped me in successful completing of this project.
Firstly I would like to express my heartily gratitude and sincere thanks to Mr. Parminder
Singh for allowing me to do this project and gratefully acknowledge the contribution by
him without his support and valuable suggestion this project could not be successful.
I offer my heart self regards to all my faculty and friends for their continuous guidance,
monitoring and informal discussion which become light for me in the entire duration of
this project in overcoming the barrier and reaching this stage.
Finally I am sincerely thankful to others who have directly or indirectly helped me in the
completion of my project
Rushil vashisht
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CHAPTERISATION
Index
Page No.
Declaration
II
Acknowledgements
III
Preface
vii
Contents
Introduction( Executive summary)
8-10
Topic An Overview
Research Methodology
Title
Duration of project
Objective
Type of research
Scope of study
Core Study
11-13
14-22
Introduction
Need of Advertising
Significance
Type of advertising
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Ethics
23-60
Limitation Of Study
61-62
Questionnaire Analysis
63-71
Conclusion
72
Bibliography
73
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PREFACE
7|Page
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TITLE
The title of the project is ETHICAL ISSUES PREVAILING IN ADVERTISING
INDUSTRY. Advertising can be defined as any paid form of non personal
presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services through mass media such as
newspapers, magazines, television or radio by an identified sponsor.
INTRODUCTION
Advertising plays an important part in our everyday lives as it enables us to choose
between different ranges of products. These products are promoted through
different types of advertisements and cater to all types of markets.
On the other hand advertising is plagued with social and ethical issues as it results in over
consumption and waste of resources. Advertising creates an environment where it abuses
certain values and interests that are not universally agreed upon. For example in 2001
Yves Saint Laurent launched a fragrance called Opium which featured a naked model.
This stirred controversy and people found it offensive and sex was being used openly to
promote a perfume. For a fashion magazine the advertisement was fine but for billboards
it was inappropriate and some social groups found it morally and ethically wrong. Some
times advertising draws mixed response from the public, while sometimes it becomes
controversial.
SCOPE AND OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
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of this project making as it is the most time consuming process. but overall this topic is
quite interesting to gain knowledge about the ethics in ads the controversial ads also.
The purpose of taking this topic is that in the present scenario advertisement has a great
impact on the consumers behavior so if it becomes unethical it will lead the society in
the wrong direction. To overcome these problems certain ethical standards are set up by
the government or regulation bodies and i want to throw a light on this only. Ethics
basically refers to what is right, good or consistent with virtue. Advertising generates
complex ethical questions which have to be considered, as this mode of communication
commits some highly controversial ethical acts which are damaging to the society as a
whole.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Here I am restricted to the ethical issues of advertisement related to television media only
as this subject has a very wide arena to be focused on. Here I just want to know that how
much these set standards are successful in maintaining the dignity of the Indians beliefs
and their feeling.
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CORE STUDY
INTRODUCTION
Advertising can be defined as any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion
of ideas, goods or services through mass media such as newspapers, magazines,
television or radio by an identified sponsor So basically advertising is a mass
communications device through which companies promote or market their product to the
consumer, and this enables them to make informed consumption decisions.
Advertising is a powerful communication force, highly visible and one of the most
important tools of marketing communication that helps to sell products, services, ideas
and images etc. Many believe that advertising reflects the need of the times. Whether one
likes it or not, advertisements are everywhere. They are seen on the walls, on the back of
buses, in play grounds, on the occasion of sports event, on roadsides, in the stores and
even on aeroplanes. Advertisements are seen in newspapers, in magazines, on the
television, on internet and are even heard on radio. The fact is that we are being
bombarded with advertisements day in and day out from all imaginable media. The
average consumer is exposed to a very large number of advertisements everyday,
particularly the urban and semi urban population. In spite of this, to the dismay and
irritation of some and enjoyment of others, advertisement will continue to make their
presence felt in our lives and influence our lives in many unsuspecting ways because of
rapid changes in macro- environment and in our perception, impressions, feelings,
attitudes and behaviour. It seems almost impossible to remain totally neutral and not take
any notice of modern-day advertising. The most visible part of the advertising process is
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the advertisements that we see, read, or hear and praise or criticise. Many suitable
adjectives are used to describe advertising, depending on how an individual is reacting,
such as great, dynamic, alluring, fascinating, annoying, boring, intrusive, irritating and
offensive, etc.
some social groups found it morally and ethically wrong. Some times advertising draws
mixed response from the public, while sometimes it becomes controversial.
NEED OF ADVERTISING
Advertising is the promotion of a companys products and services carried out primarily
to drive sales of the products and services but also to build a brand identity and
communicate changes or new product /services to the customers. Advertising has become
an essential element of the corporate world and hence the companies allot a considerable
amount of revenues as their advertising budget. There are several reasons for advertising
some of which are as follows:
Significance of Advertising
Basically advertising creates wants but does not fulfill them, a person may see an
advertisement for a product, it might be glossy and fancy and he might be attracted to buy
the product. He might eventually buy it but it will not satisfy him it will just be a waste.
Its a short term material satisfaction which just drives the economy by over consumption
of goods and services. It keeps the consumer in doubt about what to buy and in what
quantities and this doubt in turn has ethical implications.
Four reasons are attributed to the fugacious nature of the way advertising practices are
being carried out in developing countries.
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boundaries
are fast falling in the wake of cable television and the like.
3. Rapid economic expansions in countries like China and India have meant that
marketers have to quickly respond to the changing socio-economic scenarios.
Millions of people have entered the middle class and millions more are poised to
do so. For marketers, the consequences can be mind boggling-as incomes and
spending powers rise, marketers have to respond to increasing demands from
consumers.
4. Better and improved marketing research has meant that the entire populace is not
seen in totality but rather as a congeries of different types of consumers.
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OBJECTIVE
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
TITLE Ethical Issues In Advertising
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.
Ethics refers to principles that define behavior as right, good and proper. Such principles
do not always dictate a single "moral" course of action, but provide a means of evaluating
and deciding among competing options.
In the present scenario advertisement has a great impact on the consumers behavior so if
it becomes unethical it will lead the society in the wrong direction. To overcome these
problems certain ethical standards are set up by the government or regulation bodies.
DURATION OF PROJECT
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This is a very long term project so we have been provided with a period of one month for
the completion. To make it easy this period was bifurcated into various sections of
making blue print, abstract, collecting primary data, secondary data, making preliminary
report, secondary report and final report at the end which makes the whole process easy
to attempt.
TYPE OF RESEARCH
As I took the data from magazines , books, internet links , journals and news papers. It is
research of descriptive type.
SCOPE OF STUDY
Advertising is a powerful communication force, highly visible and one of the most
important tools of marketing communication that helps to sell products, services, ideas
and images etc. Many believe that advertising reflects the need of the times. Whether one
likes it or not, advertisements are everywhere. They are seen on the walls, on the back of
buses, in play grounds, on the occasion of sports event, on roadsides, in the stores and
even on aero planes. Advertisements are seen in newspapers, in magazines, on the
television, on internet and are even heard on radio. Here I am focusing mainly on the
media as a source of advertising.
The fact is that we are being bombarded with advertisements day in and day out from all
imaginable media. The average consumer is exposed to a very large number of
advertisements everyday, particularly the urban and semi urban population.
In spite of this, to the dismay and irritation of some and enjoyment of others,
advertisement will continue to make their presence felt in our lives and influence our
lives in many unsuspecting ways because of rapid changes in macro- environment and in
our perception, impressions, feelings, attitudes and behaviors. It seems almost impossible
to remain totally neutral and not take any notice of modern-day advertising. The most
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visible part of the advertising process is the advertisements that we see, read, or hear and
praise or criticize.
TYPES OF ADVERTISING
There can be several branches of advertising. Mentioned below are the various categories
or
types of advertising.
Celebrity
Broadcast
advertising
Advertising
Print
OutdoorAdvertising
Advertising
TYPES
OF
Infomercials
ADVERTISING
Public
Service
Advertising
Covert
Advertising
Surrogate
Advertising
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For instance an advertisement in a relatively new and less popular newspaper would cost
far less than placing an advertisement in a popular newspaper with a high readership. The
price of print ads also depend on the supplement in which they appear, for example an
advertisement in the glossy supplement costs way higher than that in the newspaper
supplement which uses a mediocre quality paper.
sponsoring them makes for an excellent advertising opportunity. The company can
organize trade fairs, or even exhibitions for advertising their products. If not this, the
company can organize several events that are closely associated with their field. For
instance a company that manufactures sports utilities can sponsor a sports tournament to
advertise its products.
the
television
channel
on
which
the
help
of
surrogate
advertising.
Covert advertising is a
unique kind of
advertising in which a
product or a particular
brand is incorporated in
some entertainment and
media channels like
movies, television shows
or even sports.
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and television stations are granted on the basis of a fixed amount of Public service
advertisements aired by the channel.
7. Celebrity Advertising
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Although the audience is getting smarter and smarter and the modern day consumer
getting immune to the exaggerated claims made in a majority of advertisements, there
exist a section of advertisers that still bank upon celebrities and their popularity for
advertising their products.
8. Infomercials
There are two types of infomercials, described as long form and short form. Long form
infomercials have a time length of 30 minutes. Short form infomercials are 30 seconds to
2 minutes long. Infomercials are also known as direct response television (DRTV)
commercials or direct response marketing.
The main objective in an infomercial is to create an impulse purchase, so that the
consumer sees the presentation and then immediately buys the product through the
advertised toll-free telephone number or website. Infomercials describe, display, and
often demonstrate products and their features, and commonly have testimonials from
consumers and industry professionals.
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ETHICS
1. INTRODUCTION
In this era of globalization &multinational competition, ethical practices in business are
assuming importance as relationships with various suppliers& customers are shaped by
ethical practices& mutual trust. So, ethical decision taking assumes importance in todays
corporate world.
2. What Is Ethics?
Ethics refers to principles that define behavior as right, good and proper. Such principles
do not always dictate a single "moral" course of action, but provide a means of evaluating
and deciding among competing options. The terms "ethics" and "values" are not
interchangeable. Ethics is concerned with how a moral person should behave, whereas
values are the inner judgments that determine how a person actually behaves. Values
concern ethics when they pertain to beliefs about what is right and wrong. Most values,
however, have nothing to do with ethics. For instance, the desire for health and wealth are
values, but not ethical values.
over time, among cultures and among members of the same society. They are a source of
continuous historical disagreement, even wars. There is nothing wrong with having
strong personal and professional moral convictions about right and wrong, but
unfortunately, some people are "moral imperialists" who seek to impose their personal
moral judgments on others. The universal ethical value of respect for others dictates
honoring the dignity and autonomy of each person and cautions against selfrighteousness in areas of legitimate controversy.
4. Why Be Ethical?
People have lots of reasons for being ethical:
There is approval. Being ethical leads to self-esteem, the admiration of loved ones
and the respect of peers.
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Many people cheat on exams, lie on resumes, and distort or falsify facts at work. The real
test of our ethics is whether we are willing to do the right thing even when it is not in our
self-interest.
Decency
Honesty
Social Responsibility
1. Advertisements should not condone any form of discrimination, including that based
upon race, national origin, religion, sex or age, nor should they in any way undermine
human dignity.
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Truthful presentation
Advertisements should not contain any statement or visual presentation which directly
Comparisons
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Unassembled Merchandise
When advertised merchandise requires partial or complete assembly by the purchaser, the
advertising should disclose that fact, e.g., "unassembled," "partial assembly required."
Testimonials
Exploitation of goodwill
Advertisements should not make unjustifiable use of the name, initials, logo and/or
trademarks of another firm, company or institution nor should advertisements in any way
take undue advantage of another firm, person or institution's goodwill in its name, trade
name or other intellectual property, nor should advertisements take advantage of the
goodwill earned by other advertising campaigns.
Imitation
1. Advertisements should not imitate the general layout, text, slogan, visual
presentation, music and sound effects, etc., of any other advertisements in a way that
is likely to mislead or confuse the consumer.
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Identification of advertisements
The following provisions apply to advertisements addressed to children and young people
who are minors under the applicable national law.
ii.
If extra items are needed to use it (e.g., batteries) or to produce the result
shown or described (e.g., paint) this should be made clear.
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iii.
iv.
c. Price indication should not be such as to lead children and young people to an
unreal perception of the true value of the product, for instance by using the word
'only'. No advertisements should imply that the advertised product is immediately
within reach of every family budget.
Avoidance of Harm
Advertisements should not contain any statement or visual presentation that could have
the effect of harming children and young people mentally, morally or physically or of
bringing them into unsafe situations or activities seriously threatening their health or
security, or of encouraging them to consort with strangers or to enter strange or
hazardous places.
Guarantees
Advertisements should not contain any reference to a guarantee which does not provide
the consumer with additional rights to those provided by law. Advertisements may
contain the word "guarantee", "guaranteed", "warranty" or "warranted" or words having
the same meaning only if the full terms of the guarantee as well as the remedial action
open to the purchaser are clearly set out in the advertisements, or are available to the
purchaser in writing at the point of sale, or come with the goods.
Unsolicited products
Claimed Results
Claims as to energy savings, performance, safety, efficacy, results, etc. which will be
obtained by or realized from a particular product or service should be based on recent and
competent scientific, engineering or other objective data.
An asterisk may be used to impart additional information about a word or term which is
not in itself inherently deceptive. The asterisk or other reference symbol should not be
used as a means of contradicting or substantially changing the meaning of any advertising
statement. Information referenced by asterisks should be clearly and prominently
disclosed. Commonly known abbreviations may be used in advertising. However,
abbreviations not generally known to or understood by the general public should be
avoided.
Environmental behavior
Advertisements should not appear to approve or encourage actions which contravene the
law, self-regulating codes or generally accepted standards of environmentally
responsible behavior.
Responsibility
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1. Responsibility for the observance of the rules of conduct laid down in the Code rests
with the advertiser, the advertising practitioner or agency, and the publisher, media
owner or contractor.
2. Advertisers should take the overall responsibility for their advertising.
3. Advertising practitioners or agencies should exercise every care in the preparation of
advertisements and should operate in such a way as to enable advertisers to fulfill
their responsibilities.
4. Publishers, medium-owners or contractors, who publish, transmit or distribute
advertisements should exercise due care in the acceptance of advertisements and
their presentation to the public.
5. Those employed within a firm, company or institution coming under the above three
categories and who take part in the planning, creation, publishing or transmitting of
an advertisement have a degree of responsibility commensurate with their positions
for ensuring that the rules of the Code are observed and should act accordingly.
The responsibility for observance of the rules of the Code embraces the advertisement in
its entire content and form, including testimonials and statements or visual presentations
originating from other sources. The fact that the content or form originates wholly or in
part from other sources is not an excuse for non-observance of the rules.
Alarmist Marketing
Substantiation
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ETHICS IN ADVERTISING
ETHICS
IN
ADVERTISING
Puffery
Stereotyping
Promoting
unhealthy
products
Controversial
advertisements
Subliminal
Advertising
Advertising
to
children
1. Puffery :
Puffery as a legal term refers to promotional statements and claims that express
subjective rather than objective views, such that no reasonable person would take
literally. Puffery is especially featured in testimonials. "Puffery" consists of promotional
claims that no one out of diapers takes literally. Your two-year old might believe that
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polar bears enjoy sipping Coca-Cola. But you know better. Because two-year-olds make
no spending decisions, advertisers have always been free to enliven their ads with
harmless hyperbole.
Under existing UCC law, the burden of proof rests on plaintiffs asserting that particular
advertising claims are factually misleading rather than mere puffery. If the
Commissioners' proposal becomes law, however, every advertising claim will be
presumed to be part of the agreement between the seller and buyer. Buyers will be
presumed to have relied upon even the most obviously absurd advertising exaggerations.
The burden of proof will then be on defendant advertisers to prove that a reasonable
person would not be misled by the challenged advertising claim. Because lawyers will
easily find reasonable-looking plaintiffs to testify that they were misled by this or that
advertisement, advertisers who make any claims beyond dry factual statements risk
severe litigation losses. Advertisers are now liable for harms caused by genuinely
misleading advertising.
For example, Coca-Cola would be liable to consumers for damages caused if it
advertises that Coke cures cancer. Reasonable consumers might be fooled into drinking
more Coke only because of its alleged medicinal properties. But, by definition, puffery
does not mislead reasonable consumers.
Besides, puffery entertains. We all know that Dave doesn't actually cook hamburgers at
Wendy's. We all know that toy rabbit powered by a single Eveready battery will not keep
going, and going, and going. Even if puffery's only function is to entertain, that would be
sufficient reason not to discourage it.
But puffery does far more: it informs consumers as well as promotes product quality.
Before a consumer can buy a product, the consumer must be made aware of the product.
One function of advertising is to create such awareness. In this age of vivid video images
and electronic sounds, sellers must compete hard for consumers' attention. Puffery is one
benign means advertisers use to grab that attention.
Puffery enables an advertiser to grab consumers by their collars and say "Hey, have I got
a great product for you!" If firms are discouraged from placing in their ads all but the
most dry factual claims, consumers will be forced to spend more of their own time and
resources discovering which products are available.
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One consequence will be diminished product innovation. Because consumers are more
familiar with established products than with new products, puffery is pivotal to the
marketing of new products. Fewer resources will be devoted to product innovation if
firms encounter greater legal risks in bringing new products to consumers' attention. As
fewer products are introduced onto the market, established products face less intense
competition. Product quality declines.
Lawyers will be the big winners from any movement away from the existing
uncontroversial legal treatment of puffery. With legal change comes greater legal
uncertainty, and with greater legal uncertainty come more legal disputes. Demands on
already over-burdened courts will grow. Imagine the billing hours lawyers will run up
debating whether or not Chevrolet really is the heartbeat of America. Under the
misleading banner of helping consumers, lawyers will reap big bucks cleaning up a mess
that lawyers themselves are trying to create.
There are some examples which shows puffery
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2. Stereotyping :
The role advertisements play in the development and perpetuation of gender-role
stereotypes. Jones (1991) noted that an analysis of advertisements by Goffman (1976)
found numerous instances of subtle stereotyping including:
1. Functional ranking the tendency to depict men in executive roles and as more
functional when collaborating with women,
2. Relative size the tendency to depict men as taller and larger than women, except
when women are clearly superior in social status,
3. Reutilization of subordination an overabundance of images of women lying on
floors and beds or as objects of men's mock assaults,
4. The feminine touch the tendency to show women cradling and caressing the surface
of objects with their fingers, and
5. Family fathers depicted as physically distant from their families or as relating
primarily to sons, and mothers depicted as relating primarily to daughters.
HOW THE MEDIA PORTRAY:
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This section explores the social norms and expectations associated with being white
including the media's tendency to accord respect and authority to white people, especially
from the middle and upper classes. Onscreen and behind the scenes, white privilege
(along with male privilege, and "straight" privilege) fosters a climate of systemic
discrimination that tends to exclude many diverse views from the media.
Persons with Disabilities
This section examines common stereotypes of persons with disabilities in mass media
and the news. It discusses concerns about media representation of disability, including
lack of participation, as well as looks at solutions to better represent persons with
disabilities.
Children and adolescents as target groups
The childrens market, where resistance to advertising is weakest, is the pioneer for ad
creep. Kids are among the most sophisticated observers of ads. They can sing the
jingles and identify the logos, and they often have strong feelings about products. What
they generally don't understand, however, are the issues that underlie how advertising
works. Mass media are used not only to sell goods but also ideas: how we should behave,
what rules are important, who we should respect and what we should value.
Youth is increasingly reduced to the role of a consumer. Not only the makers of toys,
sweets, ice cream, breakfast food and sport articles prefer to aim their promotion at
children and adolescents. Advertising for other products preferably uses media with
which they can also reach the next generation of consumers. Key advertising messages
exploit the emerging independence of young people. Cigarettes, for example, are used
as a fashion accessory and appeal to young women. Other influences on young people
include the linking of sporting heroes and smoking through sports sponsorship, the use of
cigarettes by popular characters in television programmes and cigarette promotions.
Research suggests that young people are aware of the most heavily advertised cigarette
brands.
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Product placements show up everywhere, and children aren't exempt. Far from it. The
animated film, Food fight, had thousands of products and character icons from the
familiar (items) in a grocery store. Children's books also feature branded items and
characters, and millions of them have snack foods as lead characters.
Business is interested in children and adolescents because of their buying power and
because of their influence on the shopping habits of their parents. As they are easier to
influence they are especially targeted by the advertising business. The marketing
industry is facing increased pressure over claimed links between exposure to food
advertising and a range of social problems, especially growing obesity levels. In 2001,
childrens programming accounted for over 20% of all television watching. The global
market for childrens licensed products was some 132 billion U.S. dollars in 2002.
Advertisers target children because, e. g. in Canada, they represent three distinct
markets:
1. Primary Purchasers ($2.9 billion annually)
2. Future Consumers (Brand-loyal adults)
3. Purchase Influencers ($20 billion annually)
Kids will carry forward brand expectations, whether positive, negative or indifferent Kids
are already accustomed to being catered to as consumers. The long term prize: Loyalty of
the kid translates into a brand loyal adult customer
The average child sees 350,000 TV commercials before graduating from high school,
spends nearly as much time watching TV as attending classes. In 1980 the Indian
province banned advertising for children under age 13. In upholding the constitutional
validity of the Indian Consumer Protection Act restrictions on advertising to children
under age 13 (in the case of a challenge by a toy company) the Court held: ...advertising
directed at young children is per se manipulative. Such advertising aims to promote
products by convincing those who will always believe.
According to health experts the constant promotion of high-calorie food is contributing to
the epidemic of childhood obesity and poor eating habits. This leads to some serious
issues since the consumption of things like Soda leads to bone diseases and high rates of
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fracture amongst girls. Since the child perceives the ad of a product in a very different
way, the consumption of the product increases. From the perception of the children its a
food item but in reality it is junk food with harmful effects, because the mind does not
register the damaging effects of advertising and consumption of unhealthy food products.
Also a general ethical concern is the tendency of ads to promote acquisition as a virtue
since children view advertising from a much less developed frame of mind. The Alcohol
industry is another area of extensive debate since teenagers see an estimated 75,000
alcohol ads before their legal drinking ages. Alcohol advertising seeks to associate
drinking with desirable qualities or pleasurable experiences since it portrays alcohol
consumption as a part of recreational activities and sporting events. Advertising
commercials may send irresponsible drinking messages to children and lead to health
problems and unreasonable behavior.
The impact of Alcohol advertising is so great that the Budweiser Frog campaign
introduced in 1995 during the super bowl was highly recognizable among children. More
children remember the Budweiser frog than they remember Bugs Bunny. (Children
Health and Advertising.2000).This tells us that no matter what one is selling the method
of promotion and the product will have an impact on young minds and they will register
the images and associate themselves with drinking at an earlier or later stage in life.
These are the some examples of stereotyping :
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stated that the success of the tobacco industry is dependent on recruiting people who
don't believe that tobacco kills-thus enticing children, developing nations populations,
and disadvantaged members of society to smoke is the only way for tobacco companies
to make up for the number of smokers who quit or die
Tobacco advertisements are another ethical concern as far as advertising is concerned
since a large number of cigarette advertisements tend to appeal to the teenagers by
emphasizing youthful vigor and independence. A large number of tobacco advertisements
it is believed are directed towards the younger population and this is a luring technique
which encourages the teenagers to start smoking at an early age. Companies spend
billions of pounds on tobacco advertisements. Tobacco company since they directed their
advertisements to children as young as 14 years old.
As this 14-24 age group matures, they will account for a key share of the total cigarette
volume for at least the next 25 yearsThus our strategy becomes clear for our
established brands: direct advertising appeal to younger smokers.
So this makes it clear that tobacco advertising is another ethical problem at a massive
scale and effects children as young as 12-14 years old. Another problem with advertising
is that of the food items as children are very valuable to the food industry and this
constitutes to unhealthy eating habits in children as young as7-12 year old. The food
advertisements that children see are normally of foods that are high in sugar and fat
contents and this leads to obesity among children.
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ethically
wrong.
Some times
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age
advertising draws mixed response
the public, while sometimes it becomes
controversial.
5. Subliminal Advertising:
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6. Advertising to children:
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Criticism of advertising
Ad creep: There are ads in schools, airport lounges, doctors offices, movie theaters,
hospitals, gas stations, elevators, convenience stores, on the Internet, on fruit, on ATMs,
on garbage cans and countless other places. There are ads on beach sand and restroom
walls. One of the ironies of advertising in our times is that as commercialism increases,
it makes it that much more difficult for any particular advertiser to succeed, hence
pushing the advertiser to even greater efforts.
[21]
climbed to nearly 18 or 19 minutes per hour; on prime-time television the standard until
1982 was no more than 9.5 minutes of advertising per hour, today its between 14 and 17
minutes. With the introduction of the shorter 15-second-spot the total amount of ads
increased even more dramatically.
Other growing markets are product placements in entertainment programming and in
movies where it has become standard practice and virtual advertising where products
get placed retroactively into rerun shows. Product billboards are virtually inserted into
Major League Baseball broadcasts and in the same manner, virtual street banners or logos
are projected on an entry canopy or sidewalks, for example during the arrival of
celebrities at the 2001 Grammy Awards. Advertising precedes the showing of films at
cinemas including lavish film shorts produced by companies such as Microsoft or
DaimlerChrysler. The largest advertising agencies have begun working aggressively to
co-produce programming in conjunction with the largest media firms
[22]
creating
only tend to work to the advantage of those with the most money, but they also by their
very nature emphasize profit over all else. Hence, today the debate is over whether
advertising or food labelling, or campaign contributions are speech...if the rights to be
protected by the First Amendment can only be effectively employed by a fraction of the
citizenry, and their exercise of these rights gives them undue political power and
undermines the ability of the balance of the citizenry to exercise the same rights and/or
constitutional rights, then it is not necessarily legitimately protected by the First
Amendment. In addition, those with the capacity to engage in free press are in a
position to determine who can speak to the great mass of citizens and who cannot.
Critics in turn argue, that advertising invades privacy which is a constitutional right. For,
on the one hand, advertising physically invades privacy, on the other, it increasingly uses
relevant, information-based communication with private data assembled without the
knowledge or consent of consumers or target groups.
Dependency of the media and corporate censorship
Almost all mass media are advertising media and many of them are exclusively
advertising media and, with the exception of public service broadcasting are privately
owned. Their income is predominantly generated through advertising; in the case of
newspapers and magazines from 50 to 80%. Public service broadcasting in some
countries can also heavily depend on advertising as a source of income (up to 40%).In the
view of critics no media that spreads advertisements can be independent and the higher
the proportion of advertising, the higher the dependency. This dependency has distinct
implications for the nature of media content. In the business press, the media are often
referred to in exactly the way they present themselves in their candid moments: as a
branch of the advertising industry.
Journalists have long faced pressure to shape stories to suit advertisers and owners. The
vast majority of TV station executives found their news departments cooperative in
shaping the news to assist in non-traditional revenue development. Negative and
undesired reporting can be prevented or influenced when advertisers threaten to cancel
orders or simply when there is a danger of such a cancellation. Media dependency and
such a threat becomes very real when there is only one dominant or very few large
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communication
could
have
itself
is
extensively
considered to be a contribution to
culture. Advertising is integrated into
fashion. On many pieces of clothing the company logo is the only design or is an
important part of it. There is only little room left outside the consumption economy, in
which culture and art can develop independently and where alternative values can be
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expressed. A last important sphere, the universities, is under strong pressure to open up
for business and its interests
Competitive sports have become unthinkable without sponsoring and there is a mutual
dependency. High income with advertising is only possible with a comparable number of
spectators or viewers. On the other hand, the poor performance of a team or a sportsman
results in less advertising revenues.
Occupation and commercialization of public space
Digital technologies are used on buildings to sport urban wall displays. In urban areas
commercial content is placed in our sight and into our consciousness every moment we
are in public space. Through longterm commercial saturation, it has
become implicitly understood by
the public that advertising has the
right to own, occupy and control
every inch of available space. The
are utilized by brands. Urban landmarks are turned into trademarks. The highest pressure
is exerted on renowned and highly frequented
public spaces which are also important for the
identity of a city (e. g. Piccadilly Circus, Times
Square, Alexanderplatz). Urban spaces are
public commodities and in this capacity they are
subject to aesthetical environment protection,
mainly through building regulations, heritage
protection and landscape protection. It is in this
capacity that these spaces are now being
privatized. They are peppered with billboards
and signs, they are remodeled into media for
advertising.
Mass media are used not only to sell goods but also ideas: how we should behave, what
rules are important, who we should respect and what we should value. Youth is
increasingly reduced to the role of a consumer. Not only the makers of toys, sweets, ice
cream, breakfast food and sport articles prefer to aim their promotion at children and
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adolescents. Advertising for other products preferably uses media with which they can
also reach the next generation of consumers. Key advertising messages exploit the
emerging independence of young people. Cigarettes, for example, are used as a fashion
accessory and appeal to young women. Other influences on young people include the
linking of sporting heroes and smoking through sports sponsorship, the use of cigarettes
by popular characters in television programmes and cigarette promotions. Research
suggests that young people are aware of the most heavily advertised cigarette brands.
Product placements show up everywhere, and children aren't exempt. Far from it. The
animated film, Food fight, had thousands of products and character icons from the
familiar (items) in a grocery store. Children's books also feature branded items and
characters, and millions of them have snack foods as lead characters. Business is
interested in children and adolescents because of their buying power and because of their
influence on the shopping habits of their parents. As they are easier to influence they are
especially targeted by the advertising business. The marketing industry is facing
increased pressure over claimed links between exposure to food advertising and a range
of social problems, especially growing obesity levels.
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The greatest damage done by advertising is precisely that it incessantly demonstrates the
prostitution of men and women who lend their intellects, their voices, their artistic skills
to purposes in which they themselves do not believe, and that it helps to shatter and
ultimately destroy our most precious non-material possessions: the confidence in the
existence of meaningful purposes of human activity and respect for the integrity of man.
The struggle against advertising is therefore essential if we are to overcome the
pervasive alienation from all genuine human
needs that currently plays such a corrosive role
in our society. But in resisting this type of
hyper-commercialism we should not be under
any illusions. Advertising may seem at times to
be an almost trivial of omnipresent aspect of
our economic system. Yet, as economist A. C.
Pigou pointed out, it could only be removed
altogether if conditions of monopolistic
competition inherent to corporate capitalism
were removed. To resist it is to resist the inner
logic of capitalism itself, of which it is the pure
expression.
Taxation as revenue and control
Public interest groups suggest that access to
the mental space targeted by advertisers should be taxed, in that at the present moment
that space is being freely taken advantage of by advertisers with no compensation paid to
the members of the public who are thus being intruded upon. This kind of tax would be a
Pigovian tax in that it would act to reduce what is now increasingly seen as a public
nuisance. Efforts to that end are gathering more momentum, with Arkansas and Maine
considering bills to implement such a taxation. Florida enacted such a tax in 1987 but was
forced to repeal it after six months, as a result of a concerted effort by national
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commercial interests, which withdrew planned conventions, causing major losses to the
tourism industry, and cancelled advertising, causing a loss of 12 million dollars to the
broadcast industry alone.
In the U. S., for example, advertising is tax deductible and suggestions for possible limits
to the advertising tax deduction are met with fierce opposition from the business sector,
not to mention suggestions for a special taxation. In other countries, taxation at least is
taxed in the same manner services are taxed and in some advertising is subject to special
taxation although on a very low level. In many cases the taxation refers especially to
media with advertising (e. g. Austria, Italy, Greece, Netherlands, Turkey, Estonia). Tax on
advertising in European countries:
France: Tax on television commercials based on the cost of the advertising unit
Italy: Municipal tax on acoustic and visual kinds of advertisements within the
municipality and municipal tax on signs, posters and other kinds of
advertisements the tariffs of which are under the jurisdiction of the municipalities
Sweden: Advertising tax on ads and other kinds of advertising (billboards, film,
television, advertising at fairs and exhibitions, flyers) in the range of 4% for ads in
newspapers and 11% in all other cases. In the case of flyers the tariffs are based
on the production costs, else on the fee
Spain: Municipalities can tax advertising measures in their territory with a rather
unimportant taxes and fees of various kinds.
Thai society is caught in a political and legal conundrum. Amidst the great need to bring
about social harmony and settlement of political conflict, there exist the political issues
and legal technicalities which need to be carefully scrutinized and tackled.
The issues are most delicate as to the pragmatic consideration vis--vis the preservation
of the sacrosanct principle, which at times could be self-contradictory and even mutually
exclusive.
The criminal offences, on the other hand, have to be viewed from a different perspective.
Criminal cases can be considered wrong or evil in itself while political offences are
wrong because prohibited save those which are criminally directly liable; and hence the
former may have to be taken with a more rigorous and even rigid approach, while the
latter may be given a more convenient review.
At any rate, even in the case of political offences, there is no guarantee that the lenient
consideration will be agreed upon by all the sides concerned. Adversarial political parties
may be averse to lifting the ban on those party executives who have been barred from
getting involved in politics. At the same time, those young politicians who are upstarts of
the former parties which have been dissolved, may find it distasteful to welcome back
those senior colleagues who would automatically become their competitors, making slim
their chances of being candidates for the House of Representatives and the cabinet. The
former party executives who lost their political rights may face formidable enemies from
within, rather than from outside. This political irony is a non-laughable hilarity, most
notably for those old-timers.
But somehow, some kind of a compromise will hopefully come about. The conundrum
has to be correctly read and the controversy has to be successfully handled. Society has to
return to business as usual. The democratic process has to come back on track. But the
controversial issues are delicate and need to be handled with finesse. The question is
whether the political atmosphere and the public mood are all out for the goal of lessening
political strife, social cleavage and ideological differences. Therein lies the answer of the
future of Thai politics and democracy.
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Future of advertising
Global advertising
Advertising has gone through five major stages of development: domestic, export,
international, multi-national, and global. For global advertisers, there are four, potentially
competing, business objectives that must be balanced when developing worldwide
advertising: building a brand while speaking with one voice, developing economies of
scale in the creative process, maximizing local effectiveness of ads, and increasing the
companys speed of implementation. Born from the evolutionary stages of global
marketing are the three primary and fundamentally different approaches to the
development of global advertising executions: exporting executions, producing local
executions, and importing ideas that travel.
Advertising research is key to determining the success of an ad in any country or region.
The ability to identify which elements and/or moments of an ad that contributes to its
success is how economies of scale are maximized. Once one knows what works in an
advertisement that idea or ideas can be imported by any other market. Market research
measures, such as Flow of Attention, Flow of Emotion and branding moments provide
insight into what is working in an ad in any country or region because the measures are
based on the visual, not verbal, elements of the advertisement.
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LIMITATION OF STUDY
No doubt this topic is very interesting as it is related to the ads which has a very great
impact on the consumers behavior and we all watches ads many times in a day but as we
all know this is a very wide field to take information about all controversial ads and the
issues related to the same They are seen on the walls, on the back of buses, in play
grounds, on the occasion of sports event, on roadsides, in the stores and even on aero
planes. Advertisements are seen in newspapers, in magazines, on the television, on
internet and are even heard on radio, So the only limitation of the study is its wideness.
Due to this reason I am restricted to the television media as its source.
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QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS
B. No
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Yes
No
As advertisements are interesting and give you the information about the product and its
features there by 65 % people adjudged that they like to watch in between break or
intervals.
B. Internet
C. Television
Magazine 10%
D. Magazine
Newspaper 15%
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Television 55%
Internet 20%
Its hard to find time for newspaper and magazines, moreover in their offices people watch
advertisements on internet whereas T.V. is the successful medium for watching
advertisements.
B. No
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Yes
No
65 % people know that what so ever they are watching in advertisements about
the product and their efficiency it is not up to the mark or 100 %, as they are
interesting thats why they watch it.
4. According to you which advertisements affects children the most, the one in which
there is an inclusion of:
A. Celebrities
B. Sports man
C. Business Person
(50%)Celebrities
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A. Yes
B. No
NO
Yes
Its hard to switch as the advertisements are interesting but the nature of a viewer is to
alternately watching channel.
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6. Is it ethical to
of alcohol in
advertisements?
A. Yes
B. No
Yes
No
The use of alcohol is enjoy full not watchful, it gives negative impact on kids as they take
it granted and try to taste it which is adversfull.
B. No
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Yes
No
8. Should Government check and take measures to control the unethical advertisements?
A. Yes
B. No
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Yes
NO
As we are getting modernize day by day and taking the use of alcohol and sex
as granted, but one thing sure that we are not in a position to accept it that it
will be shown on advertisements so government should have to take
appropriate measures to check.
9. Do you feel comfortable while watching advertisements along with your kids and
family?
A. Yes
B. No
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No
Yes
The companies should have to take care of showing the use of alcohol, double meaning
advertisements and also the main concern is showing sex related activities in
advertisement as it makes uncomfortable to watch along with family and kids.
B. No
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Everyday you can see new unethical advertisement which include alcohol and sex related
activities also the double meaning advertisements.
Government should have to take step and banned all these as they are making our new
generation unsocial.
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CONCLUSION
Good Marketing Citizens All in all, it can be seen that ethical issues in marketing in the
context of developing countries is highly sensitive to cultural, social and ethical issues.
The larger issue is thus not merely an occidental versus an oriental one. For the marketing
fraternity to be a good ethical citizen, the onus lie on themselves-for indeed, marketers
have to stop indulging in unethical practices and start respecting local mores and values.
Although today no one can ignore the importance of advertisement. In this globalized
world advertisements play an important role of the success of any organization. These
day a different sector has develop to handle the advertising of the company and a lot of
money spend on that sector as seeing the importance of this.
One the one hand we accepts the importance of advertising but on the other hand we
cant avoid its bad impact on the society and culture. Due to the high competition today
companies are accepting cheap and unethical equipments for advertising. These ads give
a wrong message to the society and to the new generation who are the future of the
upcoming society. If today new generation gains a wrong moral values and wrong
method of living they will harm their health as well as mental analyzing power. And in
future they will enable to give right message to their traits.
We have to think about this unethical problem and this wrong presentation of business.
So that we can give a good ethics to our youngers.
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Bibliography
(a)Books:
by V Partha Sarathy
by ICFAI University Press
by Tom Duncan
(b)Magazines :
Advertising Express:
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(c) References :
http://www.icmrindia.org/courseware/Marketing
%20Communications/Marketing%20CommunicationsDS21.htm
http://nethgr.com/download/rhul/essay/MN345/B.%20Ethical
%20Issues%20of%20Advertising.doc
http://www.warc.com/LandingPages/Generic/Advertising_&_
Marketing_Communications/Advertising/Legal_and_ethical_is
sues/
http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Ethical-Issues-AdvertisingCommunication/179224
http://www.aef.com/on_campus/classroom/speaker_pres/data/6
000
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_ethical_issues_in_m
arketing
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QUESTIONNAIRE
B. No
B. Internet
C. Television
D. Magazine
B. No
4. According to you which advertisements affects children the most, the one in which
there is an inclusion of:
A. Celebrities
B. Sports man
C. Business Person
B. No
B. No
B. No
8. Should Government check and take measures to control the unethical advertisements?
A. Yes
B. No
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9. Are you feel comfortable while watching advertisements along with your kids and
family?
A. Yes
B. No
B. No
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