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. Agarwal Sir 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 Mrs Aradhana Albert for her 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 the project. (SHILPA JINDAL) 1 | Page
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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. Agarwal Sir 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 Mrs Aradhana Albert for her 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 the project.
(SHILPA JINDAL)
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PREFACE
The title of my project is ETHICAL ISSUES IN ADVERTISING.
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.
As now a days advertisements have a very great impact on the consumer’s behavior; it
plays very important role in our Indian economy directly or indirectly. so if it become
unethical it leads our society in wrong direction.
To overcome these problems certain ethical standards are set up by the government and I
want to throw a light on this only.
As it is a very wide field so here I am restricted to the electronic media only.
We have to think about this unethical problem and this wrong presentation of business.
So that we can give good ethics to our youngsters.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TITLE
The title of the project is “ETHICAL ISSUES IN ADVERTISEMENT”. 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
Many advertisements are designed to generate increased consumption of those products
and services through the creation and reinvention of the "brand image”. For these
purposes, advertisements sometimes embed their persuasive message with factual
information. Every major medium is used to deliver these messages, including television,
radio, cinema, magazines, newspapers, video games, the Internet, carrier bags and
billboards. Advertising is often placed by an advertising agency on behalf of a company
of 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 it’s 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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3. Promoting unhealthy products:
Due to the globalization of the economy the globe is indeed becoming a smaller place,
marketers have to bear in mind national, local and cultural sensitivities. marketers do
have to act with celerity in gaining footholds in emerging markets such as China and
India, care has to be taken in ensuring that the mores, etiquettes of the land are not
encroached upon. The incorporation of newer technologies has meant that a number of
issues such as invasion of privacy and credibility have arisen.
In India, for example, a large multinational corporation ran an ad campaign that depicted
a young woman who because of her dark facial complexion was unable to find jobs. But
as the ad showed, as soon as the woman started using the facial whiteness cream
manufactured by the corporation, she got the job of her choice. Needless to say, there was
a big backlash against it and the ad campaign had to be scrapped. On an ethical
standpoint, marketers have to exercise restraint in exploiting such social paradigms to
their commercial advantage.
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Surrogate Advertisements In India alcohol and cigarette advertisements were banned
outright some years back. However, alcohol and cigarette companies alike are using the
avenue of surrogate advertisements to press forward their case. For the viewer though,
the ‘subtle’ pointer towards the real deal is enough as the surrogate advertisements leave
no ambiguity in their minds.
Promotions of Alcohol, Tobacco-Creating Demand for Vice Cigarettes are one of the
most heavily marketed products in China and other developing nations. An increasing
percentage of those marketing dollars is dedicated to what are probably the most
sophisticated consumer marketing databases in the business world. Tobacco advertising
is no longer just the province of multi-million dollar ad budgets pushing the Marlboro
Man, Joe Camel's phallic face or the women in the Virginia Slims' ads who have ‘come a
long way.’ It is equally the province of direct marketers, pushing free packs to targeted
prospects and mailing slick magazines-published by tobacco companies-to influence the
behaviour and retain the loyalty of tens of millions of smokers And the problem is
pandemic-is is prevalent in both developing as well as developed countries alike. In the
US for example, cigarette smoking is responsible for the deaths of almost half a million
people a year. Tobacco use is responsible for more than one in six deaths in the United
States. Smoking accounts for 30% of all cancer deaths. It is a major cause of heart
disease, and it is associated with conditions ranging from colds and gastric ulcers to
chronic bronchitis, emphysema and vascular disease. Smoking caused an estimated
264,087 male and 178, 311 female deaths in the United States each year from 1995 to
1999. The U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment estimates the cost of
smoking (direct and indirect) to the economy at $150 billion a year. Each day more than
3,000 teenagers in the U.S. become addicted to cigarettes. The tobacco industry argues
that its advertising is not aimed at recruiting these young new smokers. Its representatives
say, disingenuously, that advertising by individual tobacco companies’ targets adults only
and serve only to encourage regular smokers to switch brands or to retain brand loyalty.
However it has been seen that perception of cigarette brand advertising actually is higher
among young smokers and that changes in market share resulting from advertising occur
mainly in this segment. Cigarette advertising thus undoubtedly encourages youth to
smoke. In a survey conducted by the Journal of the American Medical Association, it was
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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 years…Thus 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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.
4. Controversial advertisements:
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The caption says “If you got crushed in the clinch with your soft pack, try our hard pack.” The play on the words “hard” and “soft” is difficult to overlook; the ad seems to be promising virility and potency to the prospective male purchaser of Benson & Hedges.
The picture portrays a young man and woman embracing each other. If you just glanced at the expression on the man’s face for a moment or two, you would probably assume that he is smug, as though he were thinking “If you smoked Benson &Hedges you too would have beautiful women chasing after you.” If you study the expression on his face, however, you will discover that it is somewhat ambiguous. He could be smug, but he also could be a bit nervous. It is possible that the aggressive advances of the lovely young woman are making him uncomfortable.
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.
5. Subliminal Advertising:
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The advertising industry, a prominent and powerful industry, engages in deceptive
subliminal advertising which most us are unaware of. By bypassing our unconscious
mind using subliminal techniques, advertisers tap into the vulnerabilities surrounding our
unconscious mind, manipulating and controlling us in many ways. Since the 1940's
subliminal advertising blossomed until now, when you can find subliminal in every major
advertisement and magazine cover. Legislation against the advertisers has had no effect
in curbing the use of subliminal. In this Information Age, it seems people are no longer in
control of the people. It is obvious that by tapping into the consumer's unconscious mind
without their knowledge, the advertisers are engaging in deceptive practices. It is also an
invasion of privacy. But, is this legal? The answer is no. There are numerous legislation
that prohibit advertisers from using subliminal messages in their ads. Subliminal are
inherently deceptive because the consumer does not perceive them at a normal level of
awareness, and thus is given no choice whether to accept or reject the message, as is the
case with normal advertising.
6. Advertising to children:
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One of the controversies surrounding the existence of subliminal perception is its
definition. Subliminal means "belowthreshold."
Advertising to children is the act of marketing or advertising products or services to
young people. In 2000, children under 13 years old impacted the spending of over $600
billion in the United States alone. This has created a large incentive to advertise to
children which has led to the development to a multimillion dollar industry. The
increasing controversy over the ethics of continued advertising to children has even led to
its banning in some European countries. Children are easily persuaded and have a large
pull on today's markets, as is known by all advertisers, even ones who do not intend for
their products to be consumed by children. In creating an audience at such a young age,
producers are aiming to have a loyal audience of grown adults. The creation of loyal
consumers can be both positive and negative. The issue of advertising to children has
raised much controversy since the 1970s.Children form the major chunks of the target
group for advertisers. Many advertisements aimed towards children are a sole proof of
this fact. The prime motive of any advertisement is to convince the viewer about the
quality of the product and instill that urge in him/her to purchase the same. Today,
advertising plays an important role in the society, as it tends to influence young minds in
particular.
The first prime motive of advertising is to attract attention. With children, the messages
need to be conveyed in a different manner. Goods are particularly packaged in order to
appeal to the younger generation. Children today, are more specific about their needs and
wants. Children are therefore reckoned to be a major ‘buying force’ by advertisers.
However, advertising can also have a negative influence over young minds if parents are
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Children are easily persuaded and have a large pull on today's markets, as is known by all advertisers, even ones who do not intend for their products to be consumed by children. In creating an audience at such a young age, producers are aiming to have a loyal audience of grown adult.
advertisers. The influence of advertisers is not only in regard to news or information on
their own products or services but expands to articles or shows not directly linked to
them. In order to secure their advertising revenues the media has to create the best
possible ‘advertising environment’. Another problem considered censorship by critics is
the refusal of media to accept advertisements that are not in their interest.
Because of these dependencies a widespread and fundamental public debate about
advertising and its influence on information and freedom of speech is difficult to obtain,
at least through the usual media channels; otherwise these would saw off the branch they
are sitting on. “The notion that the
commercial basis of media, journalism,
and communication could have
troubling implications for democracy
is excluded from the range of
legitimate debate” just as “capitalism is
off-limits as a topic of legitimate
debate.”
The commercialization of culture
and sports
Corporations promote renowned
artists, therefore getting exclusive
rights in global advertising campaigns.
Broadway shows, like ‘La Bohemia’
featured commercial props in its set.
Advertising 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
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Performances, exhibitions, shows, concerts, conventions and most other events can hardly take
place without sponsoring. The increasing lack of public funding or support makes the arts and cultural events dependant on private business. Thus, arts and culture are put into the service of sales promotion. Wherever
sponsors finance publicly born arts and culture they buy the service of attraction. Artists are graded and paid
according to their art’s value for commercial purposes.
Performances, exhibitions, shows, concerts, conventions and most other events can hardly take
place without sponsoring. The increasing lack of public funding or support makes the arts and cultural events dependant on private business. Thus, arts and culture are put into the service of sales promotion. Wherever
sponsors finance publicly born arts and culture they buy the service of attraction. Artists are graded and paid
according to their art’s value for commercial purposes.
alternative values can be 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 long-
term 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
steady normalization of invasive
advertising dulls the public’s
perception of their surroundings,
re-enforcing a general attitude of
powerlessness toward creativity
and change, thus a cycle develops
enabling advertisers to slowly and
consistently increase the saturation
of advertising with little or no
public outcry.”
The massive optical orientation
toward advertising changes the
function of public spaces which
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Every visually perceptible place has potential for advertising. Especially urban areas with their structures but
also landscapes in sight of through fares are more and more turning into media for advertisements. Signs, posters, billboards, flags have become decisive factors in the urban
appearance and their numbers are still on the increase. “Outdoor advertising has become unavoidable. Traditional
billboards and transit shelters have cleared the way for more pervasive methods such as wrapped vehicles, sides
of buildings, electronic signs, kiosks, taxis, posters, sides of buses, and more.
Every visually perceptible place has potential for advertising. Especially urban areas with their structures but
also landscapes in sight of through fares are more and more turning into media for advertisements. Signs, posters, billboards, flags have become decisive factors in the urban
appearance and their numbers are still on the increase. “Outdoor advertising has become unavoidable. Traditional
billboards and transit shelters have cleared the way for more pervasive methods such as wrapped vehicles, sides
of buildings, electronic signs, kiosks, taxis, posters, sides of buses, and more.
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.”
Children and adolescents as target groups
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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The children’s 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.
The children’s 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.
“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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According to critics, the total commercialization of all fields of society,
the privatization of public space, the acceleration of consumption and waste of resources including the negative influence on lifestyles and on the environment has not been noticed to the necessary extent.
The “hyper-commercialization of the culture is recognized and roundly detested by the
citizenry, although the topic scarcely receives a whiff of attention in the media or
political culture”.
According to critics, the total commercialization of all fields of society,
the privatization of public space, the acceleration of consumption and waste of resources including the negative influence on lifestyles and on the environment has not been noticed to the necessary extent.
The “hyper-commercialization of the culture is recognized and roundly detested by the
citizenry, although the topic scarcely receives a whiff of attention in the media or
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 im restricted to the television media as its source.
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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
can’t 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: The Changing Face of Advertising: by V Partha Sarathy Integrated Marketing Communication: by ICFAI University Press Principles of Advertising & IMC: by Tom Duncan
(b) Magazines : Advertising Express: by ICFAI University Press
Issue 6 –June 2007-(Impact of Surrogate Advertisements on Consumer Buying Behaviour)(A new Realm in Advertising)
Issue 1-Jan 2006-Emo-Rational Appeal in Advertising