EAS-405 - Ethical Advertising Standard

Definitions
For the purpose of this standard: the term "advertisement" is taken in its broadest sense, and means any form of advertising for goods or services, regardless of the medium used; the term "product" refers to any good or service; the term "consumer" refers to any person to whom an advertisement is addressed or who can reasonably be expected to be reached by it whether as a final consumer or as a trade customer or user.

Basic Principles
Article 1 All advertising should be legal, decent, honest and truthful. Every advertisement should be prepared with a due sense of social responsibility and should conform to the principles of fair competition, as generally accepted in business. No advertisement should be such as to impair public confidence in advertising.

Decency
Article 2 Advertisements should not contain statements or visual presentations which offend prevailing standards of decency.

Honesty
Article 3 Advertisements should be so framed as not to abuse the trust of consumers or exploit their lack of experience or knowledge.

Social Responsibility
Article 4 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.

2. Advertisements should not (without justifiable reason) play on fear. 3. Advertisements should not appear to condone or incite violence, or to encourage unlawful or
reprehensible behaviour.

4. Advertisements should not play on superstition.

Truthful presentation
Article 5

1. Advertisements should not contain any statement or visual presentation which directly or by
implication, omission, ambiguity or exaggerated claim is likely to mislead the consumer, in particular with regard to

1. characteristics such as: nature, composition, method and date of manufacture, range of use,
efficiency and performance, quantity, commercial or geographical origin or environmental impact;

2. the value of the product and the total price actually to be paid; 3. delivery, exchange, return, repair and maintenance; 4. terms of guarantee; 5. copyright and industrial property rights such as patents, trade marks, designs and models
and trade names;

6. official recognition or approval, awards of medals, prizes and diplomas; 7. the extent of benefits for charitable causes.
Advertisements should not misuse research results or quotations from technical and scientific publications. Statistics should not be so presented as to exaggerate the validity of advertising claims. Scientific terms should not be used to falsely ascribe scientific validity to advertising claims.

Comparisons
Article 6 Advertisements containing comparisons should be so designed that the comparison is not likely to mislead, and should comply with the principles of fair competition. Points of comparison should be based on facts that can be substantiated and should not be unfairly selected.

Unassembled Merchandise
Article 7 When advertised merchandise requires partial or complete assembly by the purchaser, the advertising should disclose that fact, e.g., "unassembled," "partial assembly required."

Testimonials
Article 8

Advertisements should not contain or refer to any testimonial or endorsement unless it is genuine, verifiable, relevant and based on personal experience or knowledge. Testimonials or endorsements that have become obsolete or misleading through passage of time should not be used.

Portrayal or imitation of personal property

Article 9 Advertisements should not portray or refer to any persons, whether in a private or a public capacity, unless prior permission has been obtained; nor should advertisements without prior permission depict or refer to any person's property in a way likely to convey the impression of a personal endorsement.

Exploitation of goodwill
Article 10 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
Article 11

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.

2. Where advertisers have established distinctive advertising campaigns in one or more countries,
other advertisers should not unduly imitate these campaigns in the other countries where the former may operate, thus preventing them from extending their campaigns within a reasonable period of time to such countries.

Identification of advertisements
Article 12 Advertisements should be clearly distinguishable as such, whatever their form and whatever the medium used; when an advertisement appears in a medium which contains news or editorial

matter, it should be so presented that it will be readily recognised as an advertisement.

Safety and health

Article 13 Advertisements should not without reason, justifiable on educational or social grounds, contain any visual presentation or any description of dangerous practices or of situations which show a disregard for safety or health.

Children and young people

Article 14
The following provisions apply to advertisements addressed to children and young people who are minors under the applicable national law. Inexperience and Credulity

1.

Advertisements should not exploit the inexperience or credulity of children and young people.

2. Advertisements should not understate the degree of skill or age level generally required to use
or enjoy the product.

1. Special care should be taken to ensure that advertisements do not mislead children and
young people as to the true size, value, nature, durability and performance of the advertised product.

2. 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.

3. A product that is part of a series should be clearly indicated, as should the method of
acquiring the series.

4. Where results of product use are shown or described, the advertisement should represent
what is reasonably attainable by the average child or young person in the age range for which the product is intended.

3. 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

Article 15 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
Article 16 Advertisements should not be used to introduce or support the practice whereby unsolicited products are sent to persons who are required, or given the impression that they are obliged to accept and pay for these products (inertia selling).

Claimed Results
Article 17 Claims as to energy savings, performance, safety, efficacy, results, etc. which will be obtained by or realised from a particular product or service should be based on recent and competent scientific, engineering or other objective data.

Layout and Illustrations

Article 18 The composition and layout of advertisements should be such as to minimise the possibility of misunderstanding by the reader. For example, prices, illustrations, or descriptions should not be so placed in an advertisement as to give the impression that the price or terms of featured merchandise apply to other merchandise in the advertisement when such is not the fact. An advertisement should not be used which features merchandise at a price or terms boldly displayed, together with illustrations of higher-priced merchandise, so arranged as to give the impression that the lower price or more favourable terms apply to the other merchandise, when such is not the fact.

Asterisks and Abbreviations

Article 19 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 behaviour
Article 20 Advertisements should not appear to approve or encourage actions which contravene the law, selfregulating codes or generally accepted standards of environmentally responsible behaviour.

Responsibility
Article 21

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.

1. Advertisers should take the overall responsibility for their advertising. 2. 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 fulfil their responsibilities.

3. 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. 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.

Rules apply to entirety of advertisement

Article 22 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.

Effect of subsequent redress for contravention

Article 23 While an advertiser's subsequent correction and appropriate redress for a contravention of the Code are desirable, they cannot excuse the original contravention of the Code.

Alarmist Marketing
Article 25 An advertiser should not engage in speculation or provide information intended to cause alarm and force action. Such actions include overstating the legal implications of a non-defined action.

Substantiation
Article 25 Descriptions, claims or illustrations relating to verifiable facts should be capable of substantiation. Advertisers should have such substantiation available so that they can produce evidence without delay to the self-regulatory bodies responsible for the operation of the Code.

A lot of people question the ethics of selling consumers things they don't need - which presupposes that we shouldn't have the things we don't need but want anyway. We don't need 90% of the stuff in our apartments. We don't need artwork, among other things. Neanderthals didn't need cave paintings, but they sure brighten up a grotto. Why did so many of us bring bottled water - that we paid for - into this meeting room today, when carrying a canteen of tap water is so much more rational?

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

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

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

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

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

Alcohol
There are hundreds of beer commercials on the air, but not one of them shows somebody actually drinking the beer. Does that make them more ethical? And although there's the same amount of the same chemical in a can of Bud and a shot of Jack Daniels, you don't see hard liquor advertised on television. In the case of alcohol, advertisers themselves have made these "ethical" choices. But do they make rational sense? The Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) probably don't make the same distinction between beer and bourbon that advertisers do. Incidentally, advertising people working for free because they believe in the cause create MADD's ads. Ad folk like to work pro bono for nonprofits and good causes. Public service campaigns, including anti-smoking messages, got over $1.5 billion dollars in free media last year. Altogether, they'd be the fifth largest advertiser. The ethical issue isn't the alcohol in the product, it's the brand name on the bottle (Smirnoff Ice). When I say the word "Smirnoff", what do you think of? - you're not alone. A rival company says this commercial is misleading you because there's no vodka in Smirnoff Ice. It's a malt beverage. Does the name "Smirnoff" mean "vodka" or is it just a name? Many of you are in the target audience. Are you being fooled here? And if you thought Smirnoff Ice contained vodka, did you also think it contained ice? You don't have to take time from your studies to decide this case. As we speak, it's being examined by the ATF (Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms).

Condoms
I assume these are not unfamiliar to you. Should they be advertised? Most networks won't accept condom ads because they might offend certain audiences. Even where condom ads are okay, there are ethical choices to make about what kind of product demonstration is appropriate. And in what context? One example of context is that people in condom ads usually wear wedding rings. Because even though the biggest market probably lies outside

the Marital Bed, the truth about where all those condoms are really going raises some touchy issues. If you were the Creative Director on the Trojans account, is that an ethical issue? Do you show the real truth and take the consequences?

Children
Society imposes context on advertising ethics all the time - especially in advertising that involves children. Here's a commercial for children's shampoo. On behalf of Society, can you see what's wrong with this message? The problem isn't something in the spot - it's what's missing. There is no adult supervision shown around the swimming pool. The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Better Business Bureau (BBB), which also monitors kid's programming, requires that adults be shown supervising children when products or activities could be risky. So L'Oreal changed the commercial to model good parental behavior. Score one for Society. Another commercial for Aim toothpaste showed a child who went to the bathroom in a museum to brush her teeth. Good hygiene or not, it had to be taken off the air when teachers complained that they'd never, ever, let a child leave the group unattended. Advertisers spend most of their waking hours trying to anticipate what their audiences will want and how they'll react. We try our best, but sometimes we miss.

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

Point-of-View. Sometimes there are two points of view in the same commercial. The FDA requires that, if you promote the benefits of your medicine, you must also reveal any significant risks or side effects. So we have them to thank for the now legendary disclaimer for a weight-loss drug. The medicine worked miracles, but the company was also obliged to mention it's unpleasant side effects, with the result that the drug turned into a national joke! Does more information elevate the national dialogue?

Product placement
What are the ethics of advertising that doesn't look like advertising? In a movie chase scene, the hero and the bad guy are going to need some kind of car to drive. In the theatre we have no way of knowing whether the director chose those cars because they fulfilled his artistic vision - or because the car manufacturer made a deal with the producer. The car people get exciting exposure for their brand and she saves a nice piece of change on her production budget. Audiences like realism in movies. Made-up brands break the spell because they're obvious fakes. But the difference between something that's just a prop and something that's a product promotion is getting murkier all the time, on TV shows as well as movies. This kind of "product placement" happens in real life, too. If you go out to a club tonight, you might see some particularly good-looking young people using a new kind of cell phone. It lets them shoot pictures of people to their friends across the room: "Here's a cute guy want to come and meet him?" Fun stuff like that. If you're curious, maybe they've taken your picture and they'll be happy to show you the phone and let you try it. The phone is very cool. And the people are what advertisers call "aspirational" because they're way cooler than you are. They're people you want to be. They're also actors and this is a gig for them. Their job is creating the impression that using this phone is The Next Trend. If you ask them directly if they are actors, they won't lie. But if you don't ask, they won't tell. This is the reverse of the Volvo story. Volvo's demonstration was rigged, no question, but what viewers saw on TV was the truth. With this cell phone, the demonstration is the absolute truth, but the scene in the club is pure theater. (Note: This new "guerrilla" marketing campaign for Sony Ericsson has received a great deal of negative publicity already for being deceptive in its approach.)

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

CONCLUSION
This wouldn't be a talk about ethics in advertising without a word from our sponsor and here it comes. 80% of American companies have a written Code of Ethics. And probably 100% of you do too, if you gave it some thought and wrote it down. Ethics happen, or don't, in our relationships with others. Advertisers are in the business of communicating with thousands, even millions, of "others" all the time. That gives us thousands or millions of chances to practice what we believe every day. And try to get it right.

Can advertising be ethical?

There is an old adage that everybody hates advertising until they have something to sell. No matter what people think about advertising, everybody thinks about it. How can you not? Nearly everything we see, hear, touch or eat has a logo on it. Even our thoughts are branded. Advertising has been called an art form, a parasite, freedom of speech, propaganda, healthy capitalism, a necessary evil, and what makes the world go round. The art of persuasion. Many of the worlds most talented artists honed their crafts in advertising. When paying its last respects in 1982 to famous advertising guru, Bill Bernbach, Harpers Magazine commented on his contribution to modern society, William Bernbach has certainly had a greater impact on American culture that any other writer or artist honored by this magazine over the last 133 years. Among his famous quotes are The most powerful element in advertising is the truth and Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art. Advertising, indeed, may best be defined as the art of persuasion. Its purpose is specifically to move product and services, and influence ones thinking. In an economy driven two-thirds by consumer spending (CNN, 10/6/08) consumption is an objective, regardless of how it impacts the planet. Ads urge people to better define themselves and seek satisfaction in what they drive, who they wear, the candy they eat, the toys they play with, the phone they choose, the wrinkles they hide and the cigarettes they smoke. It tells us how to get our bathrooms cleaner than clean, our clothes brighter than white, and our furniture so shiny we can see ourselves. Commercialized freedom of speech. There are few legal restrictions on advertising claims, with the exception of advertising to children, which has fostered self-regulating organizations like the Childrens Advertising Review Unit (CARU) that evaluates child-directed advertising and promotional material in all media to advance truthfulness, accuracy and consistency. Burger King, McDonalds and NBC have taken active measures to eliminate advertising that can be harmful to children, particularly in the area of junk food.

Ads can entertain us, upset us, embarrass us, or expose our children to things otherwise banned from daytime tv. A new barrage of pharma ads tell us how we can be happier, feel fresher, and have better sex with new drugs we should ask our doctors about. Watching messages that we may or may not like about male functions, female hygiene, insomnia and depression is the price we pay for media. If you asked the advertisers they might say they are making the world a better place, and maybe they are. Advertising cant control our perception of brands because we can get plenty of other opinions as fast as you can say, google or read my blog. While were viewing ads, theyre viewing us. Once a shot in the dark, the effectiveness of advertising has become easier to track and predict. The industry has lead to technological breakthroughs with the advent of bar codes, interactive engagement, and double sided electronic content that enables the media to read you as you read it. Advertisers know what you see and when, and what kind of attention span you have for various messages and content delivery systems. The less obvious the advertising, in some ways, the more invasive. From product placement, sponsorship, endorsement and public relations, messages blend into the scenery like subliminal mind control. The consolidation of advertising agencies in the last decade has resulted in four mega-conglomerates that each range in revenues somewhere between $5 to $10 billion a year (Omnicom, WPP, Interpublic and Publicis). It is projected that worldwide advertising expenditures for 2009 will exceed $700 billion (Robert Coen, July 2008) though figures tend to mirror the economy which is presently in turmoil. Sustainability departments are sprouting up in ad agencies, and the growth of sustainability conferences are skyrocketing worldwide as brand managers weigh in the value of the environment as a marketing tool. With corporate transparency on the rise, this is leading to more responsible corporate practices. If the ethics of advertising reflects the ethics of the advertiser, which reflects the ethics of shareholders and consumers, then there may be good reason to feel optimistic if you have faith in human nature. Advertising: a reflection of our society? To look at ethics in advertising means looking at the ethics of the advertisers, and of our society as a whole. U.S. laws require publicly traded companies to act in the best fiduciary interest of its shareholders, not of society as a whole. Yet, corporations are finding that lack of environmental and social responsibility can become a financial liability that affects their valuation. Also, more and more businesses are finding that environmental stewardship can lead to higher profits through better practices, energy efficiency, reduced waste, less consumption of resources, employee loyalty and company morale.

Joel Makower is the founder of Green Biz, a leading online news and information resource on how to align environmental responsibility with business success. He shared his view on whether advertising can be ethical. There is nothing inherently unethical about advertising. Its when it pushes people to buy things they dont really need, or that are destructive to the environment, communities, or the people who make them, that it becomes problematic. For example, claiming that something will help to save the earth. Its too easy to play into peoples desire to change without changing, to shop our way to environmental health by picking brands and products that are just a little better than the others. At best, this is delusional, at worst, fraudulent. U.S. public cares, but not as much as youd hope. Focus groups reveal that people express concern for the planet, yet behavior patterns and purchasing decisions dont reflect the level of commitment to the environment found in Europe. Conscious consumers who do strive to align their belief systems with their purchasing habits are the least likely to believe in paid advertising, and they consume less. They are not necessarily the target market of big brands dependent on a main stream audience. These consumers get their information from editorial content, books, news, internet research, blogs, social networking, talking to friends, listening to gurus, editorials, and experts. Media as a mechanism to change the world. In 2003, the Sundance Institute and Social Venture Network members brought together media moguls, producers, writers, investors and celebrities to brainstorm about how conscious investments in media that matters could change the world. Anchorman and journalist Walter Cronkite was asked for his perspective about the potential of media to inform, engage and serve the public good. Excerpts of his answer include, I dont think there is any subject beyond the ability of the public to handle, including the environment.. it takes more imagination perhaps, and a little more initiation, and a little more time and space to tell the story.. With the media conglomerates today, there is a lot less responsibility to keep the public informed. The budget has been cut to the bone on all foreign news coverage.. We dont get enough to understand the problems of the world.. and this is dangerous.. a bonfire in a country that we dont understand can become a mushroom cloud.. Management has been inclined to cut down on news content in favor of advertising.. (media) I dont pretend to understand the entertainment industry today but it is primarily a profit-making organization that produces what sells.. It takes an educated society to want to be more informed, to know more.. I would suggest we need to have the bedrock of an educated population.. The Vatican weighs in.

Even the Vatican has an opinion on advertising (Vatican City, February 22, 1997, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle.) We believe advertising can, and often does, play a constructive role in economic growth, in the exchange of information and ideas, and in the fostering of solidarity among individuals and groups. Yet it also can do, and often does, grave harm to individuals and to the common good. The EthicMark award. Ethical Markets Media and the World Business Academy award an EthicMark each year for advertising that uplifts the human spirit & society. (see EthicMark) It is the brainchild of Hazel Henderson of Ethical Markets Media, which showcases best practices and the ethical, social and environmental performance of companies, investors, and entrepreneurs. Henderson, and the Calvert Group of socially responsible mutual funds, created the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators a broader measure of national progress to complement GNP-GDP indices. On October 1, 2008 at the SustainCommWorld The Green Media Show, the EthicMark was awarded to Al Gores Alliance for Climate Protection in recognition of their Unlikely Alliances advertising campaign, produced by the Martin Agency. Matt Williams, who accepted the award for the agency, stated his opinion on whether advertising can be ethical, It has to be. The Institute for Sustainable Communication (ISC) is a sponsoring organization of SustainCommWorld and focuses on reducing the environmental impact of the media industry. ISC fellow Don Carli shared his view. By its very nature, advertising calls into play a great deal of energy, materials and human effort. Its possible that one aspect can be ethical regardless of another. For instance it can be carbon neutral. Green Media Show founder Lisa Wellman concludes, Advertising can educate and inform and can be a powerful driver for positive action or not. Those in the business of creating and delivering advertising messages take on some responsibility for all this. But so does the audience. The public has the obligation to make critical judgments, to evaluate what theyre hearing and seeing and to make choices. They vote every day with their wallets. Maybe advertising is on the up and up. The Emmy award-winning Mad Men depicts the dark side of advertising as a cut-throat business of hard drinking, chain-smoking, wife-cheating, money-hungry executives in the fast lane. Real advertising veterans have fond memories of those days gone, and lament that its just no fun anymore. There is a growing sincerity for doing the right thing by Mother Nature, despite an onslaught of greenwashing. Now we have the Marlboro men on oxygen tanks and breathing tubes telling kids not to smoke. We have cars that dont go from 0 to 60 in under 3 seconds, and are proud of it because they save gas.

The good news is that brands are competing for the hearts of the public by being more passionate about our future. Responsible products are growing in leaps in bounds, GE really is bringing good things to life, BP are others are going beyond petroleum, and someday soon maybe toxic all-purpose spray cleaners and such will be banned from advertising the way they banned cigarette. Until then, well read the labels warning us to keep them out of reach of children and pets because theyre harmful if swallowed and cause eye irritation, even though the ads recommend known carcinogens for cleaning the playroom and the kitchen counter. Can advertising be ethical? We are what we buy. Martha Shaw, the author, is the founder and principal of Earth Advertising and its production studio eFlicks Media, promoting the growth of sustainable business through PR, Advertising, Promotion, Social Networking, Field Marketing, eFlicks, and eGames. She is the recipient of Radio Mercury Award, Best of Show New England Broadcast Award, Los Angeles Belding Awards, New York One Show, New York Art Directors Award and Adweek Creative All-Sta

he tag line of the ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) says Regulate yourself, or someone else will. How true! So many ads with explicit scenes and double meaning words make it an embarrassment for families to sit and watch the TV together. Yes, it is a fact that advertising agencies tend to go overboard, when it comes to selling a product. Double meaning words, sexuality, violence, misleading, false and offensive advertising videos are now a part of our life. For parents and teachers, the greatest worry pertains to how children will perceive and incorporate the meaning of these ads in their young minds.

Need for Advertising Code in India

Advertisers should ensure that their ads are not offensive or violating the laws of the land. Ads should not violate the basic standards of decency,

morality and religious beliefs of viewers. In India, certain ethics must be followed while creating ads. Legal actions can be taken against advertisements that

Ridicule caste, race, nationality, colour and creed. Goes against any provision of the Indian Constitution. Incite people towards criminal activity, provocative, cause disorder and/or violence in the country. Breach laws and/or glorify obscenity or violence in any form. Glorify terrorism, communal massacres, criminality and so on. Ridicule the father of the nation, the national emblem, part of Constitution or the image of a national leader or a state dignitary. Depict women in a deprecating manner. Females should not be portrayed in a manner that is obscene, exploitative or vulgar. Display distasteful visual content that goes beyond the established norms of good taste and decency. Exploit and encourage social evils like child marriage, bride burning and dowry system.

Other Advertising Codes in India

What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising methods use falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truthful facts to deceive the public. This was stated by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 1964. Here are some more ethics and standards to be followed in advertisements: 1. Permission will not be granted where objects are completely or largely religious or political in nature. Advertisements cannot be directed towards any religious or political end, or to gain mileage of any form. 2. Any goods or services that are advertised should not have any defect or deficiencies of any form declared in the Consumer Protection Act 1986. 3. Products should not be portrayed in a way that misleads the public to infer that the item has some special, miraculous or a super natural quality, which is anyways difficult to prove. 4. Picture and the audible matter of the advertisement video should not be excessively 'loud'.

5. Advertisement should not endanger the safety of children or produce any sort of perversion or interest that prompts them to adopt or imitate unhealthy practices. 6. Any type of offensive, indecent, suggestive, vulgar, repulsive themes and/or treatment must be avoided under all circumstances. Good creative advertisement will always attract peoples attention, but they should have meaningful visual content. one shouldnt have an attitude to play with peoples sentiments and emotions. Remember, the golden words of David Ogilvy, the famous Ad Guru, " A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself."

Code of Ethics for Advertising

By Georgia Chevere, eHow Contributor

Following ethical behavior is a good business practice

In an effort to help regulate advertising and hold advertising agencies to equal and ethical standards, the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) developed the Standards of Practice. The Standards of Practice consist of five points to which all members of the AAAA must follow within their advertisements, or else risk losing membership in the AAAA.

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1. False or Misleading Statements

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According to the Standards of Practice set forth by the AAAA, advertisements must not contain any type of claim that is false or misleading to audiences. This includes lies, partial truths, purposefully withholding information and exaggerations. It is important to note that false and misleading content is not limited to the verbal and written claims made in the ad. It also applies to images and demonstrations, as they should not misrepresent the capabilities and characteristics of a product.

Inaccurate Testimonials
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Testimonials are when a person gives their opinion or talks about their experience about a product or service. The AAAA discourages the use of inaccurate testimonials. Testimonials can be considered inaccurate for multiple reasons. First of all, a testimonial is inaccurate if the person who is giving the testimonial is not portraying themselves, and instead is portraying a fictional person. Also, a testimonial is inaccurate if it does not reflect the true opinion of the person giving the testimonial.
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Misleading Price Claims

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The Standards of Practice states that all price claims relating to the product or service must be completely accurate. No product can misrepresent their prices in order to make the price appear more desirable. In order to make sure that price claims are always accurate, advertisements must specifically state if there are any constituencies in order to buy a product for a certain price. For example, if a price is listed as a lower price due to a rebate, than the ad must state that the low price is obtained through a rebate.

Insufficient Claims
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Similar to exaggerations, the Standards of Practice forbids the use of insufficient claims while referring to the capabilities of a product or service. If there is not sufficient scientific or professional evidence to support a claim made by a product, then it cannot be used in the advertising. Even if the product is capable of performing a certain task, if it does not have the evidence to support a claim, then the advertisement cannot use that claim within the ad.

Offensive Material
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All material including verbal and textual communication, audio, video and images must be considered decent for the general public. Any material in an advertisement that is considered offensive, indecent or obscene to the general public is forbidden according to the Standards of Practice. Also, advertisements may not be offensive towards any minority population including racial and ethnic groups, religious groups, age groups and the disabled population.

Background And Current Status

The Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) was founded and registered as a company fifty seven years ago (1952) by a like minded group of large advertisers of those times. The original member companies and their representatives were: Company Bata Shoe Company, Calcutta Birla Bros. Ltd., Calcutta Corn Products Co. (India) Ltd., Bombay Glaxo Laboratories (India) Ltd., Bombay Parle Products Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Bombay Polson Ltd., Bombay Lt. Col. Tata Industries Ltd., Bombay Represented By R. Ray, Publicity Manager Gangadhar Makheria, Secretary & Chief Accountant P.H. Brown, Director R. A. Haryott, Director P. Mohanlal, Director J.D. Kothawala, Director F.S. Mulla, Public Relations Officer

West End Watch Co., Bombay

M.R. Bavier, Esq., General Manager

While registered as a company under section 25 of the Companies Act, it is a non-profit organization and is exempt from paying Income Tax under Section 11 of the 1.T. Rules 10 (23). Over the years nearly all major advertisers have become members of the ISA and its current membership of around 160 is spread throughout the length and breadth of the Country, Its membership includes almost all the large and prestigious advertisers like Asian Paints, Bata, Britannia, Cadbury, Castrol, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Dabur, Godfrey Phillips, Godrej, Hero Honda, Procter & Gamble, Hindustan Unilever , ITC, Mahindra, Marico, HCL,Reliance ADAG, UB Grop, MRF, Nestle, Nirma, Pepsi, P&G, Raymond, Reckitt, SmithKline Beecham, Tata Tea, Tata Motors, Titan and WIPRO, to name just a few. Among large Public Sector Enterprises who are members are companies like Air-India, Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil and LIC. Collectively, the membership of ISA accounts for two thirds of all annual advertising expenditures made in India. Top

Upholding Ethical Discipline

The ISA has been at the forefront at promulgating self-regulation for the Advertising Industry. It has played a leadership role in evolving various codes of conduct which address concerns relating to fairness in competition, truthfulness in information, sensitivity and dignity in language, sensitivity and dignity in the depiction of women and children, health wellness, self regulation, environmental protection etc. Some of its achievements in this area are: It has been the founder member and promoter of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), which lays down and enforces the code of self-regulation in advertising based on the following basic guidelines: Ensure truthfulness in advertising and safeguard against misleading representations. Ensure advertisements are not offensive to accepted standards of public decency. Safeguard against indiscriminate use of advertising to promote products which are hazardous to society. To ensure the observance of fairness in competition while protecting the consumers right to be informed of choices in the market place. It has enunciated a code of ethical conduct for advertising in the outdoor medium. This code was put together in collaboration with advertising agencies, the Bombay Municipal Corporation and the outdoor media. As a member of the WFA has been engaged in the global discussion on use of women and children in advertising. During 2005 it pro-actively interacted with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to have incorporated in the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 that the violation of the ASCI code will be seen as a violation of the said Act. Top

Promoting Economic Discipline

The ISA has stood firm on its belief that the right to information is a fundamental right of the Indian citizen and consumer. Just as it should be protected in terms of its content (truthfulness, dignity etc ethics) it must also be protected from unnecessary fiduciary burdens.

In its effort to generate revenue, the Government of India has, 3 times in the past (1965, 1978 and 1983) attempted to impose a tax on advertising. ISA has led the crusade against such laws and has succeeded in having the laws repealed on each such occasion in the past. During 2001 the Government imposed a service tax on all broadcasting channels. The broadcasting channels attempted to pass on this tax to the advertisers. ISA confronted the issue and effectively resisted the broadcasters move to merely passively pass on the service tax to advertisers. During 2004 the ISA escalated the Broadcasting Service Taxation issue to the Finance Ministry, pointing out the cascading effect of this on consumer prices due to the double-taxation effect through CENVAT. As a result it has succeeded in persuading the Government to allow the set-off of all Service Tax paid on inputs like advertising, promotion, market research etc. against CENVAT payable on finished goods. This will soften the impact of Service Taxes on final product pricing, to the benefit of the consumer. During 2004 the ISA, through active interaction with the all India Radio authorities, helped defer an unjustifiable proposal to increase the rates of commercial spots on AIR. In 2007 ISA strongly opposed and won the indiscriminate 25% adhoc rate hike by IBF members In 2009 ISA managed to retract the Maharashtra Government from levying Stamp Duty on advertising placed in Print, Radio and TV by filing a petition in the Mumbai High Court and getting it passed Top

Protecting Members Interests

There have been various occasions in the past where Advertiser members interests and freedom has been threatened through the coercion and connivance of misguided or interested parties and/or forums. The ISA has aggressively defended its members interests and rights in such situations. A few such examples are: The active intervention of ISA and representation to the regulatory authorities in Delhi helped lift the ban on all outdoor hoardings/bill boards in that metropolis (1998) ISAs active intervention resulted in restraining the move by the Advertising Agencies Association of India to oppose the outsourcing of media buying (1999) and regulating the commissions to be paid to Agencies (1996). ISA pro-actively succeeded in rebutting an attempt by some TV channels to commit the advertiser to underwrite terms between the Advertising Agency and the Channel. ISA will steadfastly protect the sanctity of the Principal-to-Principal nature of the Agency/Advertiser relationship. During 2004 ISA intervened to negate the attempt by Government to allow the airing of only those pharmaceutical product commercials on DD which were specifically approved by the Health Ministry. ISA has succeeded in restraining a move by the AAAI to mandate pitching fees for speculative presentations by Agencies. A system of satisfactorily negotiating the compensation for speculative presentations between the Agency and the client has been enunciated, consistent with the guidelines recommended by the World Federation of Advertisers. Top

Monitoring, Measuring, Moderating Competition And Viewership/Readership

Media

Costs

One of the major objectives of the ISA is to monitor the cost effectiveness of media in India and keep its members abreast of information in this regard. This allows members to make hard-data based assessments of media in order to ensure the most cost effective utilization of members advertising moneys.

In order to meet this objective, the ISA gets involved in collating and reporting media cost data as well as in ensuring that hard data is generated through appropriate national researchers, which allow a meaningful assessment of audiences for various media. Some specific milestones and activities in this area are: ISA was instrumental in organizing the first National Readership Survey in India and has contributed towards building a methodology which provides robust data for the benefit of all advertisers ISA took the lead in establishing a Joint Industry Body to set up the first continuous TV audience measurement survey. It has seeded a Technical Committee, which continues to drive improvements in sampling procedures, confidentiality of the sample panels, auditing of reported data and width of coverage. ISA was responsible for ensuring that such national media research costs are borne primarily by the media. As a members of the World Federation of Advertisers, ISA is party to the effort in designing and setting up measurement systems for new media like the Internet, Interactive TV etc. Top

Keeping Media Honest And Competitive

While the measurement of media audiences, reporting of media costs and assessment of media cost effectiveness is critical, it is also important that we collectively ensure that the media at large follows practices which allow honest and unrestricted competition between media suppliers and allows meaningful comparisons of cost in a transparent manner. ISA has played a determining role in this area and continues to do so: ISA was instrumental in stopping the practice of a single advertiser booking the entire space in any one media vehicle. ISA has encouraged and enabled a single currency in the measurement of TV audiences and Press readerships to allow comparisons of cost efficiency between vehicles within a medium with a common yardstick.

Encouraging New Media

ISA has been constantly on the vigil to explore opportunities to enhance and exploit available media as well as to encourage new media for the benefit of advertisers. ISA played a crucial role in working with the Government to allow commercial broadcasting on Radio and Television in days when there were Government controlled/owned mediums.

Information And Guidance To Advertisers

Being a member of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), ISA has access to developments across the world in the field of advertising. It is therefore in a position to guide advertisers on issues like: Global Best Practices and model contracts International training programs/workshops

Web workshops/training seminars

Ethics have always been an important aspect of every business activity, although the term has meant different things at different times in different lands to different people. Nonetheless, as ethical concerns are an inseparable element of business, advertising cannot ignore them.

Traditionally, the short-sighted business world has tended to isolate ethics and self-regulation from profits at the cost of excellence and permanence. The shallow gains and premature exits of such brands and companies have proven time and again that to sustain success, a business needs to care for society, too. Ethics and the Advertising Industry

+ Enlarge Reputable companies and advertising agencies avoid telling lies. They realize the cost of being caught.

Sadly, the advertising industry has rarely cared to look beyond immediate marketing objectives. The argument in the industry is that it is the government's job to judge what is right and what is wrong. Shirking its own responsibility for regulation, the industry has belittled business values, and agencies have harmed their balance sheets.

Is it any wonder society treats "advertising" like a dirty word? Do we have any right to question the public's dwindling respect for advertising professionals? And do we really need to hire research agencies to find out why seemingly brilliant ad campaigns flop? The Latest Findings The findings of recent surveys have substantiated our fears. A Gallup survey conducted in the U.S. found that only 10% of those polled considered ethics in advertising "very high" or "high." In another U.S. poll, when people were asked to name five areas that required governmental regulation, their responses reflected market failures. The top five areas named included water pollution, toxic waste, air pollution, nuclear safety, and advertising. The industry's biggest challenge today is the anti-brand, anti-corporate, antiadvertising perception prevailing in society. "Like it or not, this is the environment in which we are operating," said Stephan Loerke, the managing director of the Brussels-based World Federation of Advertisers. "Marketers are portrayed as manipulative and dishonest and advertising as a ubiquitous irritant," Loerke told delegates at the 75th anniversary celebration of the Association of New Zealand Advertisers (ANZA) in Auckland. The Usefulness of Advertising The public's loss of trust in the industry and its work is disappointing, as all of us recognize the significance of advertising for any business activity. It is alarming not only for industry professionals and brand owners but also for all who are concerned with the economic well-being of the world's nations. It affects governments, intelligentsia, and the public.

We often hear critics and lobbyists calling for bans on advertising. Bans and restrictions in a free-market society won't work. Being a major contributor to brand competition, advertising not only provides information but also promotes innovation and can facilitate consumer satisfaction. The fact is no brand can progress without advertising. Companies, individuals, events, and concepts all rely on advertising. Elections are won and community events are held successfully based on the strength of advertising. Governments and nonprofit organizations often use advertising to raise awareness of causes such as anti-AIDS campaigns and fighting terrorism. Self-Regulation in Advertising In the face of these attacks against the industry, it is our responsibility to regulate our operations. And we must do it ourselves. Self-regulation is not a quick-fix solution; it will be completely ineffective without commitment from and the integrity of one and all. Self-regulation may require the following:

the development of a self-regulatory code of conduct covering all forms of media that is sensitive to ethics, legalities, decency, and truthfulness in advertising provisions for monitoring and accountability, including a policy allowing for the removal of ads that violate the code greater participation of advertising professionals in the regulatory process the inclusion of non-industry players in the process consumer awareness of the self-regulation system simplification of the complaint process against ads transparency throughout the entire system

These reforms will achieve three goals: they will make the industry accountable for its actions, they will make regulators and critics think twice before attacking the industry, and, finally, they will lead the public to trust ads, advertisers, and agencies. The Last Word Reputable companies and advertising agencies avoid telling lies. They realize the cost of being caught. A dent in trust can prove to be much costlier than the failure of an ad campaign or, for that matter, even a brand. The challenge before advertisers and agencies is to ensure that ads reflect our values. We must endeavor to see that "advertising" does not remain a dirty word.

Ethics in Advertising

I'm here to talk about ethics in advertising. And no, this isn't going to be "the shortest lecture ever given." People in advertising spend a lot of their time dealing with ethical choices. Because ads are made of choices: What to

show ... and what not to show. What to say ... and how to say it. Who to put in the ad ... and who not to. When comic Paula Poundstone talks about terrible ads, she gets laughs by reminding us that "There was a first draft!" Even the worst stuff we see is stuff that people have thought about. I'm not here to explain bad taste in advertising. I couldn't possibly be here that long. My New Hampshire visa would expire. So I'll just tell you something about the ethical questions that make our jobs on "Madison Avenue" more interesting. Let's start with Truth in Advertising. Telling the truth seems like a pretty basic ethical standard. But as any Philosophy major can tell you, there's Truth ... and then there's Truth. Once upon a time, at one of those monster truck rallies, the giant trucks squashed all the cars except for a Volvo. Volvo's ad agency thought this would be a great idea for a commercial. But to make the ad, the film company needed to shoot several takes. So they reinforced the beams inside the car to stand repeated assaults by the monster truck. When this came out in the press, Volvo was pilloried and the ad agency got fired, ultimately going out of business. Did that serve them right? Or was it a bum rap? In real life, a Volvo would stand up to one squashing by a monster truck. No question the TV demo was rigged. But what it showed was the truth. Which raises the question: What can you legitimately simulate to illustrate the truth? Before you answer, "Nothing!" ask yourself if a higher purpose would be served if Pampers and Kotex commercials showed the real thing instead of that fake blue water. Sometimes there's a difference between the pure truth and the useful truth. I travel a lot and it used to make me crazy that the flights were always late. Now they're mostly on time and airline ads boast about how "We're #1 in on-time performance." Did they buy faster planes? No, they re-printed the schedules to show longer flight times. So the schedules lie about how much time you're in the air - but they tell the truth about how long it takes to get where you're going. If your destination is Disney World, you'll see helpful electronic signs that post waiting times for the rides. We trust these signs (and we trust the Disney brand) because the line always

moves a little faster than the sign says it will. 15% faster, to be exact. So the sign lies. But by lying, it builds trust. Go figure. Something marketers are beginning to realize is that how a brand actually behaves counts more than what they say. This is good news. Advertising copywriters used to have a monopoly on telling a brand's story. Now, thanks to the Internet, the most influential voices in advertising are yours: You hear about a product, the first thing you do is go online and see what your peers are saying about it. Advertisers know this. Ads for reputable companies almost never lie. The cost of being caught out is simply too high. It can take years to undo the damage. Also, the people inside the company want to be able to look at themselves in the mirror. We often think of business people as belonging to some other, vaguely malevolent species, but remember that most of them are you in a few years. So we tell the truth - but not always the whole truth. We want to put our clients in the best light. McDonalds doesn't advertise the calorie count for Big Macs, but they make it easy to find out. Most people don't want to know. On the other hand, drug makers have to to spell out side-effects because the information can mean life or death. How much of the truth we owe to others is an ethical question. In practice, the answer depends on who they are and what's at stake. On my way here, I saw fliers around campus promoting activities that would shock a lot of Americans - and are probably illegal in a few of the states where I have clients. Obviously, advertising practices are relative. But knowing that what's good fun in Hanover, New Hampshire, is indictable in Lubbock, Texas, is not a very useful moral compass. Any of you who are Pre-Law know the courts have the same problem in defining obscenity. "Community standards" are the yardstick. So here's a pop quiz: Is the world better served by an advertiser that universally acts according to its own corporate conscience...? Or an advertiser that unfailingly respects the social mores of its audiences? Like you.

For a company trying to sell something, a TV commercial is like having a job interview with millions of people all at once. The ad wants to make a good first impression, and really, really doesn't want to make people mad. But different people react differently. Here are a couple of ads that make some of my peers mad. But we're not the target audience. You are. So how do you feel about these ads?

Click image to view tv commercials "Bad boy" beer commercials aren't working like they used to. Your demographic is now turning to drinks with a more refined image than "Kiss me, I'm drunk." But what's up with the guy siccing his dog on a woman to rip her pants off? Is this an ironic tribute to how men love their jeans? Or is it mysogyny? That would be out of character for Levi-Strauss, one of the most socially responsible companies on the planet. They took care to show that she's okay with what happened. Does that help? Or does that make it worse? Here's another jeans ad, from the French company Girbaud. Women like this one. But it was banned in France and Italy because it looked too much like this: DaVinci's Last Supper.

Some advertisers try to be outrageous. A hip-hop brand needs Street Cred. Youth brands know that dismayed parents are their best advertisement. What the FCUK brand really stands for is "Your mom would hate this."

The brands we respond to most are a little bit like clubs, where only "we" get it, (whoever "we" are). Shared experiences and inside jokes make us feel like insiders. But does the advertiser have an ethical responsibility to the larger community: to outsiders who might see the ad by mistake and find it hurtful? Most of us in this room, and in business, would say Yes ... to a degree. "To a degree" sounds like a hedge, but it's reality. An ad that shows parents putting presents under the tree on Christmas Eve will upset some people who think it's outing Santa Clause, and others who don't celebrate Christmas. On average, 15% of people will find something objectionable in any ad, no matter what it shows. So everything we do in advertising is a judgment call. And we know going in that we're going to fall at least 15% short of what moral philosophers like Geoffrey Klempner at Oxford tell us that true Ethics demand. Truly Ethical living, with a capital E, requires more than honesty, fairness, decency, and even right action. It requires owning 100% of the responsibility for any consequences of what we do, intended or not. Klempner says this is an impossible standard for a marketplace, and barely within reach for individuals. Try as we might, "collateral damage" happens all the time. If you've ever accidentally hit Reply-to-All on an email, you've found this out.

Ethics in casting
Going back to the "club" idea, if you were recruiting for a club, the first thing you'd do in an ad is signal your audience: Rugby players! Singers! Gays and Lesbians! Advertisers do the same thing for the same reasons. We want our ads to say "this message is for YOU." Naturally, we don't put the real you in the ads. The real you is your campus ID and your driver's license photo. We've seen it. That's why we do casting. Casting decisions can pose ethical choices. Who you put in an ad sends a message. Do beauty and fashion ads reflect the aspirations of American girls? Or do they distort those aspirations by creating an unattainable and objectified standards? It takes a brave advertiser to swim against the cultural tide. Dove did it and caused a sensation.

Dove is succeeding by challenging convential ideas of beauty that advertising helped to create. Does this make Dove: A) Cynical B) Noble C) Smart, or ... D) All of the above That was the easy question. They get harder. Here's an image from a newspaper ad showing a group of business people. Do you see anything objectionable here? Probably not. These people could be the Dartmouth IT department on dress-up day. But let's say you owned the Dell company and you knew for a fact that you'd sell more computers in Latin America if you showed the boss as a dark-haired man ... changed the Asian woman to a blond who was bringing him coffee ... and didn't show the black woman at all. Would you change your ad for Latin America? Social norms and ethnicity are tripwires wherever you go. Here's an ad from Microsoft that neutralizes the issue by putting dinosaur heads on everybody.

Advertising online
The Internet changes everything. If you are interested in making ethical choices part of your career, get into interactive marketing. The online world is like the Wild West, where social conventions and even the Law haven't been settled yet. How many of you have used file-sharing sites? File-sharing is just one of the technologies that's turning intellectual property law inside out. Not to mention raising ethical issues. [When I download Dave Matthews for free, I feel like Robin Hood. But I wouldn't dream of shoplifting the same music from a store.] The internet challenges the ethics of advertisers more than mass media like television because it is more democratic and more private. Only big companies can afford milliondollar ads; and it's hard to get away with much when 10 million people are watching you on TV. In a very real way, the audience serves as the Conscience of the marketer. But a website or a podcast or Howard Stern on satellite radio is free to reflect or incite the passions of a much narrower community. On the web, an oil company can present itself as an environmentalist to Sierra Club members while calling for roll-backs in regulations among chamber of commerce members. That's duplicitous, right? But we do the same thing when we send out different resums or post different dating profiles online.

Cigarette advertising was banned from broadcast media before you were born. In 1998, most other forms of tobacco advertising were eliminated. But Marlboro's marketing has never been more successful. Banning traditional advertising forced them online, and into into viral marketing techniques that other industries are just beginning to figure out. The one-to-one world of the Web is very different than the one-to-many world of broadcast advertising. The Internet is ethically agnostic. Which makes your ethics more important. In your careers, you will have to tools to communicate as you wish. You will have to be the conscience of your organizations. Tobacco isn't the only potentially lethal product that poses ethical, not to mention public policy questions for communicators. Ad agencies and individual advertising people make their own decisions about categories like tobacco, guns, and political campaigns. Many say "No thanks" to working on certain businesses. But would you turn down the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese assignment because another division of the same company makes Marlboros? Speaking of Mac and Cheese, is food advertising ethical? Are ads making Americans overweight, or do we do that to ourselves? Not long ago, America's biggest food comapny Kraft - decided to stop advertising high-fat products to children. The American Psychological Association says that advertising aimed at young children is inherently exploitative. And, with childhood obesity a growing concern, Kraft made a decision that addressed both issues. Good for them! We want corporations to do the right thing. And when they do it, they want us to know.

What are the ethics of advertising good deeds?

80% of Americans say they feel better about companies that are aligned with social causes. That's one of the reasons American Express started the Tribeca Film Festival to bring people back to lower Manhattan after September 11. It's why Johnson+Johnson, always at the top of the polls as a Responsible Company, runs ads promoting Nursing as a career. Does the fact that nurses order so many medical supplies diminish the value of what J+J is doing in its uplifting ads? Before Hurricane Katrina, Wal-Mart was having image problems. But they had 45 truckloads of relief supplies in position before Katrina made landfall, and delivered a lot more after.

They also dispatched PR people with those trucks so the world would know about their good deeds. Does the extra business and good will these companies stand to gain somehow lessen the good that is actually done? In the 1990s, a big company donated a quarter-million dollars in food aid to Bosnians in the wake of the war there. By all accounts, the aid did a lot of good. Later, the company spent over a million dollars to advertise their good deed here in America. How many of you agree that's pushing it? Splendid. Here's the essay question: As the president of that company, write a set of specific guidelines that will encourage enlightened self-interest ... and prevent cynical opportunism. This isn't academic. Some of you will run companies. Part of your job will be translating your beliefs into policy.

Industry self-regulation and free speech

Since we're talking about advertising, let's take a break for a word from our sponsor. As an industry, ad people strive to practice enlightened self-interest every day. So we've created a host of gatekeepers that steer companies towards truth and fairness, and sometimes step in as enforcers. The Children's Advertising Review Unit, for example, polices messages aimed at kids. They stopped or changed the ads in 134 out of the 144 cases they saw in 2003. Advertisers regulate themselves for the same reasons that campus organizations do: Better we do it ourselves than have the Administration do it for us. Outside the U.S., governments exercise far more control over ads than ours does. Here, the First Amendment grants advertisers much of the freedom to express themselves that we enjoy as individuals. But not all. Just ask Nike. They were accused in the press of allowing Asian subcontractors to operate sweatshops. Since good people like us don't want to buy sneakers made by serfs, Nike launched a PR campaign to tell its side of the story. A California activist brought suit, on the grounds that Nike's side of the story was false advertising - and not corporate free speech. In arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Bush administration and the American Civil Liberties Union both backed Nike. But the Court refused to rule. [Probably because

they were so stunned to see the ACLU and the Bush administration on the same side!] So stay tuned ...

Product placement
What are the ethics of advertising in Stealth Mode? Product placement is another area where advertising conventions are morphing out from under traditional norms. In a movie chase scene, the hero and the bad guy are driving cars. In the theater, we have no way of knowing whether the director chose those cars because they fulfilled his artistic vision - or because Ford made a deal with the producer. The difference between something that's just a prop and product promotion is getting murkier all the time. Two of America's most popular TV shows, The Apprentice and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy are wall-to-wall product placement. Product placement happens in real life, too. If you go out to a club tonight, you might see some particularly good-looking people using a new kind of cell, or maybe they'll be ordering an exotic drink you've never heard of. If you're curious, they'll let you try their phone and tell you about the drink. And you are curious, because, let's face it, these people are hot. They're the people you want to be. They're also actors and this is a gig for them. Their job is creating the impression that using this phone is the next trend. If you ask them directly: Are you an actor? They won't lie. But if you don't ask, they won't tell. This is the reverse of the Volvo story. Volvo's demonstration was rigged, but what viewers saw on TV was the truth. With the cell phone, the demonstration is the absolute truth, but the scene in the club is pure theater.

Subliminal advertising
There's one more thing I know you want me to talk about. If you believe subliminal advertising exists, you don't anymore, because I embedded a convincing subliminal denial in this talk. In case you missed it, subliminal advertising is one of those urban legends. Try

this experiment. Take a photograph of a glass of ice water or the beverage of your choice and make a fake ad out of it. Then invite people in your Psych department to find the subliminal messages in your ad. They won't disappoint you. The only people, it seems, who don't believe in subliminal advertising are the advertisers. Procter & Gamble is the world's biggest advertiser. Far from trying to make their messages invisible, they're trying to make their brands tangible to consumers through special events and touring exhibits like this giant tube of Crest. It's about as subliminal as a bus. Psychologists say we believe in subliminal advertising because we'd rather think we're being manipulated than that we make irrational decisions. Deep down, we can't believe that our Nikes are really $50 better than K-Mart sneakers. How else to explain why we like them except that we've been brainswashed? How many of you think advertising makes people buy things they don't need? You're absolutely correct. Brands live where Reason meets Desire. Most of us don't need 90% of the stuff in our apartment. We don't need art, among other things. We don't need Halloween or scented soap or humor. What Klempner calls the "scaffolding of human culture" is made of unnecessary things. That was true for millenia before the first ad, and will still be true after you all have Tivo and never see another commercial again. Freud had a lot to say about "object love" and Klempner gives Apple as a modern example. People love MacIntosh and iPod for more than their function. When Apple ran ads explaining all the rational reasons for switching to Macs, the ads bombed. They missed what consumers really love about Macs. This wouldn't be a talk about ethics without a Moral, and here it comes. Ethics happen, or don't, in our relationships with others. Advertisers are in the business of communicating with thousands, even millions of "others" all the time. That gives us thousands or millions of chances to practice what we believe every day. Change the word "advertising" to "communication" and the ethical questions come home to roost. Instead of being about big business, the same questions are about you: How much of the truth do you owe someone you're trying to impress? If you're trying to impress different people, do you tell different truths?

If you knew that your web page would offend Catholics or contribute to child obesity, even if only a few of them saw your page ... would you change it? A brand is just a bigger "you" or "me". And, just like us, it's looking to connect with people. And that involves all kinds of decisions. Most of them are little decisions, but they add up, for good or for ill. Unless you're planning to join a criminal organization, your employer won't set out to act unethically. No one's going to ask you to come over to the Dark Side. Almost always, bad ads or unethical corporate behavior are the result of a thousand little individual choices that add up. As Ogilvy & Mather CEO Shelley Lazarus likes to say: "Sheep don't decide to wander off, they go astray one little nibble at a time." For blindingly smart, curious people like you, advertising and marketing can be an endlessly interesting field for your gifts. But as technology gives us the means to interact ever more individually with consumers, the ethics of those interactions become ever more personal. It's not about the herd, anymore, and you are not a sheep. It's about you. And the choices you make. Now, more than ever, Ethics is personal. Thank you very much.

(CNN) -- How do you balance ethical issues when designing seductive advertising campaigns for potentially hazardous products such as alcohol or tobacco?

JWT advertisement for Freixenet, starring Martin Scorsese more photos

There are three important parts to the question: The ethical issues advertisers have to contend with as they develop advertising that is designed to capture interest, and ultimately drive purchase. The proposition that advertising campaigns are "seductive." The specificity of hazardous substances. The ethical issues There is a wide band of ethical considerations that advertising needs to -- indeed is required to -address. Legal requirements: Today there are a number of jurisdictions that have clearly defined rules and regulations about what can be advertised and to whom. For example, in North America there are strict rules that determine the shape of advertising to children, while in some jurisdictions advertising to children is illegal. In many countries, advertising harmful substances is illegal; for example, tobacco advertising is banned in Canada. So the first part of the response is that in many instances, where audiences are considered vulnerable, or where a "product" is determined severely harmful, advertising has clear rules to follow. Ethical and legal implications: In the absence of clearly defined regulations, there are legal, business and social implications of not taking into consideration ethical and social considerations. In many countries there are official organizations mandated to vet advertising to ensure it is not offensive, not deceitful, and not culturally distasteful. Guardians of cultural sensibilities, these organizations ensure that advertising satisfies standards of taste and propriety.

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There are, in addition, the implications of offense or deceit that the producing companies and advertising agencies are answerable to. Even within regulatory environments, there is room for advertising to offend or offer not-quite-complete truths. While there was a time when these behaviors could pass unseen, or unchallenged, today, people demand full accountability. Claims are now tested and monitored with real implications for the integrity, credibility and reputation of the offending organization. This environment is perhaps the most potent "watcher" as it ensures that we all carefully consider what we say and how we say it. Without trustworthy reputations, neither companies nor advertising agencies will survive -- hence we are all attentive to protecting, indeed fortifying, the reputation of the agency and its clients. Conscience-driven considerations: But even within this heightened sense of accountability, advertisers are careful to guard the quality of advertising. And today this means speaking truths. Because today the advertising that is successful -- that captures the attention and interest of people -- is that which speaks compelling truths. So even those who may be somewhat more cavalier or audacious, and greater risk-takers, know that truth defines quality, supports reputation, and ultimately is the source of success. Which leads us to the second point of the query: Seductive advertising There is a powerful mythology that advertising does convince people to purchase things they neither need nor want. And clearly, the history of advertising is full of delicious examples of how we have been convinced, cajoled, seduced into purchasing new things that, once non-existent, are today essential. But as individuals, communities and cultures mature, so has advertising, and the audiences we advertise to. Today, audiences have well-developed advertising savvy, and we can no longer interrupt people with inane, uninteresting advertising designed to "push product." This neither captures their attention, nor their purchase decisions. To get people to spend time with brands we need to be interesting and compelling, because today people expect information, entertainment, and demand truth. Consumers also demand that brands and companies be accountable for what they are selling. That means that what advertisers say about products needs to be truthful. Indeed, there are legal consequences if we are not. In addition, today consumers want, and deserve, to be treated as responsible, knowledgeable decision makers -- and the only way to treat people with respect is to be truthful. So while "seduction" may continue to be a guiding desire, today we know that it is truth that "sells." Hazardous substances The third part of the query asks specifically about hazardous substances. This is somewhat tricky, because "hazardous substance" is an ever-shifting category. What was once considered useful and beneficial -- for example, tobacco -- is today considered hazardous. We continue to unearth substances that are hazardous; the recent concern over a key substance in plastic bottles, or the concern that plastic shower curtains contain toxic materials are but two examples. The first point therefore is that accountability standards, or definitions of hazardous, are not static, and we do not always know what is hazardous. What is important is that once we do, we approach all communications with truthfulness.

And this is because whether aware of the hazard or not, we and our clients will be held accountable for the hazard if and when it is discovered. Abdicating responsibility is no longer an option. We have cultivated high standards of accountability, and we have the watcher mechanisms to hold us all accountable. Indeed, one may want to characterize the first half of the 21st century as the Age of Accountability. Defining what is "hazardous" changes with rapidity and piercing accuracy, and we are both required and compelled to pay attention to the ever-shifting ground. Accountability requires us to produce better products, forces us to be more truthful, more transparent, more honest, and more humane. And that can only improve the foundation of how we do business, and how we live as both economic and social agents. Because today we know that all actions have consequences. We know that we make an imprint in the world and that we need to manage that imprint to ensure that the consequences of not only the substances we use and promote, but all of our actions, first do no harm. Reason vs. passion We live in a time where accountability requires every individual and organization to take responsibility for their individual and collective actions. Collectively we have the social, political and legal power to enforce responsibility. We are also clear-eyed consumers of culture, products and news. We are no longer easily seduced by myths and grandiose aspirations. We seek truths, we require credibility and integrity, and we hope for trustworthiness. So even if advertisers could "seduce" as the query asks, our point of view is that advertising does not hold this power. We are compelled through legislative, political, and social power of accountability to attract with wit, honesty and truth. We know that this is the source of good business -- for us and for our clients. And if we ever for a moment stray from this guiding principle, we are sure to be held accountable. But one may say to all of this: Yes, but what about our desires? People just want stuff and business makes it for them, and advertisers sell it to them, irrespective of the hazards. Yes, while we are savvy consumers that do want truth, we are also social creatures that desire. We struggle with our reason and our passions. And a great man said it best many years ago. David Hume, the 18th century Scottish philosopher, I believe offers us the best assessment of our condition:

"Reason is the handmaiden of our passions."

Ethics means a set of moral principles which govern a persons behavior or how the activity is conducted. And advertising means a mode communication between a seller and a buyer.

Thus ethics in advertising means a set of well defined principles which govern the ways of communication taking place betwee the buyer. Ethics is the most important feature of the advertising industry. Though there are many benefits of advertising but then there which dont match the ethical norms of advertising. An ethical ad is the one which doesnt lie, doesnt make fake or false claims and is in the limit of decency.

Nowadays, ads are more exaggerated and a lot of puffing is used. It seems like the advertisers lack knowledge of ethical norms and prin dont understand and are unable to decide what is correct and what is wrong.

The main area of interest for advertisers is to increase their sales, gain more and more customers, and increase the demand for the product by presenting a well decorated, puffed and colorful ad. They claim that their product is the best, having unique qualities than the competitors, more cost effective, and more beneficial. But most of these ads are found to be false, misleading customers and unethical. The best example of these types of ads is the one which shows evening snacks for the kids, they use coloring and gluing to make the product look glossy and attractive to the consumers who are watching the ads on television and convince them to buy the product without giving a second thought. Ethics in Advertising is directly related to the purpose of advertising and the nature of advertising. Sometimes exaggerating the ad becomes necessary to prove the benefit of the product. For e.g. a sanitary napkin ad which shows that when the napkin was dropped in a river by some girls, the napkin soaked whole water of the river. Thus, the purpose of advertising was only to inform women about the product quality. Obviously, every woman knows that this cannot practically happen but the ad was accepted. This doesnt show that the ad was unethical. Ethics also depends on what we believe. If the advertisers make the ads on the belief that the customers will understand, persuade them to think, and then act on their ads, then this will lead to positive results and the ad may not be called unethical. But at the same time, if advertisers believe that they can fool their customers by showing any impractical things like just clicking fingers will make your home or office fully furnished or just buying a lottery ticket will make you a millionaire, then this is not going to work out for them and will be called as unethical. Recently, the Vetican issued an article which says ads should follow three moral principles Truthfulness, Social Responsibility and Upholding Human Dignity. Generally, big companies never lie as they have to prove their points to various ad regulating bodies. Truth is always said but not completely. Sometimes its better not to reveal the whole truth in the ad but at times truth has to be shown for betterment. Pharmaceutical Advertising - they help creating awareness, but one catchy point here is that the advertisers show what the medicine can cure but never talk about the side effects of that same thing or the risks involved in intake of it. Children - children are the major sellers of the ads and the product. They have the power to convince the buyers. But when advertisers are using children in their ad, they should remember not to show them alone doing there work on their own like brushing teeth, playing with toys, or infants holding their own milk bottles as everyone knows that no one will leave their kids unattended while doing all these activities. So showing parents also involved in all activities or things being advertised will be more logical. Alcohol - till today, there hasnt come any liquor ad which shows anyone drinking the original liquor. They use mineral water and sodas in their advertisements with their brand name. These types of ads are called

surrogate ads. These type of ads are totally unethical when liquor ads are totally banned. Even if there are no advertisements for alcohol, people will continue drinking. Cigarettes and Tobacco - these products should be never advertised as consumption of these things is directly and badly responsible for cancer and other severe health issues. These as are already banned in countries like India, Norway, Thailand, Finland and Singapore. Ads for social causes - these types of ads are ethical and are accepted by the people. But ads like condoms and contraceptive pills should be limited, as these are sometimes unethical, and are more likely to loose morality and decency at places where there is no educational knowledge about all these products. Looking at all these above mentioned points, advertisers should start taking responsibility of self regulating their ads by: design self regulatory codes in their companies including ethical norms, truth, decency, and legal points keep tracking the activities and remove ads which dont fulfill the codes. Inform the consumers about the self regulatory codes of the company Pay attention on the complaints coming from consumers about the product ads. Maintain transparency throughout the company and system. When all the above points are implemented, they will result in: making the company answerable for all its activities will reduce the chances of getting pointed out by the critics or any regulatory body. will help gain confidence of the customers, make them trust the company and their products.

Ethics of Advertising Nature of Advertising

(#2) a public notice meant (a) to convey information and (b) invite patronage or some other response. Inform and persuade ("stimulate demand"). From a marketing context, advertising could be defined as "a paid form of nonpersonal communication about an organization and/or its products that is transmitted to a target audience through a mass medium." Therefore one kind of promotional activity, separate from publicity (free), sales promotion (not forms of communication), and personal selling (not impersonal nor through a mass medium).

Morally neutral: neither in itself good nor bad. Reason: Advertising is a tool.

Main Objections to Advertising

Advertising is deceptivein whole or in part. Advertising weakens or undermines personal autonomy; that some kinds of advertising are immoral. Advertising plays on human desires for security, acceptance, self-esteem to influence consumer choices. John Kenneth Galbraiths: the Dependence Effectindustrial production turns out goods to satisfy wants, and at the same time creates the wants. Ex: mouthwash, antipersperant, So production is no long justifiable, the market is no longer self-correcting, and human autonomy is undermined. F.A. von Hayek: almost all wants beyond primitive needs for food, shelter, and sex are the result of cultural influences. Desires for art, music, and literature are created by painters, musicians and novelists. Non sequitur to hold that wants created by the forces that also satisfy them are less urgent or less important. Worth of a want cannot depend on its source, but on some other criterion. Advertising should not cynically exploit deep-seated emotions or short-circuit logical thought processes. Good advertising appeals on many grounds, aesthetic, intellectual, humorous, heart-warming. But it shouldnt deprive of freedom of choice. Advertising promotes consumption as way of life (Christopher Lasch); it empties communication of its content, destroys credence in the written or spoken word (Robert Heilbroner); it is (often) tasteless and irritating, and lowers culture in general [Economic objection] Advertising is a waste of resources (adds nothing to the value of consumer products and diverts resources from the production of more valuable goods) and inefficient (enables large firms with well-established brand-name products to create and maintain monopoly conditions), largely a nonproductive activity that stifles competition. Which would mean that it actually harms the system in general. advertising increases value of a product by creating buyers of the product, creates an expanding market, and actually has been shown to lower prices. And there is no guarantee that dollars saved on advertising could be utilized more efficiently, especially in a surplus economy

Ethical Principles especially relevant to Advertising

General
Principles of the moral order must be applied to the domain of media Human freedom has a purpose: making an authentic moral response. All attempts to inform and persuade must respect the purposes of human freedom if they are to be moral. Morally good advertising therefore is that advertising that seeks to move people to choose and act rationally in morally good ways; morally evil advertising seeks to move people to do evil deeds that are self-destructive and destructive of authentic community Means and techniques of advertising must also be considered: manipulative, exploitative, corrupt and corrupting methods of persuasion and motivation

Three Specific Moral Principles

RESPECT TRUTHFULNESS (deception objection) Never directly intend to deceive Never use simply untrue advertising Do not distort the truth by implying things that are not so or withholding relevant facts

"Puffery" is acceptable where it is consonant with recognized and accepted rhetorical and symbolic practice RESPECT THE DIGNITY OF EACH HUMAN PERSON (attacks autonomy objection) Do not exploit our "lower inclinations" to compromise our capacity to reflect or decide either through its content or through its impact: using appeals to lust, vanity, envy and greed, and other human weakness. Give special care to the weak and vulnerable: children, young people, the elderly, the poor, and the culturally disadvantaged RESPECT SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES (promotes consumption, empties communication, objections) Example: Concern for the ecologyadvertising should not favor a lavish lifestyle which wastes resources and despoils the environment Example: Advertising should not reduce human progress to acquiring material goods and cultivating a lavish lifestyle

Benefits of Advertising
Economic: useful tool for sustaining honest and ethically responsible competition by informing people of the availability of rationally desirable new products and services and improvements in existing ones Political: helps counteract tendencies toward the monopolization of power by informing people of the ideas and policy proposals of parties and candidates Cultural: can exert a positive influence on decisions about media content; contribute the betterment of society by uplifting and inspiring people and motivating them to act in ways that benefit themselves and others. Importance of witty, tasteful and entertaining advertising, even to the point of becoming art.1 Moral and Religious: communicate messages of faith, patriotism, tolerance, compassion and neighborly service, charity, health, education

Harms of Advertising
Economic: misrepresent and without relevant facts; subvert the media by pressure not to treat of questions that are embarrassing and inconvenient; tout harmful or useless goods; move people based on non-rational decisions; become a tool of "consumerism"; particularly harmful in economically less developed countries Political: costs of advertising can limit political competition to wealthy candidates or to those willing to compromise their integrity; distorts the views and records of opponents Cultural: corrupt culture and cultural values by contradicting sound traditional values; can create superficiality, tawdriness, and moral squalor; ignore educational and social needs of certain segments of the audience; contributes to stereotyping of particular groups Moral and religious harms: deliberate appeals to motives of envy, status seeking, and lust creates vulgar and morally degrading advertising; treat of religion in obnoxious and offensive manners; can promote morally suspect or perverse products and practices

1.

This is an interesting point. Art is good, as are tasty, witty, entertaining things, as opposed to tawdry, superficial things, full of moral squalor. But can we believe an advertiser has a moral duty to provide such things?? I think so: by this argument.

1. We all have the moral duty to do good when reasonable and to avoid evil when possible.

2. Advertisements (and media in general) that are tasty, witty, entertaining does good for our culture, making it more pleasant and humane, while tawdriness, superficiality, and moral squalor harms the culture. 3. Advertising has a great effect on our culture in general, making this moral duty is all the more serious.
Therefore, advertisers have a moral duty to create tasty, witty, entertaining advertisements when this is reasonable, and to avoid tawdry, superficial and morally squalid advertising when that can be avoided. The burden of proof would be upon the advertisers to show why in any particular case the demand to make advertising tasty, witty, and entertaining was an unreasonable demand, or why tawdry and superficial advertisings couldn't have been avoided.

Institute for Advertising Ethics

BY RJI ON MARCH 17, 2011 2 COMMENTS IDEAS
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Institute for Advertising Ethics | Interactive Discussion on the Importance of Advertising Ethics |Advertising Ethics as University Curriculum | Advertising Ethics: Wally Snyder's Rallying Cry for the Industry | Endorsement Resolution Advisory Council | Preamble | Principle 1 | Principle 2 | Principle 3 | Principle 4 | Principle 5 | Principle 6| Principle 7 | Principle 8

PROCESS FOR ENDORSING PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES FOR ADVERTISING ETHICS "The Advisory Council of the Institute for Advertising Ethics encourages the endorsement and promotion of

the Institute's Principles and Practices for Advertising Ethics by Marketers, Advertising Agencies, Media Companies, and academic, professional and business associations. The procedure, as stated in the accompanying Resolution, dated April 14, 2011, is very straight forward and simply requires notification to the Executive Director, Wally Snyder atwsnyder@aaf.org, that the company or organization is endorsing the principles utilizing the name of the Institute for Advertising Ethics. All parties so notifying the Executive Director will be posted on the Institute's Websites. The Instiute also will review recommendations to add additional Commentaries to the Principles and will announce approval through publication on the Institute's Websites,www.aaf.org ; and www.rjionline.org."

Read the Institute for Advertising Ethics Resolution

The Institute for Advertising Ethics (IAE) is administered by the American Advertising Federation (AAF) in partnership with the Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) and the Missouri School of Journalism. Its fundamentalPurpose is to Inspire Advertising, Public Relations and Marketing Communications Professionals to Practice the Highest Personal Ethics in the Creation and Dissemination of Commercial Information to Consumers. The Mission of the IAE is to serve as the primary resource for advertising professionals and academics and students on issues regarding advertising ethics, to include (1) Conducting research on the importance of, and issues regarding, ethics in advertising; (2) Educating advertising, public relations and marketing communications professionals, and academics and students on the importance and content of advertising ethics through (a) the articulation of Ethical Principles and Practices for Advertising, along with the Commentary, on this Web

site, and (b) by conducting online and offline conferences and seminars; (3) Designing and issuing awards to companies and professionals for enhanced advertising ethics; and (4) Facilitating interaction between advertising, public relations and marketing communications professionals, and academics and students for discussion on all areas of advertising ethics.

Advisory Council
The Institute for Advertising Ethics is governed by Independent Council consisting of the following professionals.

Wally Snyder, IAE Executive Director, AAF Board Member and President Emeritus, and Visiting Professor, Missouri School of Journalism David Bell, Operating Advisor, Pegasus Capital Advisors, L.P., and Chairman Emeritus, Interpublic Group Howard Bell, AAF Board Member and President Emeritus Laurence Boschetto, CEO and president, Draftfcb Robert Burnside, Partner, Chief Learning Officer, Ketchum Margaret Duffy, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair, Strategic Communication Faculty, Missouri School of Journalism Linda Eatherton, Partner, Director Global Food & Nutrition Practice, Ketchum Brian Steffens, Director of Communications, Reynolds Journalism Institute Tim Love, Vice Chair, Omnicom Group William Price, Chairman, Empower MediaMarketing James Sterling, Professor, Strategic Communication faculty, Missouri School of Journalism Tiffany R. Warren, Chief Diversity Officer, Omnicom Group Bob Wehling, retired Global Marketing Officer, Procter & Gamble Ex Officio Members:

James Edmund Datri, AAF President and CEO Dean Mills, Dean of the Missouri School of Journalism Legal Council

Jill P. Meyer, Attorney at Law, Frost Brown Todd LLC

Principles and Practices for AdvertisingPreamble

The explosion of new technologies is changing the marketing and advertising landscape both domestically and globally. New media, new ideas, new challenges, new cultural opportunities are swirling around the industry and impacting the way it does business. The one constant is transparency, and the need to conduct ourselves, our businesses, and our relationships with consumers in a fair, honest, and forthright manner. This is especially true in today's often hostile environment, with revelations of wrongdoing in particular industries and government programs resulting in an erosion of public confidence and trust in all our institutions. It is particularly fitting in such times that we remind ourselves of the ethical behavior that should always guide our personal and business conduct. The eight Principles and Practices presented here are the foundation on which the Institute for Advertising Ethics was created. They are based on the premise that all forms of communications, including advertising, should always do what is right for consumers, which in turn is right for business as well. For while we are in an age of unparalleled change, this overriding truth never changes.

Principle 1
Advertising, public relations, marketing communications, news, and editorial all share a common objective of truth and high ethical standards in serving the public. Commentary This principle is based upon The Journalist's Creed , enunciated by Walter Williams , first Dean of the Missouri School of Journalism. Mike Fancher a veteran journalist from The Seattle Times has done in-depth research regarding The Journalist's Creed as a Fellow of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. He has concluded that Walter Williams believed that both journalists and people on the business side of a public journal share the responsibility to serve the public, and both must respect each other's important contributions. Fancher writes, "It's probably important to remember that Walter Williams was a country editor. That means he did a little bit of everything, including selling ads. That's one reason a single standard of public service was essential. He must have regarded

advertising content as a public service, which explains his belief that 'advertising, news and editorial should alike serve the best interests of readers.'" This conviction is held today by Jeff Levick, President, Global Advertising and Strategy, AOL, and a 2010 Inductee into the Advertising Hall of Achievement. Jeff states, "It's critical for the industry to acknowledge and accept that advertising is commercial information that must be treated with the same accuracy and ethics as editorial information." Advertising is extremely important to consumers and to our market place economy. It provides consumers with information about the products and services in which they are interested and it fosters competition. For these reasons government has brought legal actions to prohibit its restraint by private groups, and the Supreme Court has held that truthful commercial speech is protected under the First Amendment.

It is clear that consumers want and expect advertising to be held to high ethical standards. Research supports the high value that consumers place in honest and ethical advertising. For example, in research conducted by four student teams at the Missouri School of Journalism, "honest" advertising ranked as the number one factor that would make a company ethical. See also, "Does Being Ethical Pay?" The Wall Street Journal , May 12, 2008.

Advertising has long been committed to high standards of truth and accuracy in all forms of advertising, creating theNational Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, and the National Advertising Review Board (NARB), in 1971 to foster these standards across all forms of commercial messaging. Nevertheless, our industry must further enhance our advertising ethics if we are to build consumer trust for our profession and brands. The latest research from the Adweek Media/Harris Poll shows that only one in five Americans trust advertising most of the time and 13% say they never trust it. Inspired advertising professionals will practice and benefit from enhanced advertising ethics.

Principle 2
Advertising, public relations, and all marketing communications professionals have an obligation to exercise the highest personal ethics in the creation and dissemination of commercial information to consumers. Commentary The role of professionals is central to the practice of high ethical standards by their companies. These principles are meant to serve as guideposts for professionals in carrying out their professional responsibilities. The importance of advertising to consumers and the economy stimulates our professionals to practice the highest levels of ethics. When you believe in what you do when you know how important your work is you want to do your best in carrying out your responsibilities.Adam Werbach, Chief Sustainability Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi, and 2010 Inductee into the Advertising Hall of Achievement, believes in the day to day importance of advertising and high ethics. He states, "As new professionals enter the advertising world it is imperative they are aware of the importance of high ethics to their consumers and their careers." More and more companies will be including the issue of ethics in their evaluation of performance. The first mission of the Institute for Advertising Ethics is to educate our professionals as to the importance of truthful, ethical advertising; to reinforce that they are "professionals" in the clearest sense of the word. The Institute also will educate our industry and professionals as to the competitive opportunities afforded by consumers to those companies practicing enhanced ethical advertising. Also, recognition will be provided to companies and individual professionals practicing enhanced ethics by national awards presented at the annual National Conference of the American Advertising Federation .

Principle 3
Advertisers should clearly distinguish advertising, public relations and corporate communications from news and editorial content and entertainment, both online and offline. Commentary This addresses an ongoing issue where the line is being blurred between commercial communications on the one hand, and news/editorial and entertainment, on the other. If consumers are unaware the "news" or "entertainment" they are viewing actually is advertising, they are being misled and treated unethically. First, consumers could attach more credibility to the content if they believe it to have been written as a news story. Second, they will not have their minds set in a "business mode" to evaluate the claim, as they would do if recognizing it as a paid for, persuasive ad. Walter Williams, Dean of the Missouri School of Journalism (1908-1935), denounced this unethical practice in a speech given on October 22, 1919, to the Associated Advertising Clubs of Iowa as he stated, "A newspaper cannot be independent in the opinion of the public if it carries advertising disguised as editorial comment or news. It is a species of dishonesty no less because it is sometimes practiced for a newspaper to express pay opinions in disguised advertising and thereby deceive its readers. The readers have a right to demand frankness, as opposed to deception. Honesty convinces permanently. Deceptive advertising lowers the standing of a newspaper." Collection 2533, Williams Speeches, folder 627, Western Historical Manuscript Collection Columbia Unfortunately with the dramatic explosion of media sources, blurring of commercial and editorial content is more of an issue today than it was in Walter Williams' time. The concerns continue to this day with advertising in the form of news articles, unsubstantiated claims in press releases, and unattributed commercial content on social networking sites, all of which have been the subject of regulatory or self regulatory activity.

Principle 4
Advertisers should clearly disclose all material conditions, such as payment or receipt of a free product, affecting endorsements in social and traditional channels, as well as the identity of endorsers, all in the interest of full disclosure and transparency.

Commentary The explosion of word of mouth marketing and blogging about commercial products and services creates special concerns about the blurring of advertising and editorial content. "Of particular concern is the need for advertisers to be transparent about the conditions for creating online endorsements, for example through bloggers or social media. It is often not clear whether people are endorsing on their own, or if they are being compensated by a brand/company or are even part of the brand/company organization. The anonymity of the online world requires extra efforts for practicing ethics." Marc Pritchard, Global Marketing Officer, Procter & Gamble. "This area is going to get even more complicated in the months and years ahead. Disclosure with bloggers may well be the easy part. How do you responsibly disclose when 140 million global members of Twitter are restricted to 140 characters per tweet, and any attempts at disclosure gets lost in the first pass-along. Acknowledge forcefully that responsible advertisers must be extremely proactive on this front, and perhaps even over-compensate." Peter Blackshaw, Chairman, Council of Better Business Bureaus. Recently, the National Advertising Division (NAD), the industry's self-regulatory arm, and theElectronic Retailing Self Regulation Program (ERSP) have taken a number of self regulatory actions when a company is either sponsoring a site or paying for product review by bloggers without a clear, conspicuous and meaningful disclosure of that fact. The Federal Trade Commission, the chief federal regulator of advertising, has also amended itsEndorsement and Testimonial Guides to require bloggers to disclose when they are paid by a company, and when they work for the company whose product is being blogged, also when they are given the product free of charge. Individual companies have developed specific disclosure codes for use in their endorsement advertisements and by bloggers on behalf of their products. The Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) also has developed an ethics code that covers this principle.

Principle 5
Advertisers should treat consumers fairly based on the nature of the audience to whom the ads are directed and the nature of the product or service advertised.

Commentary This includes advertising to children, who have been stated by the advertising industry's Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) to be especially vulnerable by virtue of their inexperience, immaturity, susceptibility to being misled or unduly influenced, and lack of cognitive skills to evaluate the credibility of advertising. Children's understanding depends on the manner in which the ad is designed and disseminated. Advertisers should always practice the highest ethics when advertising to children. Today, children are connected to products on TV, radio, print and the internet. This includes ads on cell phones, G-rated DVDs and when playing computer games and video games on company Web sites where the products are featured. As provided in the CARU Guidelines and reported self regulatory actions, advertising should be clearly distinguished in the eyes of children from news content and from entertainment and games. For example CARU has found the content and presentation of certain print ads in children's magazines to mimic articles, and children's TV ads to be structured like a newscast segment. The Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative is an outstanding illustration of how the food industry modified its advertising directed to children under twelve to encourage healthier dietary choices and healthy lifestyles. Begun in 2006 with ten participating companies, today seventeen food and beverage marketers have agreed voluntarily to advertise to children 12 and under only "better-for-you" products. This is a demonstration of advertising ethics by the industry that is monitored by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. Advertising also should treat consumers fairly based on the "nature" of the product or service. Products that should be advertised in a highly ethical manner include alcoholic beverages. An illustration of industry ethical efforts are the self regulatory codes adopted by the Beer , Distilled Spirits and Wine industries that, among other things, limits all alcoholic beverage ads on television to programs with 70% adult audiences. Prescription drug advertising directed to consumers (DTC) also is a prime example of advertising requiring high ethics. This is a major category of television and print advertising that while providing beneficial information to consumers about medical products and procedures is getting considerable attention from regulators and lawmakers. The pharmaceutical industry has published a code on DTC advertising: PhRMA Guiding Principles Direct to Consumer Advertisement About Prescription Medicines.

Principle 6
Advertisers should never compromise consumers' personal privacy in marketing communications, and their choices as to whether to participate in providing their information should be transparent and easily made. Commentary This principle relates to "Behavioral Advertising" an online marketing innovation that promises great benefits for advertisers and consumers by delivering advertising relevant to the consumers' interest. Consumers are segmented via their computers according to the interests they express in online activities, such as search queries, ads they click on, information they share on social sites and products they put in online shopping carts. Advertisers use this data to direct more relevant ads to the consumer. This cuts down ad costs and also elevates the effectiveness to consumers in getting the products and services they want. Yet, research data shows that consumers fear that behavioral advertising infringes on their personal privacy. Also, many consumers may not even be aware that commercial information is being collected when they are online. This has caused great concern from the government, with both Congress and the Federal Trade Commission threatening to take regulatory steps such as creation of a proposedDo Not Track program. In response to these concerns, marketing and media trade associations are launching a new online self regulatory initiative that will give consumers enhanced control over the collection and use of Web viewing data. The program promotes the use of a new "Advertising Option Icon" and accompanying language to be displayed in behaviorally targeted ads and on Web pages where behavioral data is collected. By clicking on the Icon consumers will receive a clear disclosure regarding the use of their online data and also be able to easily opt-out of such collection. By participating in this new self-regulation program advertisers have an outstanding opportunity to build consumer trust in regard to the company's behavioral advertising. Bill Cella, chairman and CEO at the Cella Group and veteran media expert, counsels that "Advertisers should encourage suppliers to follow the Advertiser's guidelines and make sure their individual medium is also not compromising the Advertiser's customer's personal data/habits."

Tim Armstrong, Chair and CEO of AOL, commenting at our on campus ad ethics forum at the Reynolds Journalism Institute, stated that the impact of the "broadband" expansion is very positive for consumers because it provides them with so much more information and connections, and it is positive for advertising to be able to reach more consumers effectively. He said the keys to ethics are better transparency and that consumers be able to easily make choices. Tim Armstrong believes that ethics can be established "online" through thousands of "one on one" dialogues with consumers where the person is "helped."

Principle 7
Advertisers should follow federal, state and local advertising laws, and cooperate with industry self-regulatory programs for the resolution of advertising practices. Commentary Principle 7 is based on the Council of Better Business Bureau's Code of Business Practices that also provides specific information bearing on ethical practices. The platform for all ethical advertising is that the claims must be truthful and non-misleading. The Federal Trade Commission , the principle federal regulator of advertising, requires that advertisements must be substantiated by a prior "reasonable basis" of fact. Further, ads cannot omit "material facts" the inclusion of which would render the ads false and misleading. The FTC's Web site contains cases and guides that provide astatement of important legal principles. The Food and Drug Administration regulates prescription drugs advertising directed to consumers. The advertising industry also has created an outstanding self-regulatory program covering both adult and children's advertising. This program has earned the respect of the Federal Trade Commission. In the commentary to the IAE's principles and practices certain of the government and industry self-regulatory cases will be discussed.

Principle 8
Advertisers and their agencies, and online and offline media, should discuss privately potential ethical concerns, and members of the team creating ads should be given permission to express internally their ethical concerns. Commentary

It is clear that we can only enhance advertising ethics if our professionals from the very top and throughout the account, creative and media teams all practice the highest ethical standards. There should always be the expectation that ethics will be considered proactively before the ad campaign is disseminated to consumers. The driving consideration must be that we need to do what is best for the consumer. And, the belief must be cherished that by doing so we are doing the right thing for ourselves and our careers and our company will be rewarded by consumers. Ad professionals will not be rewarded for ads that offend our consumers. Wally Snyder, Executive Director of the Institute for Advertising Ethics, in his teaching at the Missouri School of Journalism, has the occasion to "role play" in regard to advertising ethics. For example, in discussing a Public Service Advertising (PSA) campaign with the goal of getting young people to vote, he asked creative classes their views on the ethics of a print ad showing a young woman silenced and tied up with duct tape. Several expressed concerns that the ad depicted violence against women. This, in fact, is what women expressed in social networking sites. When Snyder asked the students if they would express those concerns to him, as the account executive who would be taking the proposed ad to the client the answer was "Yes, if you give me permission." Holding ethics discussions and giving permission is essential. And the mandate must be from the top down and run all through the company. Denis Beausejour, former Vice President of Advertising for Procter & Gamble, states, "It boils down to people being responsible and a key part of this is to encourage every practitioner to feel safe in speaking their conscience." The discussion and consideration of ethics has to take place in the fast paced and competitive world of advertising creation and placement. Yet, we must take the time to resolve ethical dilemmas. Rushworth Kidder in his book on ethics states, "You've got to think about it, reason it through, get the mind in gear and grapple with the tough issues. In other words, you've got to be mentally engaged." "How Good People Make Tough Choices", p. 59, by Rushworth H. Kidder, Harper 2003 Ethicists who have worked within the world of Journalism, advise that internal processes must be established with companies to ensure that time is taken to make the right ethical decisions. This includes educating the professionals as to the company's ethical standards. The IAE is collecting illustrative practices now being conducted in the industry to share on this Web site.

Ketchum has a certification goal that all of its colleagues are aware of its disclosure and ethics policies. Further, they must pass an annual test on the company's ethical standards. The Institute also has conducted and will conduct research regarding the importance and meaning of advertising ethics to consumers. The high impact of advertising ethics was reported in consumer research conducted by four Capstone student teams in 2009 at the Missouri School of Journalism. The primary research consisted of online surveys with follow-up interviews. 2011 Wallace S. Snyder. All rights reserved. To request permission to use this content contact Wallace S. Snyder at wsnyder@aaf.org. _________________________________________________________________________ __________________ *These Principles and Practices for Advertising Ethics and the underlying commentaries will be updated on an ongoing basis for use by advertising professionals in their discussions and resolution of ethical questions. www.aaf.org and at the Reynolds Journalism Institute.

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Small Business Human Resources Business Ethics Advantages & Disadvantages of Business Ethics

Advantages & Disadvantages of Business Ethics

by Lynne MacDonald, Demand Media

Related Articles

Advantages & Disadvantages of a Care Home as a Business Advantages and Disadvantages of the Corporate Form of Business What Are Advantages and Disadvantages of a Small Construction Business? The Advantages and Disadvantages of an Unsecured Business Loan Advantages & Disadvantages of Business Rules The events that led up to the economic recession in 2008 and 2009 have placed a renewed emphasis on business ethics. Questionable financial reporting, inflated executive compensation and worthless public assurances undermined consumer and investor confidence. The Rasmussen index of investor confidence reached its lowest ever level at 52.5 on March 9, 2009.

Business Ethics
Some commentators, such as Milton Friedman, believe that the "primary and only responsibility of business is to make money" while abiding by the law. Supporters of this point of view argue that companies' self-interested pursuit of profit benefits the whole of society. Profitable businesses clearly benefit shareholders, but other commentators, such as Edward Freeman, argue that businesses should also benefit other stakeholders. Stakeholders are people and groups with whom the business has a relationship. This includes shareholders, but extends out to include employees, their families, the community within which the business operates, customers and suppliers.

Advantages
Business ethics offer companies a competitive advantage. Consumers learn to trust ethical brands and remain loyal to them, even during difficult periods. In 1982, Johnson & Johnson spent over $100 million dollars recalling Tylenol, its best-selling product, after someone tampered with bottles of the painkiller. The company followed its credo, a set of ethical organizational values, and the result was a boost in consumer confidence, despite the contamination scare. Society benefits from business ethics because ethical companies recognize their social responsibilities.

Disadvantages
Business ethics reduce a company's freedom to maximize its profit. For example, a multinational company may move its manufacturing facility to a developing country to reduce costs. Practices acceptable in that country, such as child labor, poor health and safety, povertylevel wages and coerced employment, will not be tolerated by an ethical company. Improvements in working conditions, such as a living wage and minimum health and safety standard,s reduce the level of cost-savings that the company generates. However, it could be argued that the restrictions on company freedom benefit wider society.

People, Planet, Profit

Companies increasingly recognize the need to commit to business ethics and measure their success by more than just profitability. This has led to the introduction of the triple bottom line, also known as "people, planet, profit." Companies report on their financial, social and environmental performance. The Dow Jones Sustainability Index benchmarks companies who report their performance based on the triple bottom line. This type of performance reporting

acknowledges that companies must make a profit to survive, but encourages ethical and sustainable business conduct

Advantages & Disadvantages of Ethical Compliance in an Organization

by Arnold Anderson, Demand Media

inShar e

Share RSS Email Ethical compliance within an organization is done for the benefit of the company and the employees. The use of ethical standards can both reduce the chances of a workplace lawsuit and help to create a positive work environment. Before establishing your corporate ethical policies, you need to understand both the advantages and disadvantages of ethical compliance in an organization.

Laws
Local, state and federal laws help to guide part of a companys ethical policies. For example, a zero tolerance corporate policy for sexual harassment is in response to the many laws that govern this kind of workplace activity. Ethical compliance helps companies to develop a work culture that abides by the workplace laws and reduces the costs associated with fines and lawsuits.

Workplace Culture
A policy of ethical compliance helps to create a workplace culture where all employees are treated with respect. Employees are given equal access to advancement opportunities and the workplace becomes a positive and nurturing environment. A strong ethical standard in the workplace helps to create strong working relationships between the staff and management. It reduces employee turnover, improves morale and has a positive effect on productivity.

Lack of Management Support

One of the disadvantages of an ethical compliance program is that it requires the comprehensive support of management to be effective. If members of the management team decide to apply their own version of corporate ethics to the way they manage their departments, then this clash of principles can cause

confusion in the workplace. For example, a manager who tends to look the other way when his employees are committing sexual harassment sets a precedent that can start to undermine the entire corporate culture.

Costly
Developing, implementing and maintaining an ethics compliance program within your organization can be expensive and time-consuming, according to attorney Michael G. Daigneault, writing for the Maryland Association of CPAs. Ethics policies need to be continually updated to reflect changes in workplace laws and changes in your company culture as the organization grows. Proper administration of an ethics program often requires the hiring of an ethics officer and the commitment of company financial and personnel resources.