In today's fiercely competitive market, advertisers resort to numerous ways, not all fair and ethical, to survive. While the basic aim of advertising is to create awareness about a product to prospective consumers, advertisers sometimes resort to unethical means, make exaggerated claims and mislead the gullible public. This article emphasizes that marketers have an obligation to observe common and uniformly acceptable ethical norms while advertising their products and services.

Advertising, as a distinct form, is usually agreed to have begun with newspapers in the 17^th century in the form of included line or classified advertising. Simple descriptions, plus prices of products served as advertisements till the late 19^th century, when technological advancement meant that illustrations could be added to advertising and color was also a choice.

However, it was not until the surfacing of advertising agencies in the latter part of the 19^th century that advertising became a full-fledged organization, with its own ways of working and with its own creative values. These agencies were a retort to a more and more crowded marketplace, where manufacturers were realizing that promotion of their products was very important if they had to survive.

Advertising is the most spirited industry in India. It facilitates both presentation and price wars among products and services. The magnitude of advertising is "progressively on the increase in contemporary society." That observation, made by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications a quarter century ago, is even more true now. Advertising, using media as its vehicle, is an unrelenting, powerful force shaping attitudes and behavior in today's world. In today's society, advertising has an insightful impact on how people comprehend life, the world and themselves, especially with regard to their values and their conduct of choosing and behaving.

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