It's the age-old question that was no doubt first considered when merchants or their `criers' shouted out in markets trying to lure customers to buy their goods: when does advertising become unethical? Unethical is defined as "not conforming to approved standards of social or professional behavior" (Source: www.dictionary.com). On the surface, an answer might be: when some type of physical, psychological, or financial harm is done. Unethical can also refer to a disruption of societal norms-something that disrupts our values and norms as determined by the religious, governmental, and political institutions to which we look for moral and ethical guidance. Perhaps, the major issue is determining who takes the lead for maintaining society's ethics and determining if something unethical has occurred. This article explores the different perspectives on who is responsible for ensuring that advertising is ethical.
Advertising is generally defined as "the act of attracting public attention to a product or service" (See www.dictionary.com). Executives involved in the industry claim that advertising is simply about `greasing the wheels of commerce'. One former executive with McCann Erickson, and current consultant Mike Ferrier noted that "all advertising does is attempt to move your means from one purchase to another. To access a portion of your purse-known as `share of pocket'. To do this, it has to present the product or service in a way that interests or is seen as useful by the prospect. The purchase decision is always the customer's. The allocation of funds is always the customer's decision. Don't underestimate the customer. Remember what David Ogilvy said-the consumer isn't a moron-she's your wife!"
The advertiser, its representative agencies, and the media firms in which the advertisements are placed, all share in the responsibility for making sure that the claims made can be substantiated, and that they are in compliance with any relevant laws. And while compliance with laws can be comparatively easy; compliance with codes of ethics from various societal members and organizations can be much more difficult. A recent search using Google.com found that there are 1,370 links identified with "Advertising+Code+ Of+Ethics"; 2,130 links identified with the search phrase "Marketing+Code+Of+Ethics", and over 25,100,000 links which were identified based on the phrase "Code+Of+ Ethics". And while English is still the dominant language on the Internet, it is not the only language, suggesting that these figures may be considerably higher.
While there are often similarities between the codes, they are typically tailored to the values and norms of the organization that created them. In addition to the many national governments, and advertising (and marketing) industry associations, other organizations who listed advertising code of ethics were organizations such as the American Osteopathic Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Water Quality Association, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
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