I find the slideshow title “Ethics in Advertising: The Ultimate Oxymoron?” to be quite humorous but at the same time a bit disheartening. As someone who grew up aspiring to have a career that would benefit society, I often battle with my decision to pursue advertising. I like to believe in my heart of hearts that I can still do some good as an advertiser, but it’s disappointing that others before me have given the field such a bad name.
I feel that many of the guidelines for ethical behavior should be common sense, but they wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for instances in which unethical behavior has taken place by others in the past. As patronizing as the industry code seems to someone as conscientious and responsible as myself and others like me, it is unfortunately necessary.
The PRSA Member Code of Ethics attempts to instill a sense of moral duty among professionals in order to preserve the integrity of the profession. The code preaches values like honesty, respect and fairness, which I feel should be present in anyone’s personal code of ethics. Values like advocacy, expertise, independence and loyalty guide behavior to be as the role of the ideal public relations professional should be.
Unlike advertisers, public relations professionals must show a sense of objectivity to uphold the standard of the free flow of information. As a liaison between the client company and its various stakeholders, PR professionals must walk the tightrope of providing information to the public while remaining loyal to clients. This seems impossibly tricky, and I have the utmost respect for those who succeed in doing this.
In this sense advertising just seems easier. And maybe that’s because less is expected from advertisers when it comes to being objective—and even worse, when it comes to being ethical.
Given advertising’s past I can understand why expectations are so low. With the ruthless promotion of cigarettes that only lessened when legislators stepped in and with ads constantly run even today that are deemed as harmful to some degree, future advertisers face an industry that its audience views with contempt. This is unfortunate considering we will be expected to persuade and communicate with these people who have rightfully became wary of our messages.
The in wake of the Digital Age, regulating ethical behavior in the industry has become even more complicated. Again it seems that professionals are trying to get away with all they can until laws are passed that will restrict them from doing so.
Fortunately organizations such as WOMMA have stepped in to help guide those who cannot themselves act ethically in the online world. Respect and honesty are also present in WOMMA’s code along with responsibility and privacy. (I just want to say that I think the fact that “responsibility” has to be included in any code and isn’t simply common sense to any professional is just sad.)
Privacy is an important aspect in online marketing. In just the few short years that the Internet has been around, so many have abused the information that is available to them. But maybe I’m the fool for not thinking to access this information. I mean, people volunteer this information on a medium that they know to be public. Shouldn’t they expect that marketers and advertisers would dig up this marketing gold? Probably. But the real question is, is it right?
Some would argue that it is acceptable, but I stand by WOMMA and the AAF’s stance on transparency. I feel that professionals in both advertising and public relations should never act in secret when it harms the public, and I feel that encroaching on privacy is harm to the public. Not only that, invading privacy online only generates more negative feelings towards advertising, and that is the last thing this industry needs.
Even with codes of ethics and regulatory laws, there are still advertisers who are searching for the loopholes before they close. This kind of behavior is incredibly retroactive for the industry. We need to advance as advertisers. Good marketing messages are those that have the power to persuade while still being ethically executed and do not inflict harm.
This brings up the other thing about advertising that bothers me—those in the audience who deem messages harmful due to their lack of personal responsibility. We have discussed this in class and seem to all agree that there are many who wrongfully protest advertising messages and their effect due to their own lack of personal accountability.
There are those who blame advertising on every social problem from childhood obesity to their own financial crises. Advertising made their kid fat. Advertising made them spend money they didn’t have. Excuse my language, but that is total bullshit.
These kinds of accusations against the advertising industry anger me. Even when acting ethically, it seems that advertisers can still cause “harm” to the public. I suppose this is a case of deontological ethics versus teleological ethics. One can abide by ethical values in his decision making yet still produce consequences that are negative.
This worries me. I fear that I could one day be at the other end of one of these accusations. I love humor and especially hyperbole, but I could one day produce a message that’s humor is deemed offensive or that’s obvious hyperbole is seen as misleading. That’s seems to take a lot of the fun out of advertising. I wouldn’t use these treatments with the intention of causing harm, but it seems as if anyone can be sued for anything these days.
I suppose the only way to avoid this is to take it one decision at a time. I will have to act not only as I feel right but also have the foresight to consider any possible harm to follow that may not be immediately obvious. I guess being able to see into the future will prove to be just as difficult as the job of the PR tightrope walker. Boy, making everyone happy sure isn’t easy.
