The End is Near

Geez, is the semester over already? It feels like just yesterday that I was dreading coming into this class. I know that seems harsh, but to someone who considers herself to be extremely conscientious, a mandatory course in ethics can initially seem pointless. But I have to say that by the end of it all, this class proved to be indeed valuable, and I am thankful that I was forced to take it.
            
I had taken a course in philosophical ethics back in junior college in 2006, so I was familiar with most of the ethical theories (however, considering the time lapse, a refresher didn’t hurt). In that class we mostly applied these theories to general life situations, which made for some very interesting class debates when we got to topics like assisted suicide and homosexuality. Although in this class the situations to which we applied the theories were more professional, I feel that this kind of study seems more real in the fact that many of the cases we examined will be similar to experiences I will encounter in the real world as an advertiser.
            
I learned, much to my dismay, that a lot more unethical, underhanded behavior occurs in the communications industries today than I would have imagined. This was a bit disheartening, and I hope that I do not someday work for a company that makes some of the more heartless decisions that we have discussed. While most of the cases we looked at were issues of tremendous impact, I know that at the very least, there will be issues of a smaller scale that I will encounter everyday in my professional pursuits. As we joked about in class, I will probably never sit down and make out a Potter’s Box to assess all the facets of the situation, but being familiar with the different methods of ethical evaluation will prove useful in making a decision in which I will be confident.
            
I learned quite a bit form the coursework, too. Although there were times that the case studies seemed like an absolute nightmare, this kind of group writing taught me a lot (mostly that people can’t write). I feel that a group paper is one of the hardest things to do and even harder to do well. Depending on so many different people with different schedules and work habits was nerve-racking at times, but it was satisfying to get all of our ideas together in a cohesive manner in the end. Since I will be starting graduate classes in journalism next spring, it was good practice to write with others and spend hours editing my brains out.
            
I have also enjoyed writing these blogs. I firmly believe that to be able to write conversationally is an important skill to have, and these assignments provided some great practice for just that. While I write my own personal blogs about the craziness behind the service industry and weekly write blog entries for the web development agency for which I work, I liked creating work that was actually graded. This constructive criticism has really helped me to become more aware of some of my more common mistakes, and I truly hope to continue to grow and improve as a writer (thus the grad school immediately following graduation). I enjoyed the challenge of writing in an attempt to meet the rigid standards and from this, have truly learned a good deal about writing just in the course of this class.
            
As droning as the legal stuff towards the end of this semester seemed, there was much with which I was not familiar. Not only did I learn a lot by studying the legal aspects we examined in class, I also learned that there is much more for me to learn in order to be well versed in the industry regulations by which I will have to abide. In order to move forward, one must understand the past, and these regulations are in place because of past mistakes and abuses of freedom. To ensure that I do not unknowingly repeat these mistakes, I now realize that I need to thoroughly understand the legal implications of advertising. I want to work in a way that is not only ethical, but also legal. I would hate to one day be in the midst of a crisis like one of those presented in class simply because of uninformed negligence.
            
As the industry faces a new set of challenges ushered in by the Digital Age and the rise of social media, the rules of privacy, slander and libel are forced to quickly evolve to regulate the relatively new online world. This creates a whole new realm of ethical dilemmas, and as a part of the new generation of communications professionals, I will help in shaping the future of this budding medium. I feel that the knowledge I have acquired in this class has prepared me to direct this medium in a positive direction.
            
While this course sometimes proved stressful, looking back I see that I have truly learned from it in a way that will make me a better and more ethical advertiser. Maybe I just will make a Potter’s Box at work sometime in the future, who knows?

Saving Private Info

I laugh at the fact that there are people who want to argue the issue of privacy on a website where they voluntarily pour out their entire lives online—that’s right, I’m talking about Facebook. I remember the first time I realized that the advertisements on the right side of my Facebook homepage were strangely customized to my personal interests, but instead of the rage and violation many experienced, I felt joy.

            
Granted, this was after I had made a personal commitment to a life in advertising. Some would say my positive response was out of empathy for the profession. While this might have had some kind of effect on my reaction, I honestly feel that I would have felt more or less the same way otherwise. Instead of being presented with ads for hair re-growth miracle products and trips to locations I’d love to visit but could never afford, I was receiving advertisements for tickets to my favorite band’s Dallas tour date and sales at local running-shoe stores. How could this possibly be a bad thing?
            
It turned out there were a good amount of people who did not regard this extraction of personal information to be such a marvelous occurrence. Not only do I defend this marketing mining with its usefulness, but I also would very much like the opportunity to remind these naysayers that the Internet is no place for information they wouldn’t want, or expect, to be public.
            
But alas, there are still those naïve enough to believe in a magical world where the Internet is a safe and secure place. Those poor rubes, I assume they are the same ones who make identity theft a simple task for digital thieves. It’s not that I wouldn’t want a world where this wishful thinking was a reality, but it is simply not possible.
            
I can (sort of) understand how some would regard Facebook’s move to sell off its users’ marketing information as a violation of privacy. There is this kind of perceived safety under the veil of a “private profile,” but still, I would never think that this kind of privacy was extended to the administrators of that site. I would assume that they had the right to access my information, or even sell it, in exchange for providing me and hundreds of millions of others with a free social networking website. I do suppose that I have always been leery of anything “free,” assuming that there always has to be a catch—and there almost always is.
            
The creators of sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others like them did not put the time and effort in creating a site that provides a service free-of-charge to simply bring joy to its users. No, they of course invested their time and money for the same reason most people do—to make money. And to make money, this often implies one of two things: the consumer pays for the content or the advertisers pay for the content. I, for one, still prefer the latter, even if that requires marketers rustling through my personal interests and contacts. I use the word “personal” loosely considering it is information voluntarily posted on an online venue.
            
The Digital Age has certainly altered the idea of privacy. Just the other day I was thinking about how my cell phone is constantly giving away my geographic location and preventing me from ever getting away with the murder of my mortal enemies (Damn!). But at the same time, I no longer waste time driving around lost, I can find local businesses right when I need them and I am even made aware that my friends are at the bar just next door so I can join them instead of continuing to spend the rest of my night alone. (That last one is based on a true story.)
           
While there are compromises to privacy in exchange for a life with this kind of convenience, I personally feel that it is worth it. I love being able to connect with distant family, people I’ve encountered throughout every stage of my life and new contacts halfway around the world that I may never even meet in person. I like having the opportunity to share my life with others and display my interests. If marketers are interested in that information and want to use it for targeting purposes, let them. Advertisements will plague me everywhere anyway, so it might as well be messages that might actually appeal to me. It’s ultimately up to me whether or not I buy the advertised products anyway.
            
It seems as if privacy is now practically limited to what goes on within one’s own head and heart, and the only true gatekeepers to this information is one’s own mouth and hands. It has become a personal responsibility of each person opting into an online presence to control what information is shared and that that is not. I feel that it is time for people to understand that this kind of restraint is the only way to ensure privacy in today’s digitalized world.