Ethics In Advertising

Advertising also has an indirect but powerful impact on society through its influence on media. Many publications and broadcasting operations depend on advertising revenue for survival. This often is true of religious media as well as commercial media. For their part, advertisers naturally seek to reach audiences; and the media, striving to deliver audiences to advertisers, must shape their content so to attract audiences of the size and demographic composition sought. This economic dependency of media and the power it confers upon advertisers carries with it serious responsibilities for both.

The promotion is that tell consumers about the products, to try to attract them to buy the products. Advertising must tell the truth, but, even today, some advertising is simply and deliberately untrue. I have meet some people, who never believe believed what the advertising had said, because he believed that the advertising always lie. Generally speaking, though, the problem of truth in advertising is somewhat more subtle: it is not that advertising says what is overtly false, but that it can distort the truth by implying things that are not so or withholding relevant facts. On both the individual and social levels, truth and freedom are inseparable; without truth as the basis, starting point and criterion of discernment, judgment, choice and action, there can be no authentic exercise of freedom. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting the Second Vatican Council, insists that the content of communication be "true and-within the limits set by justice and charity-complete"; the content should, moreover, be communicated "honestly and properly."

Advertising, like other forms of expression, has its own conventions and forms of stylization, and these must be taken into account when discussing truthfulness. People take for granted some rhetorical and symbolic exaggeration in advertising; within the limits of recognized and accepted practice, this can be allowable.

But it is a fundamental principle that advertising may not deliberately seek to deceive, whether it does that by what it says, by what it implies, or by what it fails to say. "The proper exercise of the right to information demands that the content of what is communicated be true and, within the limits set by justice and charity, complete. ... Included here is the obligation to avoid any manipulation of truth for any reason."

The evolution of sales promotion has also changed the way experts define the practice. At one point, the official definition of sales promotion proposed by the American Marketing Association was: "Marketing activities, other than personal selling, advertising, and publicity, that stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness, such as displays, shows, exhibitions, demonstrations, and various nonrecurrent selling efforts not in the ordinary routine."

We can refine the definitions by examining what sales promotion does today. Sales promotion offers an "extra incentive" for consumers to act. Although this extra incentive is usually in the form of a price reduction, it may be additional amounts of the product, cash, prizes, premiums, and so on. Furthermore, sales promotions usually include specified limits, such as an expiration date or a limited quantity of the merchandise. Finally, sales promotion has three somewhat different goals, which relate to its three target audiences: (1) to increase immediate customer sales, (2) to increase support among the marketer's sales force, and (3) to gain the support of intermediaries (resellers)in marketing the product.

Public relations is "The are and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action which will serve both the organization and the public interest." Developing, designing ads, preparing written messages, and buying time or space for their exposure are the primary concerns of advertising people. In many companies they are separate uncoordinated functions. Partly this is due to tradition and partly to differences in functions. With respect to the former, public relations has historically been physically separated from advertising. This separation has been a result of the nature of the work performed by public relations as well as the people working in public relations. The public relations function operates at two different levels in most companies. One is that you have the technical people who write news releases and produce brochures and newsletters; another level you have the public relations counselor who advises senior management on public opinion and the anticipated impact of corporate actions. For example, the coco-cola has made a kind of coco-cola with an new taste, but the product was failed absolutely, then the company re-produce the coco-cola with the old taste and occupied the lost market. Since public relations is not considered a direct profit generator and has difficulty verifying its accomplishments, individuals working in advertising are sometimes reluctant to incorporate public relations into their planning. Conversely, individuals working in public relations are often unwilling to work with others outside their field, particularly people involved in marketing or selling. Public relations people are often trained as journalists, with little background in marketing or advertising.

The emerging partnership of public relations and advertising is moving rapidly toward a focused interaction with all individuals who are in a position to influence the fortunes of an organization. Public relations must increasingly become a management discipline, like advertising, involved in the earliest stages of corporate strategy. As mentioned, every company has a corporate image, although sometimes not quite by design. Managing a public relations image begins with a plan. The plan should complement the marketing and advertising strategies so the organization communicates with one clear voice. Public relations should also align the organization's interests with the public interest so that both are served. These public interests are expressed as public opinions.

I agree with the IMC. Because of the modern information technology and the convenience traffic, the market is not limited in one area but the whole world. IMC is necessary for the advertising, because it is very effective and cheap. Advertising is limited to be paid. Now personal message communicated through the various media. While we are using traditional media, this definition is still useful. But what happen to definition of advertising when we utilize internet? Someone who clicks banner advertising jumps to one company's web site, he/she virtually experience some product or service and decide to buy one. In this flow, can we distinguish the function of advertising and IMC? Or is it meaningful to distinguish? The answer is very clear, they will be both alive.

In the world of internet, definite border line between advertising, IMC will continue. Consumers try to gather information for their convenience by their own way, sometimes they buy products and evaluate them and the companies. They speak the evaluation to their friends or write comment on the company's web site or using e-mail. The company can get information of visitors of the web site, customers who shopped their products or services on the internet. After carefully analyzing their taste, it do some promotion for the next purchase.

We could not catch all about this flow when we use traditional advertising media but now we can do thanks to internet, which give us an useful tool for the IMC. With the tools, the budget will be lower and the effect will be better.

Some opinion about the ethic in advertising:

The importance of advertising is "steadily on the increase in modern society" which means that advertising is for the company to get the prospect's Attention. For that objective advertising should use media as its vehicle, as is a pervasive, powerful force shaping attitudes and behavior in today's world.

We wish to call attention to positive contributions that advertising can and does make; to note ethical and moral problems that advertising can and does raise; to point to moral principles that apply to this field; and, finally, to suggest certain steps for the consideration of those professionally involved in advertising, as well as for others in the private sector.

In today's society, the field of advertising is extremely broad and diverse. In general terms, of course, an advertisement is simply a public notice meant to convey information and invite patronage or some other response. As that suggests, advertising has two basic purposes: to inform and to persuade, and-while these purposes are distinguishable-both very often are simultaneously present.

Advertising is not the same as marketing or public relations (the systematic effort to create a favorable public impression or 'image' of some person, group, or entity). In many cases, though, it is a technique or instrument employed by one or both of these.

Advertising can be very simple just as a local ad or it can be very complex, involving sophisticated research and multimedia campaigns that span the globe. It differs according to its intended audience, so that, for example, advertising aimed at children raises some technical and moral issues significantly different from those raised by advertising aimed at competent adults.

I disagree with the assertion that advertising simply mirrors the attitudes and values of the surrounding culture. No doubt advertising, like the media of social communications in general, does act as a mirror. But, also like media in general, it is a mirror that helps shape the reality it reflects, and sometimes it presents a distorted image of reality. The important thing is that advertising can not be a tool of a cheat. Untrue advertising is the killer to the advertising industry. Advertising must be true.