Although the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency) has taken measures to prevent people taking advantage of their airtime, many of their standard on the advertising code are subjective. For example, ‘Adverts should contain nothing that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence’. When is a complaint ‘widespread’? And statements like the ‘overall impression’ and ‘prevailing standards of decency’, which is always changing. What is now considered perfectly acceptable may have been totally outrageous 50 years ago.
Recent advertisements that have caused controversy include recent adverts by Benetton. I personally find this range of advertisements vulgar and completely unnecessary. The advertisements include a man dying of aid’s who’s face has been digitally enhanced to make him look like Jesus and ‘War’ featuring a half naked male with a Kalashnikov in one hand and a femur bone in the other. Benetton did not make any contribution to any aid’s charities or to the man featured in it’s family and refused to comment on whether they had asked the family’s permission. The advertisement would have been possibly considered acceptable had it been made to promote the awareness of aid’s by a charity, but it was used purely for shock value so the consumer remembers the vendor’s name. Its use is very distasteful and uncalled for.
Another example of the misuse of advertising include an advertisement for Land Rover which features a bare-breasted African bush-woman whose breast’s are pulled sideways by the power of the passing vehicle. Complaints arose that it was ‘racist and sexist’. The advertisement has yet again been digitally enhanced, and the inference is that the model featured had no idea that this would happen. Her facial expression is astonishment, which leads me to believe that the woman has never seen a car before. This inference by the Car Company is trying to portray this, and make us much more superior if we were to purchase the car. The woman is made to look stupid, ignorant and easily impressed, which is a racist stereotyping by Land Rover.
The most shocking adverts are usually made by charities that want to shock you into giving money to help the victims in their upsetting and deplorable advertisements. Many advertisements include beautiful, toned and thin models, not just female but also male. Many females feel intimidated by these models and convince themselves that to be perfect they need to be just like them. Another tactic they use is things like saying you’re not good enough unless you buy their product. This is obviously untrue, but when you get an advert shown to you 5-10 times a day, you may begin to believe it subconsciously. The trick of repeating an advert time and time again is to reinforce the idea of the product in your mind.
Advertisers are also guilty of false advertising, as is recorded by Bill Bryson’s article for the Independent, which is also an extract from his book ‘Notes From A Big Country’. He recalls when he read an advertisement by Chevriolet, which boasted ‘109 advantages designed to keep it from becoming old before his time’. When this was checked fully by an automotive journalist the special advantages included rear view mirrors, reversing lights, balanced wheels and other such features, which are standard on all cars! This is allowed by the ASA and is completely legal, but if you did not know it was standard on all cars then you may be lead to believe that this car is more technologically advanced that its competitors.
Although adverts can be very irrelevant and cause negative responses in ourselves, it would not only be implausible, but impossible to ban advertisements altogether. If it was banned then not only would thousands of people loose their jobs, people be unaware of technological advances but also the economy would probably collapse. It is a utopian concept that is physically unobtainable, as without it our lives would cease to function in the same way.
It is my opinion that although advertisements can sometimes appal and upset us, they are necessary and a very valuable asset. Not only to the companies who want to sell more of their products, but also to us as the consumer as without it, how would we have sponsored events and know of the latest products on the market, which can help us with the way we live our fast paced lives? Without the use of advertising, things like the television, computer, Internet, even things such as disposable nappies may not be in such widespread use. The fact is, although many people would like to get rid of advertising, where would we be without it?
