Advertising Ethics

It is debated that the act of ethical thinking is taught rather than being born with it. I personally believe that we are both born with it and taught how to use it through the duration of our lives. Ethical thinking varies from person to person, as discussed in class, due to the different societies and cultures that we’ve been brought up in. Though it may vary, there are many ethical thoughts many of us have in common.

In the advertising society there are many different types of ethics. The ethics I used are the “Standards of Practice”. Within these “Standards of Practice” there are five main ethics that advertisers follow. There advertisements must not contain (1) false or misleading statements, (2) inaccurate testimonials, (3) misleading price claims, (4) insufficient claims and (5) offensive material. The reason that I have chosen these five (and why I like this certain code of) ethics is because I believe they are the most important aspects of advertising’s code of ethics. They illustrate terms that are universally and legally ethical. I think the most important aspects of the code of ethics are that every human is able to acknowledge that what is ethical to them may not be ethical others; and they should respect that. In understanding what is universally seen as ethical and understanding various different country’s/culture’s different ethical views there may be less debate.
With that said, it is extremely important that advertisers understand their market through extensive research to assure they do not use/portray anything that is seen as unethical in a certain society. In following these steps thoroughly, advertisements should not be seen as completely unethical, especially with the proper research done. One must understand that is extremely hard to create an advertisement that is seen as completely unethical because, as I stated before, what is seen as ethical and unethical varies from person to person, city to city, culture to culture and country to country. Currently there is nothing that I do not like about this code of ethics because there is nothing I can find that can be seen as unethical. Keeping in mind that market research is done thoroughly and it is advertised properly.

The link I have chosen to write my blog on is http://www.ehow.com/about_6538990_code-ethics-advertising.html. I chose this link because it has illustrated an effort to help regulate advertising and hold advertising agencies to equal and ethical standards (Chevere, G., 2010). It also lists, defines and explains the five Standards of Practice each agency must follow within their advertisements (Chevere, G.).

Reference:
Chevere, G. (2010). Code of Ethics for Advertising. Retrieved September, 28, 2010, from http://www.ehow.com/about_6538990_code-ethics-advertising.html.