Are Advertisements Honest?

 

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. But is informing and persuading both in line with each other? If you try to persuade, does it mean you inform the consumers the truth? If you inform, does it capture the minds (and the pockets) of the consumers? Not all the time, as I personally think about it.

Advertisers are selective about the values and attitudes to be fostered and encouraged, promoting some while ignoring others. This selectivity gives the lie to the notion that advertising does no more than reflect the surrounding culture. Now let's look at a more subtle shade of truth in an infamous Volvo commercial I read. In a real-life monster truck show, the Volvo was the only car left uncrushed - a great idea for a commercial! But to make the ad, the film company needed to shoot several takes. So they reinforced the beams inside the car to stand repeated squashing. When this came out in the press, Volvo was pilloried and their ad agency got fired, ultimately going out of business. Did it serve them right? Or was it a bum rap? No question the demo was rigged. But what it showed was the truth: if a monster truck runs over you once, you're safer in the Volvo. Is the advertisement itself honest? Technically, yes! Because one take has left the Volvo uncrushed. But how many takes did it take to crush the Volvo? Countless. So is Volvo’s marketing department and ad agency honest? That is for a consumer to decide.

 Advertising in itself is useful tool for sustaining competition by informing people of the availability of rationally desirable new products and services and improvements in existing ones. But Advertising weakens or undermines personal autonomy; that some kinds of advertising are immoral. Advertising plays on human desires for security, acceptance, and self-esteem to influence consumer choices. And as future business leaders, we have to take responsibility in Ethical Advertising. We have to make sure that: we respect truthfulness, the dignity each human person, and social responsibilities.