Marketing Communications

Chapter 21 : Ethical Issues in Marketing Communications

Social Responsibility

Ethics in Advertising

Puffery
Taste
Stereotyping
Advertising to Children
Promoting Unhealthy Products
Subliminal Advertising

Ethics in Sales Promotion

Contests and Sweepstakes
Slotting Allowances

Ethics in Advertising Research
Ethics in Advertorials and Infomercials

Regulations

Self-regulation
Regulatory Bodies

The Economic Effects of Advertising

Consumer choice
Competition
Product Costs and Prices

Chapter Summary

In this chapter, we discussed the ethics and social responsibility of an organization. Then we discussed ethical issues in various marketing communication instruments like advertising, sales promotions, etc. The main ethical issues in advertising are puffery, bad taste, stereotyping, targeting children, promoting unhealthy products and subliminal advertising.

Puffery refers to making exaggerated claims about the product, which cannot be proved. Advertisements are said to be in bad taste when they offend people. Stereotyping refers to portraying men or women in a particular role, with a negative image. Advertisements targeted at children are considered unethical as children are not capable of processing the given information.

Consumption of unhealthy products like fast food and tobacco products lead to bad health. So promoting such products is not good. In subliminal advertising, the viewer is exposed to product messages and pictures in such a way that he is not aware of watching them. We also discussed ethical issues in sales promotion, advertising research, advertorials and infomercials.

We went into the various regulations applicable to the advertising industry. The self-regulation and regulatory bodies operating in India were discussed in detail. Finally, we discussed the economic effects of advertising on consumer choice, competition and product cost & prices. Advertising influences people to buy heavily advertised products and pay more, as advertising costs are often passed on to the customers.