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Transcript of Ethics Truth
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D M S Lalitha Kala Maha Samstana(Affiliated to Karnataka Open University Mysore)
A Synopsis on
Ethics and Truth in Advertising
Submitted by
M B Chandra Shekhar
Under the guidance of
Guide
Sri Jayaraj ChikpatilMFA, M.Phil.
Dean
Prof V B Hiregoudar
2011-12
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Table of content
1. Statement of Research 01
2. Introduction 02
3. Need for the study 03
4. Objectives of the study 04
5. Definition of Advertisement 05
6. History of Advertising 06
7. Importance of Advertising 07
8. Ethics in Advertising 08
9. Truth in Advertising 09
10. Legal Aspects of Advertising 11
11. Conclusion 12
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Statement of Research
Research Proposal
A Study on whether there are Ethics and Truth in Advertising
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Introduction
Ethics and Truth are closely interlinked concepts and therefore it is essential to
analyze them in detail separately.
Ethics is a set of moral principles, norms or values. It is a branch of socialscience dealing with good and bad and hence moral duties and responsibilities
of an individual as a social and rational animal. In other words, ethics is
concerned with those values that determine the moral conduct in a given group
or community. Moral principles are the rules or the standards of what is wrong
or right. Therefore morality deals with right or wrong conduct. Here the word
Morality is comprehensive than the term ethics because moral values include
ethical values but opposite is not true. It is true that one which is right is always
good and one which is wrong is always bad. For example: fooling others is wrong
and therefore bad being honest is right and therefore good.
Truly speaking, it is not easy to define the term truth as it is not easy to define
the term truth as it is the most elusive one. The more we try to get to it, the more
it becomes a mirage right from the time immemorial, the entire world is in search
of truth; yet no one knows about its nature and its whereabouts; It is the greatest
philosophical controversy. Then what is truth?
Then what is the relationship between advertising and these terms namely,
ethics and morality? It is established fact that advertising is psychological social
and business process of persuading the people to buy products or services. The
test of its success is that it results in increased sales and increased share in themarket and profits. Advertising gets aggressive and acrimonious due to ever
increasing competition; so each advertiser wants to excel his rival in techniques
of spending on advertising. In the process of acute and cut-throat competition,
there are chances of discounting truth to succeed in the art of making multiplied
sales and profits. However advertiser has the social and moral obligation towards
the consumers because it is the consumer who pay to the last rupee of
advertising expenditure. That is why, it has to be right so that it is good. Good
advertisement does not mean both effective and honest. It means that right
advertisement is good advertisement. A right advertisement is one which is just
and true. It is proper and appropriate.
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Need for the study
As the student of Applied Art and the professional who are in advertising field it
makes us mandatory to know the extent of truth and ethics in advertising. Truth
and Ethics in advertising makes one sober in dealing with the client, customers
and those who are influenced by advertising without affecting his business.
The Legal aspects of advertising also upholds the truth and ethics in advertising.
With these highlights the consumer, retailer, producer, company, industry
collectively everyone has to know the truth and ethics in advertising since
everybody are influenced by the advertising from different media to procure the
products which he uses daily to satisfy his needs. Since everybody has the moral
and social responsibility, he cannot afford to be dishonest and this demands
everyone to know the truth and ethics in Advertising.
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Objectives for the study
It is commercial honesty that prevails than the absolute honesty. One need to
know the difference between the two to avoid the confusion within and the
society inlarge.
To study the Truth and Ethics in its absolute and commercial aspects in
advertising.
To develop the sense of commercial honesty and absolute honesty to
avoid conflict within oneself.
Influence of Truth and Ethics on the Economic Health of our country.
The study of legal responsibility which upholds the judicial truth which is
another side of the coin of morality.
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Definition of Advertisement
N H Borden, writing in the Economic Effects of Advertising defines advertising
thus: Advertising includes those activities by which visual or oral messages are
addressed to the public for the purposes of informing them and influencing them
either to buy merchandise or services or to act, or be inclined, favourably towardsideas, institutions or persons featured. As contrasted with publicity and other
forms of propaganda, advertising messages are identified with the advertiser
either by signature or by oral statement. In further contract to publicity,
advertising is a commercial transaction involving payment to publishers or broad
casters and others whose media are employed.
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Importance of Advertising
Commercial Importance
Advertising being sponsored messages, the manufactures and traders have to
live up to the claims made by them and hence the same result in commercial
innovations and continuous improvements in quality.
Economic Importance
Advertising helps to increase the demands of products and consequent sale of
larger quantities which stimulate economics of production. This tends to reduce
the cost of a product per unit, the advantage of which ultimately goes to the
public at large in the form of lower prices. Similarly, the advertising revenue
subsidizes the price of a news paper and helps to bring in better sponsored
television and radio programmes, for the benefit of people
Social Importance
Governement Departments, Public Sector Organisations and school institutions
are able to reach the people only through advertising for popularization of health
care measures, family planning, smoking hazards, elimination of drug abuses,
admission to educational courses, employment, etc.
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Ethics in Advertising
Ethics is a set of moral principles, norms or values. It is a branch of social
science dealing with good and bad and hence moral duties and responsibilities
of an individual as a social and rational animal. In other words, ethics is
concerned with those values that determine the moral conduct in a given groupor community. Moral principles are the rules or the standards of what is wrong
or right. Therefore morality deals with right or wrong conduct. Here the word
Morality is comprehensive than the term ethics because moral values include
ethical values but opposite is not true. It is true that one which is right is always
good and one which is wrong is always bad. For example: fooling others is wrong
and therefore bad being honest is right and therefore good.
Ethics Defined
The set of rules, principles and beliefs about right and wrong, good and bad,
justice and injustice, duty and obligation which governs peoples behavior, or
which they believe ought to govern their behavior.
Then what is the relationship between advertising and these terms namely,
ethics and morality? It is established fact that advertising is psychological social
and business process of persuading the people to buy products or services. The
test of its success is that it results in increased sales and increased share in the
market and profits. Advertising gets aggressive and acrimonious due to ever
increasing competition; so each advertiser wants to excel his rival in techniques
of spending on advertising. In the process of acute and cut-throat competition,there are chances of discounting truth to succeed in the art of making multiplied
sales and profits. However advertiser has the social and moral obligation towards
the consumers because it is the consumer who pay to the last rupee of
advertising expenditure. That is why, it has to be right so that it is good. Good
advertisement does not mean both effective and honest. It means that right
advertisement is good advertisement. A right advertisement is one which is just
and true. It is proper and appropriate.
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Truth in Advertising
Truly speaking it is not easy to define the term truth as it is the most elusive one.
The more we try to go near to it, the more it becomes a mirage. Right from the
time immemorial, the entire world is in search of truth; yet no one knows about its
nature and its whereabouts. Then what is truth? For an ordinary man truth meansfacts; The events that have happened or taken place over a period of time. This
common mans truth is same as Judicial truth. Judicial truth is the content of the
swear taken by each entering the witness-box in the court of law. It runs as: The
whole truth and nothing but truth. Here truth means all the facts and nothing but
truth means no mixing of lies with the facts.
Truth is vital to the sound economic health of advertising industry. The
effectiveness of advertising, as a tool of promotion, vanishes if the people begin
to believe that advertisements are false or wisely designed to fool them. No
advertiser can fool all the consumers of all the time. Unfortunately, the credibilityof advertising has been under criticism for decades. They are of the opinion that
social stature and image of advertising would improve if advertisement were not
truthful. The image is not really one of trust and appreciable because of five
reason pointed out by professor E J Kottman.
1. Not all the advertisements are truthful advertising image because human being
is a generalizing animal goes straight to the general from a particular case.
2. Most persons Intellectuals and critics alike do not make difference between
factual statements and value judgments.
3. The meanings which people ascribe to advertisements are frequently different
from those stated or implied. In other words, people infer notions or formulate
their own propositions that are untrue or unbelievable and conclude that it is the
advertising that is untrue.
4. Each advertisement appears to be full of contradictions, either stated implied
or inferred. Thus each producer says his product is the best. In fact, it can not be.
This makes the consumers to take them at discount.
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5. Much of the advertisement fanfare about the trivial, particularly of all products
or nation-wide scale such as soft drinks, cosmetics, soaps, drugs etc. It attempts
to make the insignificant seem significant, and is no doing, earns for advertising a
kind of pseudo image.
For an average man, truth means facts; the events that have happened or takenplace over a period of time. It is same as Judicial truth. This Judicial truth is not
applicable to the world of advertising. That is why no advertisement gives the
total picture of the product or service. It presents only the brighter side
concealing the defects. It is commercial honesty that prevails than the absolute
honesty. The different forms of this commercial honesty are
1. Facts exaggerated
2. Facts perverted
3. Total lies
Since the advertiser has the moral and social responsibility, he cannot afford to
be dishonest. The main reasons for this are
1. That his reputation is at stake
2. That he cannot take undue advantage of truth and faith put in him by the
society
3. He has legal responsibility which is another side of the coin of morality
4. That the consumers are getting organized
5. That truth never fails, but it prevails
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Legal aspects of creative advertising
The Sachar commission which was appointed by the Government of India for the
purpose of revising the companies act and the MRTP Act had said in its report.
The objection taken is not to the advertisement of the product which it may be
necessary to do in order to acquaint the public with the articles. What is,however, insisted on is that there is an obligation on the seller, namely, that if he
advertises, he must speak the truth. The commission had named, in its report,
many sales promotion methods which were found to be deceptive. The
commission had recommended in its report that the following acts of sellers
should be declared as untraded practices:
(a) Misleading advertisements and false representation a seller should not
represent falsely that the goods are of a particular standard, quality, grade,
composition, style or model, and that the re-built, second hand goods are new
goods.
(b) Offering of gifts or prizes with the intention of not providing them and
conducting promotional
contests.
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Conclusion - Are there ethics and the truth in advertising
Ethics and truth which are closely interlinked concepts. Ethics which is a branch
of social science which deals with what is good and bad and hence moral values
and responsibilities of an individual and a society has to be uphold. Speaking
from this angle, advertiser has moral responsibility that it is good. Goodadvertisement does not mean effective but one which is right. Right
advertisement is one which is just the true, proper and appropriate.
For a common man, truth implies facts the events that have taken place over a
period of time which is same as Judicial Truth. This Judicial Truth is not
applicable to the world of advertising. That is why no advertisement gives the
total picture of the product or service. It presents only the brighter side
concealing the defects. It is commercial honesty that prevails than the absolute
honesty. Since the advertiser has the moral and social responsibility, he cannot
afford to be dishonest where in his and the company reputation will be at stake.
By taking a small steps of knowing the importance of truth and ethics he will be in
advantage over others who does not know about the differences between these
terminologies and how to follow it. The person follows the rule of the land by
following the legal procedures which is enforced on us as legal responsibility
which is another side of the coin is morality. By this different aspects we come to
know the real truth that never fails, but it prevails
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