What Does Ethical Advertising Mean To Consumers?
In my previous entry I spoke about the ethical advertising agency process in terms of how it affects clients. This entry is about what it means to consumers. The term ethical advertising is almost an oxymoron. Do you know the old joke about the world's shortest book? It is a list of all of the truthful ads that have been created.
There is nothing wrong with offering up products and services, essential or non essential, for the world to consume at their discretion. But, and this is a really big but, not when the products or services are known to be harmful to the health of the consumer, like cigarettes. And not when the products or services are known to be defective like several of the prescription NSAIDs. And not when misrepresentation is involved like in the automotive industry. It is not okay to demonstrate the safety of a car by artificially reinforcing it with steel and then showing impact videos.
Ethical advertising can also take on other tones that are more personal and may reflect the beliefs of the agency owner. For instance, my agency will never accept the business of certain fast food restaurants. It has been proven that many fast food establishments serve extremely unhealthy food to a culture that has little time to spend on their eating habits and is suffering from excessive new cases of diabetes and heart disease. Many fast food restaurants have also caused excessive cruelty to animals in order to bring a more profitable product to market.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to view an ad and think that you could believe it and in the good reputation of the company behind it?
I know many warm, generous people who, most of the time, act in ethical ways. But when they grab their lunches at any number of fast food restaurants, the only deterrent to an order of a double cheese bacon burger, is the now mandatory calorie count that confronts each diner before they place their orders.
In gentle ways, I try to explain the health risks of choosing fast food, every day, even without the bacon, in such nutritionally,
environmentally and ethically challenged places. And in not so gentle ways - because there aren't any, I urge them to accept the responsibility they play by consuming their burgers and fillets in the long chain of suffering each animal endures from farm to processing plant to "happy meals".
Every day we're faced with decisions that are kind, cruel or neutral.
In fact, these decisions are made every time we open our mouths.
I'm glad to know there's an agency out there, like yours, that values
values.