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Ethics in advertising can sometimes be borderline between what is right or wrong. There are
rules and guidelines in place for the advertising companies to follow so they don't upset or
offend any viewers. But, what is as unethical advertising? Well, using advertising in a way
that is misleading and uses false claims to get the public to buy the product they are trying
to sell is unethical, because of its misuse of the information that is presented to the public.
This article will show what is seemed to be unethical in advertising.
Ads that are used in the political realm can sometimes be misleading and use false
information or bend the truth to get the public to sway their votes towards them. An ad in
the campaign for the election between McCain and Obama used an ad with misleading
information. Such as, saying that a developer received $20 million in tax payers money, but
the truth was there was no money received. This can be considered unethical as they are
giving false information to the public, which is done a lot in political advertisement.
An advertisement that is made should be able to identify what the targeted audience is. But,
sometimes this is not always done. When advertising towards children it should be clear
what the product is and what is for. As children can sometime misrepresent and not quite
understand what the ad is saying, especially under the age of 12. However, some might say
that it is unethical to target children under the age of 12 as, they may not understand what
an ad is and view it in a way that they are not supposed to. However advertisement is
constantly been shown for children like in campaigns for beverages and food in posters at
schools and some debate if advertising in schools is unethical.
Just like advertisements in commercial or billboards, the internet has its own issues in
advertising as well. As they can sometimes promote untrue claims and when this happens it
can have a negative impact on their product and brand. There are ethical guidelines for
problematic ads that can look an article, on the internet. Those ads can be misinterpreted
with editorial content needs to be labeled, that is an advertisement. Otherwise it unethical
when this isn't displayed. Using advertising in this way is misleading and it shows that view
the consumer as naive, which is unethical.
By not putting the right amount of information makes the public believe something in a
different way because of what has been said. This may lead them into a wrong direction and
buying a product that is not right for them.
Using out right lies in advertising is part of unethical advertising and doesn't follow the
guideline practices that they have to follow when demonstrating a product to the consumer.
Lying about what the product, gives false information and makes them believe that
something is true when it is not. Which should be avoided in advertising as it will eventually
give them a bad reputation, because of its misuse of information.
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Deceptive advertising, sometimes referred to as false advertising, is the practice of making claims or
statements in commercial advertising that is untrue, greatly exaggerated, or unsupportable by the
advertised product or service. While false advertising can indicate that something was done accidentally,
deceptive advertising is typically reserved for advertising that is purposely false or incorrect. This can
include print advertising, television and radio commercials, offers made through the Internet, and just
about every other type of advertising available.
O The role of advertising in our free market society is to help develop products that
satisfy consumer demands and to spur effective price competition. Advertising
informs consumers about the availability of products, their features, and price
information. Such information is vital to our competitive process. Advertisers employ
unfair business practices in order to gain an unfair advantage above their
competitors and to deceive consumers. The following essay examines the common
types of deceptive acts and practices involved and the federal government agency
that regulates advertisers. Government regulation provides a delicate balance
between free business enterprise and consumer protection.
The Federal Trade Commission is the federal government body that regulates,
monitors, and challenges advertising claims believed to be illegally deceptive. The
FTC uses the following criteria when determining to challenge an advertising
representation:
The representation, omission, or practice is material. The FTC evaluates the extent to
which the questionable ad influences behavior or purchasing patterns. A
representation, omission, or practice is material when behaviors or purchasing
patterns are affected.
The FTC has the authority to punish offending companies that compromise deceptive
advertising regulations. There are various types of remedies and sanctions available
to the FTC to enforce the law. Such remedies and sanctions include:
In order to avoid FTC scrutiny advertisers must have the ability to substantiate their
claims about a product's attributes or performance through "reasonable basis." An
advertiser that claims their product "kills germs that cause colds and flu," or
"stimulates 25 pounds of weight loss in one week" must gather sufficient evidence of
the claims validity, usually before the ad is printed or broadcast. If a complaint is
made to the FTC concerning the accuracy of an advertisements claim, the FTC will
assess the reasonableness of the advertisers substantiation in order to determine if it
serves the public interest. The reasonable basis doctrine applies to food, drugs,
devices and cosmetics because their effect to the public is direct and their use might
endanger life.
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O Fresh out of the image-damaging ``Belgian Coke scandal,'' Coca-Cola Korea Company
(CCKC) is once again the ``victim'' of an unrelated incident that could affect its king-of-pop
reputation.
The latest scandal began when an advertisement appeared in four Korean newspapers
yesterday that clearly compared Kunyoung Foods Co. Ltd.'s``Cola Independence 815'' with
Coca-Cola in favor of the former.
The Kunyoung Foods ad, which appeared on the front page of all four widely-read
newspapers, shows two cola cans -- one plastered with clippings of newspaper headlines
related to the Belgium Coke scare and the other,``Cola 815,'' sitting cool with trickling drops
of icy
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