In modern community, every
behavior need be covered by rules or laws. In general, public laws and rules
can control people’s behaviors and avoid issues occur. Advertisements also need
laws and regulations determine what its can or cannot do. However, not every
issue is covered by a rule. Marketers must often make decisions regarding
appropriate and responsible actions on the basis of ethical considerations
rather than on hat is legal or within industry guidelines (Belch, p731).
According to variety of
advertisement, I collect three typical examples of advertisements that are
ethically questionable. One of the major
complaints against advertising is that many ads are misleading or untruthful
and deceive consumers (Belch, p733). As the example of untruthful
advertisement, I find Nestle. Nestle is one of biggest multinational food and
beverage companies around the world. As the infant formula producer, Nestle
marketed their product as a breast milk replacement in developing countries.
According to the article about Nestle milk issue, the author mentions the New
Internationalist published an exposé on Nestlé's marketing practices in 1973,
"Babies Mean Business," which described how the company got Third
World mothers hooked on baby formula (Krasny, 2012). They used the motivation
that consumers who believe infant formula could give baby better nutrition, and
the purpose of third world women yearned for westernization to promote their
products could substitute breast milk.
Furthermore, relationship
between advertising and children also need society to notice. Children issue
always is an sensitive topic in advertisement and media market. Children are
group of people who easily influenced by media and promotion. Therefore,
advertisers must deal with the issue of advertising to children. Here is an
example of Walmart’s Geo Girl cosmetics line especially for age 8 to 12. This
cosmetics line promotes eco-friendly products for children’s health. However,
using make-up products to young is not positive to children’s mental health. Studies
show that girls are susceptible to body image issues and developing low
self-esteem, as well as being confronted with issues about dating and sex at
younger and younger ages. The NYU Child Study Center (NYUCSC) reports that
girls' self esteem peaks when they are about 9 years old and then declines
steeply (Newell, 2011). While Geo Girl is not first cosmetics line to be
marketed to teens, these products that will make tweens early maturing need be
consider to unethical promotion.
The final example will
appear is sexual appeals. Sexual appeals that be used in advertising always be
critical to public. He advertising appeals that have received the most
criticism for being in poor taste are those using sexual appeals such as
suggestiveness or nudity (Belch, p735). A common criticism of sexual appeals is
use sex objects to attract consumer’s attentions. Like the ads of Abercrombie & Fitch are
known by using sexy models to promote their products. In some special festivals
like Black Friday, Abercrombie & Fitch show their muscular men models at
outside of the store to attract people shop in their store. In 2003, thousands
of Americans threatened to boycott the store, causing it to stop selling the
cataloge for a time (Roger, 2012).
(Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/13-brands-that-use-sex-to-sell-their-products-2012-2?op=1 )
Reference:
Belch,
G., & Belch, M. (2012). Advertising and promotion: An integrated marketing
communications perspective. (9th ed.). McGraw Hill Education.
Jill
Krasny (Jun 25, 2012). Every Parent Should Know The Scandalous
History Of Infant Formula. From Business Insider website. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/nestles-infant-formula-scandal-2012-6?op=1#ixzz2yH8t6BIS
Andrea
Newell (Jan 31, 2011). Walmart’s Geo
Girl: Eco-friendly Cosmetics for 8- to 12-year-olds. From Triple Pundit
website. Retrieved from http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/01/geo-girl-eco-friendly-cosmetics-tweens/
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