Ethics in Advertising Essay

Advertising refers to deliberate communication with the aim of influencing an audience to take a particular action like buying products, ideas, or services. Different principles govern advertising and ensure that the practitioners produce effective, considerate, and successful advertisement. Ethical principles refer to the set of moral principles that are nondiscriminatory, non-deceptive, non-maleficent, and beneficence for the enhancement of societal well being. On the other hand, the self-regulatory principles for online behavioral advertising that refer to the program that provides consumer-friendly regulations that address the issue of personal information use while protecting online advertising.

Zinkhan, George M. “Advertising ethics: emerging methods and trends.” Journal of Advertising 23.3 (1994): 1-4.

In the article Advertising Ethics: Emerging Methods and Trends Zinkam states that ethics is an important code as it helps managers and public policy makers find better ways to communicate with their audience. To understand ethics practitioners need to identify advertising practices that are harmful to society. The practices with harmful effects present difficult moral options and choices for the managers. Additionally, Zinkam posits that there are areas in advertising that will immensely contribute to the future study of advertising ethics. The areas include Sexual stereotyping, racial stereotyping, negative political advertising, alcoholic beverage ads, tobacco advertising, advertising to children and use of deception in ads. The author outlines different research methods used in ethics research to identify topics for future research in Ethics. The results of the research method affirm that alcohol advertising is an area that requires in-depth research and analysis. Zinkam believes that advertising ethics is a broad and important aspect that is continuously developing. Due to the advancement in technology and new arising advertising strategies, this area attracts thorough and extensive research.

Knowles, Jeffery D., et al. ”Industry Releases New Self-regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising. (Legal Review) - Response | HighBeam Research.” Research - Articles - Journals | Research Better, Faster at HighBeam Research, 2009, www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-208771742.html.

Knowles, et al. talk about the new program known as the Self-regulatory principles for online advertising. The new program seeks to implement principles that will provide consumers with choices and transparency needed in the information they give online for behavioral advertising. Several organizations, for example, the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) and the Direct Marketing Association saw the need of providing consumers with effective self-regulatory principles for online behavioral practices.   The new program will cover search engines, providers of desktop application software; internet access services providers, web publishers, advertising agencies, and advertisers. The program provides consumers with control and comprehension of how data collected on personal information helps in delivering relevant advertisements. The program also assists in providing relevant continuous advertising for people while protecting the personal information of the consumers. The self-regulatory program makes use of several principles to ensure it is effective. The principles seek to protect the consumers while making the advertising agencies accountable for the privacy and better use of the information collected from the consumers.

Lockley, Lawrence C. ”Use of Principles in the Management of Advertising.” The Journal of Marketing

(1955): 258-260.

Lockley states that management principles in advertising rely on an individual ability to foretell the business results that will follow the advertisement. According to the author, advertising largely depends on a group or an individual’s psychological response offering a hopeful platform for generalizations. Thus, it is necessary to create management principles that will make it easy to predict and guide the goal of an advertisement to increase the economy. Since most of the advertisers intentionally create an advertisement to achieve a particular purpose, the guiding principles should major on the objectives of the market structure and strategies. Lockley provides a list of hypotheses complied from years of research in business advertising and case analysis.  The author hopes that the hypotheses will open a platform for further research value their input. In spite of the author’s effort to form some generalizations, this area requires extensive research from advertising executives and scholars. However, the creation of management principles for advertising is an invaluable aspect that will aid in the success of advertisements.

In conclusion, the authors provide different aspects of advertising principles that will assist in improving the experience of the consumers and the advertisers. In addition, the principles highlight the gaps that exist in research about the advertisement. As the world continues to evolve, so does new strategies of advertising, which will need new approaches to manage and guarantee the success and efficiency of advertising.

Works Cited

Knowles, Jeffery D., et al. ”Industry Releases New Self-regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising. (Legal Review) - Response | HighBeam Research.” Research - Articles - Journals | Research Better, Faster at HighBeam Research, 2009, www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-208771742.html.

Lockley, Lawrence C. ”Use of Principles in the Management of Advertising.” The Journal of Marketing (1955): 258-260.

Zinkhan, George M. ”Advertising ethics: emerging methods and trends.” Journal of Advertising 23.3 (1994): 1-4.