The Ethics of Online Advertising

Introduction

It goes without saying that making false claims, offering a bait-and-switch deal, and similar tactics are immoral when it comes to online advertising. (Spinello 78). However, those aren’t the only moral matters to think about. There are social risks associated with advertorials, interstitial ads, pop-up and pop-under ads, contextual links, and overlay advertisements. Today’s society is relying more and more on computers to help the majority of people get through their everyday lives. However, cookies and pop-up advertisements are currently making people furious and irritated. The main reason why so many people are getting angry and annoyed is because they feel as if cookies and pop-up ads are bad things that computer companies are trying to sabotage them with. What these people do not realize is that cookies and pop-up ads are both forms of Internet advertising that many companies make millions of dollars off of each year and can enhance the user experience. On contrary, some individuals and companies abuses the ethics requirements in online advertisement. For example, in the case of publishing the work of J.D Salinger, “The Catcher in the Rye” which went viral with conflicting interest. This paper will therefore analyze different issues in ethical online advertisement. In addition, it will also cover what they are, what it is that people like or dislike about them, and if these forms of advertising are ethical or unethical.

The Problem with Advertorials

Still on the same article, one type of advertising that can be problematic is the advertorial; an ad that is intentionally made to appear like an article. This is also called native advertising. There is a longstanding rule in the publishing industry that any ad that could be confused with editorial content must be clearly labeled as an advertisement (Spinello 91). This is true on the web just as it’s always been true in print. A good example of an advertorial is the Feature by Sony campaign launched several years ago. It consisted of articles written by freelancers who presented themselves as average citizens writing about how they used technology. The articles were commissioned and paid for by Sony.Our point of view is that there is nothing wrong with advertising on the Internet, but sometimes the way in which the companies go about advertising is not ethical. It is not ethical because in some ways Internet advertising is invasion of privacy. The definition of invasion of privacy is; the wrongful intrusion by individuals or the government into private affairs with which the public has no concern.

Current Case/New Article

Considering the current case involving the author J.D. Salinger, an author wrote a book in which a character known as Mr. C was allegedly modeled after the character of Holden Caulfield, from Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. After Salinger sued, the sequel’s author claimed that his work was a parody, an argument rejected by the district court. The court determined that fair use would not succeed as a defense and granted Salinger’s request for a preliminary injunction. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the fair use analysis but reversed the case regarding the standard used for the preliminary injunction. Important factors: Aging the character and placing him in the present day does not add something new, particularly since the character’s personality remains intact as derived from the original work. In fact, he published and advertised the book using cookies and pop-up ads, an action which was against the will of the complainant. According to ethical standards in online advertising, Salinger was really unethical and unfair. His decision was uninformed and ill intended.

Ethical Issues with Advertising Practices

For the scenario of Feature by Sony campaign, they often did not even mention Sony except in sidebars, which made them especially hard to distinguish from normal site content, an action which highly justified how advertisers violate the ethics in online advertisement. But what really drew criticism was that the labeling to distinguish the articles as advertising was often in very small type, and sometimes the word “advertising” was not even used. Some types of ads are ethically problematic even if it’s obvious that they’re ads. For instance, in April, 2017, travel retailer Orbitz stirred up controversy in more than one media outlet by running kick-through ads - display ads that take the user to a site when they merely mouse over an ad (Spinello 71). The fact that kick through ads seem to have disappeared from the web likely is due to the outcry against them.

Analysis and Conclusion

In analyzing the above presented case, it is true cookies and pop-up ads are the main types of Internet advertising majority of advertisers use. However, in the presented case, Salinger did not ethically use them as he ended up conflicted other’s interest. This has lead to conflicting views on use of cookies and pop-up ads in online advertising and whether each of them is ethical or unethical (Spinello 131). Cookies are a good way that internet companies target their consumers. The ways that they enhance the user experience and help run complicated sites is a great benefit to Internet users; however, there are no benefits of pop-up ads. The only conclusion that we can draw from pop-up ads is that they are obnoxious to the Internet user. Next time you are surfing the net you will hopefully consider the ethics of the Internet advertising you are viewing.

Work Cited

Spinello, Richard A. Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2006. Print.