Ethical Issues In False Advertising

Ethical Issues in Marketing Within the field of marketing, marketers are forced to choose between obeying their subconscious or foregoing their morals and set principals. Whether following a proper code of ethics or not, marketers put their career on the line in hopes of advancing the success of a company or product; however, many marketers in today’s industry feel as if there is a greater chance of gaining success if unethical practices are put into place. Due to an increasingly competitive atmosphere within the field of marketing, numerous ethical issues are produced, among them false advertising, stereotyping, and subliminal messaging. Marketers have set aside all morals and have resorted to using false advertisement to deceive customers in hopes of advancing business. False advertising is successfully accomplished through the use of misleading implications, tricky contracts, disrespectful actions, and promise breaking. For example, credit card companies advertise zero percent APR, but after a certain period of time, raise their APR to twenty two percent without properly warning clients. Not only did …show more content…
Sheehan, Assistant Professor for the College of Communications at the University of Oregon, defines stereotyping as a way to intrigue certain audiences by targeting and portraying a group of individuals that share the same culture, gender, or race and by exploiting their behavior and beliefs through unfair characterization (81). Marketers believe stereotypical portrayal helps sell product and benefits large companies. For example, if a marketer is trying to sell a sports car, the advertised car would be surrounded by beautiful women. Not only is the marketer trying to grab the attention of a male audience by seducing them through the women’s sensuality, but is also physiologically stating that if one buys this car, the owners will take part in obtaining a beautiful woman, as seen in the