Ethical Advertising And Social Benefits Of Advertising

Social benefit
Along with public service announcements, advertisements can have a positive effect on social benefits. Advertisements are a form of free speech and can promote free speech among others (Morley). In countries where free speech is not accepted, this can be especially true. When one sees an advertisement that originated from the United States for example, where free speech is encouraged, it could remind the viewer that free speech is important. Advertisements also support freedom of choice. Advertising is a must for competitors to keep up with each other and keep their product relevant in the market. Consumers see the multiple advertisements supplied by competing businesses and are reminded they have plenty of options and are not …show more content…
The intention or goal of the advertisement depends on the issuer. Advertisements that are benefiting one over the many are more likely to participate in using unethical tactics. Businesses tend to overstate the effectiveness of their product or service in the advertisement. They will also use false or misleading information to entice you into purchasing their goods. They will use tools such as Galbraith’s dependence effect which creates a synthetic problem in your life that there product solves. They use these tools of deception in order to generate more sales. Therefore these advertisements are not for the good of the consumer and are considered …show more content…
This is a more complicated version of unethical advertising where it’s not what is said in the advertisement but it’s what is not said. Advertisements will focus on the strong points of their product or service but will fail to mention any weak points no matter how critical they may be. This is done in order to create a misconception of the product or service and to distort the views and opinions of the consumers (Snuggett). For instance, if you were in the market for a house and the seller told you the roofing is brand new, the kitchen was just refurnished, and the house is located in a safe neighborhood but failed to mention that the plumbing isn’t in the best condition and there is some termite damage in the basement. By omitting the plumbing and termite damage the house seemed more attractive. There is nothing illegal about this advertising method but it is without a doubt unethical. Any and all information should be provided about a product or service so a consumer can make an informed purchase. By only providing the benefits of the product and none of the drawbacks, the consumer is being