INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

NEW DELHI

ADVERTISING

ADVERTISING AND SOCIETY: ETHICS, REGULATION, AND SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY

SUBMITTED BY:

CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

THE BENEFITS OF ADVERTISING

THE HARM DONE BY ADVERTISING

SOME ETHICAL AND MORAL PRINCIPLES

RECOMMENDATIONS

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABSTRACT

The importance of advertising is "steadily on the increase in modern society." That

observation, made by this Pontifical Council a quarter century ago as part of an

overview of the state of communications, is even more true now.

Just as the media of social communication themselves have enormous influence

everywhere, so advertising, using media as its vehicle, is a pervasive, powerful force

shaping attitudes and behavior in today's world. In today's society, advertising has a

profound impact on how people understand life, the world and themselves, especially

in regard to their values and their ways of choosing and behaving

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INTRODUCTION

Advertising is not the same as marketing (the complex of commercial functions

involved in transferring goods from producers and consumers) or public relations (the

systematic effort to create a favorable public impression or ?image' of some person,

group, or entity). In many cases, though, it is a technique or instrument employed by

one or both of these.

Advertising can be very simple — a local, even ?neighborhood,' phenomenon — or it

can be very complex, involving sophisticated research and multimedia campaigns that

span the globe. It differs according to its intended audience, so that, for example,

advertising aimed at children raises some technical and moral issues significantly

different from those raised by advertising aimed at competent adults.

Not only are many different media and techniques employed in advertising;

advertising itself is of several different kinds: commercial advertising for products

and services; public service advertising on behalf of various institutions, programs,

and causes; and — a phenomenon of growing importance today — political

advertising in the interests of parties and candidates. Making allowance for the

differences among the different kinds and methods of advertising, we intend what

follows to be applicable to them all.

We disagree with the assertion that advertising simply mirrors the attitudes and values

of the surrounding culture. No doubt advertising, like the media of social

communications in general, does act as a mirror. But, also like media in general, it is a

mirror that helps shape the reality it reflects, and sometimes it presents a distorted

image of reality.

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Advertisers are selective about the values and attitudes to be fostered and encouraged,

promoting some while ignoring others. This selectivity gives the lie to the notion that

advertising does no more than reflect the surrounding culture. For example, the

absence from advertising of certain racial and ethnic groups in some multi-racial or

multi-ethnic societies can help to create problems of image and identity, especially

among those neglected, and the almost inevitable impression in commercial

advertising that an abundance of possessions leads to happiness and fulfillment can be

both misleading and frustrating.

ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN THE MODERN BUSINESS WORLD

Advertising is a low cost way of conveying selling messages to numerous prospects

and is important in most marketing programs. Besides stimulating demand it serves

many other function. By using advertising to pre-sell customers i.e. to arouse and

intensify their buying interest in advance the management hopes to facilitate the

salesman’s selling task. Advertising after creating awareness about the product

develops interest among customers and hence facilitating job of a salesman

Contribution To Economic Growth

Advertising contributes to economic growth by helping to expand the market,

particularly for new products, and by helping to expand the market, particularly for

new products, and by helping to develop new market segments. A Company, which

invests in research and development in order to develop new product, has to depend a

great deal on advertising for establishing the market for these products. In the broad

social context, advertising can be a motivating factor for the less privileged as they

may be induced to some extent to make additional efforts and seek opportunities for

increasing their purchasing power. Advertising is also a potent vehicle for achieving

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acceptance of desirable and useful concepts and ideas where the profit motive is

minimal or missing altogether. This may be seen in the case of non-profit objectives,

such as preventive aspects of public health, developing the small-family norm

especially in over-populated countries, dissuading drunken driving and so forth.

Catalyst For Change

Creativity inherent in advertising leads to the discovery of new relationships that can

change the perception of a prospect. Two aspects are of special significance the

originality of the message communicated, and the eventual, effect on consumer’s

standards of living the ability to bring about changes comes from originality,

ingenuity, innovation and imagination in advertising. This may be seen in promoting

new products and ideas, as well as, in the upgrading of products/brands used by

consumers. The contribution of advertising in bringing about a change is as special

relevance to developing countries like India.

PLANNING

A FINGURE ON THE PULSES

Good ads don’t just happen. In general, the essence of successful advertising is the

planning that takes place at the beginning of the process. Proper planning gives an

advertiser the ability to better understand and reach prime prospects with the right

message placed in the proper media environment. It is rare that a great campaign is

simply the result of simple intuition. Most great advertising comes from hard work

and research. Rarely can good advertising sell consumers bad products. The product’s

quality its competitions and its stage of development will affect the role of its

advertising campaign Consumer are very perceptive about the products they buy and

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that is why one of the critical aspects of advertising decision making is developing a

strategy.

The understanding, nurturing and protecting of the investments in brands has become

a very hot topic in the 1990s and will continue to be on the minds of marketing

communications people. Many marketers have been guilty of neglecting their brands

in favour of short termed profit solution – extensive couponing, pricing discounts ,

and so on – which weakened their products value among consumers. As a result there

has been a lot of focus ways to integrate marketing communications, build brand

equity, and other strategic efforts in the product development and marketing

objectives – the strategic plan process prior to creating ads. We will examine several

aspects important to creating the strategic plan and the advertising implications.

Despite many marketing practices being challenged today, one of the constants is the

need to have a clear understanding of the product and consumer wants and needs

when making strategic advertising decisions.

The development stage a product is in, determines the advertising message. As

products pass through a number of stage -from introduction to dominance to ultimate

demise – the manner in which advertising presents the product to consumers depends

largely upon the degree of acceptance the product has earned with consumers. The

degree of acceptance can be identified as the product passes through its life cycle. It is

this degree of acceptance that determines the advertising stage of the product.

Pioneering stage

People don’t always run to buy a revolutionary new product. For one thing it may

never have occurred to consumer that they need or want the product and as a result

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don’t feel compelled to buy it, until people appreciate the fact that they need it a

product is in the pioneering stage.

Advertising used in the pioneering stage introduces an idea that makes previous

conception appear antiquated. It must show that methods once accepted the only ones

possible have been approved and that the limitations long tolerated as normal are now

overcome. It is hard to believe, but consumers didn’t rush out to buy the first

deodorants. Many who were concerned with body odour simply used talcum powder

under the arms. So we can’t take for granted the fact that consumers will change their

habits. The advertising in this stage must do more than simply present a product – it

must implant a new custom, change habits, develop new usage, or cultivate new

standards of living. In short, advertising in the pioneering stage of a product’s must

educate the consumers to the new product or service.

Competitive Stage:

When the pioneering product becomes accepted by consumers and they have a desire

for it, there is going to be competition. The consumer how knows what the product is

and how it can be used. At this point, the main question the consumer asks is which

brand shall I buy? When this happens, the product has entered the competitive

advertising.

Among the many everyday products in the competitive stage are deodorants, soaps ,

toothpastes, cars, detergents, headache remedies, shaving creams, shampoos,

televisions and chocolates. The purpose of the competitive stage advertising is to

communicate the product’s position or differentiate it to the consumer; the advertising

features the differential of the product.

Retentive Stage

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Products reaching maturity and wide scale acceptance enter the retentive or reminder

stage of advertising. When a product is accepted and used by consumers, there may

not be a need for competitive advertising. At this point, everybody knows about it ….

Why advertise it? Over the years many manufacturers of successful products have

stopped advertising and seen the public quickly forget about them. Therefore, most

astute advertisers try to retain their customers by keeping the brand name before them.

This is called reminder advertising – it simply reminds consumers the brand exists.

Very few advertisers reach the point where they can consider their products entirely in

the reminder stage. There are usually other products in the pioneering and competitive

stages challenging their leadership position. In fact if a product is truly all alone in the

retentive stage, that may be cause of alarm. It may mean the product category is in

decline and the competition sees little further in challenging it for consumers.

The advertiser’s goal in the retentive stage is to gain market share and ward off

consumer trail of other products. Products in the retentive stage do not necessarily cut

back on their advertising expenditure, but they adopt marketing and promotional

strategies different from those used in the pioneering and competitive stages. When a

brand is used by a large portion of the market, on the assumption that the most

prominent brand will get the largest share of the increase.

Generally, products in the retentive stage are at their most profitable level because

developmental costs have been amortized, distribution channels establised and sales

contract made. The development of advertising and promotion may often be routine at

this stage. Obviously, companies like to maintain their products in the retentive stage

as long as possible.

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With consumer behaviour and market dynamics changing rapidly, account planning

will gain greater importance in advertising, predict the champions of the Springboard

strategy. In today’s intensely competitive and diverse market situation, companies,

and particularly marketing professionals who are often regarded the custodians of

their brands, are constantly trying to assess the core value of their brands and the kind

of advertising strategy they need to adopt to bring the best results. Success does not

come easy in finding a foolproof solution. The demands made by clients of their

advertising agencies have forced the latter to seek methodologies that provide the

right solution to a client’s requirement - on time, everytime. Enter Account Planning.

Increasingly, advertising agencies are using account planning techniques for a clear

insight which, in turn, could help evolve winning product and communication

strategies. Account planning is not a new mantra in the advertising profession. It can

be traced back to 1968, to the UK particularly, where the concept has gained

momentum over the years. Some of the earlier pioneers of account planning in Europe

were J. Walter Thompson and BMP. While JWT has its traditional T-Plan, BMP,

which is now BMP-DDB, has a proprietary tool, ‘the Springboard approach’, that is

essentially an account planning device.

Account planning was pioneered by BMP-DDB to bridge the gulf between

advertisers and their target audiences and to ensure that consumers played their role in

advertising development. In doing so, it has also succeeded in reconciling distinctive

creativity with market relevance, so that the UK’s most ‘creative’ agencies are also

‘planning’ agencies.

In a presentation on Account Planning at the Advertising Club of Bangatore recently,

the need for specialised account planning personnel in an advertising agency was

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emphasised through three ‘classic case studies of the agency in UK’ that adopted the

Springboard approach successfully to create advertising. The three cases are:

Volkswagen, Marmite and the British Government’s department in charge of beef

sales. In each of these cases, there were some glitches such as a wrong product

perception among consumers or the inability to assess the overall market and brand

situations. These had led to a decline in sales of these three brands over a period of

time. This continued until BMP-DDB chipped in with the Springboard and

subsequently, sales of these three brands skyrocketed.

The Springboard strategy essentially involves six tools: relevance, originality, impact

(ROI); brand foundation, creative, media, evaluation and learning and integrated

springboard. ROI is the core technique that evolves a brand’s communication

strategy, Brand foundation primarily sets the objective of the overall identity that the

agency and client want to create for the brand. Creative springboard deals with

creative briefing, while media and integrated approaches explore insights into media

affairs and the integration of a different section of audiences and messages. The

process of evaluation and learning help the agency measure the effectiveness of the

campaign and how the agency can leverage this further.

While these appear impressive, can they work in the Indian scenario? Are companies

aware of what account planning can to do them or their brand? For last 6 years Mudra

has been pratising account planning. For them, it has grown beyond the classic role of

having a representative for the customer in the agency. Increasingly in India, account

planning will gain greater importnace as change in consumer behaviour and market

dynamics have been happening faster in the recent past.

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Often, some marketing professionals fail to comprehend the changes in the

marketplace until they analyse consumer behaviour, either product category-wise or

brand-wise. Two key changes have happened in India in recent years: the first is the

growing significance of the teenage segment. The brand managers at aerated soft

drinks brands and badge brands such as Lee, Levi’s, Nike and Reebok, among others,

are busy fixing their brands in the minds of the teenagers in the age group of 1 to 18.

The logic is to catch them young and hook them on to a particular brand. The second

noticeable change is the diffusion of the clear demarcation between the urban and the

rural markets. Products like denim are not bought by the urban consumer alone

anymore. There was a time when a marketer covered the top few cities and achieved

an 80 per cent market penetration, now we find that companies need to cover 200

cities to get that 80 per cent market coverage. There is something that has happened in

Indian society at the macro level and it needs to be tracked. If his idea is still not

buyable examine this bit of information: Mudra recenly conducted a study in the top

ten cities of the country to track consumer behaviour across different age segments

and categories. It was found that in the children of less than 10 years segment, the

pocket money or disposable money available comes to about Rs 25 crores per month!

This may be the reason why the gum category of chewing and bubble gums has

quadrupoed in the last three years from a Rs 50-crore market to about Rs 200 crores

currently.

At a macro level, account planning may sound like another term for market research.

For, if the discipline involves tracking consumer behaviour and cracking numbers,

how different is it from market research? Research is just one of the sources that the

account planner uses. A lot of it comes from reading and observation and a planner’s

task is to be well informed on various issues and topics that might be relevant to a

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particular task or to a particular client. The account planner and the creative team of

the agency often travel in buses to small towns to get a feel of how this consumer

behaves. This helped the agency enormously in devising a communication strategy for

its client HMT’s mechanical watches.

Besides HMT, the Springboard strategy seems to have helped three brands in the

country in particular Dhara, Peter England and Blue Diamond Almonds. Dhara

launched a sunflower variant in 1992. Though the sunflower category witnessed

immense growth during the next four years, Dhara’s volumes did not take off as

expected. While Sweekar and Sundrop were positioned at the two ends of the health

spectrum- preventive and curative health - all the other brands fell in between. Dhara

was no exception to this rule.

NDDB relaunched the Dhara sunflower oil last year and Mudra was asked to suggest

a communication strategy. the agency used the Springboard strategy to understand the

consumer better and the key insight that was thrown up was that a housewife’s life

revolves around her husband and children. Children considered their father to be a

role model and the latter was important for the family’s well being. Children are

always proud of a healthy and active father. This insight led to the creation of the ‘my

daddy strongest’ campaign. Mudra claims that the brand has crossed the target sales

within the first nine months of launching the campaingn.

The Springboard strategy was also used in the case of Peter England shirts from

Madura Garments. The approach helped the account management team understand

that the market had a range of brands that were commanding an unjustifiable

premium. The key insight was to offer value for money in a simple, practical and

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reassuring tone of voice. Value for money became synonymous with smart. Thus, the

honest shirt concept.

In the case of blue diamond almonds, in a category that is dominated by loose sale of

the product. Mudra discovered that the buyer finds the selection of the proper quality

of almonds a source of pride. Since packed almonds did not allow the ritual of

checking the almonds at the store before purchase, the advertising had to play upon

the consumer’s experience on look, size and colour of the brand. the research also

emphaised how important the sound that was produced while eating a fresh almond

was to a consumer. Thus came the line, ‘Kurkuri tazgi’, in the advertising campaign

for the brand.

Going by Mudra’s experience, it is clear that account planning is here to stay. At a

time when the advertising industry is at the crossroads with fluctuating fortunes and

poor growth rates, account planning techniques could well become the new mantra to

reiterate to clients that advertising works - not just in parts, but completely.

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THE BENEFITS OF ADVERTISING

Enormous human and material resources are devoted to advertising. Advertising is

everywhere in today's world, so that, as Pope Paul VI remarked, "No one now can

escape the influence of advertising." Even people who are not themselves exposed to

particular forms of advertising confront a society, a culture — other people —

affected for good or ill by advertising messages and techniques of every sort.

Some critics view this state of affairs in unrelievedly negative terms. They condemn

advertising as a waste of time, talent and money — an essentially parasitic activity. In

this view, not only does advertising have no value of its own, but its influence is

entirely harmful and corrupting for individuals and society.

We do not agree. There is truth to the criticisms, and we shall make criticisms of our

own. But advertising also has significant potential for good, and sometimes it is

realized. Here are some of the ways that happens.

a) Economic Benefits of Advertising

Advertising can play an important role in the process by which an economic system

guided by moral norms and responsive to the common good contributes to human

development. It is a necessary part of the functioning of modern market economies,

which today either exist or are emerging in many parts of the world and which —

provided they conform to moral standards based upon integral human development

and the common good — currently seem to be "the most efficient instrument for

utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs" of a socio-economic kind.

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In such a system, advertising can be a useful tool for sustaining honest and ethically

responsible competition that contributes to economic growth in the service of

authentic human development. "The Church looks with favor on the growth of man's

productive capacity, and also on the ever widening network of relationships and

exchanges between persons and social groups....[F]rom this point of view she

encourages advertising, which can become a wholesome and efficacious instrument

for reciprocal help among men."

Advertising does this, among other ways, by informing people about the availability

of rationally desirable new products and services and improvements in existing ones,

helping them to make informed, prudent consumer decisions, contributing to

efficiency and the lowering of prices, and stimulating economic progress through the

expansion of business and trade. All of this can contribute to the creation of new jobs,

higher incomes and a more decent and humane way of life for all. It also helps pay for

publications, programming and productions — including those of the Church — that

bring information, entertainment and inspiration to people around the world.

b) Benefits of Political Advertising

"The Church values the democratic system inasmuch as it ensures the participation of

citizens in making political choices, guarantees to the governed the possibility both of

electing and holding accountable those who govern them, and of replacing them

through peaceful means when appropriate."

Political advertising can make a contribution to democracy analogous to its

contribution to economic well being in a market system guided by moral norms. As

free and responsible media in a democratic system help to counteract tendencies

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toward the monopolization of power on the part of oligarchies and special interests, so

political advertising can make its contribution by informing people about the ideas

and policy proposals of parties and candidates, including new candidates not

previously known to the public.

c) Cultural Benefits of Advertising

Because of the impact advertising has on media that depend on it for revenue,

advertisers have an opportunity to exert a positive influence on decisions about media

content. This they do by supporting material of excellent intellectual, aesthetic and

moral quality presented with the public interest in view, and particularly by

encouraging and making possible media presentations which are oriented to

minorities whose needs might otherwise go unserved.

Moreover, advertising can itself contribute to the betterment of society by uplifting

and inspiring people and motivating them to act in ways that benefit themselves and

others. Advertising can brighten lives simply by being witty, tasteful and entertaining.

Some advertisements are instances of popular art, with a vivacity and elan all their

own.

d) Moral and Religious Benefits of Advertising

In many cases, too, benevolent social institutions, including those of a religious

nature, use advertising to communicate their messages — messages of faith, of

patriotism, of tolerance, compassion and neighborly service, of charity toward the

needy, messages concerning health and education, constructive and helpful messages

that educate and motivate people in a variety of beneficial ways.

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For the Church, involvement in media-related activities, including advertising, is

today a necessary part of a comprehensive pastoral strategy. This includes both the

Church's own media — Catholic press and publishing, television and radio

broadcasting, film and audiovisual production, and the rest — and also her

participation in secular media. The media "can and should be instruments in the

Church's program of re-evangelization and new evangelization in the contemporary

world." While much remains to be done, many positive efforts of this kind already are

underway. With reference to advertising itself, Pope Paul VI once said that it is

desirable that Catholic institutions "follow with constant attention the development of

the modern techniques of advertising and... know how to make opportune use of them

in order to spread the Gospel message in a manner which answers the expectations

and needs of contemporary man."

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THE HARM DONE BY ADVERTISING

There is nothing intrinsically good or intrinsically evil about advertising. It is a tool,

an instrument: it can be used well, and it can be used badly. If it can have, and

sometimes does have, beneficial results such as those just described, it also can, and

often does, have a negative, harmful impact on individuals and society.

Communio et Progressio contains this summary statement of the problem: "If harmful

or utterly useless goods are touted to the public, if false assertions are made about

goods for sale, if less than admirable human tendencies are exploited, those

responsible for such advertising harm society and forfeit their good name and

credibility. More than this, unremitting pressure to buy articles of luxury can arouse

false wants that hurt both individuals and families by making them ignore what they

really need. And those forms of advertising which, without shame, exploit the sexual

instincts simply to make money or which seek to penetrate into the subconscious

recesses of the mind in a way that threatens the freedom of the individual ... must be

shunned."

a) Economic Harms of Advertising

Advertising can betray its role as a source of information by misrepresentation and by

withholding relevant facts. Sometimes, too, the information function of media can be

subverted by advertisers' pressure upon publications or programs not to treat of

questions that might prove embarrassing or inconvenient.

More often, though, advertising is used not simply to inform but to persuade and

motivate — to convince people to act in certain ways: buy certain products or

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services, patronize certain institutions, and the like. This is where particular abuses

can occur.

The practice of "brand"-related advertising can raise serious problems. Often there are

only negligible differences among similar products of different brands, and

advertising may attempt to move people to act on the basis of irrational motives

("brand loyalty," status, fashion, "sex appeal," etc.) instead of presenting differences

in product quality and price as bases for rational choice.

Advertising also can be, and often is, a tool of the "phenomenon of consumerism," as

Pope John Paul II delineated it when he said: "It is not wrong to want to live better;

what is wrong is a style of life which is presumed to be better when it is directed

toward ?having' rather than ?being', and which wants to have more, not in order to be

more but in order to spend life in enjoyment as an end in itself." Sometimes

advertisers speak of it as part of their task to "create" needs for products and services

— that is, to cause people to feel and act upon cravings for items and services they do

not need. "If ... a direct appeal is made to his instincts — while ignoring in various

ways the reality of the person as intelligent and free — then consumer attitudes and

life-styles can be created which are objectively improper and often damaging to his

physical and spiritual health."

This is a serious abuse, an affront to human dignity and the common good when it

occurs in affluent societies. But the abuse is still more grave when consumerist

attitudes and values are transmitted by communications media and advertising to

developing countries, where they exacerbate socio-economic problems and harm the

poor. "It is true that a judicious use of advertising can stimulate developing countries

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to improve their standard of living. But serious harm can be done them if advertising

and commercial pressure become so irresponsible that communities seeking to rise

from poverty to a reasonable standard of living are persuaded to seek this progress by

satisfying wants that have been artificially created. The result of this is that they waste

their resources and neglect their real needs, and genuine development falls behind."

Similarly, the task of countries attempting to develop types of market economies that

serve human needs and interests after decades under centralized, state-controlled

systems is made more difficult by advertising that promotes consumerist attitudes and

values offensive to human dignity and the common good. The problem is particularly

acute when, as often happens, the dignity and welfare of society's poorer and weaker

members are at stake. It is necessary always to bear in mind that there are "goods

which by their very nature cannot and must not be bought or sold" and to avoid "an ?

idolatry' of the market" that, aided and abetted by advertising, ignores this crucial fact.

b) Harms of Political Advertising

Political advertising can support and assist the working of the democratic process, but

it also can obstruct it. This happens when, for example, the costs of advertising limit

political competition to wealthy candidates or groups, or require that office-seekers

compromise their integrity and independence by over-dependence on special interests

for funds.

Such obstruction of the democratic process also happens when, instead of being a

vehicle for honest expositions of candidates' views and records, political advertising

seeks to distort the views and records of opponents and unjustly attacks their

reputations. It happens when advertising appeals more to people's emotions and base

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instincts — to selfishness, bias and hostility toward others, to racial and ethnic

prejudice and the like — rather than to a reasoned sense of justice and the good of all.

c) Cultural Harms of Advertising

Advertising also can have a corrupting influence upon culture and cultural values. We

have spoken of the economic harm that can be done to developing nations by

advertising that fosters consumerism and destructive patterns of consumption.

Consider also the cultural injury done to these nations and their peoples by advertising

whose content and methods, reflecting those prevalent in the first world, are at war

with sound traditional values in indigenous cultures. Today this kind of "domination

and manipulation" via media rightly is "a concern of developing nations in relation to

developed ones," as well as a "concern of minorities within particular nations."

The indirect but powerful influence exerted by advertising upon the media of social

communications that depend on revenues from this source points to another sort of

cultural concern. In the competition to attract ever larger audiences and deliver them

to advertisers, communicators can find themselves tempted — in fact pressured,

subtly or not so subtly — to set aside high artistic and moral standards and lapse into

superficiality, tawdriness and moral squalor.

Communicators also can find themselves tempted to ignore the educational and social

needs of certain segments of the audience — the very young, the very old, the poor —

who do not match the demographic patterns (age, education, income, habits of buying

and consuming, etc.) of the kinds of audiences advertisers want to reach. In this way

the tone and indeed the level of moral responsibility of the communications media in

general are lowered.

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All too often, advertising contributes to the invidious stereotyping of particular groups

that places them at a disadvantage in relation to others. This often is true of the way

advertising treats women; and the exploitation of women, both in and by advertising,

is a frequent, deplorable abuse. "How often are they treated not as persons with an

inviolable dignity but as objects whose purpose is to satisfy others' appetite for

pleasure or for power? How often is the role of woman as wife and mother

undervalued or even ridiculed? How often is the role of women in business or

professional life depicted as a masculine caricature, a denial of the specific gifts of

feminine insight, compassion, and understanding, which so greatly contribute to the ?

civilization of love'?"

d) Moral and Religious Harms of Advertising

Advertising can be tasteful and in conformity with high moral standards, and

occasionally even morally uplifting, but it also can be vulgar and morally degrading.

Frequently it deliberately appeals to such motives as envy, status seeking and lust.

Today, too, some advertisers consciously seek to shock and titillate by exploiting

content of a morbid, perverse, pornographic nature.

What this Pontifical Council said several years ago about pornography and violence in

the media is no less true of certain forms of advertising:

"As reflections of the dark side of human nature marred by sin, pornography and the

exaltation of violence are age-old realities of the human condition. In the past quarter

century, however, they have taken on new dimensions and have become serious social

problems. At a time of widespread and unfortunate confusion about moral norms, the

communications media have made pornography and violence accessible to a vastly

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expanded audience, including young people and even children, and a problem which

at one time was confined mainly to wealthy countries has now begun, via the

communications media, to corrupt moral values in developing nations."

We note, too, certain special problems relating to advertising that treats of religion or

pertains to specific issues with a moral dimension.

In cases of the first sort, commercial advertisers sometimes include religious themes

or use religious images or personages to sell products. It is possible to do this in

tasteful, acceptable ways, but the practice is obnoxious and offensive when it involves

exploiting religion or treating it flippantly.

In cases of the second sort, advertising sometimes is used to promote products and

inculcate attitudes and forms of behavior contrary to moral norms. That is the case,

for instance, with the advertising of contraceptives, abortifacients and products

harmful to health, and with government-sponsored advertising campaigns for artificial

birth control, so-called "safe sex", and similar practices.

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SOME ETHICAL AND MORAL PRINCIPLES

The Second Vatican Council declared: "If the media are to be correctly employed, it is

essential that all who use them know the principles of the moral order and apply them

faithfully in this domain." The moral order to which this refers is the order of the law

of human nature, binding upon all because it is "written on their hearts" and embodies

the imperatives of authentic human fulfillment.

For Christians, moreover, the law of human nature has a deeper dimension, a richer

meaning. "Christ is the ?Beginning' who, having taken on human nature, definitively

illumines it in its constitutive elements and in its dynamism of charity towards God

and neighbor." Here we comprehend the deepest significance of human freedom: that

it makes possible an authentic moral response, in light of Jesus Christ, to the call "to

form our conscience, to make it the object of a continuous conversion to what is true

and to what is good."

In this context, the media of social communications have two options, and only two.

Either they help human persons to grow in their understanding and practice of what is

true and good, or they are destructive forces in conflict with human well being. That

is entirely true of advertising.

Against this background, then, we point to this fundamental principle for people

engaged in advertising: advertisers — that is, those who commission, prepare or

disseminate advertising — are morally responsible for what they seek to move people

to do; and this is a responsibility also shared by publishers, broadcasting executives,

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and others in the communications world, as well as by those who give commercial or

political endorsements, to the extent that they are involved in the advertising process.

If an instance of advertising seeks to move people to choose and act rationally in

morally good ways that are of true benefit to themselves and others, persons involved

in it do what is morally good; if it seeks to move people to do evil deeds that are self-

destructive and destructive of authentic community, they do evil.

This applies also to the means and the techniques of advertising: it is morally wrong

to use manipulative, exploitative, corrupt and corrupting methods of persuasion and

motivation. In this regard, we note special problems associated with so-called indirect

advertising that attempts to move people to act in certain ways — for example,

purchase particular products — without their being fully aware that they are being

swayed. The techniques involved here include showing certain products or forms of

behavior in superficially glamorous settings associated with superficially glamorous

people; in extreme cases, it may even involve the use of subliminal messages.

Within this very general framework, we can identify several moral principles that are

particularly relevant to advertising. We shall speak briefly of three: truthfulness, the

dignity of the human person, and social responsibility.

a) Truthfulness in Advertising

Even today, some advertising is simply and deliberately untrue. Generally speaking,

though, the problem of truth in advertising is somewhat more subtle: it is not that

advertising says what is overtly false, but that it can distort the truth by implying

things that are not so or withholding relevant facts. As Pope John Paul II points out,

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on both the individual and social levels, truth and freedom are inseparable; without

truth as the basis, starting point and criterion of discernment, judgment, choice and

action, there can be no authentic exercise of freedom. The Catechism of the Catholic

Church, quoting the Second Vatican Council, insists that the content of

communication be "true and — within the limits set by justice and charity —

complete"; the content should, moreover, be communicated "honestly and properly."

To be sure, advertising, like other forms of expression, has its own conventions and

forms of stylization, and these must be taken into account when discussing

truthfulness. People take for granted some rhetorical and symbolic exaggeration in

advertising; within the limits of recognized and accepted practice, this can be

allowable.

But it is a fundamental principle that advertising may not deliberately seek to deceive,

whether it does that by what it says, by what it implies, or by what it fails to say. "The

proper exercise of the right to information demands that the content of what is

communicated be true and, within the limits set by justice and charity, complete. ...

Included here is the obligation to avoid any manipulation of truth for any reason."

b) The Dignity of the Human Person

There is an "imperative requirement" that advertising "respect the human person, his

rightduty to make a responsible choice, his interior freedom; all these goods would be

violated if man's lower inclinations were to be exploited, or his capacity to reflect and

decide compromised."

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These abuses are not merely hypothetical possibilities but realities in much

advertising today. Advertising can violate the dignity of the human person both

through its content — what is advertised, the manner in which it is advertised — and

through the impact it seeks to make upon its audience. We have spoken already of

such things as appeals to lust, vanity, envy and greed, and of techniques that

manipulate and exploit human weakness. In such circumstances, advertisements

readily become "vehicles of a deformed outlook on life, on the family, on religion and

on morality — an outlook that does not respect the true dignity and destiny of the

human person."

This problem is especially acute where particularly vulnerable groups or classes of

persons are concerned: children and young people, the elderly, the poor, the culturally

disadvantaged.

Much advertising directed at children apparently tries to exploit their credulity and

suggestibility, in the hope that they will put pressure on their parents to buy products

of no real benefit to them. Advertising like this offends against the dignity and rights

of both children and parents; it intrudes upon the parent-child relationship and seeks

to manipulate it to its own base ends. Also, some of the comparatively little

advertising directed specifically to the elderly or culturally disadvantaged seems

designed to play upon their fears so as to persuade them to allocate some of their

limited resources to goods or services of dubious value.

c) Advertising and Social Responsibility

Social responsibility is such a broad concept that we can note here only a few of the

many issues and concerns relevant under this heading to the question of advertising.

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The ecological issue is one. Advertising that fosters a lavish life style which wastes

resources and despoils the environment offends against important ecological

concerns. "In his desire to have and to enjoy rather than to be and grow, man

consumes the resources of the earth and his own life in an excessive and disordered

way. ... Man thinks that he can make arbitrary use of the earth, subjecting it without

restraint to his will, as though it did not have its own requisites and a prior God-given

purpose, which man can indeed develop but must not betray."

As this suggests, something more fundamental is at issue here: authentic and integral

human development. Advertising that reduces human progress to acquiring material

goods and cultivating a lavish life style expresses a false, destrucôive vision of the

human person harmful to individuals and society alike.

Wheo people fail to practIce "a rigorous respect vor the }oral, cultural and spirit}al

requirements, based on the dignity ov the person and on the propgr identity of each

cïmmunity, beginning wiph dhe`fammly and religious sOcieties," then even materka|

abuîdance and the conveniences that technology makes available "will

prove(unsatisfying and in the efd contemttible." Advertiserw,0like pemple$engaged

in othmr forms of social comeunication, have a serious duty to expsess and foster an

autheftic rision$of èuman developmenô in iôw matezial, celtural and spiritual

dimensions. Communication that meets tHis standard is, among other things, a true

expression of snlidarity. Iodeed, the two things — communication and solidarity —

aze`inseparable, because, as the Catechism of the Catlolic Church points oõt,

solidarity is "a ãonsequence of genuine and right communycation and the free

circulation of ideas that further knowledge and respect for others.b

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CRITICAL ANALYSIS

There is nk doubt thau advertisi>g xas a strong social zesponsibility, inddpendent of

its known commercial responsébility. In a free economy like India, it must be judoed

like any other media beamed to the consumer at large.(Freedmm of expres3ion for

commercial purposes must not be vimwed differently from freedom8gb eppression.

The envirgnment has changed dramatically in the last decaDe. The average Inmian

consumer is todáy more expos%d to the West through travel and the entertainmEnt

media. And this(means greater exposure to their values, lifestyles and sïcial rituals.

Not surprisingly, this has led to the average consumer becoeing more liberal `ld open-

minded. While he may not afopt!many of phose values and28lifesvyles, he has

become more open to accept differing views.

This is reflected in the mix-n-match culture we see around us -- in nond, clothes,

language and even marriages where thmre is a shift froe arranged"marriage!to

arranged loöe mar2iage. With it has come more advertisi~g -, and the consumer

growing more cynical of itó claims and stories.

Even in small towns, consume2s say this about celebrity advertising -- "He has been

paid to say gmod thijgs about the product" and "The proäuct will cosp mose as the

company has to páy for the ádvertising!"

Clearly he has become more advertising savvy. In this gontext, to believe tjat

advertisin' has `n overwhelming power in bringing about social change is tm give it

greater weight than ht fesgrves.

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Advertising i{`jusô on% of the social influånces in a capitalistic economy"like India.

Anä no lass commerciál tèaj the others. Movids, serials, magazines -% play as big or

even bigger volds in shaping social behavyour.

Movie sôars are bigger than ad(models. Not 3urprisingly, movies are a final

destination fOr0all budding models. A rucent world H%alth Organisation survey

shows That 80 per cent of BollYwood movie{ hád tjeir heroes smoking -- a very

unhealthy but strong glamourisation ïf the smoking habit -- stronoer than any brand

advertising. It is s5blimilal yet more powerful!

The social backdrop of most mf thu K-serials are of the repression of women. Though

the women come out winners in the end. And aõdienceÓ accep| this and they garner

high TRPs -- often connecting with the woman protagonisv.

Musia videos like Kanta Laga and Yeh Vada Raha use women purely like sex objects.

And suãh videos are mushrooming by the day29and are beamed by eusic cha.nels

over0and over áge)n.

(And in The name of$glamour, the ave0age Hind) film hero)ne is more scantily

dressed than the vamps of yestepyearó!) Action movies0are replete with stunts that

are very exciting`po the average ciild qnd very dangerous too.

Tèese are however the harbingers kf chcnge, the baromuter of!consumer acceptance

levels and ience0should not29ce ignored. Sm the social re{ponsibility of advertising

needs to be judged in this conteøt rather than in isolation. Thå time hcs come to le| the

Indian consumer decide wHat is good for him. In a democratic¡set up, whure every

individuAl xas a right to vote and in a free economy, where he has a right To choose

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pr/ducts he wands, there is no reason why he should not be allowed to decide what t(e

stretching limit of the social code is in atvertising.

Oves the years¬ the Indian consumer ha{ shown great maturity in accepting and

rejecting communication. In tje early '90sl M R Cogfee advertised 'real pleasure

doesn't bome in minutes' by qhowing explicit sex.

The consumer rejecued$it and the brand sunk. At the same pioe when SubHash"Ghai

[ Images ] re`eased Kh`lnayak, the song, Choli ke peeche kya hai, created a furore

among women's groups, but the avurage viewer acceptel it an spirit and both the

moviu and tha song became a runaway hit. Leô's rerpect the intelligence ov the

consumer and not take on"the rnle of his moral cmnschence.

This does not mean that ôhere is no need to regulate advertising and its`content. In

fact,(advertising is one fraternity that has its independent self regulation body --

ASCI -- which monitors and guides advertisers to remain socially responsible.

However, environmental pressures can make it difficult for even a body like ASCI to

perform independently, open mindedly and fairly. The frame of reference needs to be

recognised and accepted.

Advertising must be truthful. Not misleading or ambiguous or make wrong factual

claims that can get consumers to buy inferior products thinking these products are

delivering more.

Advertising must be sensitive to religious and political sensitivities -- primarily

because India is a religious country with a high religious sensitivity. And

unnecessarily provoking it is not healthy.

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Advertising must not promote undesirable products -- declared illegal by law i.e.

drugs. However, in this context banning of advertising of liquor and cigarettes smacks

of hypocrisy. Anything that can be sold openly should be allowed to be promoted

openly.

If the government does believe in the purquation power of advertising, it is advised to

take out a portion of the funds it annually collects as sales tax and excise duty and

invest it in anti-smoking and anti-drInking campaigns!

Advertising must not promote acceptel social ills -- Saying that 'dowrx is good' or

'it's31good to"have a male child rather than a female cxild' or 'it's hep to ride a bike

wythout a helmet' 3hould be avoided as!part of the!sociel responsibimity of!

advErtising. Bringing an isSue updront as the fairness ad. dkd is not undesirable in

this context.

Finally, regulators and consumer groups must accept that social change is inevitable

and much depictiOn must be seen in the context in which the advertising i{ beamed.

Winds of change are inevitable and trying to slow them down or stop dhem is neivher

advertising's(responsibility nor its capability. A.` in such a situation, the ads

supposedly degrading w/men (liquor, perfuie) and promoti~g bad behaviour amonc

children (soft drinks) iren't doing that. Let thåm pass.

It may always be useful to remember David Ogilvy's famous adage "The consumer is

not a moron, she is your wife". It often appears that advertising agencies respect the

consumer more than the average consumer activist.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Following are the few recommendations for the fair portrayal of genders in Indian

television advertisements for the better impact on society and unfair use of female or

male image just in order to sell the product or service: -

The media need to refrain from presenting women as inferior and exploiting them as

sex objects. On the contrary, the media could be a useful tool to promote a positive

and realistic image of women. All media presentations should be in line with the

demographic context of the community. Gender stereotyping should be eliminated

through an exertion of will and foresight on the part of the media industry, who, for

starters, should also seek to eliminate violent and degrading portrayals of women.

Govt need to formulate ethical standards, based on equality between the sexes, which

could be reflected in all comeunication productions, includiNg32programming and

mddia portrayal.

The lack of specific research on roles portrayal is one of dhe most crétical barriers to

ongoing and effective analysis. Studaes should be funded in order to paise the

awareness about gender-feir kmages in ralation do policy-making. Regional

differences should be identifieä a.t the!implementation of law sèould be based on

cïmparathve 2esearch!in this field.

Wovernments and NGOs hqve to ensure that regulatory mechanisms on media are

guided by the values of gender justice, human rights, sustainab|e devglopment and

respect fr cultural diversity and of culturcl expression,$sexuality and hifestyle.�

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There is a neet explore the€develoðment of Convention on genders and Media which

addresses problems of diversity, human rights and gender issu%s using exis|ing

international conventions and instruments.

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CONCLÕSION

The indéspensable guarantors of ethically correct behavir by the advertising inductry�

are thf well formed and responsible consciences of advertising professionals

themselves: consciences sensitive to their duty not merely to serve the interests of

those who commission and finance their work but also to respect and uphold the

rights and interests of their audiences and to serve the common good.

Many women and men professionally engaged in advertising do have sensitive

consciences, high ethical standards and a strong sense of responsibility. But even for

them external pressures — from the clients who commission their work as well as

from the competitive internal dynamics of their profession — can create powerful

inducements to unethical behavior. That underlines the need for external structures

and systems to support and encourage responsible practice in advertising and to

discourage the irresponsible.

Voluntary ethical codes are one such source of support. These already exist in a

number of places. Welcome as they are, though, they are only as effective as the

willingness of advertisers to comply strictly with them. "It is up to the directors and

managers of the media which carry advertising to make known to the public, to

subscribe to and to apply the codes of professional ethics which already have been

opportunely established so as to have the cooperation of the public in making these

codes still better and in enforcing their observance."

We emphasize the importance of public involvement. Representatives of the public

should participate in the formulation, application and periodic updating of ethical

codes. The public representatives should include ethicists and church people, as well

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as representatives of consumer groups. Individuals do well to organize themselves

into such groups in order to protect their interests in relation to commercial interests.

Public authorities also have a role to play. On the one hand, government should not

seek to control and dictate policy to the advertising industry, any more than to other

sectors of the communications media. On the other hand, the regulation of

advertising$content ind practice, already existing in many ðlaces, can and should

extend beyond banning false advertising, narrkwly defined. "By promulgating laws

and ovårseeang their application, public aõthorities should ensure that ?public

moralaty and social progress are not gravel9 endangered' through misuse ov the

media."

For example, government regulations should address"such auestions as the quantity of

advertising, esðecially in0broadcast media, as well as thm contant ïf advertising

directed at groups particular,y vulnerable to exploitation, such aó ahildren and old

pMople. Political advevtising also seems an appro`riate area for regulation: how much

may(be spent, how and grom whom may money for advertising`be raised, eôc.

The media of .ews and information should make ht a point to keep the public ijformed

about the world of advervising. Considering advertising's social impact, it is

aprropòiate thaô media regularly review and critique the performance of advertisers,

êust as they do other groups whose activities hawe a significant influence on society.

besides using media to evafgalije, the Church for her part needs to grasp(the full

implications`of the observatioN by Pope John Paul: phat media comprise a central

part of that greát modern "Areopagus" where ide!s are shared and attitutes and values

are formed. This pints to a "deeper reality" than simply using media to spread the�

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Gospel message, important as that is. "It is also necessary to integr`te thqt message

into the ?new aulture' created by mod%rn communications" with ids "new ways of

commun)catiog... new languages, new tEchniqqes and!a new psychology."

In light of this insight, it is important that mediq education be part o& pastgral

plánning and a variety of0pastoral and"education`l programs carried on by the

Ahurch, including Catholic schools. This includes education regarding the role of

advertisifg in today's gorld and its relevance to the woro of the Church. Such

education should seek to prepare people to be infgrmed and alert in ôheir approach to

advertising as to other forms of communication. As the Catechism of the Catholic

church points out, "the means of social cnmmunication. ... can give$rise to a certain

pas{ivit9 among users, making Them less than vigilant consumers of what is said or

shown.$Users should practice moderation and discipline in tjeir approach to the mass

media."

In the final analysis, hnwever, where freedom!of speecè and communicatI/n exists, it

is largely up to advertisers themselves to ensure ethically responsible prqcthces in

their profession. Busides avoiding abuses, advertisers shguld also undertake po repair

the harm sometimes done b} advertising8 insofar as that hs possible: for example, by

Publishing cgrrective notices, compensating injured parties, increasing the quantity of

public service advertising, and the like. This question of ?reparations' is a matter on

legitimate involvement not only by indusTry self-regulatory bodies and public interest

'roupr, but also by publis authoritigs.

Where unethical practices Háve"become widespread and entrenched, conscientious

advertisers may be called upon to make significant personal sacrifices to correct them.

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But people who want to do what is morally right must always be ready to suffer loss

and personal injury rather than to do what is wrong. This is a duty for Christians,

followers of Christ, certainly; but not only for them. "In this witness to the

absoluteness of the moral good Christians are not alone: they are supported by the

moral sense present in peoples and by the great religious and sapiential traditions of

East and West."

We do not wish, and certainly we do not expect, to see advertising eliminated from

the contemporary world. Advertising is an important element in today's society,

especially in the functioning of a market economy, which is becoming more and more

widespread.

Moreover, for the reasons and in the ways sketched here, we believe advertising can,

and often does, play a constructive role in economic growth, in the exchange of

information and ideas, and in the fostering of solidarity among individuals and

groups. Yet it also can do, and often does, grave harm to individuals and to the

common good.

0In light of these reflections, therefore, we call upon advertising professionals and

upon all those involved in the process of commissioning and disseminating

advertising to eliminate its socially harmful aspects and observe high ethical standards

in regard to truthfulness, human dignity and social responsibility. In this way, they

will make a special and significant contribution to human progress and to the common

good.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Advertising Management by Batra

Communication Media Yesterday, Today and TomorrowP.N. Malhan

www.economictimes.indiatimes.com

www.news.webindia123.com

www.afaqs.com

www.domain_b.com

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