ab320905@ohio.edu
It is not surprising that our nation's various media outlets have such strict ethical standards. After all, the media keeps everyone informed about what's happening in the world. If the media consistently falsified news stories, the public would be outraged and chaos would ensue.
There also is a code of ethics that businesses are required to follow when advertising their products. However, it seems to me that many companies bend the rules when putting an ad on television or the Internet. The advertising ethics code states that price claims, guarantees and warranties should be explicitly stated and not deceptive. But with all of the fine print used in advertisements, this rarely seems to be the case. Observe:
This ad claims to be for a lawyer, but in the fine print, that claim is revoked. Yes, the factual information is explicitly stated, but it still deceives the viewer. People who watch commericials on television do not have the time, desire or eyesight to read the fine print. Therefore, viewers may be coaxed into buying a product that costs more than they can afford. That's wrong.
With the explosion of the Internet, this problem has grown even worse. Several companies are making deceptive claims about their products, trying to entice viewers to buy them. The media ethical codes are great, but unless the policing of fraudulent companies improves, we will be stuck deciding for ourselves which advertisements are truthful.
The following link provides 12 case studies of false advertising (scroll down a little):
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