Ethics in Advertising

Andrew Breazeale
ab883317@ohio.edu

Humans see an average of 4,000 ads per day, according to Forbes. Let that sink in. Now think about how many you saw today? How about yesterday? Or your whole life? It's impossible to quantify the number of logos, slogans, and jingles a person has seen in their life, yet ads play such a large role in how we spend our time and money. For example, ads promoting alcohol and other drugs have been known to not only to increase purchasing of the product, but also make people feel better about buying it. This not only increases health concerns but further provides money to companies to increase their ad output, an extremely negative thing especially when companies mainly target minorities or poor families.

In the past decade, advertising has shifted from a focus on television and radio programming to social media and other digital platforms. This has led to an increase in the number of targeted ads we see and the number of products presented to us on a daily basis. In a capitalistic society like ours, ads play a major role in creating revenue for companies trying to generate profit, but they have a very different effect on the people that see the ads. In a 2013 New York Times article, it was revealed that children were more likely to take up unhealthy drinking habits later in life after being exposed to alcohol ads in grades 7-10. This is just one example of how ads create unhealthy spending habits in society, specifically when it comes to children. But how can it be ethical to show these products to children, especially when they are nowhere near the legal drinking age? How is it ethical to show teens in the current day and age ads about smoking and vaping when they can't legally buy those products in most states?

The answer is that advertising is wildly under policed, allowing many companies to target and issue ads that do more harm than good. With barely any limitations on the content they can put out, ad companies are free to use whatever means necessary to generate profit for their client. This leads many people to overindulge and put too much stock in the ads they see, which can be detrimental to many types of people. At some point, people have to understand that constantly seeing ads for the same thing will create biases towards that company or product, biases that could lead to health risks, unhealthy habits, and overspending tendencies. In the end, its time for a change in the advertising industry, especially when it comes to healthier, safer ways of promoting products that don't ruin lives.

https://www.journalism.org/fact-sheet/digital-news/