Megan Gordin
mg525717@ohio.edu
Truth and transparency are crucial in news and strategic communications alike. It is important as readers to understand how to identify trustworthy news and marketing sources, and it is important to us as journalists and strategic communicators to produce truthful news and advertising content. It seems like common sense, but it is especially important in today's media climate, in which trust continues to decline.
One example of unethically false advertising was in 2010, when POM Wonderful, a brand that produces antioxidant-packed juice drinks that all include pomegranate juice, claimed that their drinks prevent and treat diseases such as heart disease and prostate cancer. These claims were the focus of their advertisements, but they had not been scientifically proven. This was one of the advertisements in question:
Picture source: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/business/28pom.html
The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against POM Wonderful in 2010 for deceptive advertising. Court-issued studies found that while POM Wonderful had health benefits, the research could not back POM Wonderful's specific claims, according to this ABC News article. The United States Supreme Court decided not to review the case because it was decided at the Appeals Court level that POM Wonderful must support claims with "at least one randomized, well-controlled human clinical trial," according to this statement from FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in 2016.
POM Wonderful was defensive in many of its responses to the false advertising claims, including this 2012 press release about a new advertising campaign following the allegations. Instead of defensiveness, POM Wonderful should have been more transparent about owning up to its advertising mistake, and should have considered publicly apologizing about making false claims in its advertising and misleading consumers. POM Wonderful presumably lost the trust of many customers, and it is their responsibility to regain that trust through its response to the situation.
When it comes to health, consumers rely on companies to advertise the truth about the health benefits of their products. Health benefits draw people to products anyway, so it is important to provide in-depth research studies to back advertising claims about anything surrounding a person's health. It is also important for companies to ensure that their research is being done in an ethical and responsible way. According to this article from The Guardian, bias in health studies is real and can lead to favorable, yet untruthful, results for the company.
The bottom line: we as strategic communicators must keep consumers at the heart of what we do. We must keep truth at the forefront of all our advertising campaigns, no matter the content. It is our responsibility as strategic communicators to create advertising campaigns with the highest ethical standards in mind.
I really enjoyed this topic! I always try to be an ethical and smart shopper but the older I get the more powerless I feel over it. Because of this I am so glad you spoke about the obligation and responsibility companies have. You are doing your part as a consumer by confronting this issue, we should all be working to raise our expectation from companies in this way.
ReplyDelete