Have You Ever Told a Lie

Claire Bowman

cb487521@ohio.edu

I really want to become friends with the popular kids at my lunch table. So what should I do, I ask myself? I got it. I should tell a lie and intensify a story so I can become more likable!

Have you ever done this? Well, if you have, you broke a code of ethics in the world of The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and American Advertising Federation (AAF). What is that code, you ask? That code of ethics that would have been broken is the 'code of honesty'.

What is Honesty?

Honesty is something that can make or break a journalist. Honesty means to not leave anything out and to take into consideration others' morals. However, similar to my scenario of making friends, some journalists haven't done the best job of telling the whole truth. You can check this link to see other journalists who have failed the code of ethics by telling a lie in journalism stories False Stories made by journalists and have left parts out or have exaggerated truth for the public. In this time of crisis during a pandemic and with the world of politics, journalists have to watch carefully not to break the code of ethics by exaggerating a story. Aside from telling the whole truth comes a new challenge for journalists: what do they do when there isn't anything to talk about? Journalists must get stories somewhere, but what if they are all boring?

Picture source: A screenshot of Kylie Jenner's Instagram

How is Honesty being used?

When it comes to the news, honesty is the primary police. According to Institute for Advertising Ethics Principles and Practices, "In research conducted by four student teams at the Missouri School of Journalism, 'honest' advertising ranked as the number one factor that would make a company ethical." Honesty can be a bit stretched in the world of Strategic Communication. For example, I have been wanting to try a new makeup brand but I am just not sure which one to choose. Moments later on my phone I get a list of makeup brands. Creepy, right? Then because of these events happening you have news articles like this: Your phone is not listening to you, which is pushing the truth quite a bit. Social media is very misleading in itself. Social media is so misleading that this news article has just been released: Norway Influencers forced to share the filters used. An example of how social media can be misleading is the above picture of Kylie Jenner with her famous Kylie cosmetics. If you wear her Kylie cosmetics "you will have a face like this!" It doesn't say that in her Instagram picture, but it sure does feel like that is the advertisement that is being published. Kylie has so many filters and has gone through so many cosmetic surgeries that even if you wore her Kylie cosmetics you still wouldn't look like that.

Picture source: The U.S. Sun

So What does that mean for the Future?

Social Media is something that will always be around. However, with this new law in Norway and social media users becoming more aware of filters will less misleading advertisements or downright dishonest pictures go away for good? Personally, I hope it does because this image of Kylie Jenner is just downright dishonest. How are women supposed to feel good and be body positive when every picture on her social media has these kinds of unrealistic body images. This new image of Khloe Kardashian on her unedited images that she was furious got posted. Khloe looks fine but she wants her advertisements on her clothing line to be dishonest and unethical. Maybe we should even have this new law in Norway. Through all this craziness in the world that comes and goes the PRSA Code of Ethics will always remain crucial and should never be forgotten.