The Great Flaw of Ethics

Charlotte Bailey 

cb908718@gmail.com

 

If you search for the word “ethic” on Google.com the definition you will find is: “a set of moral principles,” but what are “moral principles?” According to Vocabulary.com “moral principles” are “the principles of right and wrong that are accepted by an individual or social group.” So ethics are an individual’s or group’s standards for right and wrong. The issue with this is that standard can vary greatly between cases. An common example of this is politics. Groups will often implement or suggest a Code of Ethics to combat this but oftentimes there is no way to enforce them.

 

Like in the case of the Society of Professional Journalists many leading groups in ethical standards often lack the authority to enforce them. Ethics are often treated like more of a suggestion than an obligation and one field that is particularly well known for this is the field of advertising.

“The Principles and Practices for Advertising Ethics” are a set of nine principles by the Institute of Advertising Ethics regarding, as the name suggests, ethical practices and standards that should be followed by advertisers. They are:

1. Advertising, public relations, marketing communications, news, and editorial all share a common objective of truth and high ethical standards in serving the public.
2. Advertising, public relations, and all marketing communications professionals have an obligation to exercise the highest personal ethics in the creation and dissemination of commercial information to consumers.
3. Advertisers should clearly distinguish advertising, public relations and corporate communications from news and editorial content and entertainment, both online and offline.
4. Advertisers should clearly disclose all material conditions, such as payment or receipt of a free product, affecting endorsements in social and traditional channels, as well as the identity of endorsers, all in the interest of full disclosure and transparency.
5. Advertisers should treat consumers fairly based on the nature of the audience to whom the ads are directed and the nature of the product or service advertised.
6. Advertisers should never compromise consumers’ personal privacy in marketing communications, and their choices as to whether to participate in providing their information should be transparent and easily made.
7. Advertisers should follow federal, state and local advertising laws, and cooperate with industry self-regulatory programs for the resolution of advertising practices.
8. Advertisers and their agencies, and online and offline media, should discuss privately potential ethical concerns, and members of the team creating ads should be given permission to express internally their ethical concerns.
9. Trust between advertising and public relations business partners, including clients, and their agencies, media vendors, and third party suppliers, should be built upon transparency and full disclosure of business ownership and arrangements, agency remuneration and rebates, and media incentives.

Unfortunately, there is a large gap between what is ethical and what is legal in advertising and because of that I can name multiple instances of advertising that violates these standards. One of the most common tactic I see is in the form of advertisements disguised as reviews.

This is the great flaw of ethics. There is a gaping hole between what should be done and what can be gotten away with.