Ethics denotes a set of guidelines and principles that form a basis for decision making from day to day. Essentially, it provides a framework through which individuals can ascertain what is wrong and what is right. From a more explicit level, ethics can be looked at the price and challenge of doing the right thing relative to the actual cost an individual is willing to incur. The importance of ethics can be found in the day to activities and decision and as such cuts through numerous tenets of life. In this case, therefore, an individual’s actions on a daily basis can be used to ascertain their moral standing. The formation of ethical stand and systems comes about as a result of interactions with family, community, school as well as other personal experiences such as death and trauma.
Most of the day to day activities tend to come with a degree of ethical dilemmas. However, the focus of this discussion is on advertising and its impact on daily purchases and consumption patterns. Advertising is often described as a communication approach that is aimed at influencing the consumer behavior. In other words, it helps in establishing underlying demand for products and services (Cui, 2015). Both profit and non-profit organizations use advertising, and such it is an integral part of the business world. Besides being a crucial element in the enhancement of market shares and brand loyalty, it is also used as a means of distinguishing products and services from those of competitors. From an ethical and moral perspective, however, tremendous debates have been raised in regards to its impact on the individuals as well as society at large.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The Dilemma of Advertising
Despite the economic essence of advertising, it also comes with a number of social costs, which have made it attract negative criticism. First off, advertising is considered to be highly invasive and intrusive to personal land private lives including unsolicited commercial texts and emails as well as increasing presence within the public spaces such as hospitals and schools. Secondly, advertising relies on psychological pressure to influence decision making. In this case, therefore, it is seen as a form of psychological manipulation if the intended customer, an element that comes with considerable harmful side effects such as addiction. The third criticism of advertising is in regards to its environmental impact. Advertising processes and procedure entail considerable movement and distribution as well as the production of packaging and advertising material. These processes are linked to significant environmental pollution (Murphy, 2005). By increasing consumption, advertisement contributes to huge wastes that are often environmentally degrading.
It is also important to acknowledge the financial implications of advertising. Constant production means constant advertising, an effort which amounts to substantial economic costs, in terms of staff and advertising material. In most instances, such finances would be crucial in enhancing various areas within an organization or the community. From a political point of view, advertising comes with the connotation of media dependency. This particular issue comes with considerable ramifications for the society. Politicians have been known to utilize similar approaches in achieving political mileage even when the activities cause tremendous harm to the society (Christians et al. 2015). The fact that all mass media provide platforms for advertising means, that a great part of mass media activities and resources are channeled towards the creation and airing of ads. While most mass media companies pride themselves and purveyors of truth, a conflict of interest can be found in the fact that, most if not all of mass media revenue is collected through advertising. This means, there is the possibility of censorship and curtailment of freedom of speech all in an effort to rake in advertisement revenue.
A number of adverse outcomes can be noted in society as a result of advertising. Hyper-commercialism stands out as a conspicuous outcome of advertising. Not only is advertising prevalent within public spaces but has also become invasive into the private sphere. The problem is further compounded by the fact that as commercialism becomes ingrained into the fabric of society, there is an ever-growing need to enhance the advertising efforts to beat the competition. For the consumer, this means more aggressive and intrusive advertising approaches. The invention of mobile phone technology has created a greater avenue for intensification of advertisement practices (Christians et al. 2015). From games to sports to the conventional commercial breaks, advertising has become part and parcel of the day-to-day experience. It is from this pretext that a significant part of the global society has turned into a consumption society, primarily moving from one product to another as directed by ads.
The fact that advertising departments are often well funded they dedicate all their efforts to driving consumption, a feat that is often achieved through agenda-setting. In this case, therefore, one is likely to note the degree of ignorance that is depicted to issues that are non-commercial. In other words, the advertisement forces strive to ensure that their depiction of various commercial needs become the predominant way of expression within a given society. To ensure success in such issues, the advertising world turns to various discriminatory strategies, which are often referred to as group targeting or market segmenting. In this approach, consumers are divided based on various demographic categories, including, age, sex, religion, and income/revenue. Stereotyping and sexism are a predominant part of this strategy as well. From the objectification of objects and items to the conversion of the media system into a marketing delivery system, significant changes can be noted in relation to social and cultural shifts.
In other words, cultural erosion and change are being witnessed on a global scale, through maximization of commercial aspects of social life while ignoring the non-commercial ones. Of greater concern is the advertisement that is directed at children. Having realized the influence children have on their parents in regards to consumption pattern, children marketing has since been turned into a full-time department for most advisements (Christians et al. 2015). Children programs, book, and even school have become the target for these marketing approaches. For the society, this means, children are being turned into consumers’ right from childhood, a factor that raises considerable ethical and moral challenges. In making a consumption a way of life, right from childhood, advertisers have been able to develop a highly commercialized society. To this extent, the most considerable damage to the community has been the decimation of the idea that meaningful purposes are existent. It is also worth noting that the respect of the dignity of humankind has been lost in the process.
Application of Virtue Ethics in Advertising
Developing a moral compass comes in handy in dealing with the challenges and impacts of advertising at an individual as well as societal level. One such approach is the use of virtue ethics which has its roots in Aristotelian philosophy. According to Laczniak and Harris (2016), virtue ethics deviates away from normative theories that focus on action and behavior by focusing on the development of an ethical character. In other words, virtue ethics is more concerned with the development of characteristics that define a good life. Its introduction in the marketing world can be vital for both consumers and advertising agencies and developers. By focusing on character rather than action, virtue ethics push consumers and advertisers to consider the impact of their decisions and choices on their concept of living a good life. This translates to focusing on the moral character, appreciation of context as well as differentiation of values and virtues.
Besides focusing on the commercial aspect of doing business, it is important to consider the social and environmental impacts that come about as a result of organizational activities. From an organizational perspective, therefore, virtue ethics provides a framework for developing values and goals that transcend the limitations of commerciality (Lester, 2018). It is also essential for organizations to consider the fact that virtue can accord an organization with a sustainable competitive advantage as well as product differentiation that is hard to beat. From an individual level, virtue ethics comes in handy in beating advertisers at their own game. By focusing on how to live a life that is moral ethical and beneficial to the community, one has to be acutely aware of their daily actions and decisions and how they impact the social, economic, spiritual and ecological environment around them. By contextualizing their actions and decisions at this level, it becomes possible to overcome the needless desire to consume products merely because they are available.
Conclusion
It is without a doubt that advertising has a positive economic impact at the organizational level. However, beyond this structure, it becomes evident that the global society is suffering under the hands of the multi-billion dollar industry that is not only invasive regarding physical and psychological space but also through environmental and social destruction. As an established industry, it is seemingly daunting to challenge its position, however, by developing a strong moral character based on the framework provided by virtue ethics, it is possible to overcome the confines and limitations of advertisement at an individual, organizational as well as societal level.
References
Christians, C. G., Fackler, M., Richardson, K., Kreshel, P., & Woods, R. H. (2015). Media ethics: Cases and moral reasoning . London: Routledge.
Cui, G. (2015). Ethical issues in ethnic segmentation and target marketing. In Proceedings of the 1998 Multicultural Marketing Conference (pp. 87-91). Springer, Cham.
Laczniak, G. R., & Harris, F. (2016). Ethics in marketing: International cases and perspectives . Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.
Lester, P. M. (2018). Advertising and public relations. In Visual Ethics (pp. 66-76). Massachusetts, MA: Focal Press.
Murphy, P. E. (2005). Ethical marketing . Upper Saddle River, NJ [u.a.]: Prentice-Hall.
