unethical advertisements

Presented by: Amit Gehi

INTRODUCTION

• In this era of globalization and deregulation, advertising has acquired a new status.

• As a matter of fact, advertising creates employment opportunities, provides information regarding the developments taking place in the society, contributes to economic growth, and provides information about products and services available in the market which helps in taking buying decisions.

Ethics

Ethics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality; that is, about concepts such as good and bad, right and wrong, justice, and virtue.

HOW ETHICAL ISSUES ARISE IN ADVERTISING

An advertisement of Nestle India Ltd (Maggie healthy soup) claimed that “Happy Heart” “Healthy Soup”.

The claim created an impression that consumption of Maggie soup leads to better heart and health, while on testing by independent agency, it has been found that it contains high levels of salt which releases sodium into body which in turn, causes hypertension and high blood pressure instead of good heart and health.

Therefore, on complaint, ASCI declared the advertisement as case of misleading by implication and ambiguity. Therefore, Nestle India Ltd assured ASCI to modify its advertisements.

Advertisement is considered unethical in the following situations:

o When it has degraded or underestimated the substitute or rival's product.

o When it gives false or misleading information on the value of the product.

o When it fails to give useful information on the possible reaction or side effects of the product. And

o When it is immoral.

UNETHICAL ADVERTISING

BASIC PRINCIPALS OF ADVERTISING

• Decency

• Honesty

• Social Responsibility

• Truthful presentation

• Comparisons

• Imitation

• Safety and health

• Avoidance of Harm

• Environmental behavior

ADVERTISING AND UNTRUTHFUL OR DECEPTIVE

General mistrust of advertising among consumers. Many do not perceive ads as honest or believable

General mistrust of advertising among consumers. Many do not perceive ads as honest or believable

Abuses involving sales promotions such as contests, sweepstakes, premium offersAbuses involving sales promotions such as contests, sweepstakes, premium offers

Unethical and/or deceptive practices involving mail order, telemarketing and other forms of direct marketing

Unethical and/or deceptive practices involving mail order, telemarketing and other forms of direct marketing

Internet scams and abusesInternet scams and abuses

• Surrogate advertisement• Puffery• Exaggeration• Unverified claims• Women stereotyping• Women used as sex symbols for promoting

products• Comparative advertisements• Use of children in advertising

WAYS OF UNETHICAL ADVERTISEMENT

SURROGATE ADVERTISINGSurrogate advertising is prominently seen in cases where advertising a particular product is banned by law.

Advertisement for products like cigarettes or alcohol which are injurious to heath are prohibited by law in several countries

and hence these companies have to come up with several other products that might have the same brand name and indirectly

remind people of the cigarettes or beer bottles of the same brand Common examples include:

Fosters and Kingfisher beer brands, which are often seen to promote their brand with the help of surrogate advertising.

PUFFERY ADVERTISING

• Puffery as a legal term refers to promotional statements and claims that express subjective rather than objective views, such that no reasonable person would take literally.

• A two-year old might believe that polar bears enjoy sipping Coca-Cola, but we know better .

What do you think on this one? To me, there are two instances of puffery here: "Serving the Best" and the actual brand of "Seattle's Best."

I'd say it is fairly obvious why these two phrases were chosen -- Starbucks is the coffee king of Seattle. So what better way to try and compete than make your brand claim that there is nothing better out there. Both of these claims are puffery, however, because -- based on my simple working definition above -- neither claim can be positively proved or disproved, or they are simply opinions.

EXAGGERATION

• Using false claims in the advertisements about the product.

• For example:-Ghari detergent - “Pehle Istemaal kare phir vishvaas kare.”, Tide detergent – “White ho to Tide ho.”, Vodafone Essar – “Wherever you go our network follows.”

White ho to

Tide ho.

One Drop Challenge Wherever you go our network follows.

UNVERIFIED CLAIMS

• It includes advertisements of “energy drinks” which tells us about the number of vitamins and how they help children to grow strong and tall.

• There is no way of verifying these false claims.

• For example:-Horlicks, Maltova, Tiger biscuits.

WOMEN IN ADVERTISING

Women are generally associated with household works and is not supposed to be a good decision maker which contributes to women stereotyping.

WOMEN STEREOTYPING

Women shown as doing domestic work which reflects stereotype image of women.

Women in advertising used as sex symbols

Amul macho

Axe dark temptation

UNHEALTHY BRAND COMPARISONS

• Nowadays advertisers are engaged in unhealthy brand comparison with the help of advertising.

• Such comparisons create problems and confusions for the right choice of the product as far as audience are concerned.

• Example can be cited of colgate and pepsodent toothpaste.

Colgate Vs Pepsodent

Complan Vs Horlicks

Coca cola Vs Pepsi

CHILDREN IN ADVERTISING• Children are easily

persuaded and have a large pull on today's markets, as is known by all advertisers, even ones who do not intend for their products to be consumed by children.

Children's TV Watching BehaviorChildren's TV Watching Behavior

Children ages 2-11 watch an average of 22 hours of TV per week and see 30,000 commercials per year

Children ages 2-11 watch an average of 22 hours of TV per week and see 30,000 commercials per year

80% of all advertising targeted to children falls in fourproduct categories:Toys, cereal, candy & fast food restaurants

80% of all advertising targeted to children falls in fourproduct categories:Toys, cereal, candy & fast food restaurants

CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS AS TARGET GROUPS

The children’s market where resistance to advertisingis weakest is the “pioneer for ad creep”.

” Kids are among the most sophisticated observers of ads. They can sing the jingles and identify the logos,

and they often have strong feelings about products. What they generally don't understand, however, are the

issues that underlie how advertising works.

Advocates Argue That Children:Advocates Argue That Children:

Marketers Argue Children:Marketers Argue Children:

Lack the knowledge and skills to evaluate advertising claimsLack the knowledge and skills to evaluate advertising claims

Cannot differentiatebetween programs and

commercials

Cannot differentiatebetween programs and

commercials

Must learn through socialization

Must learn through socialization

Must acquire skills needed to function in the marketplace

Must acquire skills needed to function in the marketplace

PERSPECTIVES ON ADS FOR CHILDREN

NEWSPAPER ADS

A wine bottle that is considered ethically wrong because the lorry may have to move to certain places where drinking is unethical

AXE ADVERTISEMENTAnother Example of AXE a product of HUL, Vaibhav Bedi had

been using AXE Deodorant for the past seven years, but didn’t able to grab the girls attention.

Axe advertisements suggest that the products help men in instantly attracting women.

In what could prove to be a major marketing and legal embarrassment for Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a 26-year-old man has filed a case against the FMCG company, which owns the Axe brand of men grooming products, for ‘cheating’ and causing him ‘mental suffering’.

Vaibhav Bedi, the petitioner, also surrendered all his used, unused and half-used deodorant sprays, perfume sticks and roll-ons, anti-perspirants, aftershaves, body washes, shampoos, and hair gels to the court, and demanded a laboratory test of the products and narcotics test of the brand managers of Axe

RECKITT BENCKISER’S DETTOL KITCHEN AD TAKES ON HUL’S VIM

• Reckitt Benckiser, the launching commercial for its Dettol Kitchen dishwashing and kitchen cleaning gel shows rival Hindustan Unilever’s Vim dishwash liquid clearly, in a move that may trigger a new advertising war between the two European multinationals. Skirmishes between the two firms have been veiled in the past, although both have repeatedly taken each other to court and advertising watchdog Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).

• “Such ads gives a very strong message psychologically that it’s not just another product and they can compete with the market leader. While HUL almost has a monopoly in the segment, there could be more action now in an otherwise dull segment,” In general, the consumer complaints council code allows ads to show a rival brand as long as the claims made in the ad are fact-based,”. Reckitt Benckiser has positioned Dettol Kitchen as a ‘complete kitchen cleaner’, for use as a dish-washing gel and cleaning other kitchen surfaces like sinks and slabs.

HORLICKS VS COMPLAN • The ad started with a scene inside the classroom

where the teacher is taking the attendance. • The teacher calls out " Calcium" then a group of

students raise their hands, then she calls out " Iron " another group raises their hands.

• Then the voice over talks about the deficiency of nutrients seen in kids.

• Then comes the critical part, a Doctor ( model) comes to the picture and talks about 23 vital nutrients that is necessary for the growth and claims that these nutrients are present in HORLICKS.

• Horlicks is trying to negate the core differentiation of Complan .

• Complan since its inception has been harping on the 23 vital nutrients. Now Horlicks is trying to create parity by claiming the same property.

• Complan has never been so aggressive and blunt.

RIN VS TIDE

• This is the first time that HUL has directly compared Tide with Rin. The Ad even have the tagline "Rin offers Better whiteness than Tide". P&G has took HUL to court over this ad. This ad was timed to coincide with the long weekend so that HUL could play the ad before the Court hearing.

UNETHICAL ADVERTISING IN CASE OF RIN

• Now the outcome of the ad war will be that HUL will be retrained by ASCII or the Court from further playing the ad .

• It means that Rin had adapted an unethical means against the competitor which will cause an unwarranted blemish on the brand reputation.

• Second outcome is that it will encourage Tide to be more aggressive in the market. Tide now has been officially and publically acknowledged as the competitor for Rin.

COKE VS PEPSI• Both made fun of their respective

advertisements. (Eg: Main Youngistaan se aaya hun)

• Pouching of Employees from both sides• Making fun of celebrities used in advertisement.

(Eg: Official Drink & Not an Official Drink)• Mostly in advertisement of Sprite & Mountain

Dew.