Wells, Burnett, Moriarty

1
Chapter 2Advertising and Society Ethics,
Regulation, and Social Responsibility
Advertising and Social Responsibility

• Ethical issues
• Advocacy
• Accuracy
• Acquisitiveness

2
Advertising and Social Responsibility

• Five questions for ethical advertising
• The target of an ad?
• What should be advertised?
• The symbolic tone of an ad?
• The relation between advertising and mass media?
• Advertisings conscious obligation to society?

3
Social Responsibility

• Public service announcements (PSAs)
• Ad Council
• Social marketing

4
Six Key Issues in Advertising

• Puffery
• Taste and advertising
• Product categories and taste
• Current issues

5
Six Key Issues in Advertising

• Stereotyping in advertising
• Women in advertisements
• Racial and ethnic stereotypes
• Senior citizens
• Advertising to children

6
Six Key Issues in Advertising

• Advertising controversial products
• Tobacco
• Alcohol
• Gambling
• Prescription drugs
• Subliminal advertising

7
Federal Case Law Affecting Advertising

• First Amendment case law
• Commercial Speech
• Privacy case law developments

8
Advertising and the FTC

• Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• Some FTC responsibilities
• Investigate companies that engage in unfair or
  deceptive practices
• Regulate acts and practices that deceive
  businesses or consumers
• Issue cease-and-desist orders against such
  practices
• Fine people or groups that violate rules
• Encourage consumer groups to participate in
  rule-making

9
Advertising and the FTC

• Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• Areas of FTC regulation
• Deception
• Reasonable basis for claims
• Comparative advertising
• Endorsements
• Demonstrations

10
Advertising and the FTC

• FTC deceptive and unfair advertising remedies
• Consent decrees
• Cease-and-desist orders
• Corrective advertising
• Substantiating advertising claims
• Consumer redress
• Hold the ad agency legally responsible

11
Advertising and Other Regulatory Agencies

• Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• Additional Federal Regulatory Agencies
• U.S. Postal Service Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
  and Firearms U.S. Patent Office Library of
  Congress

12
Social Responsibility and Self-Regulation

• Self-discipline
• Self-regulation pure and co-opted
• National Advertising Division of the Better
  Business Bureau (NAD)
• National Advertising Review Board (NARB)
• Local regulation
• Media regulation and advertising