INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

BRAND MANAGEMENT

TERM REPORT ETHICAL ISSUES IN ADVERTISING /BRANDS

Submitted to:

Ms. Fareen Razzak

Submitted by: Muhammad Faisal Munaf Syed Jaffar Hasan Faraz Sultan Muhammad Arsalan 9049 7286 5157 11073

December 10th, 2011

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We owe our profound thanks and deepest gratitude to Almighty Allah, the most merciful, who blessed us with determination, strength, ability and divine help to complete this report.

We would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to the people who have supported us in the compilation of this report.

We would also like to thank our respected Teacher Miss. Fareen Razzaq for her continuous guidance and support.

Regards,

Muhammad Faisal Muhammad Arsalan Faraz Sultan Syed Jaffar Hasan

Executive Summary

This term report has been assigned to us my Miss. Fareen Razzak for the brand management course. The main topic of this report is Ethical issues in advertising/brands. The main highlights of the reports include the main Ethical issues which the advertising world is facing in todays world. The first section of the report talks about the main Ethical boundaries to be followed along with the possible harms that could be caused by advertising to both the consumers and the brand itself. The later section deals with the specific ethical concerns in advertising under each separate heading of: Puffery Advertising to children Harmful/controversial products Comparative advertising Subliminal advertising Copy cat/copy Advertisements Full disclosure in advertisements Poor taste & offensive advertising False & misleading claims Stereotyping

The main objective of the report is to define the main unethical practices in advertising brands, its execution, adverse effects on the consumers with real case studies and then to discuss the main steps that are needed to rectify and control such unethical practices.

INTRODUCTION
Clearly there is a close link between ethical branding and corporate reputation. These attributes may include: honesty, integrity, diversity, and quality, respect, responsibility and accountability (cocacola.com), and define what an ethical brand stands for. An ethical brand enhances the firms reputation; such a reputation reinforces the brand in turn. Ethical branding can be studied at both corporate and product levels. At the corporate level, a corporate brand is a vital part of the corporate reputation management. Any unethical behavior will severely damage or even destroy the total intangible asset as evidenced by the some recent high profile scandals such as Enron and Anderson Consulting. Branding at the product level involves labeling, packaging and communicating. Although these do not have a direct impact upon the corporate brand, they can still affect the reputation of the organization. Some corporate PR activities such as sponsorship and donations will not automatically change the public opinion if the company is generally perceived as unethical and not genuine; for example, the sponsorship of a research centre for corporate responsibility by a tobacco firm. Corporate donations and CSR should not be used as varnish to cover corporate misbehavior. The organization needs to make systematic efforts to create and maintain an ethical corporate brand image that not only enhances its corporate reputation but also gives the business competitive advantages.

Does The Consumer Really Care About Branding Ethics?

A popular or successful brand may not be ethical (it could be a controversial one, such as the chainsaw waving Eminem). On the other hand, ethical branding cannot guarantee a firm the success in the marketplace. Consumers generally do have ethical concerns but such concerns do not necessarily become manifest in their actual purchasing behavior. So does ethical branding matter? The literature seems to be divided on the responses of consumers. One survey in the USA finds that ethical behavior is an important consideration during the purchase decision and consumers are willing to pay higher prices for that firms product (Creyer and Ross, 1997). A UK study concludes that although consumers are more sophisticated today, this does not necessarily translate into behavior that favors ethical companies over unethical ones (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001). Another US study finds that todays consumers, facing more choices in the marketplace and changes in lifestyle, their sophistication is in decline rather than increase (Titus and Bradford, 1996). The consequence of this decline is unsophisticated consumers tend to reward unethical business practices and punish ethical business behavior. As far as ethical branding is concerned, two questions need to be asked: Do the brand users care? Do the general public care? Despite the conflicting findings in the literature, society today seems to be more concerned about ethical issues in marketing compared with 20 years ago. The more high-profile a brand is, 4

the higher expectation in ethical behavior the public would place upon the brand. As an increasing number of consumers become ethically conscious, they do take ethical issues in branding seriously. This will in turn force branding to become more ethically accountable.

SOME ETHICAL AND MORAL PRINCIPLES

The Second Vatican Council declared: "If the media are to be correctly employed, it is essential that all who use them know the principles of the moral order and apply them faithfully in this domain."21 The moral order to which this refers is the order of the law of human nature, binding upon all because it is "written on their hearts" (Rom. 2:15) and embodies the imperatives of authentic human fulfillment. In this context, the media of social communications have two options, and only two. Either they help human persons to grow in their understanding and practice of what is true and good, or they are destructive forces in conflict with human well being. That is entirely true of advertising. Against this background, then, we point to this fundamental principle for people engaged in advertising: advertisers that is, those who commission, prepare or disseminate advertising are morally responsible for what they seek to move people to do; and this is a responsibility also shared by publishers, broadcasting executives, and others in the communications world, as well as by those who give commercial or political endorsements, to the extent that they are involved in the advertising process. If an instance of advertising seeks to move people to choose and act rationally in morally good ways that are of true benefit to themselves and others, persons involved in it do what is morally good; if it seeks to move people to do evil deeds that are self-destructive and destructive of authentic community, they do evil. This applies also to the means and the techniques of advertising: it is morally wrong to use manipulative, exploitative, corrupt and corrupting methods of persuasion and motivation. In this regard, we note special problems associated with so-called indirect advertising that attempts to move people to act in certain ways for example, purchase particular products without their being fully aware that they are being swayed. The techniques involved here include showing certain products or forms of behavior in superficially glamorous settings associated with superficially glamorous people; in extreme cases, it may even involve the use of subliminal messages. Within this very general framework, we can identify several moral principles that are particularly relevant to advertising. We shall speak briefly of three: truthfulness, the dignity of the human person, and social responsibility.

a) Truthfulness in Advertising
Even today, some advertising is simply and deliberately untrue. Generally speaking, though, the problem of truth in advertising is somewhat more subtle: it is not that advertising says what is overtly false, but that it can distort the truth by implying things that are not so or withholding relevant facts. As Pope John Paul II points out, on both the individual and social levels, truth and freedom are inseparable; without truth as the basis, starting point and criterion of discernment, judgment, choice and action, there can be no authentic exercise of freedom. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting the Second Vatican Council, insists that the content of communication be "true and within the limits set by justice and charity complete"; the content should, moreover, be communicated "honestly and properly." To be sure, advertising, like other forms of expression, has its own conventions and forms of stylization, and these must be taken into account when discussing truthfulness. People take for granted some rhetorical and symbolic exaggeration in advertising; within the limits of recognized and accepted practice, this can be allowable. But it is a fundamental principle that advertising may not deliberately seek to deceive, whether it does that by what it says, by what it implies, or by what it fails to say. "The proper exercise of the right to information demands that the content of what is communicated be true and, within the limits set by justice and charity, complete. ... Included here is the obligation to avoid any manipulation of truth for any reason."

b) The Dignity of the Human Person

There is an "imperative requirement that advertising respects the human person, his right duty to make a responsible choice, his interior freedom; all these goods would be violated if man's lower inclinations were to be exploited, or his capacity to reflect and decide compromised." These abuses are not merely hypothetical possibilities but realities in much advertising today. Advertising can violate the dignity of the human person both through its content what is advertised, the manner in which it is advertised and through the impact it seeks to make upon its audience. We have spoken already of such things as appeals to lust, vanity, envy and greed, and of techniques that manipulate and exploit human weakness. In such circumstances, advertisements readily become "vehicles of a deformed outlook on life, on the family, on religion and on morality an outlook that does not respect the true dignity and destiny of the human person. This problem is especially acute where particularly vulnerable groups or classes of persons are concerned: children and young people, the elderly, the poor, the culturally disadvantaged.

Much advertising directed at children apparently tries to exploit their credulity and suggestibility, in the hope that they will put pressure on their parents to buy products of no real benefit to them. Advertising like this offends against the dignity and rights of both children and parents; it intrudes upon the parent-child relationship and seeks to manipulate it to its own base ends. Also, some of the comparatively little advertising directed specifically to the elderly or culturally disadvantaged seems designed to play upon their fears so as to persuade them to allocate some of their limited resources to goods or services of dubious value.

c) Advertising and Social Responsibility

Social responsibility is such a broad concept that we can note here only a few of the many issues and concerns relevant under this heading to the question of advertising. The ecological issue is one. Advertising that fosters a lavish life style which wastes resources and despoils the environment offends against important ecological concerns. "In his desire to have and to enjoy rather than to be and grow, man consumes the resources of the earth and his own life in an excessive and disordered way. ... Man thinks that he can make arbitrary use of the earth, subjecting it without restraint to his will, as though it did not have its own requisites and a prior God-given purpose, which man can indeed develop but must not betray. As this suggests, something more fundamental is at issue here: authentic and integral human development. Advertising that reduces human progress to acquiring material goods and cultivating a lavish life style expresses a false, destructive vision of the human person harmful to individuals and society alike. When people fail to practice "a rigorous respect for the moral, cultural and spiritual requirements, based on the dignity of the person and on the proper identity of each community, beginning with the family and religious societies," then even material abundance and the conveniences that technology makes available "will prove unsatisfying and in the end contemptible." Advertisers, like people engaged in other forms of social communication, have a serious duty to express and foster an authentic vision of human development in its material, cultural and spiritual dimensions. Communication that meets this standard is, among other things, a true expression of solidarity. Indeed, the two things communication and solidarity are inseparable, because, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church points out, solidarity is "a consequence of genuine and right communication and the free circulation of ideas that further knowledge and respect for others."

THE HARM DONE BY ADVERTISING

There is nothing intrinsically good or intrinsically evil about advertising. It is a tool, an instrument: it can be used well, and it can be used badly. If it can have, and sometimes does

have, beneficial results such as those just described, it also can, and often does, have a negative, harmful impact on individuals and society. Communio et Progressio contains this summary statement of the problem: "If harmful or utterly useless goods are touted to the public, if false assertions are made about goods for sale, if less than admirable human tendencies are exploited, those responsible for such advertising harm society and forfeit their good name and credibility. More than this, unremitting pressure to buy articles of luxury can arouse false wants that hurt both individuals and families by making them ignore what they really need. And those forms of advertising which, without shame, exploit the sexual instincts simply to make money or which seek to penetrate into the subconscious recesses of the mind in a way that threatens the freedom of the individual ... must be shunned."

a) Economic Harms of Advertising

10. Advertising can betray its role as a source of information by misrepresentation and by withholding relevant facts. Sometimes, too, the information function of media can be subverted by advertisers' pressure upon publications or programs not to treat of questions that might prove embarrassing or inconvenient. More often, though, advertising is used not simply to inform but to persuade and motivate to convince people to act in certain ways: buy certain products or services, patronize certain institutions, and the like. This is where particular abuses can occur. The practice of "brand"-related advertising can raise serious problems. Often there are only negligible differences among similar products of different brands, and advertising may attempt to move people to act on the basis of irrational motives ("brand loyalty," status, fashion, "sex appeal," etc.) instead of presenting differences in product quality and price as bases for rational choice. Advertising also can be, and often is, a tool of the "phenomenon of consumerism," as Pope John Paul II delineated it when he said: "It is not wrong to want to live better; what is wrong is a style of life which is presumed to be better when it is directed toward ?having' rather than ?being', and which wants to have more, not in order to be more but in order to spend life in enjoyment as an end in itself." Sometimes advertisers speak of it as part of their task to "create" needs for products and services that is, to cause people to feel and act upon cravings for items and services they do not need. "If ... a direct appeal is made to his instincts while ignoring in various ways the reality of the person as intelligent and free then consumer attitudes and life-styles can be created which are objectively improper and often damaging to his physical and spiritual health." This is a serious abuse, an affront to human dignity and the common good when it occurs in affluent societies. But the abuse is still more grave when consumerist attitudes and values are transmitted by communications media and advertising to developing countries, where they 8

exacerbate socio-economic problems and harm the poor. "It is true that a judicious use of advertising can stimulate developing countries to improve their standard of living. But serious harm can be done them if advertising and commercial pressure become so irresponsible that communities seeking to rise from poverty to a reasonable standard of living are persuaded to seek this progress by satisfying wants that have been artificially created. The result of this is that they waste their resources and neglect their real needs, and genuine development falls behind." Similarly, the task of countries attempting to develop types of market economies that serve human needs and interests after decades under centralized, state-controlled systems is made more difficult by advertising that promotes consumerist attitudes and values offensive to human dignity and the common good. The problem is particularly acute when, as often happens, the dignity and welfare of society's poorer and weaker members are at stake. It is necessary always to bear in mind that there are "goods which by their very nature cannot and must not be bought or sold" and to avoid "an ?idolatry' of the market" that, aided and abetted by advertising, ignores this crucial fact.

b) Harms of Political Advertising

Political advertising can support and assist the working of the democratic process, but it also can obstruct it. This happens when, for example, the costs of advertising limit political competition to wealthy candidates or groups, or require that office-seekers compromise their integrity and independence by over-dependence on special interests for funds. Such obstruction of the democratic process also happens when, instead of being a vehicle for honest expositions of candidates' views and records, political advertising seeks to distort the views and records of opponents and unjustly attacks their reputations. It happens when advertising appeals more to people's emotions and base instincts to selfishness, bias and hostility toward others, to racial and ethnic prejudice and the like rather than to a reasoned sense of justice and the good of all.

c) Cultural Harms of Advertising

Advertising also can have a corrupting influence upon culture and cultural values. We have spoken of the economic harm that can be done to developing nations by advertising that fosters consumerism and destructive patterns of consumption. Consider also the cultural injury done to these nations and their peoples by advertising whose content and methods, reflecting those prevalent in the first world, are at war with sound traditional values in indigenous cultures. Today this kind of "domination and manipulation" via media rightly is "a concern of developing nations in relation to developed ones," as well as a "concern of minorities within particular nations." The indirect but powerful influence exerted by advertising upon the media of social communications that depend on revenues from this source points to another sort of cultural 9

concern. In the competition to attract ever larger audiences and deliver them to advertisers, communicators can find themselves tempted in fact pressured, subtly or not so subtly to set aside high artistic and moral standards and lapse into superficiality, tawdriness and moral squalor. Communicators also can find themselves tempted to ignore the educational and social needs of certain segments of the audience the very young, the very old, the poor who do not match the demographic patterns (age, education, income, habits of buying and consuming, etc.) of the kinds of audiences advertisers want to reach. In this way the tone and indeed the level of moral responsibility of the communications media in general are lowered. All too often, advertising contributes to the invidious stereotyping of particular groups that places them at a disadvantage in relation to others. This often is true of the way advertising treats women; and the exploitation of women, both in and by advertising, is a frequent, deplorable abuse. "How often are they treated not as persons with an inviolable dignity but as objects whose purpose is to satisfy others' appetite for pleasure or for power? How often is the role of woman as wife and mother undervalued or even ridiculed? How often is the role of women in business or professional life depicted as a masculine caricature, a denial of the specific gifts of feminine insight, compassion, and understanding, which so greatly contribute to the Civilization of love'?

d) Moral and Religious Harms of Advertising

Advertising can be tasteful and in conformity with high moral standards, and occasionally even morally uplifting, but it also can be vulgar and morally degrading. Frequently it deliberately appeals to such motives as envy, status seeking and lust. Today, too, some advertisers consciously seek to shock and titillate by exploiting content of a morbid, perverse, pornographic nature. What this Pontifical Council said several years ago about pornography and violence in the media is no less true of certain forms of advertising: "As reflections of the dark side of human nature marred by sin, pornography and the exaltation of violence are age-old realities of the human condition. In the past quarter century, however, they have taken on new dimensions and have become serious social problems. At a time of widespread and unfortunate confusion about moral norms, the communications media have made pornography and violence accessible to a vastly expanded audience, including young people and even children, and a problem which at one time was confined mainly to wealthy countries has now begun, via the communications media, to corrupt moral values in developing nations." We note, too, certain special problems relating to advertising that treats of religion or pertains to specific issues with a moral dimension.

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In cases of the first sort, commercial advertisers sometimes include religious themes or use religious images or personages to sell products. It is possible to do this in tasteful, acceptable ways, but the practice is obnoxious and offensive when it involves exploiting religion or treating it flippantly. In cases of the second sort, advertising sometimes is used to promote products and inculcate attitudes and forms of behavior contrary to moral norms. That is the case, for instance, with the advertising of contraceptives, abortifacients and products harmful to health, and with government-sponsored advertising campaigns for artificial birth control, so-called "safe sex", and similar practices.

SPECIFIC ETHICAL ISSUES IN ADVERTISNG/ BRANDING

PUFFERY IN ADVERTISING:
How its carried out in advertising: Puffery is form of advertising or sales presentation relying on exaggerations, opinions, and superlatives, with little or no credible evidence to support its vague claims. Puffery may be tolerated to an extent so long as it does not amount to misrepresentation (false claim of possessing certain positive attributes or of not possessing certain negative attributes). How consumers are affected: The authors found that consumers' reactions depended on their perceived level of knowledge about the product and the media context in which they viewed the ads. For example, they found that when consumers perceived themselves to be less knowledgeable about the product than the intended recipients of beer or cleansing gel ads, they were more likely to assume that the descriptions were useful. 3 Unethical Types of Puffery Ads: Exaggerated claims though Photoshop and obvious manipulations in model makeovers : A number of Ads try to mislead the consumers by making changes in the looks of their models through modern computer technology which make the results favorable for the brand but adverse for the users. Example i: CLEAR Shampoo Ad: The model Amna sheikh is shown in this Ad where her hair are shown as very voluminous when in reality its nothing like that. Even her complexion here has been enhanced and its glowing only through the use of Computer technology. Consumers can be tricked easily by showing such photo shopped images. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZvNR9F4DEc

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Example ii: 9x fairness cream: In this Ad the exaggeration has gone off the limits. The brand not only makes the skin fair in FEW seconds which is not possible at all but the hair color changes as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahdvo70fRhk Example iii: AD skin white whitening cream: Here the model is clearly blacked out through black color which is very obvious and prominent as well. Again manipulating fact in a very wrong way. When infact it is very obvious that the model used in reality is fair already! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc1su-JQxi8&feature=related

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1. Technical reasons: ice cream they show mashed potatoes to retain the real texture There are legendary stories about ad campaigns that have used mock-ups rather than real products in order to simulate the way products work. When some of these practices came to the attention of the public, some people called them "deceptive advertising." For example, shooting a commercial for ice cream topping would normally occur in a studio under hot lights. Under these circumstances, real ice cream would melt quickly. Would it be okay to use a substitute for the ice cream (say, mashed potatoes or shaving cream) that would simulate how

the ice cream would behave under ordinary circumstances? Example i: HAAGEN DAZS ice cream texture:Here one can clearly see the smooth and tempting texture of ice cream which every one wish to have in reality too but here its not just ice cream it in fact a mixture of mashed potatoes and shaving cream. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eznjM4sxtFo&feature=related 13

Extreme makeovers that are given to the brands sometimes COMPLETELY change the brand outlook. Example ii: Rapid Shave (early 1960s). The Colgate-Palmolive Company and its advertising agency, Ted Bates & Company of New York, produced a TV commercial that showed a razor shaving the sand off a piece of sandpaper. The commercial claimed that Rapid Shave wet the beard thoroughly and held it in place for close shaving. The demonstration attempted to show that even rough textured beards were softened with Rapid Shave. The problem, however, was that the so-called sandpaper was actually a piece of Plexiglas on which sand had been sprinkled, making it easy to remove the sand. When experts tried to repeat the demonstration with real sandpaper and a razor, it failed Example iii: Campbell's Soup (1968). Another instance in which a product demonstration was deemed too far from the truth occurred in Campbell's Soup ads of the late 1960s. In order to show the abundance of vegetables and noodles in the soup, the ads were shot after placing clear marbles in the bottoms of the bowls and cups, helping the vegetables stay near the top and show up clearly in the ads. A public complaint that the vegetables in real bowls of Campbell's Soups did not float as they appeared to do in the ads led to the discontinuation of the practice and resulted in considerable negative publicity for the company. Shown below:

LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8syv6GupEXw

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2. Puffery to support a certain brand positioning: Some Ads are made as such to build up ATTITUDE BRANDs such as AXE effect Ads, mountain dew Ads which brand have been shown in such a way that as soon as the consumer thinks about them it created a certain ROUGH & TOUGH image or positioning in their minds. But such kind of positioning and exaggerated images influence the consumers to purchase the product but their wish to become rough & tough in the same way all goes to vain. Sometimes the excessive use to become COOL and TOUGH as the models are shown after using the brand results is harmful effects. Example i: Red bull gives you WINGS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8O3JOk7ZtM&feature=related But this is the energy drink. Even if the advertiser is not making any claim through the statistical or laboratory test claims but still its giving an impression to the users that it will make them

strong and tough after consumption of the brand. Example ii: Mountain dew AD: Here the daring activity has been associated with the consumption of the brand clearly. Due to which a number of youngsters get attracted and they try consuming the band in the hope to achieve the same strength or attitude and be liked by others which is not the case in reality.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V43s0vOp7YM

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ADVERTISING TO CHILDREN: Children constitute three different markets: the primary, the influencer, and the future market. Certain products are simply children's products for which they are the primary users/buyers. They sometimes either purchase a product themselves or select the product before the parents purchase it. For other products, such as ones, which are used by the entire family unit, they may influence purchases made by the parents. There are some products where children wield direct influence by overtly specifying their preferences and voicing them aloud. Decisionmaking in households is seen to change with the mere presence of children. However there are certain products which has nothing to do with children at all but still children are drawn towards it in a negative way through advertising such as the JUNK food industry. Case 1:MCDONLADS CONTROVERSIAL ADS TO KIDS: During a suvery in USA in 1997 the most prolific advertiser overall was McDonald's with commercials for the fast food chain found in virtually every country. A previous study has shown that just over half of Australian 9 and 10 year-olds think that Ronald McDonald knows best what is good for children to eat. In response to the negative publicity generated by the case, McDonald's now offers nutritional information in its restaurants and online. They also offer healthier options, as well as fruits and salads on both adult and children's menus. McDonald's ads intended for children currently focus on a healthy lifestyle by showing Ronald McDonald engaged in sports and outdoor play with children. The current slogan is "It's what I eat and what I do."Many other countries have restrictions.

Sweden and Norway do net permit any television advertising to be directed towards children under 12 and no adverts at all are allowed during children's programmes. Australia does not allow advertisements during programmes for pre-school children.

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Austria does not permit advertising during children's programmes, and in the Flemish region of Belgium no advertising is permitted 5 minutes before or after programmes for children.

Case 2:JOE CAMEL CONTROVERSIAL CIGARRETE ADS TO KIDS: The Joe Camel ads, while certainly not as detrimental to society as moral watchdog groups would claim, absolutely came with myriad of mixed messages. The original Joe Camel ads (commemorating the company's 75th anniversary) featured the tagline, "75 Years and Still Smokin'". Perhaps this isn't the most welcome complement to anti-smoking programs in schools warning of emphysema and lung disease, but then again the ad isn't claiming that after 75 years you'll still be smoking. It features a cartoon character which reportedly attracted the kids towards smoking and FTC took action against them. Joe Camel(on the LEFT) was certainly not the only cartoon smokesanimal. From the 1930s through early 60s, Kool cigarettes had an adorable little anthropomorphic penguin( on the RIGHT) hawking their goods.

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CONTROVERISAL/HARMFUL PRODUCTS:
Should products that can have harmful effects, like tobacco and alcohol, be advertised at all? Many advertising agencies respond in the affirmative. They back up their decision by saying that it is not an agency's responsibility to decide which products should be advertised and which should not. Rather, their reasoning goes: if it's legal to sell it, it's okay to advertise it. By contrast, there are other agencies and a handful of famous advertising men and women who refuse tobacco or alcohol accounts on ethical grounds. They do not want to be associated with the social ills of products that appear to be as harmful as these. Tobacco and alcohol are a good place to apply the most stringent ethical standards. If the products are to be advertised, what should be said about them? This 1929 ad featured Constance Talmadge, a movie star, proclaiming that she reaches for a Lucky Strike whenever she's hungry and thereby stays thin. This was a powerful model to hold up before society. It offered a promise of beauty, thinness, and fame if you smoked Luckies. Today, the FTC regulates tobacco advertising to the point where famous people cannot be used to endorse tobacco nor can claims like those made in this 1929 ad be made about the benefits of smoking. Rather, there is no tobacco advertising at all on TV and all smoking tobacco ads must carry 18

serious warnings about the health problems the products may cause. However usually such brands are associated with positive and very energetic and healthy notes. Indian actor Akshay Kumar PIA Boeing 720B in Red & White cigarette 1980

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COMPARATIVE ADVERTISING:
An advertisement in which there is specific mention or presentation of competing brand(s) and a comparison is made or implied. By Law FTC USA those comparative Ads which compared with their competitors ONLY on the basis of statistics and facts are allowed by Law and cannot be sued in court. Example: Whitakers VS Cadbury chocolatehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCNvcaHkE54 Comparative advertising can take on several forms running from completely ethical to downright dishonest, with shades of gray in between. The key to ethical use of it however, is to keep things positive.Shady area of comparative advertising would be if you create a false benefit. This would be to claim your product is better because it does something others cant, but what it does, adds no benefit to the user or could actually hurt them.Perhaps a good instance of this would be with some of the push button software products that claim the user will make thousands of dollars a day with no work involved. The problem wouldnt have to do with whether or not the button worked in this case, but rather that its a realistic claim, or that it was a better way to go in comparison to a more hands on approach of doing the task it claims to fulfill.Of course the most ethical way to use comparative advertising is to take the positive approach. Youd want to focus on your products unique selling points, and refrain from competitor bashing. So while youre definitely comparing your product to another, by highlighting the upside of your product, youre only making inferences to whats lacking in the other, without driving the negative. Examples of Ads clearly using this tactics against law such as Pakistan Ads of UFONE and ZONG taunting on each other and other following examples.

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Coke VS Pepsi ads http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMo6o0BtFG8 DHL vs Fedex http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PV0vWjoY8M

SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING:
For over half a century, many people have believed that advertisers secretly embed covert messages into print advertisements and TV commercials. These embeddings are believed to communicate secret messages to consumers that cause them to act irrationally in the marketplace. Subliminal messages are the ones which are hidden to the extent that the messages are received at the SUBCONSCIOUS level of mind. A number of ads use sex appeal in subliminal ads but a number of politicians and brands have used subliminal ads to convey their messages with sex appeals as well.

double meaning words in the TAGLINE: kia cheese hai However a number of subliminal Ads has been through political messages as well such as the BUSH political campaign of RATs where the words RATS from the whole word democrats has been enlarged deliberately. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NPKxhfFQMs Also look at this Sprint ad where they have shown the brand only for a split second in between a drama serial SMALL VILLE. 22

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ODTRzSJc0

COPYCAT/COPY ADVERTISEMENTS:
Some advertisements are misleading in the manner that they copy the Ads of other brands either from the same industry or the different industry. Famous examples of exact replica or in other words exact COPYCAT ads has been of NBA basketball game SEGA game ad which copied from NIKE frozen moments Ad. Nike vs. Sega: a well known case Copyright Infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holders exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.

In order to qualify for Copyright Protection it must: 1. 2. 3. 4. be a writing exist in a tangible medium be the original author be an original work

An example of a copy infringement case involving an ad is Nike vs. Sega over a video game ad. Nike has settled a lawsuit against Sega of American Dreamcast and its agency, Leagas Delaney of San Francisco for copy infringement. The lawsuit was filed in February of 2002 in Federal Court in Oregon. The dispute made was that Sega TV ad for its NBA 2K2 videogame was a virtual scene-by-scene reenactment of Nikes 1996 Frozen Moment ad. The Nike ad was created by Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., which featured a Bulls-Lakers NBA game with Michael Jordan in which fast-paced basketball action shifts to slow motion as Jordan slamdunks.The settlement announced by Nike requested for Sega to pay legal fees and donate $100,000 in Nikes name split between the Boys & Girls Club of Portland, Ore., which is home to Nikes world headquarters, and Memphis, Tenn., home to Nikes primary U.S. distribution center. Sega removed the ad shortly after the suit was filed, and also agreed to permanently trash the ad.Nike released a statement that included an apology from Sega and Leagas. We

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deeply apologize for creating an ad that so closely resembled Nikes memorable Frozen moment ad, which understandably tarnished Nikes feelings towards Se Links: Original Ad by Nike Frozen Moments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NseKug63naM&feature=related Copycat Ad by SEGA games: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAS8ctYkVoY Pakistani ZOng fist Ad copy of : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aktuTo4lo0

FULL DSICLOSURE:
A number of brands do NOT reveal all the vital risks associated with their brands. Obviously they advertise to attract consumers in the first place so they hide number aspects. The McDonald's case raises the issue of how much information is enough in an advertisement. Should it be the responsibility of the food seller to disclose all known health risks associated with consuming the advertised product? How much information needs to be given in an ad? And, more practically, how much information can be given in a 30-second commercial or in a

full-page print ad? Laws are there in various countries but still brands never follow it. For instance the amount of calories in a Mc 24

Donald burger is never disclosed fully in their advertisements. Same goes for a number of other brands too. This is raising a number of concerns as people are not aware of the risks associated with the consumption of certain brands which are advertised as healthy brand where as the reality is totally opposite.

POOR TASTE & OFFENSIVE ADVERTISING:

How its carried out in advertising A number of advertisement includes brands which arouse the feeling of disgust amongst the viewers and they may feel uncomfortable watching such brand Ads this mainly includes undergarments, pregnancy tests, contraceptives, Toilet cleaners, etc. Such kind of demonstrations of brand usage and its execution clearly creates the advertisements that are in poor taste, irritating and most hated! So much so that viewers switch their channels.

Example i: Harpic toilet bowl cleaner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1E-qkUXRkY Example ii:AXE Deo Ads: Sweaty armpits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7ODAx_CpdY

FALSE /MSILEADING CLAIMS & DECIVEING INFORMATION:

False claims are made with help of statistical numbers gathered through some UNKOWN research and by the laboratory results which no body has idea about. There are two typs of testimonials Technical testimonial (statistically data gathered through research or or some laboratory examination) 25

Secondly through celebrity endorsements and professional personnel which are mostly false.

STATITSICAL/LABORATORY CLAIMS:
Some advertisements make false claims on the basis of false research results or laboratory test reports results to sell their brands and gain consumers trust. A number of brands try to gain and retain trust in their brand through the use of numbers. They give statistical evidences, give research results or even show elaborates test results. Sometimes they even show FAKE awards and certifications which may not exist in reality are shown just to fool the consumers. Such kind of advertisements has rose a number of concerns for especially health and personal care products such as hair treatment lotions, skin damage lotion , OTC medicines, electronic items and so on.

For example in order to prove good quality SHAHI MEVA has shown a laboratory process where people are examining each and every packet which again is not possible. Example i: K & N chicken healthy food technical testimonial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97KA7uS6r2M 100% hair dandruff removed in just ONE WEEK GURANTEED! Claim by head and shoulders shampoo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYWrQpfNAe8&NR=1&feature=endscreen

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FALSE CELEBRITY/PROFESSIONALS TESTIMONIALS:

A number of rand show false celebrity testimonials when in reality the celebrity never uses the brand themselves. Also brands such as tooth paste or soaps include testimonials of those doctors of medical representatives who are not doctors by professions. In Pakistan a number of brands have shown TV drama actors as doctors in a number of Ads in the past openly. For example the REEMA English tooth pastes Ad. Why would Reema ever use a low quality tooth paste like English toothpaste ? The new doctor tooth paste commercial Zubaida APPA kabhii ghalat nahe bolteen thats a HUGE claim and the brand has clearly tried to cash her image amongst the masses just to sell its brand which is totally wrong. Zubaida APPA doctor toothpast commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJaIHT-ees0

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Overused celebrities:
Some celebrities have been overused to the extent that it has now become obvious that they do not care about the credibility of the brands and their claims being made but they care about only earning money. For instance Amitabh Bachan. He has been endorsing and modeling for a large number of brands witch he may have not used in his lifetime. He is acting like a superman who is working nearly all product categories right now.

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Tanishq: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFZfQj6u-xk Navratna oil: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZM0NDi9j9M Glucose D : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2ql8LJ3_3s&feature=related Junaid Jamshed Testifying that LAYS CHIPS is HILAL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmMKG52u9BU 29

Parody: making fun of Junaids testimonial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6eW4P_gv3E&feature=related

STEREOTYPES (gender, skin color, senior citizen, ethnicity, race , background etc)
Stereotyping literally means to have a fixed idea about what a particular type of person is like, especially an idea that is wrong. Usually people are stereotyped on the basis of gender (women are considered as piece of attraction Men as strong), racial (white people are superior than the black Americans), age ( life has ended for people near retirement age), skin color( people with fair complexion are more successful ) and so on. Stereotyping has been carried out in a number of ways. Sometimes using women as inferior objects just

Racial discrimination:
White American versus the black Americans has always been prominent in advertisements. Whites are shown more successful and smart and desirable while blacks are shown are inferior in all aspects mostly. Intel launched a national campaign in 2007 that was almost unbelievable in its symbolism but it was most definitely real. A white manager (master?) stands over six black athletes who bow in perfect symmetry before him. Though Intel claims 100% innocence, its baffling why the companys advertising direction would include such powerful slave imagery.

Like this following KFC Ad where a white is shown all surrounded by blacks and he is feeling awkward and bored. 30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FftZt-Dw_hQ&feature=related

GENDER:
women are shown mostly shown as inferiors or a piece of attraction in most manly brands. Main examples are shaving creams or motorbikes. These Ads could have been complete without a female model but still female models are added up as attractions.

Example: Gillette shaving cream http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uffvu0aztAA&feature=related SKIN Color: People with dark skin tones are usually degraded and insulted in nearly all the Ads and people with fairer complexion are show successful and liked by everyone which is totally not true in reality and it also hurts the sentiments of people with dark tones. It is this perception which has been transferred in to the minds of consumers so much so that people have started to feel bad and uncomfortable about their skin tones. In reality success and likeability has nothing to do with fairer skin tones only.

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Example: Fairmenz cream for MEN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePGhHZ4rLLs&feature=related

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CONCLUSION:
SOME STEPS TO TAKE
The indispensable guarantors of ethically correct behavior by the advertising industry are the well formed and responsible consciences of advertising professionals themselves: consciences sensitive to their duty not merely to serve the interests of those who commission and finance their work but also to respect and uphold the rights and interests of their audiences and to serve the common good. Many women and men professionally engaged in advertising do have sensitive consciences, high ethical standards and a strong sense of responsibility. But even for them external pressures from the clients who commission their work as well as from the competitive internal dynamics of their profession can create powerful inducements to unethical behavior. That underlines the need for external structures and systems to support and encourage responsible practice in advertising and to discourage the irresponsible. Voluntary ethical codes are one such source of support. These already exist in a number of places. Welcome as they are, though, they are only as effective as the willingness of advertisers to comply strictly with them. "It is up to the directors and managers of the media which carry 33

advertising to make known to the public, to subscribe to and to apply the codes of professional ethics which already have been opportunely established so as to have the cooperation of the public in making these codes still better and in enforcing their observance." We emphasize the importance of public involvement. Representatives of the public should participate in the formulation, application and periodic updating of ethical codes. The public representatives should include ethicists and church people, as well as representatives of consumer groups. Individuals do well to organize themselves into such groups in order to protect their interests in relation to commercial interests. Public authorities also have a role to play. On the one hand, government should not seek to control and dictate policy to the advertising industry, any more than to other sectors of the communications media. On the other hand, the regulation of advertising content and practice, already existing in many places, can and should extend beyond banning false advertising, narrowly defined. "By promulgating laws and overseeing their application, public authorities should ensure that ?public morality and social progress are not gravely endangered' through misuse of the media." For example, government regulations should address such questions as the quantity of advertising, especially in broadcast media, as well as the content of advertising directed at groups particularly vulnerable to exploitation, such as children and old people. Political advertising also seems an appropriate area for regulation: how much may be spent, how and from whom may money for advertising be raised, etc. The media of news and information should make it a point to keep the public informed about the world of advertising. Considering advertising's social impact, it is appropriate that media regularly review and critique the performance of advertisers, just as they do other groups whose activities have a significant influence on society. In the final analysis, however, where freedom of speech and communication exists, it is largely up to advertisers themselves to ensure ethically responsible practices in their profession. Besides avoiding abuses, advertisers should also undertake to repair the harm sometimes done by advertising, insofar as that is possible: for example, by publishing corrective notices, compensating injured parties, increasing the quantity of public service advertising, and the like. This question of ?preparations' is a matter of legitimate involvement not only by industry selfregulatory bodies and public interest groups, but also by public authorities. Where unethical practices have become widespread and entrenched, conscientious advertisers may be called upon to make significant personal sacrifices to correct them. But people who want to do what is morally right must always be ready to suffer loss and personal injury rather than to do what is wrong. This is a duty for Christians, followers of Christ, certainly; but not only for them. "In this witness to the absoluteness of the moral good Christians are not alone: they are supported by the moral sense present in peoples and by the great religious and sapiential traditions of East and West. 34

We do not wish, and certainly we do not expect, to see advertising eliminated from the contemporary world. Advertising is an important element in today's society, especially in the functioning of a market economy, which is becoming more and more widespread. Moreover, for the reasons and in the ways sketched here, we believe advertising can, and often does, play a constructive role in economic growth, in the exchange of information and ideas, and in the fostering of solidarity among individuals and groups. Yet it also can do, and often does, grave harm to individuals and to the common good. In light of these reflections, therefore, we call upon advertising professionals and upon all those involved in the process of commissioning and disseminating advertising to eliminate its socially harmful aspects and observe high ethical standards in regard to truthfulness, human dignity and social responsibility. In this way, they will make a special and significant contribution to human progress and to the common good.

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