What Ads Offend You?: Wednesday's Class, We Discussed The Legal Issues Behind Marketing

In Wednesdays class, we discussed the legal issues behind marketing, the various acts and agencies that contribute
to a safe environment for consumers to purchase goods and services based on advertisements and promotions that are by and large true and not misleading, though we have the regulations because of those marketers whove gone before us who are less than ethical! For Friday, were moving into a discussion of some of the softer issues of marketing that relate to marketer and advertisings effect on society and how we mitigate the potential ethcial concerns that arise when were trying to move product through the marketplace.
What ads offend you?

If you watched the ackers!"aints game last night, you likely saw the #o$addy ad that ends, as most #o$addy ads do now, with a tease for you to go to the website to see the rest of the ad. Ill spare you the suspense on this one. Its not all that racy. %ll you have are $anica and &illian wearing these big foam #o$addy, well, whatever they are'its (ust not all that se)y or interesting. *heres +,-. of my life Ill never get back'
/ow, if you want to see something really offensive, have a look at Fords 0% ads with the bird and the cat. Ive shown the cat video in many classes and workshops over the past few years and the reaction is not always pretty.
%s a group, well be discussing whats offensive, whats in good taste and how you find a balance between grabbing attention and, well, ads that look like someones grabbing a bit too much of something else to get your attention'
Advertising to Children
*hanks to 12 % and 1%34, we have some great safeguards against the types of content the kids see in ads and how old they are when they see it, but theres no doubt that marketing and advertising media have a tremendous impact on how kids see the world around them. 5verything from stereotypes to language to memes to how early se) comes into the conversation are affected in large part by a childs e)posure to media. *he goal of this part of the class is to start the discussion with future marketer decision makers and ask them to consider how their marketing will impact what our children view in the media and to assume a role in ensuring that they are learning the things that we want them to and not the lessons that the media might be teaching thus avoiding negative influence of media.
The Vaticans Take on Marketing

6ecause "t. /orbert is a 1atholic 1ollege in the /orbertine tradition, we bring in some material that you wont see in other college courses, namely, we draw upon the ontifical 1ouncil for "ocial 1ommunications handbook to guide our thinking on how the 1atholic 1hurch sees the world of marketing and advertising 7which they draw some interesting distinctions between in the paper8. 5ven if your interest in marketing is purely secular, you may en(oy reading the handbook. *heres some great insights in there! 5ven ope aul 9I remarked, No one now can escape the influence of advertising.
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Public opinion can strongly influence the success of businesses in a democratic society, and this realization has made business organizations more sensitive to ethical issues in marketing. It is becoming increasingly mainstream to pay conscious attention to social and ethical issues in marketing and advertising. In fact, the trend is to consciously engage in activities that are seen as benefiting society and publicize these activities to gain a marketing advantage. Marketingand Ethics The issue of honesty in advertising has been the focus of attention even in earlier times. False and misleading claims in advertisements were widespread enough to attract regulatory attention. These days, you can land in serious trouble if you make such claims, including having to pay hefty damages to affected parties.
In fact, such damages can be awarded even in the absence of specific claims. If your product causes serious injury, the injured person might file a suit against the business. This has added new dimension to the social issues of marketing. Ethical issues in marketing have gone beyond just honesty in advertising. Issues like privacy and transparency have become relevant. Associations like the AMA have published codes of practice for self-regulation of marketing practices. Ethical issues are typically analyzed by stakeholders whom the marketing activities affect. For example, almost all marketing activities have an impact on consumers while some practices affect competitors and the general public. There are regulations that penalize certain competitive practices, such as monopolistic practices. Marketingand Competition With increasing competition, marketers were compelled to adopt practices that benefited their customers. Otherwise, they could lose business to those competitors who adopted a more ethical approach towards consumers. Competition is thus one factor that compels businesses to pay attention to ethical issues in marketing. Government regulation is another important factor that leads to more responsible marketing. In addition to honesty, governments have legislated to protect the privacy and other rights of individuals. And environmental issues that affect the quality of life have also come to the fore as governments in democratic countries have to pay attention to the power of voters. Marketingand PublicImage Advances in information technology have multiplied public awareness of all issues, including business practices. They have shifted the power balance in favor of the consuming public to such an extent that marketers are forced to spend a great deal of time to monitor what is being said about their company and products (and counter any unfavorable publicity). Marketers are even beginning to focus on creating a great public image by engaging in activities that benefit the public, and then giving wide publicity to these activities. For example, one soft drinks manufacturer that had to face community ire because it depleted the water supply available to the community responded by helping the community to improve availability of water through such practices as rain-water harvesting. Marketers are also seeking to gain marketing advantage by catering to the public's emerging preferences. They stock organic produce, develop non-polluting vehicles and avoid selling products made with child labor, for example.
WhereDoesMarketingStandNow? Despite the changes outlined above, marketing cannot yet be said to be completely ethical and social. There are complaints that life-saving products are often priced beyond the reach of those who need it. And products like genetically modified "terminator" seeds seek to make farmers perpetually dependent on seed marketers, instead of being able to save part of their crop as seeds. The vast resources available to large corporations are often used to create misinformation that harms the consumer and the public. On the other hand, marketing techniques are increasingly used for social marketing, i.e. to create awareness of issues that harm the public, and for speeding up social change. Even profit-seeking companies are taking part in such social marketing campaigns. Marketing is a powerful force that can work with people's minds. When used irresponsibly, it harms the public. Public opinion and government regulations are increasingly forcing marketers to adopt more responsible practices. More and more companies are taking extra efforts to create an acceptable public image to improve their marketing effectiveness. And developments like social marketing are seeking to create social change using the techniques of marketing.
Read more at Suite101: Marketing is Increasingly Considering Ethical and Social Issues | Suite101 http://suite101.com/article/marketing-is-increasingly-considering-ethical-andsocial-issues-a316273#ixzz2KIo31XR6 Follow us: @suite101 on Twitter | Suite101 on Facebook

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In Wednesdays class, we discussed the legal issues behind marketing, the various acts and agencies that contribute

What ads offend you?

The Vaticans Take on Marketing

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