Social Responsibility in Advertising
Many corporations strive to appeal to audiences in any way that works within the limits of the law. Some corporations and advertisement agencies feel this is justified. However, other corporations and audiences feel advertisers should have a deeper sense of social responsibility, developing their own sets of ethics that take into consideration the values of their society. Many questions about social responsibility in advertising don't have a clear answer, but depend on the beliefs of the corporation and its audience.
Stressing Potential Effects
Companies have differing ideas about corporate responsibility for educating their audience about negative effects of their products. Cigarette companies obviously don't want to stress the health risks of smoking. Some advertising agencies refrain from working with such companies because they feel they cannot ethically promote a harmful product. Others feel that stating the required information about health effects is enough. They should be aware, in either case, that the images and ideas in the ad may outweigh the important health information and cause many viewers to make unhealthy choices. Each advertising agency or corporation must determine its own ethical standards for dealing with such situations.
Supporting Social Causes
Many companies promote their support for social causes in their ads, like the environment. This is fine, as long as they are being honest about how they are helping. According to Chris Moore in "Ethics in Advertising," 80 percent of Americans are more inclined to support companies that contribute to social causes. However, these companies' contributions sometimes have dubious results. One advertiser donated a quarter of a million dollars to feed people in war-torn Bosnia, then spent four times that amount advertising its good deed, Moore says. The company's self-proclaimed social responsibility may seem greatly diminished in light of its greater investment in self-promotion than with good deeds. Audiences who become aware of this reality may feel the company's portrayal of itself is dishonest.
Portraying Good Values
In many cases, advertisements are required to portray people behaving safely. Often networks and publications set requirements for their ads, which frequently imposes more restrictions than laws do. Audience reactions also play a key role in censoring ads that may portray dangerous activities or attitudes. For example, public outrage has followed ads that portray unsupervised children in dangerous situations. Further, the Better Business Bureau's Children's Advertising Review Unit requires ads to show proper supervision of children, says Moore.
Promote Individual Responsibilities
Advertisers should also consider promote people's individual responsibilities to society and the environment. Their ads may not directly relate to these topics, but they should consider whether they are encouraging people to do things that may hurt others or the environment. Such ads are bound to offend many audience members and hurt the image of the company, while potentially causing people to engage in destructive activities.
