ethics and advertising

            In this chapter on “Ethics and Advertising” from the text Business Ethics comes the idea of whether or not the advertising methods that are being used, and have been used in the path are ethical or not by our moral standards.  In this chapter Miller talks about two main problems that are ethically wrong that advertising does to the so-called “free market”.  The first problem is that economists believe that consumers have wants and are free to choose products based on what they want.  The problem with this is that the advertising agencies are actually creating these wants that the consumers have which in sense means that they are forcing the consumers to buy.  The second problem is that both consumers and producers need to reasonably complete transaction information.  The problem with this is that the advertising agents are not and have not been truthful in their information that they put out there about their products.  This problem of advertising agencies not telling the truth or withholding important information about products is what John Miller explains as the ethical problem that is occurring in the advertising world today as well as the past. 

            John Miller is very critical of the tactics that almost all of the advertising agencies use and that is the tactic of deception as well as false advertising. In America we are said to have a free market and for that to happen the consumers have to be king and have wants.  However, in Miller’s perspective, the advertising agencies are creating these wants for the consumers so that they go out and buy their products.  A great example of this that we talked about in class is the creation of the Ipod by Apple.  No consumer wanted an Ipod before they came out but Apple implanted a want into the consumers and now almost every consumer in America has one.  One argument I have with this is that without Apple creating this want in the consumers there may not be an Ipod.  Let’s face it facts there is no way that advertising has made every consumer in America want an Ipod.  The reason the Ipod is so popular is because of its look as well as its practicality. Miller also goes into the way that advertising cannot create a want for clothing so they create a want for the clothing that is already produced through advertising.  Another critic, John Galbraith, believes that rather than having a free market like we in America say we have, in actuality, the producer is the king instead of the consumer.  He also believes that we as consumers believe that our problems can be fixed through the purchase of an object and that things, such as happiness and success are from consuming something rather than working and learning.  However, Miller’s main argument is that much of advertising is a lie.  A great example that he gives comes from Volvo in 1989 when they stacked up several Volvo’s on top of one single one and saying that the tires and suspension are strong enough to hold them without swaying.  The problem with this is that in the ad, they had jacks behind all the tires to hold the car up, therefore committing false advertising.  This false or deceptive advertising occurs all to often in our world today and that is unethical.  There has been an industry called the FTC that is supposed to stop false advertising.  However, in too many cases they allow false advertisements to slip through without any repercussions.  Miller’s final comments are that we need a better code of ethics when it comes to advertising.  Personally, it is not always the producer’s fault because they have one job and that is to make profit.  It is up to the consumers to be able to distinguish between what is true and what is false by doing research on your own.