ADVERTISING ETHICS:REASONS, RATIONALIZATIONS,

BIASES, AND HEURISTICSGroup P- Tj, Amy, Sang-Hoon, Yao,

Stefanie and Derrick

Introduction

• 6 mini advertising scenarios • Done from the perspective of the business

person in the case• They all deal with ethical issues in advertising

– Relatively small – Common– Realistic

Overview• Bradley has been hired as an account

planner in a large agency• He has overheard about an assignment

which was conducted by his colleagues • The colleagues found difficulty conducting

the survey• Idea: When collecting data, they tell the

public they are students• The assignment was then finished

perfectly • Ethical issues remain

Identification of conflicts and stakeholders• Build or damage company’s reputation• Way of doing business or unfair to the competitors?• Harm done to customers?• Colleagues motivations VS company’s benefits

Change: The public expects more honesty from companies

Main conflict- By telling the respondents that they are students, they are essentially lying

Alternatives

Alternative Choice

• Talk to management about his concerns• Make suggestions for dealing with this

situation• Make the decision to not lie to the

respondents

Tell management to avoid deceiving the respondents and take action

Overview• Sarah is leading a team that

is creating a marketing campaign for a teenage clothing line whose sales have been stagnant

• Ultra thin models have been selected and have always been used for this brand in previous campaigns

• She is concerned about the negative impact super skinny models have on young girls self esteem and ideas of beauty

• She doesn’t feel comfortable using these types of models

Identification of Conflicts and Stakeholders

Main conflict- Using unhealthy models while marketing to teenage girls

Sarah- Could lose her reputation, the respect of her teammates, and possibly her job

Consumers (Teenage girls)- Campaign could negatively affect their body image and how they feel about themselves

The Agency- Could lose the business of the clothing line if the campaign is unsuccessful

The Clothing brand- Could lose money or brand image

Change: Society's awareness to body issues and influence of models

Alternatives

Alternative Choice

• Show the clothing line the studies that show how models affect body image in young girls

• Show examples of other successful campaigns with healthy size models

• Using different models could be new way for the brand to increase sales

Talk to the clothing line about choosing different models

Overview• Lauren is a director of graphic services

at a major agency• She and her team recently

encountered a budgeting problem with candy company client

• The problem was solved by adding an extra bill to other large company client

• Lauren heard this practice is usual for graphic services agency.

Identification of conflicts and stakeholders• Maintain or ruin agency’s professional image by

hiding the mistake• Lauren VS. Automotive company• Moral responsibility?

Change: Law is more strict with issues of this nature

Main conflict- Improper allocation of expenses and going again accounting principles

Alternatives

Alternative Choice

• Lauren should report the mistake that they made to candy company immediately by providing reasonable solutions with positive language

Report the mistake to candy company client

Overview• Tim is working with a venerable

agency and he is concerned with the ethics regarding the strip parties

• Some of the agency’s key employees have been going to strip clubs

• These activities are being hosted by a key vendor- a printer

• Cost $5, 000 each and last about 4 hours

• Tim must decide how to handle this situation

Identification of conflicts and stakeholders• The strip clubs entertainment sounds like a bribe to

continue doing business with the agency• This sexist behavior excludes and objectifies women• Main stakeholder: the agency

Change: Women’s involvement in the business world

Main conflict- The agency may lose relationship with the printer by objecting to such parties.

Alternatives

Alternative Choice

• In addition, Tim could write a partition against this strip club entertainment

• The agency’s staff who disagree with such type of entertainment could sign the partition

Tim can write the argument in a report or a memo and submit to supervisor

Overview• Meet Rachel: M.A. in Advertising and taken

a job at a major agency in account services• She was specifically hired to work as an

assistant account executive to promote a new sports car with a buzz marketing technique

• The people hired would have to agree not to tell anyone that they had been given the car to drive or hired by a company to create a favorable word of mouth

• Her client loves the idea

Identification of conflicts

• Supporting the behavior:• No real harm done/ no laws broken• Helping people with getting information about

something they are already interested in• Favorable word of mouth would be harder to

achieve without the ‘secret’

Main conflict- This new marketing technique could be deceiving and unethical because the participants might have to lie

Identification of stakeholdersRachel: Could get a reputation for an unethical business behavior and lose her job if the marketing project failsMarketing company: Could lose credibility The public: Could feel like they were deceived and not buy the carCar company: Lying might make the company look bad resulting in negative repercussionsCritics: Their judgment and credibility will be tarnished in the future if they argue that it is unethical and the company/Rachel gets away with it

Change: This is a new way of business, and it is tough to say what will come of this in the future

Alternatives

Alternative Choice

• Do not give away the fact that the participant is working for the marketing campaign

• In the case that someone does ask, a plan will be in place on how to deal with that situation– Change the subject– Tell the person and ask them not to tell anyone else

Talk to management about implementing a better plan if someone does ask if the participant is working for the car company

Overview• Rodrigo works for the broadcast

department• Works on large scale projects for

government agencies• Supervisor handed back timesheets for

“revisions”• Told to increase timesheets by 20% ,

would have taken an average worker twice as long

• Rumours of other companies taken advantage of government agencies

• Ethical issues

Identification of conflicts and stakeholders• The company’s reputation is at stake • Tempted to increase timesheet by 20%

– Earn more revenue for your department– Earn the respect from your supervisor

• Lose out on bonuses, possible layoffs to broadcast department– IE. Your job & supervisor’s job is on the line– Also conflict with your supervisor?

Main conflict- Changing the hours worked is lying

Change: Not much change has occurred with this over time; lying has always been unacceptable

Alternatives

Alternative Choice

• Might cause a problem because it does overstep your supervisor

• In the end, this is the ethical choice

Go above your supervisor to your boss and discuss the situation

Questions

• Thank you for listening to our presentation.• Any questions?