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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
VII. Special Topics and
Perspectives
ETHICAL PERSPECTIVE 22-1
22. Evaluating the Social,
Ethical, & Economic
Aspects of Advtising &
Promotion
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
Networks and Advertisers Battle over Tasteful Advertising
Before any commercial airs on network television, it is
reviewed by the standards and practices departments
of the major networks. There are approximately 30 censors
working for the four major broadcast networks
who dictate to advertising agencies and their clients
what they can and cannot show on national television.
The censors review ads often as early as in the storyboard
stage and comment on about half of the ads
they see, most often with questions about accuracy.
However, along with ensuring that product claims are
accurate, the censors also concern themselves with
the tastefulness of the ads they review. Ads containing
sex, violence, adult language, morbid humor, unsafe or
antisocial behavior, and controversial political reviews
receive very careful scrutiny.
The network clearance departments argue that
advertisers and agencies welcome their feedback and
that the system is not an adversarial one. However,
frustrated marketers and ad agencies often argue that
the clearance process is arbitrary and unfair, with an
abundance of double standards and unwritten rules.
For example, Rich Silverstein, co-chairman of Goodby
Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, notes: “The
networks don’t play fair about blood, guts and sex.
Judgments about the ads depend on who is judging
that day. And their standards are a moving target.” His
agency has been involved in squabbles with the networks
over commercials for clients such as E*Trade
and the California Milk Advisory Board. The agency
has pushed the envelope with censors several times
with humorous ads created for the long-running “Got
milk?” campaign. For example, one of the spots in the
campaign showed a frustrated priest kicking a vending
machine when it failed to dispense a carton of
milk. Censors cried foul—not because it portrayed the
priest in an unflattering light but because it is a mis-
demeanor to vandalize a vending machine and ads cannot
depict criminal actions.
Another issue that is often raised with the networks
is whether they have a double standard, holding commercials
to a higher standard than they do their own
programs. For example, a few years ago the agency for
Converse created a commercial featuring “Lupo the
Butcher,” who gets whacked by his own cleaver as, cursing
in Italian, he tries to turn a high-top shoe into a
low-cut. ABC deemed the cartoon butcher too bloody,
vulgar, and ethnic for mass audiences. The agency
tried unsuccessfully to run the ad after making
changes that included toning down some of the ad’s
colorful language. However, ABC later asked the
agency and client to feature the spot in its show The
World’s Funniest Commercials. The creative director
who worked on the spot notes: “There is definitely a
double standard, and it has frustrated me as a creative
person that I am limited in what I can use to communicate
an idea.”
Those who work in the standards and practices
departments for the networks do not agree with their
critics, arguing that they give agencies ample leeway
to communicate their advertising messages. A CBS
clearance editor states: “We do not act as censors. We
work in a constructive way with advertisers to make
sure that we, as carriers of the public trust, present
things in the best possible light to viewers.” Roland
McFarland, who runs the standards and practices
department at Fox, argues that his department tries
to assist both agencies and television viewers: “We
help agencies tailor and craft their ads for the broadspectrum
audience. We are part of the creative
process. We know what plays with our audience and
what will have more impact.”
Advertisers also become frustrated by the lack of
consistency in the decisions across the major networks,
as commercials accepted by reviewers at one
network are not always accepted by other networks.
For example, while Fox is known for its irreverent programming,
the network has a reputation as “family
friendly” and is considered more cautious and conservative
than the Big Three. However, the networks argue
that inconsistency among standards and practices
departments is uncommon and that if one network
has problems with a commercial, the others usually
will as well.
Advertisers that feel they have been treated
unfairly by a network can appeal the decision to the
network’s sales department, which has the authority
to overrule the censors. However, because clearance
editors tend to stay in their jobs for years and have
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