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Part Seven Special Topics and Perspectives
Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
VII. Special Topics and
Perspectives
long memories, agencies and clients are leery of this
option. Thus, they prefer to negotiate with the clearance
editors and often will make changes and modifications
in their ads to satisfy the editors’ concerns. In
some cases, the networks are persuaded to allow an ad
to run to gauge the public’s reactions. Ads often run
subject to viewer complaint—if the network receives
negative reactions from viewers, the ad is pulled.
In some cases advertisers give up trying to please
the networks and instead seek approval from the network
affiliates, which have their own standards and
practices departments and usually are easier to please
than the network censors. Advertisers also will take
their ads to independent broadcasters as well as cable
stations, which may be even less stringent in their
reviews. The advertising recession that has plagued
the industry in recent years has resulted in a decline
in demand for TV commercial time, particularly on syndicated
programs and cable. Thus it is often easier to
22. Evaluating the Social,
Ethical, & Economic
Aspects of Advtising &
Promotion
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
get ads accepted on their programs than by the major
networks.
The clearance editors at the networks review 50 to
150 commercials a day, sometimes examining revisions
of a spot three and four times. While they acknowledge
that the process is subjective, they argue that they do
their best to serve the sometimes competing interests
of advertisers, the viewing audience, and the network
affiliates. They argue that they have to please a large
number of viewers with very different values and opinions
as to what is tasteful and responsible advertising.
While they do not feel they are censors, they do think
of themselves as protectors of social values.
Sources: Joan Voight and Wendy Melillo, “Rough Cut,” Adweek,
March 11, 2002, pp. 27–29; Joan Voight and Wendy Melillo, “To See or
Not to See?” Adweek, March 11, 2002, p. 30; Vanessa O’Connell,
“Invasion of the Tacky Advertisers,” The Wall Street Journal, February
20, 2002, pp. B1, 4.
21.5 hours of TV a week and may see between 22,000 and 25,000 commercials a
year. 32 Studies show that television is an important source of information for children
about products. 33 Concern has also been expressed about marketers’ use of other promotional
vehicles and techniques such as radio ads, point-of-purchase displays, premiums
in packages, and the use of commercial characters as the basis for TV shows.
Critics argue that children, particularly young ones, are especially vulnerable to
advertising because they lack the experience and knowledge to understand and evaluate
critically the purpose of persuasive advertising appeals. Research has shown that
preschool children cannot differentiate between commercials and programs, do not
perceive the selling intent of commercials, and cannot distinguish between reality and
fantasy. 34 Research has also shown that children need more than a skeptical attitude
toward advertising; they must understand how advertising works in order to use their
cognitive defenses against it effectively. 35 Because of children’s limited ability to
interpret the selling intent of a message or identify a commercial, critics charge that
advertising to them is inherently unfair and deceptive and should be banned or
severely restricted.
At the other extreme are those who argue that advertising is a part of life and children
must learn to deal with it in the consumer socialization process of acquiring the
skills needed to function in the marketplace. 36 They say existing restrictions are adequate
for controlling children’s advertising. A recent study by Tamara Mangleburg and
Terry Bristol provided support for the socialization argument. They found that adolescents
developed skeptical attitudes toward advertising that were learned through interactions
with socialization agents such as parents, peers, and television. They also
found that marketplace knowledge plays an important role in adolescents’ skepticism
toward advertising. Greater knowledge of the marketplace appears to give teens a
basis by which to evaluate ads and makes them more likely to recognize the persuasion
techniques used by advertisers. 37
This issue received a great deal of attention in 1979 when the Federal Trade Commission
held hearings on proposed changes in regulations regarding advertising to
children. An FTC staff report recommended banning all TV advertising for any product
directed to or seen by audiences composed largely of children under age eight
because they are too young to understand the selling intent of advertising. 38
The FTC proposal was debated intensely. The advertising industry and a number of
companies argued strongly against it, based on factors including advertisers’ right of
free speech under the First Amendment to communicate with those consumers who
make up their primary target audience. 39 They also said parents should be involved in