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Part Seven Special Topics and Perspectives
Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
VII. Special Topics and
Perspectives
22. Evaluating the Social,
Ethical, & Economic
Aspects of Advtising &
Promotion
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
programs on TV, and general concerns over the content of children’s programming,
particularly with regard to violence.
The marketing of violent entertainment to minors and the advertising practices and
rating systems of the film, music, and electronic game industries are also being monitored
very carefully. The issue of what young consumers are watching, listening to,
and playing and how much violence that entertainment contains became an area of
great concern following the shootings at Columbine High School as well as several
other schools. In 2001 legislation was proposed that would have given the FTC
authority to take action against companies that violated their own industry’s voluntary
policies governing the marketing of violent products to minors. However, the bill was
suspended following FTC reports that the companies had made improvements. 44
As discussed in the previous chapter, there is also growing concern over how marketers
are using the Internet to communicate with and sell to children. Another area
that has received a great deal of attention recently is the use of in-school marketing
programs, whereby companies provide equipment or pay money to schools in
exchange for the rights to sell their products to students or communicate with them.
Ethical Perspective 22-2 discusses the controversy over the commercialization of
schools.
Advertising to children will remain a controversial topic. Some groups feel that the
government is responsible for protecting children from the potentially harmful effects
of advertising and other forms of promotion, while others argue that parents are ultimately
responsible for doing so. Various consumer groups have also urged the media,
particularly television broadcasters, as well as marketers to assume responsibility for
the programs and advertising and promotional messages they offer to children. 45 A
study comparing the attitudes of business executives and consumers regarding children’s
advertising found that marketers of products targeted to children believe advertising
to them provides useful information on new products and does not disrupt the
parent-child relationship. However, the general public did not have such a favorable
opinion. Older consumers and those from households with children had particularly
negative attitudes toward children’s advertising. 46 A recent survey of 12,500 young
people up to 18 years of age was conducted for Advertising Age regarding their attitudes
toward advertising and various media. The study found that two-thirds of those
surveyed believed the main goal of advertising is to make them buy things while only
11 percent felt that its objective is to provide information. 47
It is important to many companies to communicate directly with children. However,
only by being sensitive to the naiveté of children as consumers will they be able
to do so freely and avoid potential conflict with those who believe children should be
protected from advertising and other forms of promotion.
Social and Cultural Consequences
Concern is often expressed over the impact of advertising on society, particularly on
values and lifestyles. While a number of factors influence the cultural values,
lifestyles, and behavior of a society, the overwhelming amount of advertising and its
prevalence in the mass media lead many critics to argue that advertising plays a major
role in influencing and transmitting social values. In his book Advertising and Social
Change, Ronald Berman says:
The institutions of family, religion, and education have grown noticeably weaker over each of
the past three generations. The world itself seems to have grown more complex. In the
absence of traditional authority, advertising has become a kind of social guide. It depicts us in
all the myriad situations possible to a life of free choice. It provides ideas about style, morality,
behavior. 48
Mike Hughes, president and creative director of the Martin Agency, notes that
advertising has a major impact on society: “Ads help establish what is cool in society;
their messages contribute to the public dialogue. Gap ads show white, black and Hispanic
kids dancing together. Hilfiger ads showed it’s cool for people to get along. Ikea
showed a gay couple.” He argues that advertising agencies have a social and ethical
responsibility to consider the impact of the advertising messages they create for their
clients. 49