BAD TASTE AND OFFENSIVE ADVERTISING PDF

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Food and Drug Administration, Federal Communications Commission, Other Regulatory Groups, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, United States Postal Service, State Attorney, International Laws and Regulations, Advertising Media Review, Self-Regulation, self-discipline, industry self-regulation, ...

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BAD TASTE AND OFFENSIVE ADVERTISING

Although certain ads may taste bad in any circumstance, viewer reactions are affected by factors such as sensitivity to the product category, when the message is received (for example, in the middle of dinner), and whether the person is alone or with others when viewing the message. For example, some things on TELEVISION that wouldn't make an adult uncomfortable when he's alone would make him uncomfortable if the kids were watching. Also, questionable ads become offensive in the wrong context. Advertisers and the media market should try to be sensitive to such objections. We all have our own ideas about what constitutes good taste. Unfortunately, these ideas vary so much that creating general guidelines for good taste in advertising is difficult. Different things offend different people. In addition, good taste changes over time; What was offensive yesterday may not be considered offensive today. In 1919 a deodorant ad in the Ladies' Home Journal that asked the question "Are you one of the many women who struggle with excess perspiration?" was so controversial that immediately 200 readers canceled their subscriptions. By today's standards, that ad seems pretty harmless. Today's questions about taste focus on the use of sexual innuendo, nudity, vulgarity and violence. The Breckenridge Ski Resort withdrew an advertising campaign that was designed to appeal to young men with texts such as "The hill may dominate you. But the town will still be your bitch." ("The hill can dominate you. But the city will still be your bitch.") Some young skiers in that resting place saw no problem with language, although the campaign was criticized as unpleasant by women's groups, community leaders, residents and business leaders. A brewing company was sued for violating public taste using the slogan: "Good beer. No Shit." ("Good beer. Not rubbish"). The argument against him reported that such language was offensive to many people and particularly unsuitable for children, who have no protection when they see and hear the slogan. Sex in advertising Although the use of sex in advertising is not new, its striking use is. Advertising that presents women (or men) as sexual objects is considered degrading and sexist, particularly if sex is unrelated to the product. Cosmetic and lingerie ads fall into a gray area because sexual attraction to these products is generally important; the ethical question, then, is how sexy is too sexy? New York Women Publicists (AWNY) sponsor an annual award to showcase advertising that depicts women in sexist or offensive ways. Reinforcing stereotypes

A stereotype is the representation of a cultural group that accentuates a trait or a group of traits that communicate or not an exact representation of the group (blondes are silly, Italians are attractive). Sometimes the stereotype is useful (athletes are fit) and helps communication using symbolic meanings that are easily understood, but sometimes the stereotype is based on a characteristic that is negative or exaggerated and, in doing so, reduces the group to a caricature. That's what Nike achieved with its ad that satired the disabled. The problem with the stereotype is that it also raises the question of form-versusreflect. For example, the stereotype of women as sexual objects is a practice that is deeply included in our culture. When a woman is presented as a sexual object in an ad, it is reflected or linked to a cultural value, although that value could be negatively seen. On the other hand, also using this as a strategy makes advertising a participant in forming and reinforcing that cultural value. Various topics If we believe that advertising has the ability to shape our values and our view of the world, then it is essential that advertisers are aware of how different groups present. Reciprocally, if we believe that advertising reflects society, advertisers have a responsibility to ensure that what they present is accurate and representative. Diversity has become a problem about how advertisers strive to direct, as well as present, out-of-the-ordinary people to the market. Some entrepreneurial companies have even begun to show images suggesting homosexuality in advertising to the general public through the media. Such images have appeared widely in the ordinary advertising of fashion brands such as Calvin Klein, Benetton and Banana Republic. The final episode of ABC's Ellen series was instrumental in breaking the show's set in many ways: it was the first time advertisers had used the programming network at the highest-rated time to reach gay viewers. Commercial Closet is a non-profit journalistic and educational organization that tries to promote knowledge about how the gay community is presented in advertising. Its website analyzes above all the advertisements that represent the gay community as a minority. The Commercial Closet website is dedicated to "promoting knowledge of something no one had ever thought of before: how the gay community is presented as a minority group in advertising." Gender roles Television is a powerful socializing agent and is particularly influential in the area of gender identity. One of the most important lessons he teaches is how people fit into culturally shared gender and racial roles. The way women are projected as characters in ads, as well as programs, create or reinforce cultural stereotypes.

Historically, advertising has portrayed gender in different and predictable stereotypes. Men are generally shown as strong, independent, and with oriented accomplishments; women are shown as breeders and affective, but softer and more dependent, and receive the message that the products that are advertised will make their lives less exhausting and more manageable. They also often stereotype men negatively. For example, in a Wyeth Flu-mist ad®, an inept dad sends his children to school in summer clothes during a snowstorm, and in a Honda Pilot ad, the father acts like a drooling wolf. The Society for the Prevention of Discrimination against Men in the Media was formed to protest such silly descriptions. Harmful female stereotypes take several forms. Women are described as indecisive, childish, frivolous, interested only in shopping; obsessed with men or their own physical appearance; submissive to men; or simple housewives, super women and sex objects. Such stereotypes are not exactly suitable for beer and tyre advertisements. An example of a chic ad that plays with women's stereotypes is an advertisement in the newspaper for IWC Schaffhausen, a fine Swiss watch. The title reads: "Almost as complicated as a woman. Except it's on time." The announcement was published in the London Times, among other prestigious publications. A study of gender representation in 1,300 higher-rated on-time ads in the late 1990s found that although women make most purchases of goods and services, they are still underrepresented in the main characters during most star-time ads, with the exception of health and beauty products. Women are still projected as younger, male-supporting counterparts. Older women are still a less represented group. In other words, television ads still perpetuate traditional stereotypes of women and men. However, some advertisers are recognizing the diversity of women's roles. But with the effort to portray the woman as someone other than a housewife came a different problem. Beginning in the 1980s, the ads focused on professional women with portfolios. Consider the announcement in which a NASA engineer, who is also an active mother, tells us the benefits of serving her children a powdered drink for breakfast. Supermama's image has been displaced by the image of Superwoman. A conference in Chicago organized in 2003 by the Educational Advertising Foundation asked, "How does advertising shape the image of women?" . Despite the number of women moving in management positions in the advertising industry, the answer is that advertising does not seem to be more free of sexual stereotypes. University of Illinois professor Linda Scott said that although things had improved, ground has been lost over the past 10 years. Racial and ethnic stereotypes

Critics report that racial and ethnic groups are stereotyped in advertising. Although most in the industry would deny it, that accusation was evident in a "Just for Feet" ad that showed a black man who was persecuted as a wild animal. In a study of prototypical images of African Americans, researchers found that colored individuals are shown in advertisements that are placed in the background and with little to say (with the exception of ads designed exclusively for publications targeting black individuals). Men are athletic, tall, dark, handsome, modern, outgoing and unrelated to family. Women like to shop and look beautifully shallow with wavy hair, quiet, small and supportive. The most commonly used images of black individuals are those of children or adolescents. An Asian study in television commercials found that they were treated much like women in general. That is, they were less represented and gave them lower-level roles. Even frequent use of younger Asian characters is not culturally sensitive. One myth is that members of minority groups are all the same. The Hispanic market is an example. In 2000, the Hispanic population in the United States was more than 30 million, 15 percent of the total. However, there is a false idea that all Hispanic consumers are the same, when nothing could be further from the truth: there are important differences in groups of Spanish, Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican or any South American country, such as Colombia or Argentina. Retired Another group that critics say is often subject to being stereotyped is that of retirees, a growing segment of the population with an increase in the amounts of disposable income. Critics often oppose the use of older people in roles that portray them negatively. Barbara Champion, president of Champion & Associates, a company specializing in mature market research, made the following observation: "The needs of mature consumers, depending on mental and physical accuracy as well as factors in the stages of life, are often different from each other. For example, if a consumer is in an empty house because children have grown up and left home, or if they are a grandparent, retiree, widow, or someone who needs help living will greatly affect how, when, and why goods and services are purchased." Many of the advertisements for Viagra speak to a specific segment of the population, and they do so in a discreet and tasteful way. In a group focused on 50-year-old women, participants had trouble keeping their comments courtesy by seeing a series of health care announcements showing older women in mainly sedentary activities. One explained that even though she had arthritis, she still wanted to see advertisements showing arthritis sufferers working out in a gym, rather than "gray couples walking along the beach with a golden retriever dog."

Image of the body and the image itself Advertising has been criticized for glorifying glamorous aspects in men and women. In an interview at NPR, Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel author Jean Kilbourne said that "the ads are aimed at the heart of girls' insecurities" because of the ideal image of beauty they present, "an absolutely perfect look of the young woman who is incredibly thin." Representing consumer insecurities about their appearance presents advertisers with a classic ethical dilemma because it is also possible to see the same image of advertising contributing to the improvement of oneself. Sometimes, however, such strategies are questionable because they lead to dangerous practices. Some critics accuse women of putting their health at risk to cultivate an unrealistic or even sick physical appearance. To find out how cheeky or subtle this message is, a group of researchers measured "ideal thinness" in college-aged women, the group most vulnerable to this message and high incidences of eating disorders. They found that students saw no danger in fashion ads that used overly thin models as a stereotypical portrait of beauty. Those who responded to the study reacted strongly to other female stereotypes, but were less concerned about images that promote "ideal thinness." The authors concluded that while there are many female stereotypes used in advertising that are irritating, offensive and degrading, none is potentially more dangerous to health than that of "ideal thinness." The same problem of physical appearance-based stereotype exists for men, particularly young people, although the ideal V-shaped muscular body with a welldeveloped chest and arms and wide shoulders that shrink downwards to a narrow waist, cannot lead to the same threatening health reactions that young women face, unless men resort to steroids. Another stereotype of male images is the Marlboro man who is tough and western, and the disoriented guy Dagwood. The standard of attraction is a sociocultural phenomenon that advertising reflects and shapes. Responsible advertisers have therefore begun to use models of normal size and weight as a way to reduce pressure on young people, who seem to be the most exposed to messages about cultural standards of beauty and physical attraction. Interestingly, after Warner-Lambert's corrective campaign ended its journey, 42 percent of Listerine users continued to believe that mouthwash was advertised as a remedy for sore throats and colds and 57 percent of users valued the effectiveness for sore throat and colds as an important reason to buy the brand. These results raised doubts about the effectiveness of corrective advertising and have affected recent decisions in court. The 1998 decision also prompted the committee (specifically Commissioner Orson Swindle) to publish a statement on the logic of the practice of corrective advertising. In addition to agreeing that there is no evidence that corrective advertising works, Commissioner Swindle also noted

that the assumption that corrective advertising should appear with the same duration as the misleading advertisement is wrong. 

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Consumer compensation. The Moss-Magnuson Guarantee/FTC Improvement Act 1975 authorizes the FTC to provide compensation to the consumer when an individual or company performs deceptive practices. The commission may order the cancellation or reform of contracts, reimbursement of money or return of property, payment of damages and public notice. The advertising agency's legal responsibility for the FTC's resurgence came a new solution to deception within the FTC and in federal courts: to hold the agency responsible for the announcement rather than the advertiser. For former FTC President Janet Steiger, "an agency that is involved in advertising and promotes a product is not free from responsibility for the content of the claims, if they express or manifest it. This will ensure that committee staff take a closer look at the scope of advertising practice."

Essentially, an agency is responsible for misleading advertising along with the advertiser when the agency is an active participant in ad preparation and knows or has reason to know that it is false or misleading. Agencies should pay attention to FTC warnings. Several FTC actions and some legal processes in the early 1990s show that agencies must prepare to defend their advertising practices. For example, a federal court found that Wilkinson, the manufacturer of the Ultra Glide® shaving system, tried to make misleading claims about Gillette and stopped the campaign. The court decided gillette's damages were for nearly $1 million, an amount that had to be paid by Wilkinson, and another million to be paid by Wilkinson's friedman Benjamin agency. Food and Drug Administration In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the regulatory division of the Department of Health and Human Services that oversees package packaging labels, ingredient listings, and food and drug advertising. It also determines the safety and purity of food and cosmetics. In particular, the FDA is a control body for drug advertising, specifically in the contentious area of consumerfacing advertisements on controlled drugs. Your job is to first determine if the drugs are safe and then see that they are marketed in a responsible manner. Marketing includes promotional material aimed at doctors as well as consumers. For pharmaceutical companies, advertising is a matter of commercial freedom of expression and the industry has pressured the FDA to establish more understandable, simple and clear rules for consumer-facing controlled drug advertising. Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), formed in 1934 in the United States to protect the public interest in radio and television broadcasts, issues and revokes licenses to broadcasters. The FCC also has the power to prohibit messages, including advertisements, that are misleading or in bad taste. The agency oversees only ads that have been the subject of complaints and works closely with the FTC to remove false and misleading advertising. The FCC takes action against the media, while the FTC deals with advertisers and agencies. Other regulatory groups The Patent Office and the Library of Congress and their roles in the protection of copyright and trademarks have already been analyzed. Other important regulatory agencies will be discussed below. Office of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms The Office of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF), part of the U.S. Department of Finance, regulates advertising deception and sets the requirements for labeling the liquor industry. The strength of this agency comes from its authority to publish and revoke annual operating licences to distillers, wine merchants and brewers. Because there is a risk that public pressure will lead to a ban on all alcohol advertisements, the liquor industry strives to maintain firm controls on its advertising. The U.S. Postal Service The Postal Service regulates direct mail and advertising in magazines and has control over the areas of obscenity, lotteries and fraud. Consumers who receive ads in the mail that they consider sexually offensive may request that no more correspondence be sent to them from that sender. The general post manager also has the power to retain mail that promotes lotteries. Fraud includes a number of activities that are questionable, such as implausible plans that promise to get rich quickly. State prosecutor The National Association of Prosecutors is trying to regulate advertising within the state. Members of this organization have successfully brought lawsuits in their respective states against advertising giants such as Coca-Cola, Kraft and Campbell Soup. More recently, several prosecutors have made their way against the tobacco industry and supported restrictions on publishingd. International laws and regulations Like advertisers, agencies and the media become increasingly global, so it will be imperative that participants understand local ethical standards and the laws of the countries in which they operate.

Marketing practices, such as pricing and advertising pricing, have different legal and regulatory restrictions. Distribution is especially problematic in some local markets, particularly those operating with many small retailers. In Japan, distribution arrangements are handled with lengthy and complicated negotiations that often involve the participation of a local business partner. Such problems with pricing and distribution affect the way a trademark is presented and even the image of the brand itself could be affected. Some product categories, such as surplus medicines (OTC), are particularly difficult because regulations on their marketing and advertising are different in each country. There are also prohibitions on advertising for certain types of products. Thailand has laws prohibiting tobacco advertisements, as does Hungary. In Hong Kong, advertising of spectacular tobacco exteriors was banned. Malaysia has banned most forms of tobacco advertising, including print, television, radio and billboards. However, these prohibitions are quite useless as a result of indirect...