Analysis of "Persuasion in the Media Age" (part 6)

Puffery

Puffery is the use of a claim that has no substantive meaning, but that may nonetheless be persuasive, is another ethical concern in advertising. The FTC cannot take action against advertisers who use puffery, despite the fact that it may mislead audience members, because the claims these advertisers make do not mean anything. When an advertiser claims its sports car is "sexy"  consumers may be persuaded to purchase the car because of this image, but the advertiser cannot be held responsible because "sexy" does not mean anything substantive. Likewise, the term "state of the art" requires little proof on the part of advertisers.

On a more fumdamental level, advertising creates images of an ideal life that many of us will never achieve. Advertising shows us perfection: perfect skin, perfect families, perfect homes. We often measure ourselves and our accomplishments by the advertising we encounter. When we do not achieve the standards idealized in advertising, we feel marginalized and oppressed. Americans spend billions of dollars each year trying to achieve the perfectiom we see in advertising. We contaminate the environment, exploit workers in other countries and objectify members of our own culture. Most formal codes of ethics or rules governing advertising do not address these issues.

Fundamentally, there are few legal requirements for ethical advertising. Three rules help the FTC make ethical judgements: (1) An ad cannot be deceptive; (2)  objective claims must be supported by competent studies; and (3)  advertisers are responsible for the reasonable implications of their ads to consumers. Advertisers and those who make decisions regarding ethical advertising have few rules for determining what is ethical. Sometimes advertisers use deceptive images to make a correlation between their product and a celebrity spokespersom. Such imagery is potentially unethical. For now, let us take a look at The American Association of Advertising Agencies' Creative Code, its Code of Ethics.

American Association of Advertising Agencies' Creative Code

Specifically, we will not knowingly create advertising that contains: 

• False or misleading statements or exagerations, visual or verbal 

•  Testamonials that do not reflect the real opinion of the individual(s) involved 

•  Price claims that are misleading 

• Claims insufficiently supported or that distort the true meaning or practicable application of statements made by professional or scientific authority 

• Statements, suggestions or pictures offensive to public decency or minority segments of the population