Drumright and Murphy “How Advertising Practitioners View Ethics” (199)
One. What is part of the ethically bankrupt mentality that defines some advertisers?
One, there is indifference to ethics, which is a non-issue in a profit-only driven business. In fact, ethics may be looked at as a detriment to creativity and effectiveness and in the end profit. To be indifferent, these advertisers will employ “moral muteness,” keep their mouths shut.
Why lose a contract to tobacco or unhealthy food or addictive pharmaceuticals?
Secondly, these advertisers will exercise moral myopia, which means there’s a distorted moral vision, either short-sighted or outright blind to ethical issues and “unintended social consequences.”
This moral myopia is brilliantly rendered in the 2014 film Nightcrawler.
Two. What are the multiple rationalizations employed by unethical advertisers?
- “Consumers are too smart for unethical advertising; therefore, there are natural checks and balances that make it unnecessary for me to worry about ethics.”
- “We are not the High Priests of Ethics. That domain belongs to parents and the law. We are simply following society’s trends. If you’re looking to us for ethical standards, you’ve got some serious problems, not the least of which you should begin worrying about creating your own ethical standards.”
- “As long as I don’t break the law, I have no ethical concerns. If I’m following the law, then I am ethical, right?”
- “The First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech gives me the right to make any message I want without breaking the law. So don’t infringe on my free speech rights unless you want me to question your ethics.”
- “My loyalty is to my client and not to some vague overreaching ethical principle.” This is called “going native.”
- “Since I’m not aware of any ethical concerns due to the rigorous work I do as I champion the interests of my clients, I have no ethical responsibilities.” This is called “ostrich syndrome.”
- “Opening my mouth about ethical concerns may anger my boss or my clients; therefore, silence is the best policy.” This is called “moral muteness.”
- “What I do at work doesn’t define who I am as an ethical person. My work person and my non-work person are separate entities.” This is called “compartmentalization.”
- “My job is to fulfill my clients’ wishes, not dictate moral issues to my customers.” (“Client is always right.”)
- “As soon as we impose an ethical code on our business model, our clients will find a new company who’s uncompromising about meeting their clients’ needs. Someone is going to get the job no matter what. It might as well be me."
- “You show ethical scruples in one area and soon enough you’ll find your entire business model is saddled with inconvenient ethical issues that prove deleterious to my business.” (Pandora’s box)
Three. What type of behavior informs more conscientious advertisers?
They “see and talk” about ethical concerns without fear of reprisals.
They have “authentic norms” of ethical behavior, so that they have a core of morality as opposed to being business mercenaries.
They can laugh and ridicule unethical ideas as a healthy way of revoking those ideas.
They have the moral courage to say no to something that crosses the line.
They have a moral imagination so that if they lose an account due to sticking to their principles, they don’t lay off employees; rather, they find creative ways to keep those employees on the job.
Essay Option: Reading the Sign: Number 4: Connecting Texts: In an essay, support, refute, or complicate the authors’ belief that “Advertising professionals, like all speakers, have a responsibility to make judgments about speech” (para. 16). To develop your ideas, consult selections about using sources in academic writing, and think about whether university standards should apply to the so-called real world. See Patti S. Caravello’s “Judging Quality on the Web” (p. 69) and Trip Gabriel’s “For Students in the Internet Age, No Shame in Copy and Paste” (p. 71)
Prewrite for a thesis that addresses the assignment above.
Jennifer Pozner “Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ Backlash” (219)
One. What makes new line of Dove “firming crème” unusual in its misogyny?
The product is offensive. Usually, the ad, not the product, is chafing. “Cellulite is unsightly, women’s natural aging process is shameful, and flabby thighs are flawed and must be fixed . . .”
Two. What stirs Pozner’s hostility against Richard Roeper?
Pozner says he’s sexist in desiring thin over plump women models and that Roeper erroneously asserts that “being a pig” is natural to a man. He even wears his sexism as a “badge of pride.”
He would have us believe that men are victimized for being forced to see plump billboard models right outside their window.
Three. What “debate” did the plump models create?
Should we have more realistic looking models or go back to the anorexic smoking ghoulish skeleton girls with pointy hips and osteoporosis? As Pozner observes, these skeleton models have “equated starvation and drug addiction with women’s beauty and value for decades.”
Essay Option:
Reading the Signs, page 222, Number 2:
Write an argumentative essay that validates, rejects, or complicates Pozner’s claim that “the ‘real beauty’ backlash underscores just how necessary Dove’s campaign is—however hypocritical the product they’re selling may be” (para. 13). [You might want to consult Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth or book reviews of that book]
Prewrite for a thesis that addresses the above assignment.
Beauty Myth review from NYTimes Archive
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