Unethical advertising: is advertising which degrades or underestimates the substitute or the competitive products. It gives false promises or misleading information about the value of the product. It fails to give information about the side effects. It could be advertisements that are obscene or immoral.
The usage of certain words as better, more, best, largest, tastiest, only can change a ethical advertisement into an unethical advertisement.
_________ biscuit that is far more nourishing
India’s tastiest biscuit
Four letter word on wheels – Jeep
A play of words – FCUK is a very popular brand of clothes
Unethical advertising promises something that cannot be delivered like a fitness centre that advertises that the customers will loss of 50 pounds per month with its program. On top of it the fitness centre says the weight loss is guaranteed. Quite plainly the fitness centre can’t deliver that much of weight loss to every person who comes into his centre. Similarly guaranteeing a certain number of years service when the company is closing down that location in the next few months is also an example of unethical advertising.
Sample the following advertisements:
Outside a bank “Nobody likes a fat girl but everybody likes a girl with a fat bank balance”.
For a washing machine “don’t let washing clothes kill your pretty wife. Let our washing machine do that dirty job for you”.
Brochure of an office automation company “Improve your sec’s (secretary’s) life”.
The female anatomy is the most abused in all advertisements. Women’s anatomy is used for products which need not have women advertising for them like blades, cement, shoe polish, alcohol, mosquito coils.
The next area is the dream of every man - a super physique. Companies exploit this dream by putting out such advertisements as Bullworker that guaranteed a muscular or toned body just by doing some simple exercises. Jeevan Tone is even better. It claims that just by drinking its tonic the buyer can develop a super physique.
Home shopping networks are full of advertisements that claim that becoming thin and lean is only a few minutes away albeit few minutes a day. My favourite is a contraption that claims that one can lose weight by sleeping. The machine placed under the feet stimulates the feeling of walking and the customer loses weight. Talk about mixing laziness with exercise. This products is a fat person's wildest dream come true. The companies and their advertisements make tall claims but gullible customers do buy these products.
Even big companies stoop to unethical advertising the famous examples can be
A.P Scooters came out in collaboration with Vespa with a scooter and they named it AP PL 170. The customers thought PL 170 meant Pay load 170. Later a lot of negative publicity was generated when the customers came to know that PL 170 does not stand for Pay load 170. PL 170 was just some fancy word work from the advertising agency.
Peico Electronics a subsidiary of Phillips came out with colour televisions. They advertised the colour TVS as Phillips Colour TVs. After a complaint was made they started advertising as Peico Electronics a subsidiary of Phillips.
Sony granted Collaboration rights for Orson India to manufacturer Black and white sets television sets. Orson made Colour TVs and sold them under the name of Sony-Orson. A complaint rectified this practice of Orson India. (End of part 1, continued next Friday 21st May 2010)
Unethical Advertising never pays. That’s the bottom lines. Advertising is no longer that spot ad where instant reactions are targeted. It is a medium of communication between the brand and the consumers.
ReplyDelete