Let's Talk Ethics at 11am!

ETHICAL DILEMMA
Lauren is the creative director at a major ad agency. She heard of some
billing practices involving a print project for a candy client that bothered her. It turns out that the print costs for the project had exceeded budget by $20,000. (The project budget was only $30,000.)

Asking the candy client for an additional $20,000 would be a problem. A fellow agency staffer struck a deal with the printer and added $20,000 to the bill of another of the agency’s large clients, an automobile company, who had a much larger budget and could afford the large bill.

This solution seemed to work out for all. The candy client did not know how far over budget the agency had gone; the printer got paid for all of the work it had done; and the agency did not have to eat its mistake.

QUESTION

If the agency had had a code of ethics, how could this over-budget situation been remedied in a more ethical manner?

Truth & Ethics in Advertising

Read the following article: Ethics in Advertising

http://www.aef.com/on_campus/classroom/speaker_pres/data/3001

This article provides a synopsis of our classroom discussions, lectures and textbook readings. While some topics we have yet to discuss, such as advertising to children, this article will provide you with thoughts and ideas for upcoming ethical topics. (Links to some of the commercial examples cited within the article were not available, although you may be able to find them on online sites.)

Post your answers by Wednesday, February 25th at 12pm (noon).

Write an ethical analysis, or your takeaway, from this article.

Analysis to include areas such as:

- What thoughts, questions or issues arose will reading this article?

- The author asks some poignant questions throughout the article. Do you agree/disagree with the author's viewpoint regarding ethical issues in advertising? How would you answer those questions?

- What other areas within advertising pose ethical challenges for advertisers?

Please support your analysis with facts and evidence from lectures, discussions, textbooks and other sources. Avoid the "I" or "Me" opinions.

Let's Talk Ethics at 11am!

ETHICAL DILEMMA
“The city’s best hamburger” is the slogan for “Billy’s Burgers”, a local burger joint. How can Billy’s Burgers make this claim? Billy’s Burgers states that they sell a higher volume of burgers per day then their competitors, and used the number of customers who placed orders to substantiate the claim. The competition feels the claim is not justified as Billy’s Burgers is located in the center of town, near a high traffic area. For the competition, it’s simply the factor of location that provides Billy’s Burgers with more customer volume. It has nothing to do with the quality or taste of the hamburger.

Questions

Is Billy’s Burgers substantiation for the slogan “The city’s best hamburger” justified?

Ads You Watch In Mall May Be Watching You

Read the following article: Ads you watch in mall may be watching you

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/mailstory-clickthru/278244.php

Post your answers by Wednesday, February 18th at 12pm (noon).

1. Does this new advertising technology cross an ethical line or is this simply one more tool in the advertier's toolkit to better reach its target audience?
2. What ethical issues do you foresee with this technology?
3. Should it be disclosed to consumers that they are being watched, studied and categorized while watching a commercial? Why or why not?

Let's Talk Ethics at 11am!

ETHICAL DILEMMA
You open your sister’s lunch bag to discover a letter and product samples from the Nesquick Bunny. Upon reading the letter, you learn that the Nesquick Bunny, as part of an advertising campaign, is visiting schools to promote the importance of daily exercise for children (and not directly mentioned, to promote its various chocolate products). Your sister (only 10 years old) has no clue she was part of an advertising ploy; she was just excited to have seen the Nesquick Bunny and gotten free chocolates.

QUESTION
What are your thoughts on this type of advertising tactic?

An ethics lesson from an unlikely quarter

Read the following article: An ethics lesson from an unlikely quarter

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/00f04688-a43f-11dd-8104-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Post your answers by Wednesday, February 11th at 12pm.

1. Will Wal-Mart’s positive ethical stance force other corporations to do the same in spite of the current economical situation?
2. Should universal public morality be a priority for corporations in any economic situation? Why or why not?
3. Knowing what Wal-Mart has been accused of, do you believe Wal-Mart’s claim of upstanding ethics, or is Wal-Mart trying to smooth over its damaged reputation in light of the rising need for cheap Wal-Mart products?

Let's Talk Ethics at 11am!

ETHICAL DILEMMA
Sally works as an intern for a local advertising agency during her summer break from art school. She was working on a campaign for a weight loss drug that promises to control one’s metabolism and help you lose weight. Her role involved doing research on the product and the competition, and reporting the findings to the team.

As work continued on the campaign, Sally became concerned with the tactics the agency was implementing to help sell the weight loss drug to consumers. The agency was positioning the drug as one that would “help you lose 10 pounds in a week”. Due to her research role, Sally knew there was no evidence that this drug, or any drug for that matter, could make anyone lose 10 lbs. in a week.

Having studied ethics in school, she knew that one of the American Advertising Federation’s guidelines was “truth”: “advertising shall tell the truth, reveal significant facts, the omission of which would mislead the public”. Sally did not want to be associated with a campaign that would mislead consumers.

Sally brought up the AAF guidelines to her team, of which they were not concerned about stretching the truth. It was more important to them to make the client happy and keep the business.

QUESTION

How could self-regulation have been useful in such a situation?