Skip to main content

Ethically Questionable Ads

Ethics are moral principles and values that govern the actions and decisions of an individual or group (Belch 731). It’s no surprise that some commercials and/or advertisements are ethically questionable at best. For this blog, I will explore 3 different advertisements and analyze their lack of ideally ethical consideration.

The first ad is Reebok’s  “Cheat on your girlfriend, not on your workout”  poster. This is a perfect example of advertising as offensive or in bad taste (Belch 734). It's a controversial ad which was originally intended to motivate gym goers in a German Gym. Instead, it produced a detrimental stigma for Reebok and was quickly removed from display as a result of widespread complaints. One letter sent from Cheaterville.com (a site that publicizes cheating partners) in response to this poster read: "This form of advertising shows a dishonest and disrespectful attitude towards women and your company should be ashamed to have even placed this ad in various places thinking it would be perceived in any other way" (Fleming). This goes against the moral principles to remain faithful and truthful. 


The second advertisement is SalesGenie's “Pandas” promo for the 2008 SuperBowl. This commercial is a perfect example of advertising creating and perpetuating stereotypes through its portrayal of an ethnic minority (Belch 744). This advertisement consisted of two pandas, with Chinese accents and broken english, fretting about their struggling bamboo shop. Though this could have been worse when it comes to stereotyping, the fact that these panda's were clearly meant to be chinese, used broken english, and owned a small shop offended some viewers and ultimately challenged the boundaries of being ethically acceptable. 

The final advertisement I am going to discuss is Sisley's "Fashion Junkie". This advertisement is a perfect example of shock advertising.  Shock advertising uses startling images to get consumers' attention (Belch 736). This ad was created by Zoo advertising, Shanghai, China (StyleDash) and depicts two women "snorting" a white dress as if it is cocaine, as well as a credit card with actual cocaine spread on it. Though the effort to correlate a shopping or fashion addiction to another addiction makes sense, this was a risqué way to portray such a phenomenon. It is very discomforting to view the eyes of the model to the right who shows side effects of cocaine use and drug use is not a topic to take lightly. 

References and Sources

Belch, GE. and Belch, MA.  Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective, 9th Edition.  McGraw-Hill Companies.  2012.

Fleming, O. (2012, March 22). Reebok forced to pull controversial 'Cheat On Your Girlfriend, Not Your Workout' ad campaign after public backlash. Mail Online. Retrieved April 3, 2014, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2118314/Reebok-forced-pull-controversial-Cheat-On-Your-Girlfriend-Not-Your-Workout-ad-campaign-public-backlash.html

StyleDash. (n.d.). Sisley: Fashion junkie.Marketing and Advertising Guide by Dr Prem. Retrieved April 3, 2014, from http://drprem.com/marketing/sisley-fashion-junkie.html

Top 10 Tasteless Ads. (2009, June 29).Time. Retrieved April 3, 2014, from http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1907218_1907236_1907223,00.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Upper Scale Home-Shopping

Numerous home-shopping channels have recently started offering a variety of upscale products.   For example, in 2010 HSN started carrying the Sally Hershberger line of hair care products (Belch 486).   Home-shopping channels, such as QVC, Shop@homeTV, and Shop NBC have also added higher end products to their inventory like jewelry and high quality kitchenware.   However, home-shopping channels becoming more upscale has gives the industry its advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages are gaining prestige among consumers making people aspire to purchase from home-shopping channels and broadening the target market.   When people see upscale products being sold on home-shopping channels such as QVC and Shop NBC, these channels will automatically gain a reputation for being “higher end”.   People aspire to be a part of the high class, upper income social status, or at least give off the impression of being so.   This will encourage more people to utilize and purchase from home-shop
1 comment
Read more

Advantages and Limitations of Television Advertising

As new means of entertainment are being created to bypass and/or limit the consumption of TV advertisements, the strength of using TV advertising is becoming more and more debatable. However, TV advertising still has its advantages and limitations for both major national advertisers and local companies.  The advantages to TV advertising are:  Creativity and Impact:  The interaction of sight and sound offers tremendous creative flexibility and makes possible dramatic, lifelike representations of products and services. TV commercials can be used to convey a mood or image for a brand as well as to develop emotional or entertaining appeals that help make a dull product appear interesting. (Belch 365)  Coverage and Cost Effectiveness:  Nearly everyone, regardless of age, sex, income, or educational level, watches at least some TV. "According to Nielson Media Research estimates, nearly 280 million people age 2 or older live in the nation's 114.9 million TV Households, near
Post a Comment
Read more

"Any Publicity is Good Publicity"?

"Publicity refers to the generation of news about a person, product, or service that appears in broadcast or print media" (Belch 584).  Many say that any publicity is good publicity.  However, what about publicity that truly is not all that "good" in nature?  This comes into play specifically when it comes to people. Exhibit A: Jeff Skilling One example of bad publicity is in the case of the energy company Enron and its former president Jeff Skilling.  Enron’s bankruptcy in 2001, after allegations of substantial accounting fraud, wiped out $78 billion in stock market value.   This also led to the collapse of Arthur Andersen and the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.   A class action settlement of $7.185 billion was the largest in history.   Former President/CEO Jeff Skilling is serving a 24-year sentence as a result. (Forbes) Jeff Skilling’s responsibility for Enron’s accounting fraud got huge publicity in the early to mid 2000s.   It was widely
Post a Comment
Read more