Ethical Claims in Advertising

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Business Ethics, Corporate Ethics, Comenius University in Bratislava, course: Business Ethics, language: English, abstract: But what happens if the developed advertising campaign perfectly attracts the aimed target group but coincidentally discriminates a vulnerable group? Is it fine to make jokes based on elderly, printed on flyers which are thrown in every mailbox in the country? How should advertisers behave?
This paper is going to examine some ethical claims and causes for thought in advertising ethics. It aims to assist advertisers in trying to behave as ethically as possible while struggling through the jungle of audience demands.
In the first part some necessary theoretical definitions will be given. In the second and main part the ethical claims are described, subdivided in three key moral principles: Truthfulness, Dignity and Social Responsibility. In the last section an exemplary advertisement will be analyzed in order to show the work of seemingly ethics-unconscious advertisers.