For example, this print advertisement, from the very popular "Got Milk" campaign. It may be a little hard to read, but if you are not familiar with this campaign, let me enlighten you. The dairy industry created a strategy incorporating popular celebrities that people younger generations could relate to. There claim was that if you drank milk 3 times a day it would help you loose weight. The picture suggests that if you follow their instruction you can look like this guy, David Beckham. This claim is just a little misleading, considering it takes a lot more than drinking milk 3 times daily to get in this kind of shape.
Advertising is perfectly legal, and encouraged up the First Amendment, as long as certain guidelines are followed. Advertisers are promoted to partake in any type of “misleading advertising”. This may seem self explanatory; however you’d be surprised how many companies are scrutinized for misleading tactics. Misleading a consumer is defined as portraying false information about a particular product in a way that may sway their decisions. The Federal Trade Commission Act was established in 1914 in order to regulate unfair methods of advertising. "In interpreting Section 5 of the Act, the Commission has determined that a representation, omission or practice is deceptive if it is likely to: mislead consumers and affect consumers' behavior or decisions about the product or service."
Advertising is not all bad; on the contrary, advertising helps manufacturers introduce new products in the marketplace. However, there are certain regulations that must be respected in order to abide by the law. Misleading a consumer is order to gain your own benefit is unacceptable and is not tolerated in the
Resources:
http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/about.shtm
I love Advertising and can't wait to work in it! However, your right with Advertisements having a reputation for being deceptive. It is important for Advertiser's (the one's that care anyways) to understand that honesty really is the best policy and they should represent products that will do well on their own :)
ReplyDeleteI did some research on deceptive advertising last semester and found that most companies feel no shame for the deception in their ads. Most were quoted as saying "that's what the fine print is for". To me that said, we can make it look like whatever we want...just as long as we put the teeny tiny print at the bottom that hardly anyone can see! I enjoy ads just as much as the next person. I think we just have to take the personal responsibility to understand the true meaning in their messages.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of the comments posted, however I also feel like as consumers, we should now be aware of the deceptive advertising that goes on because it happens all the time! Advertisers will always try to beat around the bush and falsely represent their products but we must be able to see through their "teeny" print!
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of you. Regs0906 makes a good point that consumers should be more aware of what they are viewing and if it is deceptive.
ReplyDeleteI love ads, I love watching commercials, fashion ads in magazines, etc - but I do agree with you that advertisement can be extremely deceptive or misleading. Like Jessica said, we have to take into our own personal responsibility of being aware of the message behind it and not falling into the deceptive trap.
ReplyDeleteI find advertising to be a very sneaky, yet very interesting practice. It's a unique blend of psychology that's sole purpose is to get into the potential consumers wallet.
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