Advertisements are used to influence, persuade, and inform consumers, but their ultimate goal is to get consumers to buy a product. Advertisers want to advertise where they know they can reach people, but it’s the people they are reaching, that many question if advertising is ethical. Ads contain jingles, memorable music, celebrities, etc. and most ads don’t contain very much information. According to Nina Riccio, “Media messages are created by people whose job it is to come up with interesting images, songs, or graphics that will make you want to buy their product,” (p. 93). People remember ads for a few reasons: 1. because it was funny, 2. it had a memorable jingle, 3. it fulfilled the consumer’s need or want, and/or 4. all of the above. According to Mindy F. Ji and James U. McNeal, “The development of advertising in the United States can be divided into four stages: product information, product image, personalization, and lifestyle…” (p.5).
I think advertising is ethical, to an extent. If advertising didn’t exist, how would people know which product to buy and not buy? According to John E. Calfee, “…The information that advertising imparts helps consumers make better decisions,” (p.105). All advertising isn’t bad; it can provide useful information, like in the Truth ads, or in public service ads, like the Smokey the Bear ads or the One campaign ads (that want to fight AIDS). If advertisers didn’t advertise to certain groups of people, they wouldn’t be doing their jobs and making money. Advertisers advertise to certain age groups, nationalities, genders, etc. Most ads that are on television channels for children (such as Nickelodeon) are either for food or toys. I think advertisers advertise towards children because they know if they can persuade a kid or teen to buy their product, and get them hooked on the product, they will have a customer for life; this is called brand loyalty. If brand loyalty is established, then the consumer will only choose that particular product and no other.
Alcohol advertising can affect/ have an impact on young people and influence certain behaviors. If an ad contains a group of people having a good time and they happen to be drinking alcohol, the person watching the commercial may think that is a social norm and a common occurrence, and that it’s cool to drink. According to Riccio, “Whether liquor manufacturers are intentionally pitching their ads to teens is not important. The fact is, teenagers are watching and absorbing the message that drinking is a fun, cool, and popular thing to do,” (p.92). This quote reiterates the same for cigarette/tobacco ads. Cigarette ads used to dominate and were very popular for advertisers and with consumers, but then when the effects of smoking cigarettes came out, these ads were banned from television. According to Dave Dhaval and Henry Saffer, “…Alcohol is among the most heavily advertised consumer goods…” (p.3). If they ban cigarette ads on television, why not alcohol ads? Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol can harm a person, just like smoking too many cigarettes is can. According to Riccio, “Alcohol is the drug most used and abused by adolescents- more than marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and pills combined…Alcohol is usually a factor in the three leading causes of death among youth: accidents, suicide, and homicide…Drinking encourages reckless behavior,” (p.92).
Some countries even have restrictions on times alcohol ads can be aired, why doesn’t the United States? They air alcohol ads throughout the day. Granted these ads aren’t on television channels for children, but they are on other channels children and young people watch, like ABC or FOX, where they play game shows for kids and families. Look at the Super Bowl for instance, people from various ages watch the Super Bowl, and most watch it for the ads. Most of the ads that are aired are for alcohol. A young person may not think of an alcohol ad as an alcohol ad, because the ad my contain animals or be funny, and the alcohol part may go straight over their heads, because it doesn’t interest them. However, not everyone is the same; another young person may see the same ad and think differently.
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Reaction to "According to Riccio, “Whether liquor manufacturers are intentionally pitching their ads to teens is not important. The fact is, teenagers are watching and absorbing the message that drinking is a fun, cool, and popular thing
to do,” (p.92).
Here's the problem--for the purposes of our debate about the ethics of advertising, it DOES matter if alcohol advertisers are INTENTIONALLY targeting teens. Ads for adult products (alcohol, cigarettes, etc.) that target adults are ethical, as long as they don't mislead the consumer.
Teenagers spend a good deal of time either wishing they were already adults or "trying on" what they think are adult attitudes. As a result, a lot of ads that appeal to adults also appeal to teens.
To make matters even murkier, ads that target adults often appeal to our desire to "be young" or have a "young and hip attitude." This will also appeal to teens, who tend to like trendy things.
I guess my point is that unless beer companies only run ads that depict balding, potbellied old men having a great time drinking, it's hard to come up with ads that teenagers WON'T find attractive.
The only control we really have over teen exposure to ads is restrict ad placement. For example, it would be really creepy to place the Budweiser Frogs ad right next to episodes of Spongebob Squarepants.
Just a thought....
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