Unethical Advertisements: Offensive Portrayal of Women - Case Study Example

? Un-Ethical Advertisements: Offensive portrayal of Women Introduction: Ethics can be defined as the codified moral principles or values which governed any individual to act in a certain situation. Ethics plays a very important role in shaping the society. Ethics are usually based on cultural, social and religious norms and values. There can be certain different set of ethics which is being respected in different cultures but we should take care of all the cultural values and so with their ethics also. As world has now turned into almost a global village so there must be a respect for all cultures and values either its western or eastern. Advertising is one of the most important tools in the promotion channels which can be used by any organization to popularize its product. Either talk about electronic media or print media, a TV channel or a news paper, a poster or a road hoarding, advertising is still an effective medium to convey the message of the organization to the target audience. Advertising is also referred towards marketing communication. While talking to anybody we should take care of the ethics of the context as well as that of the receiver also. Business ethics is a very important topic in this globalised world. So when advertising is considered there is an important issue regarding ethics which must be assured to the target audience. The firm who is going to advertise any of its products must deem the theme of its advertisement before launching it. The advertisement content must remain under the boundaries of cultural ethics. Generally speaking the three moral standards of advertising must be truthfulness, social responsibility and the dignity of each and every individual either a man or a woman (Ethics in Advertising, n.d.). But it is usually seen that the female part of the society is not truly represented or we can say that they are not shown in a positive way. This essay mainly focuses on the wrong depiction of the women in the advertisements. According to one of the authors “advertising sometimes creates controversial issues which cause problems to the society” (Amoako, 2012). Promotion is the element which shows the thinking pattern of the company towards their customers as well as the whole society (Brunello, n.d.). Therefore the makers should keenly focus on the theme of their advertisement that how it will be treated by the common people. In this 21st century, the advertisements which focus on the gender roles and responsibilities or their in-between relationships are usually very common. Usually females or women are exposed as sex entity in such kinds of advertisements (Dahlberg & Zimmerman, 2008). This orientation is really very dangerous for the young generation they get bad conception from such advertisements and thus the evil roots starts in the society. According to a research, while the prime time on the television, when there is highest number of television viewers, the two third of the content presented on TV contains sexual relationships which definitely creates a bad image of women and also provokes the youth towards hidden parts of a social and ethical life. The role of women in the advertisements is always a thought provoking matter for the society (Robert & Koggen, 1979). Women are usually presented in these advertisements as a housewife, as a decorative entity, as a sex object or even in the sense of dependent on men. Except housewife these all dimensions disgrace the role of women in the society. Whenever these advertisements depict men or women in their themes then it surely have some meaning in its content. Men are usually meant for power, force, sportsman and rich. But a woman is always meant for sex and the beauty (Jacobson & Mazur, 1995). Usually the advertisements focusing the beauty of woman make the other women to feel insecure about their own personality (Women’s role in the Advertisements, 2011). There are certain advertisements which focus on the enhancement of the appealing personality and the beauty in a negative sense. These kind of advertisements create a bad image on the girls which are about to enter in their teenage. They are impressed by such advertisements and thus have a fantasy to be like them. This may lead them towards crossing the borders and limits of the ethical norms and values of family and culture as well (Jacobson & Mazur, 1995). The appearance of men is always in full clothing while that of women is always in miniskirts or any such dresses which surely provoke her image as sex object (DiSalvatore, 2010). Such dressing styles badly harm our newly growing minds. One of leading fashion magazine of USA is Vogue which always presents its models in short outfits and also in such poses like embracing a man or feeling shy from him (DiSalvatore, 2010). According to Williams (1995) the common women of the society themselves criticize on the bad portrayal of females in such advertisements. Aristotle’s Quote Relevant to Ethical Advertisement: Many of the authors are agreed upon the point that the advertisement and the content shown in the advertisements actually portray the thinking of that specific company. According to famous philosopher Aristotle the ethical codes or values are totally dependent on the character of the person or we can say the person itself. Same is the case with the promotional advertisements. It all depends upon the thinking pattern of the company that how they utilize their resources to create an image in the minds of the general public. The companies should make ethical advertisements those who leave an impressive notion on people. Aristotle’s philosophy regarding Ethics is usually known as the Golden Mean which means the presence in the centre of overload and scarcity. We should be ethical means not to go at any extreme either positive or negative. Now this mean position for any individual can be different depending on his own way of thinking. Similarly the companies should also remain stand on their Golden Mean when designing advertisements. In this 21st century, the media is almost limitless. There are no restrictions on the content shown on the Televisions which may be presented in any form. Now it’s the duty of the organizations that they themselves should decide that what would be ethical to be shown to the fresh teen minds. These minds learn actions and living styles through these TV advertisements and many other programs. Most of the organizations go on the extreme use of women in a negative sense which definitely ruin the image of the product but the brand as well. Exaggerating the advantages of the product is also very common practice in today’s advertisements. Usually this policy enhances the sales but at the end when the customers do not get proper results then get frustrated and think that they have wasted their money. Therefore taking care of Aristotle’s philosophy, being moderate and also on the positive path will help the organizations and also society will be flourished in a positive way. Conclusion: Such kind of negative depiction or portrayal can be termed as the violence against women in advertisements. These advertisements fuel the insight of the society that women are a weak creature which is always there to be used and abused by the men. Today the intercourse rate, number of rape incidents, sexual abuse rate and even pregnancy rates is very much high between the age of 15-20. This age is so early for any such activity. There is a very high demand of plastic surgery of the body parts just because of the looks of the models in the TV. And all the credit for such activities must be gone to the advertisements which do not teach any respect towards the opposite gender counterpart. Children got very bad image from such advertisements. But still some of the critics are of opinion that this issue of disgracing women in the advertisements is exaggerated now. They argued that females are not that much badly portrayed as they themselves perceive it. This situation can only be handled by the organizations themselves. If they understand the sensitivity of the concerned issue then they can manipulate the role of women in their respective advertisements. The advertising agencies can play their roles in this crucial time. Being a human it is our responsibility to protest against such kinds of ads and thus playing our role in the society too. References: Amoako, G. K. (2012). Ethics in Advertising: A Challenge in Ghana. MJAE, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 63-72. Central University College, Department of Marketing, Central Business School. Retrieved on 19th December 2013 from http://www.academia.edu/2157409/Ethics_in_advertising-Challenges_in_Ghana Brunello, A. (n.d.). Ethics and Advertising. Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Romania. Dahlberg, J., Zimmerman, A. (2008). The Sexual Objectification of Women in Advertising: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective. Journal of Advertising Research. 71-79. DiSalvatore, E. (2010). Portrayal of Women in Advertising. Ethics of Advertising (n.d.). Retrieved on 19th December, 2013 from http://www.carroll.edu/msmillie/busethics/ethadvertising.htm Jacobson, M. F., Mazur, L. A. (1995). Sexism and Sexuality in Advertising. Marketing Madness: A Survival guide for a Consumer Society. Pg 74-87. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Roberts, M. L., Koggan, P. B. (1979). How a Woman should be portrayed in Advertisements: a Call for Research. Advances in Consumer Research. Pg 66-72. Retrieved on 20th December 2013 from http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=9532 Williams, P. (1995). Female Role Portrayals in Print Advertising: Talking With Women about their Perceptions and their Preferences. Advances in Consumer Research. Pg 753-760. Retrieved on 20th December, 2013 from http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=7851 Women Role in the Advertisements. (2011). Retrieved on 20th December, 2013 from http://womensroleinadvertisements.blogspot.com/ Read More