Advertising and Trust - Term Paper Example

 Advertising and Trust Introduction Competition at the market level is the core reason for the evolution of advertising. The companies or organizations advertise to create publicity of their services and products; hence, allowing them to reach the consumers or clients. Consequently, through the many people the advert reaches the products and services of the given company or organization get market, hence making profit (Green, p 56, 2012). Competitive advantage is key in success in the industry, a factor that most organizations and companies in the market seek to achieve. Thus, the subject of advert allows the given companies the platform and channel to reach the intended buyers and convince them accordingly, they ought to purchase such products (Green, p 34, 2012). However, the subject of procedures for fair completion necessitates the incorporation of ethics and regulations in the practice of advertising to ensure fair, accurate and decent advertising. Nonetheless, challenges remain in the industry despite the advent of technology and other platforms for advertising. Role of persuasion in advertising Advertising in its entirety is about selling. The nature of advertising is such that it is neither neutral nor objective. However, it follows through its case by pleading its strongest and most persuasive means to inform, entertain and sell. In some instances, where designated, it also does inspire (Waiguny, Nelson & Terlutter, p 255, 2014). Therefore, since advertising aims at the core objective of selling, then persuasion is the channel and means of how to get selling. Notably, consumers are also remarkably intelligent beings and as such, some illogical and irrational promises and ideas propagated in adverts, which they can easily through do not persuade them. It is evident that from past establishments, about 85% of all new products launched into the market do fail (Waiguny, Nelson & Terlutter, p 256, 2014). Moreover, the smart marketers have the utmost respect of the consumers. For instance, the smart marketers through their strategic approaches deliver the product of good quality and apply honest means of advertising. Observing from this forgoing evidence, it is notable the sense of how difficult it is for the advertising to persuade the intended consumer or customer. The advertisers challenge is to reach to the intended customer successfully. However, the community is so fortunate in the market to have a proliferation of services and products a heir disposal, such that wading through the millions of products cramming the retail shelves to that one product of interest becomes a challenge (Waiguny, Nelson & Terlutter, p 258, 2014). Therefore, the thousands of marketing messages from each of the service or product suppliers all seek to capture the attention of the buyer. It is observable that the commercial messages appear all over, as advertisements and brand messages are printed all over the products, television, magazines, billboards, radio, phone booth, sport arena, and the internet. Thus, an average person in developed world will have contact with over 3000 adverts in a day (Waiguny, Nelson & Terlutter, p 259, 2014). Therefore, considering this bombardment of advertisements, in addition to the current hi-tech electronic platform, the advertisers have greater challenge to transmit their message to the consumers. Thus, the advertising job is remarkably difficult with respect to achieving persuasion. Therefore, the key to establishing a successful advertisement that engenders persuasion of the consumers is to establish a focused advertising strategy (Waiguny, Nelson & Terlutter, p 261, 2014). A persuasive advert in all its presentation should have a clear emotional delivery, which has the capacity to convince the listeners or viewers and still remain accurate and honest. The advertising strategy facilitates a clear identification of the prospective target and defines all the needs, wants and desires of that target (Waiguny, Nelson & Terlutter, p 262, 2014). Consequently, through gathering this meaningful information on the subject, then engage a clear and creative translation of the gathered information into a persuasive message, which will capture the intent of the target. The accurate means of creating persuasive message for the advertisement then follows through the written strategy of establishing the objective (Green, p 87, 2012). The objective is what the advertisement message will convince the consumers to feel that this single service or product is the most useful in the marketplace. The second factor is defining this target audience accurately, including considerations of their age, gender and many other pertinent and demographic considerations that explain the target accordingly (Waiguny, Nelson & Terlutter, p 266, 2014). Then give the message that has the consumer benefits defined about the product. For instance, it is not persuasive must say something looks good, or it tastes great. The advert must go beyond the outward firsthand experience and give a categorical brand feeling that overcomes the worries and needs of the consumer. Consequently, give the consumer reason to believe in the product and its attributes (Waiguny, Nelson & Terlutter, p 268, 2014). Provide the supporting proof that the product is indeed what the advert says it is. This way, the use of tone and manner of presentation is another aspect of creating persuasion (Waiguny, Nelson & Terlutter, p 272, 2014). Once these factors are in observation, the role of persuasion is achieved in the context of the advertising expedition. The product placed in the market with successful persuasion has higher chances of success in the market. The facilitation of the supporting parameters for the advert such as the supply of the product in the market gives the product the demand expected; hence, a successful work for the advertising team (Green, p 166, 2012). Nonetheless, persuasion as a key element of the advertising job is notably the most challenging to achieve. However, once achieved, successful persuasion places the product on the top list of the consumers wants which then gives success to the producer of the product or service. Ethics and regulation in the industry The advertising fraternity operates under strict federal guidelines and regulations. The Federal Trade Commission is responsible for monitoring the advertising industry and its engagements. The ethics gives the governing factors for the truth-in-advertising laws to ensure that the advertisers do not get a leeway to violate the established ethical standards or violate the consumer confidence (Stafford & Faber, p 45, 2005). Therefore, it is the responsibility of the advertisers as they pursue their job to ensure they act in ethical practices at all times, always taking the extra care in advertising with respect to given guidelines in the industry. Having the ethical and legal issuance can help in creating a successful and responsible message for the advertisement. Some of the key considerations in ethics and regulations for the advertising process in the industry include the following. The most significant regulation as well as ethical consideration is that of maintaining truth in advertising. The Federal Trade Commission Act responsible for overseeing the established advertisement messages set the requirements for ensuring truth in advertising. The legal fraternity is responsible for enforcing this established act, which aims at protecting the unsuspecting consumers from the negative exploration o f the advertisers (Stafford & Faber, p 54, 2005). The act does clearly state that all advertisements ought to be truthful and devoid of any deceptive, unfair or misleading information. The advertisers must facilitate the evidence of the claims they make in the given advertisement message. Therefore, defining the deceitful statements such as those that may mislead the consumer to make purchase decisions is a punishable crime (Green, p 201, 2012). The unfair advertisements may give unfair advantage to the product, which in effect may not produce the outcome insinuated from the message of advert. Thus, it is essential for all advertising fraternity to ensure and facilitate fair and accurate information in the message of the advert (Stafford & Faber, p 65, 2005). Mainlining truthfulness is key to have a persuasive and successful advertisement and his establishment allows the consumers to make accurate informed decisions. Secondly, although the current legal guidelines and ethical expectations do define the need for truthful advertising, it is notable that when children are considered, the law allows greater room for unethical behavior. This is since children may not profoundly understand the concepts of hooked messages, which have exaggerations. Therefore, the law is deviant in this aspect to consider the needs of the children protection from the advertisements that may exploit them. Further, the law in place does ignore completely the ramifications of unethical approach to the legal advertising such as building brand loyalty in the children (Stafford & Faber, p 87, 2005). The children need to understand the brand and establish what it entails thus, the advertisement ethics define that the most appropriate mode of addressing this challenge is to advertise to the parents rather than the children. The parents then perceive the message and facilitate the product o the child. Therefore, it is unethical and illegal to advertise to children. In different countries, advertising control looks at the products and services being offered and strives to strike a balance of responsibility among the citizens by defining what the citizens can legally indulge (Stafford & Faber, p 85, 2005). The regulations in place prohibit the advertising of illegal and harmful substances. The regulation also allows the advertising of some of the harmful substances but demands the placing of a warning statement on the product to ensure the consumers have a clear understanding of the product and the consequences of its consumption. For instance, the advertising of cigarette is only permitted in some media and excludes other media such as television and radio, whereas alcohol advertising is permitted in all media (Stafford & Faber, p 99, 2005). Thus, such considerations are key in regulating the advertising industry. The companies need to look at the products they produce and establish their nature before engaging the advertiser as the advertising industry holds a high respect of ethical expectations. Another illustration is that of pharmaceuticals where the advertisers have the obligation to warn the consumer of the side effects of these products (Stafford & Faber, p 103, 2005). Thus, such considerations facilitate the industry of advertising. The advertising tactics gives the ethical challenges entailed in presenting the advertisement (Nyilasy, Gangadharbatla & Paladino, p 704, 2014). The advertiser’s body has a vast range of tools at their disposal for use. For instance, they can employ subliminal advertising, emotional appeals or taking advantage of the illiterate individuals and spreading propaganda for campaigns in the advertisement. Such tactics are unethical and as such, the advertisers are advised accordingly to refrain from using such means. Using underhand means to manipulate consumers is illegal. Factors impacting on trust Trust is among the most common factors that advertisers seek to establish in their clients and the consumers. it is evident that to sell products and service, the consumer has to have trust that their interests and needs are serviced in this product. Thus, tapping trust in emotional advertisements is key. However, with the advent of technology and expansion of the markets, trust is issues in advertisements continue to be on the rise. Among the leading factors of consideration in trust are the ethical considerations as well as the legal confines of the advertisements. Building trust in consumers mind builds the expected perceptions, which engage a positive approach to the promises in the advertisement (Nyilasy, Gangadharbatla & Paladino, p 700, 2014). However, when the message entailed in the advert is inaccurate or untruthful, then building trust becomes a challenge. Thus, truthfulness and accuracy is among the leading factors that impact the establishment of trust in the advertisement industry. Another challenge to trust in the advertisement industry is the communication procedures entailed in the process. A brand will easily lose credibility when the social media simply spam the product adverts through mails and other social platforms for the consumers. Therefore, although the advent of technology has significantly improved the advertisement job and facilitated easy channels of reaching the consumer, it is essential to use the media thoughtfully (Stafford & Faber, p 176, 2005). Therefore, the technological advancement ad its application can impair the building of trust in the target consumers. Role of trust in brand building Issues of transparency, accountability and social responsibility with respect to the advert and messages entailed in the advert can cause lose of trust by the consumers. Therefore, he advertising body seeks to maintain successful trust in the consumer through acting in transparency and accountability as well as being socially responsible (Nyilasy, Gangadharbatla & Paladino, p 697, 2014). Trust is significant in the advertisement process because it facilitates key factors that facilitate success of the advertisement. Notably, the establishment of trust gives the product a strong and reliable market base in the competitive platform, facilitating success for the product producers. Another aspect of significance of trust in advertising is that it helps build a superior user experience among the consumers as the product gains more marketability. Building trust gives the product a positive perception and this ensures the brand claim to be trustworthy. Therefore, trust in advertisement is key factor and as advertisers body, the factors of success is to ensure trust as it facilitates and covers all the ethical and legal guidelines of the industry. Trust is the corner stone to the relationship established between the advertiser and the target consumer; hence, an important component of the advertising job. Analysis of trust cases The front foot campaign for advertising entails a heavy and established network of advertisers and media owners and agencies that facilitate the recourses and guidance required in ensuring the advertiser has a say in matter about their job. The network facilitates the building of evidence and drive for engagement of each of the advertising beneficiaries; hence, building on the economy if the nation and giving services and products to the people (Nyilasy, Gangadharbatla & Paladino, p 694, 2014). The entity seeks to facilitate promotion of advertising and advocate its freedoms and laws. However, the subject of green washing remains key in evidencing the given challenges to the campaign of the front foot body. Greenwashing is where some advertisers convey false offerings of the products and services to the consumers (Hartmann, Apaolaza, D'Souza, Barrutia & Echebarria, p 743 2014). Thus, greenwashing is a socially and environmentally destructive form of some companies or institutions of attempting to expand their market power through posing as ‘friend’ to the market and consumers. An illustration is the case that happened to Shell Oil Products company in the U.S. where their presented a false advertisement that they would give a free lift ticket voucher to the customer buying ten gallons of fuel. However, the case was not true as the plaintiff presented the case and evidence at the district court of Oregon district. Another case of such occurrence of green washing is the case of Esso in Scarborough Ontario, Canada where the promotion of Pepsi drink saw the company give a false advert (Hartmann, Apaolaza, D'Souza, Barrutia & Echebarria, p 752 2014). Such false adverts create the room for escalated lack of trust in advertisements, and consequently cause the advertisement job to be remarkably difficult. Further, the companies that act in such unethical manner suffer the consequences as their products lose grounding on the market. Thus, such establishments reflect the essence of ethics and regulations in the advertisement job. References Green, J. (2012). Advertising. New York, Rosen Central. Hartmann, P, Apaolaza, V, D'Souza, C, Barrutia, J, & Echebarria, C 2014, 'Environmental threat appeals in green advertising', International Journal Of Advertising, 33, 4, pp. 741-765, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 March 2015. Nyilasy, G, Gangadharbatla, H, & Paladino, A 2014, 'Perceived Greenwashing: The Interactive Effects of Green Advertising and Corporate Environmental Performance on Consumer Reactions', Journal Of Business Ethics, 125, 4, pp. 693-707, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 March 2015. Stafford, M. R., & Faber, R. J. (2005). Advertising, promotion, and new media. Armonk, NY., M.E. Sharpe. Waiguny, M, Nelson, M, & Terlutter, R 2014, 'The Relationship of Persuasion Knowledge, Identification of Commercial Intent and Persuasion Outcomes in Advergames-the Role of Media Context and Presence', Journal Of Consumer Policy, 37, 2, pp. 257-277, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 March 2015. 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