Advertising Ethics - An Oxymoron?

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2003 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, grade: 1,7, Northumbria University, language: English, abstract: Advertising as the most visible element of the marketing-mix is concerning its ethical dimension actually in the midst of controversary. The expression of 'advertisng ethics' is nowadays a good example when being asked to name an oxymoron. This project therefore concentrates on ethics applied to the advertising profession. The ethical dimension of advertising and its impact on consumers in general as well as on children as a target group is the main focus of the study. The aim of the study will be reached through drawing attention to the two major philosophical theories applied to business as well as advertising, utilitarianism and deontology. In order to gain a fair understanding of the subject, advertising and its role in society are examined. Furthermore, the ethical issues in advertising are presented based on the so-called legal and moral discourse. Since the method of advertising to children actually raises a lot of controversial opinions, this part of the legal discourse is examined in more detail. Due to these controversies, a primary research has been executed, with the aim to collect three controversial opinions of institutions involved in the debate of ethics in advertising. The participants in this debate are industry, advertising agencies and the third point of view of a so-called opinion leader. The study closes with the discussion of research findings with reference to the literature review, followed by the overall conclusion.