Scribd
Upload
40 views

Code of Ethics For Advertising

The American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) developed the Standards of Practice to regulate advertising and hold agencies accountable. The Standards consist of five points that member agencies must follow related to: 1) prohibiting false or misleading statements, 2) discouraging inaccurate testimonials, 3) requiring accurate price claims, 4) forbidding insufficient product claims, and 5) banning offensive or indecent materials.

Uploaded by

kakrakirk
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
40 views

Code of Ethics For Advertising

The American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) developed the Standards of Practice to regulate advertising and hold agencies accountable. The Standards consist of five points that member agencies must follow related to: 1) prohibiting false or misleading statements, 2) discouraging inaccurate testimonials, 3) requiring accurate price claims, 4) forbidding insufficient product claims, and 5) banning offensive or indecent materials.

Uploaded by

kakrakirk
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Code of Ethics for Advertising

By Georgia Chevere, eHow Contributor


updated: May 22, 2010

Read more: Code of Ethics for Advertising | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_6538990_code-ethics-


advertising.html#ixzz15X4dLlW3

In an effort to help regulate advertising and hold advertising agencies to equal and ethical standards,
the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) developed the Standards of Practice. The
Standards of Practice consist of five points to which all members of the AAAA must follow within
their advertisements, or else risk losing membership in the AAAA.

False or Misleading Statements


1. According to the Standards of Practice set forth by the AAAA, advertisements must not
contain any type of claim that is false or misleading to audiences. This includes lies, partial truths,
purposefully withholding information and exaggerations. It is important to note that false and
misleading content is not limited to the verbal and written claims made in the ad. It also applies to
images and demonstrations, as they should not misrepresent the capabilities and characteristics of a
product.
Inaccurate Testimonials
2. Testimonials are when a person gives their opinion or talks about their experience about a
product or service. The AAAA discourages the use of inaccurate testimonials. Testimonials can be
considered inaccurate for multiple reasons. First of all, a testimonial is inaccurate if the person who
is giving the testimonial is not portraying themselves, and instead is portraying a fictional person.
Also, a testimonial is inaccurate if it does not reflect the true opinion of the person giving the
testimonial.
Misleading Price Claims
3. The Standards of Practice states that all price claims relating to the product or service must
be completely accurate. No product can misrepresent their prices in order to make the price appear
more desirable. In order to make sure that price claims are always accurate, advertisements must
specifically state if there are any constituencies in order to buy a product for a certain price. For
example, if a price is listed as a lower price due to a rebate, than the ad must state that the low price
is obtained through a rebate.
Insufficient Claims
4. Similar to exaggerations, the Standards of Practice forbids the use of insufficient claims while
referring to the capabilities of a product or service. If there is not sufficient scientific or professional
evidence to support a claim made by a product, then it cannot be used in the advertising. Even if the
product is capable of performing a certain task, if it does not have the evidence to support a claim,
then the advertisement cannot use that claim within the ad.
Offensive Material
5. All material including verbal and textual communication, audio, video and images must be
considered decent for the general public. Any material in an advertisement that is considered
offensive, indecent or obscene to the general public is forbidden according to the Standards of
Practice. Also, advertisements may not be offensive towards any minority population including racial
and ethnic groups, religious groups, age groups and the disabled population.

You might also like