BUSINESS ETHICS TERM PAPER

(Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the requirements

of the course)

Faculty: PROF. NIMIT THAKKER

Date of Submission: 28-09-2020

Name Enrolment Number

MOHAMMAD AKMAL BUKHARI AU 2014045

ADVERTISEMENTS ALLOWS ONE LIE:

1. INTRODUCTION:

The purpose of the paper is to understand the ethical concerns and the ethicality of the
advertisements, where in from which the interpretation could be drawn that whether
do the advertisements should allow lies or misleading consumers is ethical or not. In
this I had tried to discuss about the lies many companies try to showcase on their
advertisements of the products should be allowed or not. Further I had tried to discuss
that the advertisements should showcase the lies or not. Apart from this I had tried to
interpret that whether the practice of lying in advertisements is relevant and should be
practiced further or it should be banned. As a result, we can say that the companies
should follow the ethical way of advertising the products in such a manner that there
should no showcase of lies in the advertisements as it harms the customer by
misleading and it damages the dignity of that particular brand, company or
organization in the eyes of customer and society.

Here I had also tried to discuss the ethical issues and the serious concerns emerges by
the lies in the advertising by showcasing real life organization and real examples and
the future of practicing of showcasing lies in the advertising. Thus from this paper we
can suggest that the companies should follow the ethical guidelines while advertising
the product and as a result we can say that the companies should try to avoid
showcasing lies in the advertisements regarding their products as it could harm the
customers and at some extent the organization also gets harmed in terms of reputation
and the loyal customer starts to decreased. Thus, the companies should focus the true
things in the advertisements of the product rather than booming their sales by
focusing on showing of lies in the advertisements and misleading the customer.

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

“Advertising refers to any type of actions in which the attention of the public is drawn
towards a goods, product, service or an idea by the sponsor”. “Advertising also refers
to non-personal presentation be it in any paid form and it also refers to promotion of
goods, products or services.”

Advertising exercises can be ordered into above the line, beneath the line, and through
the line advertising as indicated by their degree of infiltration. Above the line
advertising incorporate exercises that are generally non-focused on and have a wide
reach. Instances of above the line advertising are TV, radio, and paper commercials.
Beneath the line advertising incorporate change centered exercises which are
coordinated towards a particular objective gathering. Instances of beneath the line
advertising are announcements, sponsorships, in-store publicizing, and so on.
Through the line advertising incorporate exercises which include the utilization of
both ATL and BTL methodologies at the same time. These are coordinated towards
brand building and transformations and utilize focused on (customized) commercial
procedures. Instances of through the line publicizing are treat based promoting,
advanced advertising procedures, and so forth. (PAHWA, 2020)

Advertising exercises can likewise be arranged into 5 kinds dependent on the ad

medium utilized. These sorts of promotions are:

Print Advertising: Newspaper, magazines, and leaflet promotions, and so forth.

Broadcast Advertising: Television and radio promotions.
Out of home Advertising: Hoardings, standards, banners, wraps, and so forth.
Digitalized Advertising: Advertisements showed over the web and advanced gadgets.
Item/Brand Integration: Product situations in diversion media like TV show, YouTube
video, and so forth.

An advertisement is viewed as false not just on the off chance that it gives off base or
misdirecting data, yet additionally in the event that it precludes data that it ought to
incorporate. An advertisement that says your pack of Crispy Brand chips has a large
portion of the calories as its rivals, however doesn't make reference to its packs are
just a large portion of the size, would be misdirecting by ethicalness of the oversight.

Private ventures that promote certain items, including food, over-the-counter

medications, dietary enhancements, weight reduction frameworks, contact focal
points and other wellbeing related items, have extra principles and organization
guidelines to follow. For instance, the Food and Drug Administration regulates what
items can be named as "low fat" or "fat free," for instance, or the U.S. Division of
Agriculture, which has rules for when a food item can make claims like "low sodium"
or "diminished cholesterol."

The sector which I am focusing for this paper is the affects of advertisements in the
junk food and the fast-food sector. In a perfect world, junk foods are characterized as
handled food sources with immaterial supplement esteem and are regularly high in
salt, sugar and fat. Continuous utilization of unhealthy food expands the admission of
overabundance fat, straight forward starches, and prepared sugar which may prompt a
higher danger of obesity and cardiovascular diseases among other constant medical
issues. The subsequent clogging may start stopping up the supply routes of blood
which leads to the heart attack. It has additionally been proposed that eating junk
foods influences the mind similarly as consuming addictive drugs. Foods showcased
to kids are generally high in sugar and fat, and as such are clashing with public dietary
 proposals. The after effects of promoting junk food, soft drinks, and candy to them
can make kids overweight and unsuitable which have the negative social impacts, for
example, harassing, absence of social aptitudes, wretchedness, hypertension and
diabetes. (RANA, 2017)

The various theoretical models concerned with the advertising are as follows:
Advertising models fill in as outlines to assist advertisers with making convincing
promotions, regardless of whether for print, TV, radio, or online outlets. (HABAS,
2020)

I) AIDA or DRIP Advertising models: AIDA represents Attention, Interest, Desire, and
Action, which is the cycle clients experience before they choose to purchase an item.
Then again, DRIP points out the move’s advertisers need to make to wrap everything
up: Differentiate, Remind, Inform, and Persuade.

II) DAGMAR Advertising models: DAGMAR represents Defining Advertising Goals

for Measured Advertising Results, and it's related with a slight bend on the AIDA
model called ACCA: Awareness, Comprehension, Conviction, Action. In any case,
DAGMAR takes AIDA/ACCA above and beyond by stressing the requirement for
viable goal setting. The first DAGMAR step is to choose precisely what you need to
accomplish through the advertising correspondence cycle and how you will decide
whether it has been accomplished. You'll additionally need to choose how long the
advertisement should run. Next, figure out who your intended interest group is and
what sort of current perspectives or discernments they right now have about your
brand or product. At that point, choose what you need their new disposition or
observation to be after they've seen your advertisement. This will assist you with
deciding how to utilize advertising as a method for communication.

III) The Product Life Cycle (PLC) Advertising models: The PLC model incorporates four
phases: presentation, development, development, and decay, however with a little
resourcefulness, numerous items can be rethought and re-promoted so as to keep
away from a decrease. The PLC expects you to design out a major picture technique
and put it on a course of events with the goal that you're set up to make a move at
whatever point the market reaction permits the item to change starting with one phase
then onto the next.

There is no special focus on any particular industry but we can say that the spending
on digital advertisements in 2019 was high in the FMCG industry because the life
cycle of products of this industry is very low and so the consumer needs to be aware
of the product by the advertisements because if the customers are unaware of the
product then might be that product would get wasted and it will increase the cost for
the company where as it is low in the retail industry because the product life cycle is
high in this industries so there is no need to aware the consumers frequently. Apart
from this the spending on the Consumer durable industry and the banking industry
was same.
3. EXAMPLES:

A) FRITOLAYS:

In the advertisements of the chips called lays the company shows that the packet is
full of chips but in actual the chips are less in packet and the packet is full of air
which denotes that the company cheats the customers and indulges into an
unethical practice by showing lie in the advertisement and thus the customers ends
up cheated by the company. As a result, the company charges for the product high
but the customer does not receive the actual product. Thus, we can say that the
company should showcase their advertisement without showing lie and thus the
company should not involve in unethical practice of showing lie in advertisement.

B) COCA COLA:

In the advertisement of the product maaza and slice of Coca cola the company
tries to show that the product is made by real juice pulp of mango but in actual the
product always contains a small amount of fruit pulp i.e. less than 1% and it is
more made up of concentrated syrup which leads the customer to obesity and so it
leads the customer ending up in depression due to obesity and thus the company
showcase the lie in the advertisement and indulges themselves in the unethical
practice of showcasing lie on the advertisement which affects the customer’s
health and put them at a great risk. Thus, we can say that the company should
showcase their advertisement without showing lie and thus the company should
not involve in unethical practice of showing lie in advertisement.

C) NESTLE:

In the advertisement of the product 2-minute noodles (Maggi) the company tries
to showcase that the Maggi is ready in 2 minutes but in real situation the product
does not get be prepared in the speculated time shown by the company in the
advertisement. As result we can say that the company misleads the customer by
saying that their product will save time but it could not save time in real scenario.
As a result, the customers are misleading and they end up in wasting their time in
buying the product with a view that the Maggi will prepare in 2 minutes which
disturbs the schedule of the customer. Thus, the company indulges themselves in
the unethical practice of showing a lie in the advertisement. Thus, we can say that
the company should showcase their advertisement without showing lie and thus
the company should not involve in unethical practice of showing lie in
advertisement.

D) MACDONALDS CORPORATION:

In the advertisement of the burgers shown in the advertisement the company tries
to showcase their burger in a different and a unique way to bring the customers to
their outlet but when the customer visits the outlet the shown image in the
 advertisement is different from the burger which they serve. Also, they try to
mention in the menu and the advertisement in very small fonts that the
visualization of the product may differs from the actual product which the
customer does not notice. As a result, they try to show the lie on the advertisement
and tries to attract the customers especially children which is a unethical way and
which leads to misleading the customer which is unethical. Thus, we can say that
the company should showcase their advertisement without showing lie and thus
the company should not involve in unethical practice of showing lie in
advertisement.

4. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATION:

From this topic I can say that there is ethical issues regarding the advertisements, because the
organization tries to show the lies in the advertisements of their products and try to attract the
customers and they always builds a greater customer base by showcasing false
advertisements and exaggerate the benefits of the product and try to cheat the customers. As a
result, we can say that this is the unethical behavior of the organization and thus they harm
the customers. Also, the organizations give the false information about their product on
advertisement to beat the sales of the competitor so we can say that doing, saying or showing
the false thing rather than the true specifications of the product is an unethical work.

This unethical behavior of showing lies in the advertisement is the serious concerns as it
harms the customers in one or other way such as using wrong ingredients such as
concentrated syrup instead of real fruit juices as shown in various advertisements which leads
the customers to obesity and finally the consumer ends up in stress and diseases due to
obesity. Apart from this showing the attractive images of products on advertisements and
providing the wrong product to the consumers is also a way of unethical practice. Apart from
this many organization cheats in terms of quantity for example the organization shows a pack
full of chips in the advertisements but there is more air rather than chips. Thus, the
organization should advertise their product by focusing on the true specifications of the
product rather than showcasing wrong one.

Thus apart from this many organizations tries to attract the children by giving various gifts
and toys in the packet of chips which attracts the children to buy the pack of chips which is a
unhealthy food for them and they end up leading towards obesity and various disesaes so this
should be avoided and necessary actions needs to be taken to avoid the children leading to
obesity and various diseases.

Apart from this we can say that the organization should follow the principles of advertising
the product set by ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) and thus the organization
should follow the guideline and indulge themselves into advertising ethically rather than
unethically. Thus, if the organizations in future also follows the unethical behavior of
showing false information and misleading the consumers then they will surely need to be
penalized and the customers should also be aware of the false information which is
misleading them. Thus, in the near future the misleading information providing to the
customer by the advertisement can be stopped and the customers could be saved from
misleading.

5. CONCLUSION:

Thus, from the above discussion we can say that it is unethical to show the lie about the
product in an advertisement. Because showing the lie could mislead the customer and the
customer could be harmed in terms of his health or he might just end up by wasting his
valuable time, money and energy. Apart from this the rules and the regulations should be
made stricter in such a manner that no organization pretends to showcase the lie and the rules
should be made that advertisement should also contain the negative information about the
product because the advertisements also shows the positive side of the product.

As a result, we can say that if the rules are strict no advertisement will show the lie and so the
customer should also be aware about it. Apart from this we can say that if the advertisement
shows the lie they should be heavily penalized and also a board or committee should be set
up for looking after the truth and false of the advertisement before it is launched among the
public which will prevent the generation of misleading advertisement and hence the
customers can be saved from misleading advertisements.

Lastly, I would like to thank our faculty for providing such a wonderful topic for term paper
which had really increased my knowledge regarding advertisements and the ethical concerns
involved in it.