Ehics V/S Ads Essay Example

Ehics V/S Ads Essay The focus on: Defining stereotypes; look at common racial stereotypes in advertisements (print or television advertisements); examine how racial stereotypes influence the perception of those watching these advertisements; and, the justification advertisers give to support the continued use of stereotypes. The essay will conclude that certain types of advertisements do perpetuate racialstereotypes. What are stereotypes?According to Vincent Parillo a stereotype is â€Å"an oversimplified generalization by which we attribute certain traits or characteristics to an entire group without regard to individual differences. Sometimes stereotypes can be positive – for example that African Americans are good athletes and Asian Americans are good mathematicians†¦however, stereotypes distort reality†¦and deny individuals the right to be judged and treated on the basis of their own personal merit† Racial stereotypes is a general representation of a given race/ethnic group, which comprises of exaggerated mental pictures that persist in a given racial group (Dominique p. 8). Different communities have different and unique characteristics, which gives a sense of ownership and identity towards their culture. Some of these stereotypes may be expressed as a sense of humor, which may be irritating to another race. Stereotypes have greatly affected different cultures in the aspect of attitude towards some races, marriages, political setup, and workplaces. Despite all the efforts aimed at reducing stereotypes, they are still very influential and racially dividing our society due to effect of culture and media. Glocal Image of racial stereotypes in Advertisement Media:Racial stereotypes in media tend to segregate different ethnicities by special characteristics, which define them (Powell p. 89). Africans, Americans, Asians, Indians, and many other racial units are taken with a lot of misconception by the society which the media expounds greatly thus producing g reat effects of stereotypes. News, movies, newspapers, and magazines focus so much on the peculiar behaviors of different ethnicities to impress the audience. Accent, skin color, and cultural behaviors are the main aspects that define the origin and background of a given character.With the emphasis that the media exhibit on the same, it hinders the audience from detailed knowledge of that given ethnic group. This encourages them to overlook meaningful attributes to their characters and every individual in that race. the notion was that blacks were unproductive unless whipped or being under the supervision. In combination with other stereotypes, it has resulted in the blacks being unjust and cruel in the American institutions. This stereotype persisted after the slave trade and spread through literature and ancient movies.Nevertheless, the notion of a lazy man with a soul, which came along in 1940s, later curbed it. The political culture in America was slowly and painfully transforme d by ushering of new civil rights. Racial stereotypes have also contributed to a great change in the economic culture of the civilized and uncivilized races. The civil rights movement’s simultaneous occurrence and the fight against poverty geared the poverty reduction for African-Americans and their fight for equality (Powell p. 90). Nevertheless, discussions of policy work in the press and poverty arenas sometimes lead to false conclusions that poverty is a racial problem.The modern use of language such as black or Hispanic has also raised stereotypes and employed code words that let the audience recognize the group referred to without saying so. Literature Review: As a society, people play into the looks, culture, and beliefs of a person and within minutes people make an assumption of who they are. Society takes one look at a person and based on their race, instantly draw a conclusion upon them without even asking them their name. Stereotyping has been around for centuries; the most commonly used stereotypes involve race.People use racial stereotyping based on what society deems that race to be, without first getting to know that person in order to draw individual valid conclusions about them. When people are using racial stereotypes, they often think that they are better than the other person based on the color of their skin. In the article â€Å"Stereotypes† by Saul McLeod, he uses research on stereotypes by Katz and Braly which states, â€Å"Not surprisingly, racial stereotypes always seem to favor the race of the holder and belittle other races† (McLeod,Katz,Braly). A person who is set on pre-judging someone is hat they are better than someone of another race. Some feel as though no one of another racial background can equal to them or is not even worthy to sit and eat with them, all because they do not have the same skin color. People cannot choose what race they want to be. As people belittle each others races, those that they beli ttle may be left thinking, together they are really better because they are black, white, Latino, or Indian. The media also plays a significant role in racial stereotyping. It is known to influence the minds of many from children to adults.Advertising perpetuates the stereotypes of racial minorities because it depicts preconceived attributes that the white majority consider the norm. Advertisers do this for several reasons: one is that the customer base may be made up of mostly whites; another is that companies would like to avoid the complication of depicting a non-stereotyped character. The low percentage of minorities in advertising may be attributed to the reluctance of a company to use a minority member because of concern about presenting a false representation; it is difficult portraying completely non-stereotyped groups because they need some quick images to draw from.The real problem comes when a stereotype is used that is degrading. Wilson and Gutierrez state in their essay , ? Advertising and People of Color? that ? These and other portrayals catered to the mass audience mentality by either neutralizing or making humor of the negative perceptions that many Whites may have had of racial minorities. At the end many stereotypes have resulted into policy mainly without controversial remarks. This has led to racial stereotyping and race baiting in political discourse and allowing racial baggage to be tied to antipoverty programs.This may yield a positive or a negative effect on the political /economic culture of a given ethnic community. Racial stereotypes have a great negative impact on our society due to their inadequacy and bias. They hinder rational thinking and form a resistance to social diversity. They not only hinder the appreciation of cultural diversity in races but also stimulate racial and cultural conflicts, which is a great cause of racial discrimination SEXUAL STEREOTYPES IN ADVERTISEMENTS INTRODUCTION The average person in India is exposed to over 2,000 advertisements per day.These permeate our society through such media as television, magazines, billboards, and internet banners. The fact that advertisements are so pervasive suggests that they have a significant impact on society. The advertisements most often featuring sexual appeals are for image-based products. Actual images in ads can often convey emotions powerfully, which may explain the frequent use in marketing image-based products. These products include: candy, liquor, cigarettes, jewelry, fragrance, cosmetics and fashion goods.It is advertisements are not limited to these products but used to sell completely unrelated products. The use of such appeals is constantly scrutinized in terms of ethics, regardless of the target audience. Considerable research has been done on ethics in marketing, partly because marketing is the business function most often charged with unethical practices. Ethical judgments are subjective and complex, and deal with cultural norms. Yet, there is another dimension of ethical questions when sexual appeals are used to promote products to teens.Previous researchers have analyzed the images of women in magazine advertisements, and concluded that women are portrayed as sex objects It is important to study the portrayal of womens sexuality because it has been suggested that sexuality is the root cause of gender inequality. , for example, explained that sexuality (is) the dynamic of the inequality of the sexes However, researchers have generally examined advertisements in mainstream womens magazines or mainstream gender-neutral magazines, where the majority of the readers are White.Black women have been excluded from most analyses because, as prior research has shown, they are under-represented in the mainstream media that has already been discussed above the repot. Images of Women in Mainstream Media Goffman was one of the first sociologists to analyze gender stereotypes in advertisements. He argued that advertiseme nts help to construct the ideals of masculinity and femininity. It is found that women were often portrayed in very stereotypical ways, such as in submissive roles or family roles, and in lower physical and social positions than men.Although the actual position of many women in society may have improved considerably since the analysis, previous studies have shown that the images of women in advertisements have not changed appreciably. Women are still shown primarily in submissive positions and as sex objects. Sexual women are often used in advertisements for men to imply a sexual relationship between the man who uses the product and the woman in the advertisement. Sexual women are also used in advertisements for women to imply that the product will increase the users appeal to men (Courtney ;amp; Whipple, 1983).Advertisements continuously promote the message that a womans ultimate goal is to attract men. However, it is important to note that advertisements depict for us not necessar ily how we actually behave as men and women but how we think men and women behave (Gornick, 1979, p. 7). MAIN DISCUSSION POINTS FROM LITERATURE REVIEW + CASE of (Mrs. Rajshwari Panigrahi) WITH PERSONAL OPINION!! MacKinnon (1989) argued that sexuality is the underlying cause of gender inequality. She noted, sexuality is substantially what makes the gender division be what it is, which is male dominant (p. 130).Thus, the continuous showing in the media of women as submissive sex objects reinforces the gender hierarchy. It has been suggested that media that target women are more likely to portray women in a way that reflects reality, and thus should be more responsive to the changing situation of women in society than media that target men and women, or only men (Strinati, 1995). However, researchers have shown that women are still often shown as sex objects in media designed specifically for women, which implies that advertisers believe that women accept an objectified and passive vie w of themselves (Courtney amp; Whipple, 1983).Most people think that advertising in general has no influence of them. â€Å"People do not typically admit that they are influenced by advertising† (Cohan, 2001). Clearly this cannot be the case. Advertising supports more than 60 percent of magazine and newspaper production and almost all of the electronic media. Companies spend over $200 billion a year on advertising (Kibourne, 1999). The use of sex appeals is an increasingly popular technique to sell products, namely those that are image-based, such as candy, liquor, cigarettes, jewelry, fragrance, cosmetics and fashion goods.It has a substantial moral impact. I believe, Culture ideas, symbols, norms and values play a significant role in the creation of women images and the differentiation of gender roles. The purpose of the present article is to understand the images of femininity in Indian society from ancient to modern times. India, a heterogeneous society, presents conflict ing women images. The normative model image of Indian womanhood has displayed remarkable consistency. Images of women have not remained static and have undergone numerous changes.Various cultural images of women:- Pativrata- unconditional devotion to husband, Glorified Motherhood, Bharat Mata Image. First at the societal plane, the perception of different categories of women is distinctly shaped/conditioned by the popularly accepted female images/stereotypes. We can see, Advertising has been a prime target of attack and scrutiny. The basic explanation for the critical focus on sex role portrayal in advertising lies in the close relationship, which exists between advertising, the consumer goods industry and the crucial economic role of women as consumers.Generally it is shown in advertisement a woman’s goal in life is to attract and attain a man:-women are shown in advertising as always young and attractive. They are frequently depicted as sexual objects. This is just not acce ptable in ethics term. I have a question â€Å"Are all not that stupid to buy any crap item just because a hot model with skimpy clothes is hold in it†. Aren’t education and awareness plays their role in the society? Is it that blind that it is accepting the picture and enjoying the girl rolling on the dance floor with mini apparels.Indian is known about their culture, values, norms and ethis and respect to their religion, isn’t it our ethics and values to stop this business tycoon to use the women as an object to sell their product? If we see business point of view: the belief prevelles that sex sells to a certain extent. Sex appeal can increase the effectiveness of an ad or commercial because it attracts the customer’s attention. It’s human nature to be curious about sex. It may help the product if it is related with the product being advertised. For example. it may work with condoms, deodrants, etc. ut trying to force the sexual content in every ad amp; for every product is foolish. Showing skin to get attention and then trying to sell completely unrelated products will put the company on back fire. Companies have to understand the point An Ad Can Only Induce D Use, Ultimately Its The Product That Decides Its Future If we talk about Indian advertising context, if we evaluate different roots taken by Ads, be it humour, emotional, sexual, functional, we can easily deduce humour or emotional platform has created more success stories than anything else.We have seen the advertisement of a semi clad actress advertising a mango drink â€Å"Aam Sutra†. It does not take much time to relate it to â€Å"Kama Sutra†. Of course, the advertisers want you to relate to it so that your levels of testosterone go up and you somehow become crazy for the mango drink. What is the relation between ‘playing safe’ in context of a couple and the mineral water? There are enough examples of this kind which prove that the c orporate houses have not been sensitive enough to observe the highest level of ethics while making profits. (You tube followers tube, y. (n. d. ). slice mango commercial of 2010.On the other side, Tata steel advertisements ad campaign in 1990’s â€Å"we make people we also make steel† is one of those ads which depicts a steel company that embraced its local community, Subsequent ad of Tata Steel â€Å"Value is stronger than steel â€Å"further establishes the moral values and organisational culture of the steel maker. The Corporate ad of the company showing a campaign of its Hotel group uses the punch line â€Å"Expressing India to the world† shows the corporate loyalty towards the country, Tata Tea Jago Rey ad campaign also is on the similar lines portraying the ethics and morals for the society.Cadbury’s, RIN, NIRMA, Vodafone, Airtel, Maggi, Milkmade, SURF, Chloromint, Fevicol,Saffola oil are few brands which immediately come to my mind. They are the business leaders In the respective industry and has the larger customer follower. Where there is Dhara commercial oil ad, in which it has shown love of a child and grandparent and the innocence of child to have â€Å"Jalebi† that makes him to get back to his home. It has rather more likes on you tube! tube, y. (n. d. ). Dhara Commercial-jalebi. For TCS the corporate ad has lines.The messages in the ads of company clearly show the organisational culture as whole and its devotion towards the society and the country. Thus, it can be concluded that ethics is a part of the organisational culture and no matter how competitive the world is a corporate adhering to ethical standards can always sustain in the long run. Advertising is a multi crore industry in India and is poised to grow at close to 9% during 2011. What we need along this growth is a regulatory body that sees that the information conveyed through the advertisement actually speaks about the product or service to an exten t of 90%.The National Commission for Women is also pressing the Government of India to bring advertisements and such media practices under the ambit of a law by proposing amendments to the Prohibition of Indecent Representation of Women and Children Act 1956. But the all powerful corporate houses use their lobbying techniques to dilute such amendments to the extent possible. Let us hope that good sense prevails over these corporate houses because a stronger economy cannot be built without strong ethics in business. Referances: Cohan, John Alan. â€Å"Towards a new paradigm in the Ethics of Women’s Advertising. Journal of Business Ethics; 33 (10) 2001. Business information ;gt; Business articles ;gt; Journals Sex Roles: A Journal of Research ,Images of womens sexuality in advertisements: a content analysis of Black- and White-oriented womens and mens magazines. Article from: Sex Roles: A Journal of Research | January 1, 2005 | Women And Negative Stereotypes: An End Before A S tart By Divya Bhargava 06 July, 2009 Countercurrents. org Topic : Sex sells: The erotic content of media and marketing, Created by : James Masih, Product/Brand Manager, FedExADVERTISEMENT TARGETING TO CHILDREN INTRODUCTION: In recent years, the food and beverage industry has viewed children and adolescents as a major market force. As a result, children and adolescents are now the target of intense and specialized food marketing and advertising efforts. Food marketers are interested in youth as consumers because of their spending power, their purchasing influence, and as future adult consumers. Multiple techniques and channels are used to reach youth, beginning when they are toddlers, to foster brand-building and influence food product purchase behaviour.These food marketing channels include television advertising, in-school marketing, product placements, kids clubs, the Internet, toys and products with brand logos, and youth-targeted promotions, such as cross-selling and tie-ins. Fo ods marketed to children are predominantly high in sugar and fat, and as such are inconsistent with national dietary recommendations. Nutrition during childhood and adolescence is essential for growth and development, health and well-being. Further, eating behaviours established during childhood track into adulthood and contribute to long-term health and chronic disease risk.Numerous studies have consistently documented that dietary intake patterns of children and adolescents are poor and do not meet national dietary goals. In addition, food consumption trend data show a shift over the past few decades. Children and adolescents are eating more food away from home, drinking more soft drinks, and snacking more frequently. Children now obtain over 50% of their calories from fat or added sugar (32% and 20%, respectively). The growing epidemic of childhood overweight and obesity is a major public health concern.Advertising to children can take place on traditional media –  telev ision,  radio  and  print  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ as well as  new media  (internet  and other  electronic media). Packaging, in-store advertising, event sponsorship, and  promotions  can also be used. For example: McDonalds tries to attract children by giving toys , maggi focuses on children above 5 years ,hippo- a parle snack product tries to get attention of children by offering small attractive toys claiming its content to be good for health. LEGISLATION: Advertising shall not cause moral or physical detriment to minors, and shall therefore comply with the following criteria for their protection: a. t shall not directly exhort minors to buy a product or a service by exploiting their inexperience or  credulity; b. it shall not directly encourage minors to persuade their parents or others to purchase the goods or services being advertised; c. it shall not exploit the special trust minors place in parents, teachers or other persons; d. it shall not unreasonably show minors i n dangerous situations In addition: e. Children’s programs may only be interrupted if the scheduled duration is longer than 30 minutes f. Product placement is not allowed in children’s programs. . The Member States and the Commission should encourage audiovisual media service providers to develop codes of conduct regarding the advertising of certain foods in children’s programs. LITERATURE REVIEW: Research Papers :BY REBECCA A. CLAY Ever since he first started practicing, Berkeley, Calif. , psychologist Allen D. Kanner, PhD, has been asking his younger clients what they wanted to do when they grew up. The answer used to be nurse, astronaut or some other occupation with intrinsic appeal. Today the answer is more likely to be make money. For Kanner, one explanation for that shift can be found in advertising. Advertising is a massive, multi-million dollar project thats having an enormous impact on child development, says Kanner, who is also an associate faculty mem ber at a clinical psychology training program called the Wright Institute. The sheer volume of advertising is growing rapidly and invading new areas of childhood, like our schools. The Psychology of Marketing to Kids (Free Press, 1997) draws on child development research to show product developers and marketers how to reach children more effectivelyDaniel S. Acuff, PhD, draws on the child development courses he took during his graduate schooling in education to advise such clients as Disney, Hasbro and Kraft. His book What Kids Buy and Why: [ 1 ]. http://www. exclusivepapers. com/essays/Informative/how-racial-stereotypes-affect-our-culture. php [ 2 ]. Topic : Sex sells: The erotic content of media and marketing, Created by : James Masih, Product/Brand Manager, FedEx [ 3 ]. Youtube. com