Ethic in Advertisement
Research design
Research design refers to a detailed study plan that a person intends to follow incorporating all aspects of studying a scientific problem in more consistent and rational way. The purpose of a research design is to ensure that whatever findings we would get from the research process enable. The main purpose of research design is to ensure that the researcher finds the answers that are relevant to the research problem(David 9).David goes further to explain that research design, there is no any specific method that should be used but any method; either qualitative or quantitative can be used(David 10).
Qualitative research methods
This kind of data collection method was taking a lot of time and therefore only a small portion of the whole research was done by this method. The main methods used were; use of focus groups, through observations and interviews.
Qualitative research methods
This type of data collection method gave out results that can be easily summarized. They include interview (face-to-face, telephone interviews computer assisted) questionnaires (web-based and on paper) among others.
From the focus groups and interview, it was realized that advertisers, in their efforts to create more demand for their products and services, have in the process fail the test of ethics in advertising. In advertisement there are questions that we need to ask ourselves before carrying out any advertisement. The questions would be like; who is the target of this advertisement, which group should not be exposed to this advertisement? which kind of products, or services are advertising?, how should our content relate with the media? What are our roles, obligations and responsibilities to the society?
Many of the people interviewed thinks that some advertising are so devious and untruthful, banks on the fear of some people and even view some of them as being very insolent, as some advertisers assume they know what the consumers is thinking of and therefore go ahead to suggest what they think is right for the consumers. Respondent also believe that this issue of magic in the adverts should be dropped as most adverts are not facing the reality facts, for example, the adverts seems to say that for every trouble you have at a particular time, the advertisers have magic for it; if you are sick, they have a medicine that will cure you immediately.
Another fact that has not been taken lightly by the respondents is the rate of immorality that the advertisers seem to promote, pictures of naked people, vices like gambling have for a long time been promoted by advertisers. This practices lead to moral degradation in the society and it leaves parents with a lot of work in bringing up their children to the moral standards expected by the society.
Too much advertising also brings a lot of disorder and confusion on the consumers’ lives and so advertisers are being advised to use the promotion of their brands among others in a more reasonable manner that does not bring confusion to the potential clients,Advertsing could never make individuals buy what they don’t want(Kazmi and Satish 47).some of the respondents also stated that find it so immature for some advertisers to try and give false information about their competitors product just to beat them in the market, they say this even makes them to go for the products of the competitor leaving their advertiser with the financial loss that was initially intended for the competitor.
Most advertisers, as noted by the respondents, have failed to be straight-forward with the consumers, for example, when advertising a product, they fail to mention the side effects of those products especially for health and beauty products some even talk of imaginary long-lasting period yet when bought, they don’t last long before going bad. And consumers who found this out for themselves have never gone to buy the same products.
Business executives interviewed have also stated their views on this unethical advertisement; they said this can lead to bad business practices as most advertisement mainly focuses on the weaknesses of the other products or services of the competing business. This lead to an invisible war that can lead to one firm closing down because of the bad practices applied by other business in advertisement.
Conclusion
It is not easy to draw the line between ethical and unethical advertising as these keep changing with time, but advertisers should always try and ensure that they maintain ethical and moral standards in advertising. Advertisers should first of all do market research to understand their potential clients’ behaviors before doing any advertisement and should focus on the areas that will promote the general welfare of the people (Tyagi and Kumar 382). People involved in advertisement should all strive to work efficiently and gain the skills in advertisement that are in tune with the demands of time but should never forget that the main aim of advertising is to enable a business to let consumers be aware of his services or products. The advertisers should also strive to remain honest in their process of advertising (for example in cases of products with side effects); advertisement should not be misleading (Gorcum 152). They should also employ the practice of healthy completion. And lastly, the advertiser’s creativity should not blind him from the norms and traditions of a society and therefore ensure that the contents of the advertisement will uphold morality in our society
Works cited
D. A. De Vaus, Research Design in Social Research. London: SAGE publishers.2005.Print
C.L. Tyagi, Arun Kumar Advertising Management. New Delhi. Atlantic publishers. 2004. Print
S H H Kazmi, Satish K Batra, Advertising and Sales Promotion 2008, New Delhi. Anurag Jain publishers.2008.Print
Van Gorcum, Ethics & Business. Ronald Jeurissen (Eds.). Netherlands: Royal Gorcum. 2007. Print