Weekly debate time! #7

[bbob]

Sorry about the delay, but rad turned ex without me noticing.. so err.. yeah here we go

Should the advertising buisness have an ethic code?</span>[/b]

We all know about the single frame advertising that was once used by coca cola in cinemas, leaving a subconsious desire for their product in the mind of the consumer. That was banned due to ethics. But theres also the twisting of beauty. Magazines photoshopping models to what is beyond perfect, to surpass the rivals. But is that ethically acceptable? As we know that even good looking grls have low self-esteem cause they never look as good as those girls on the billboards. Or is that simply something that should be left for the market to decide?

Tell us what you think about this topic, but please, don't just say "I agree". Don't be afraid to type out what you think and how you feel about it. The longer your post is the better I would say.

[FriendlyGuy]

i think advertisers can do as they please, as long as they don't give out subliminal messages, or some serious propaganda, its up to the consumer to make up his/her mind about the product

[Chris]

Same as Douf, and in my opinion there arent enough hot girls on billboards out there!

[kato]

id have to agree with friendly. as long as they aren't forcing it on us, im not fussed how companies advertise. although i think the one frame shot style of advertising was ingenious. if you think about it, everything is an advert. if you own a car, your advertising that company. same goes for most things.

[.Turbo]

Simple; no.

[freecandy]

Don't care,I buy what I want,no matter what commercials

[douf]

Same as Douf, and in my opinion there arent enough hot girls on billboards out there![/b]


but i didnt even say anything yet,

when i saw the new Dove campaign, the one they started off with how they make model look super duper hot with makeup and photoshop i was like fucking stunned i didnt know what to think or do, .... same thing when i see Ads with people doing random shit then at the end they come up with a perfume's name.

i liked old days when an ad would be some dancing model with catchy music or a song, now they just play with your mind and that i dont like, because mainly they mislead you to believing the products can offer you more than they would actually have,contain.

Ads are disturbing and Annoying, they cut movies to show you ads of stuff you cant afford or cant be bothered about, and cigarettes are the worst, they make actors and actresses in the movie business smoke their brands, never get out in the 2 minutes rest in any theater our you will get your lungs filled with a shitload of tar.

[Chris]

Fuck, sorry Douf, ment Friendlyguy.. Why I thought it was you, we will never know :P

[evil sess]

I don't see anything wrong with advertising, unless it's for something bad like beer. That's just me, though. If you like the advertisement for Samuel Adams, then it's all good.

If a company can't advertise their products, like coca-cola, how are they supposed to make money? And one of the ways, which seems to be quite effective, to get to the media is to advertise in common everyday places like movie theaters, billboards, etc.

[bbob]

What I am talking about is ethic thresholds..

Should there be a point where its dissallowed to use subliminal mindfucks in advertising. The knowledge we have about the human mind is pretty vast these days, and alot of what we have to learn, could be things that advertisers can exploit.

The real question is, should we let the advertising market use us as mindless consumers, or should they be forced to treat us like people?

[douf]

i wont mind if a ad had a 45 seconds of mind blowing psychedelic effects .... like visuals and stuff, because i will like them anyways. os no i dont think there should be a limit, its about how smart you can get. or so i think

[faust.]

No, they shouldn't have a code. All advertising is fair game in my opinion.
However (and this is the big however...), I do think that about half of the adverts out there are morally wrong, and incredibly unpersuasive.

Anyone who falls for such adverts, photoshopping of models or just plain lies, are idiots. Adverts really do not force you to buy anything you don't want to, however, they do open your eyes to the product.
If you see something you like on TV, hear something on the radio, or see an article on a product, search about it prior to purchase, I mean, for fuck's sake.

[Eikon]

As the father of a young girl, yes I do think that they need to have a certain set of boundaries imposed on them. If you look back at the 50’s, anorexia and bulimia weren’t prevalent like they are today, and this is largely due to the image of beauty that girls of today are exposed to.

Ethics isn’t a personal thing, it is meant to be for the good of the whole rather than the individual. If we are able to raise the collective self-esteem of the young girls of America, simply by imposing standards on advertisers that they cannot airbrush and fake the looks of a model beyond makeup, that changes a lot right there. Wouldn’t most of you prefer to get a woman later on in life that isn’t all f’ed up because of some sick twisted version of beauty she can’t attain?

[Wrighteous]

for the record, business is spelled business. with that said I'd like to make an abstract point on this issue, more or less to see if I can bullsh!t my way through it.

I work in the marketing field, not necessarily on the advertisement side of things, but more on the demographics of possible customer bases. Marketing is a lot more than commercials, there is A LOT encompassed in the term, marketing. We live now in what is called the Marketing Era, well the Customer Service Era, but marketing still bleeds over into present time. The innovation, creativeness, intelligence and overall flat out ability to do what marketers do is nothing slight of amazing. Sure, photoshoping out a wrinkle or love handle can be unethical, but human beings should be accountable for their own actions. I think of marketing as an art form, just for the sheer expertise some people have obtained with it. Geico, Anheuser Busch(sp?), and Coca-Cola have mastered this art form, pretty much without the "unethical" altering of their actors (unless you're a caveman, kid/cartoon figure, or frog/jay z). Sure, little girls could become self conscious about their looks, while little boys might feel like they have to have a trophy gf/wife, but in the end we are all accountable for our actions. If we are by law, then why not by life choices?

Look, if a girl feels like she needs to starve herself or puke up a meal she has worse issues than subliminal advertising. If a guy treats women like objects he has deeper issues. The problem lies with parenting. I grew up late eighties and throughout the nineties where marketing had taken the world by storm. I don't have an eating disorder (just look at my pic rofl) and my girlfriends (although some beautiful) don't really stand a chance against jessica alba in a hotness poll. I have great relationships with my parents, and any success in my life I can say they had a helping hand in. They raised me, they raised me right.

I'm a complete impulse buyer. Shoot, advertisements sometimes catch my eyes and make me think about a product for long enough that I just get it. On the other hand, Geico is a marketing genius, but I use Progressive because it was cheaper, Coca-Cola might be the best of all time at advertising, but I literally drink Pepsi only, and Anheuser Busch was the Superbowl commercial champs forever, but I drink Rolling Rock.

I agree with Cromat, that people will buy what they want to buy. Advertisements give us options of what is out there. Consumers go to a store with an evoked set (a group of usually three brands they will buy of a certain product depending on price, availability, etc). Say I wanna go buy some Axe deodorant, but they are out of it. I'm gonna automatically grab Speedstick right after. People know what they like. Marketers just happen to know what people like better, and most times marketers know what you like before you do. It's the art of marketing! I love it.


I say keep my ads fulla fake titties and flawless skin, because if I'm gonna hafta watch something in the middle of my show (this is why I'm big into HBO and SHO series...Entourage and Weeds FTW!!!) it better interest me somewhat. I'm more likely to reach for the snacks if not.

[faust.]

@bbob, if they want us to buy the product then they will need to treat us like humans.

On this new subject though, marketing is not an art. Marketing is a practise. It's a job.
Arguably, you could say finance and planning is art, but it's boring as fuck.
Show me an interesting diagram of a cash flow forecast, I honestly will tilt my hat to you.

On the topic of marketing though. It's not just advertisement... Factors of production play a huge part. The 4 Ps. Place, Price, Product and Promotion.
Advertisement is only 1/4 of marketing.

[Eikon]

Look, if a girl feels like she needs to starve herself or puke up a meal she has worse issues than subliminal advertising. If a guy treats women like objects he has deeper issues. The problem lies with parenting. I grew up late eighties and throughout the nineties where marketing had taken the world by storm. I don't have an eating disorder (just look at my pic rofl) and my girlfriends (although some beautiful) don't really stand a chance against jessica alba in a hotness poll. I have great relationships with my parents, and any success in my life I can say they had a helping hand in. They raised me, they raised me right.[/b]

We aren't talking about subliminal advertising. We are talking about these women that are sticks to begin with, and made to look even slimmer. THAT is the standard of beauty in our modern day. And girls are programmed for that from very early on in their life. It takes a lot of work to keep it from sticking, and for women that grew up believing the same, they won't try to keep it from sticking. So soon it becomes a vicious cycle of women that think that being under 100 lbs is the only way to truly be beautiful. Then what? We as taxpayers have to pay for the research, study, and treatment of these women when their disorders drive them to a point they can't take care of themselves anymore.

[Wrighteous]

Lol it's absurd to blame advertising for the portrayal of beauty. If you're that sure it causes girls to ge tthe wrong idea, then don't let them watch tv. However, if a parent sits down with their kid every now n then n has some real talk, I think they will be happy with the outcome.

also, ssf don't shoot down one of my statements with high school reasoning, anything can be an art form

[Eikon]

Lol it's absurd to blame advertising for the portrayal of beauty. If you're that sure it causes girls to ge tthe wrong idea, then don't let them watch tv. However, if a parent sits down with their kid every now n then n has some real talk, I think they will be happy with the outcome.

also, ssf don't shoot down one of my statements with high school reasoning, anything can be an art form[/b]

But we are not just talking about TV; but magazines, billboards, posters, music; everything. As long as they try to perpetuate that imagery as true beauty, there will be girls trying to attain it.

[faust.]

Lol it's absurd to blame advertising for the portrayal of beauty. If you're that sure it causes girls to ge tthe wrong idea, then don't let them watch tv. However, if a parent sits down with their kid every now n then n has some real talk, I think they will be happy with the outcome.

also, ssf don't shoot down one of my statements with high school reasoning, anything can be an art form[/b]
shit isn't art.

you're not art.

the cases are stacking against you, and really, i'm pretty sure i'm going to come out ontop... :/ sigh

if a parent sits down and talks to their child, the chances are the child will not listen. i'm a child, i have other friends who happen to be childs, they all say the same thing.

http://ruphus.com/stash/target.png

[Wrighteous]

If you blame advertisements for your shortcomings then you are weak and full of excuses. It's funny how mental diseases increase in dramatic numbers each year. Last stat I heard was that 5/10 children are diagnosed with a psychological disorder. Obviously medicine is a huge gold mine, I'd invent diseases too if people would believe in them. TV, radio, magazines and billboards to not create diseases, sorry. It's a cop out to say they do.

[Plan-B]

as long as they dont twist, make up, or change the truth, it's ok........