Submitted on Sunday: July 31, 2011

ADVERTISING ASSIGNMENT 2011

LETHAL ADVERTISING Reviving the Ethos

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an assignment by Shaunak Roy Bachelor of Business Administration (H) 3rd Year | Semester 5 Roll No. 11 St. Xaviers College, Kolkata.
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Contents

Introduction 03

What is advertising? ................................................... 03 The Change in Advertising. 03 Legal Provisions Regulating Advertising in India.. 04 Negative Aspects in Advertising 05

Advertising Ethics: Emerging Methods and Trends .. Case Study: Advertising of Tobacco and Alcohol in India

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Introduction
WHAT IS ADVERTISING? We are all probably edified with what advertising is; its titanic role in todays society. As we are aware, for any business, the customer is of prime importance, and marketers attempt to communicate with all their target customers using means of communication like advertising and sales promotion. Advertising is a thus a very powerful and most commonly used tool. It is the medium which enlightens the audience, (that is, the end users) regarding their products, services and assortment of brands, thereby enabling the latter to make clued-up choices among various products and brands. It is one of the ways in which we get into goods (McCracken 1986). It is the conduit through which meanings are constantly transferred from the culturally constituted world to the consumer good. Ads are what (Lotman and Uspensky 1978, p. 213) would call a "die-casting mechanism." Thus, advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media. (Bovee, 1992, p. 7) According to William J Stanton: "Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to a group a non-personal oral or visual, openly sponsor identified message regarding a product, services or idea".

THE CHANGE IN ADVERTISING Advertising today, has certainly kissed novel heights. The buzzword seems to have metamorphosed into: REACH OUT TO THE AUDIENCE SOMEHOW BY HOOK OR BY CROOK! All advertisements and commercials appeal to certain audiences and genders, congregate various values, and contain many different aesthetics. Ads and commercials of the 1940s are a complete contrast to those projected today and will definitely continue to be discrete in the years to come. Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Advertising industry in India has been on the expansion spree over the last few years and has evolved into a momentous and colossal business, expanding at a considerable rate. Notwithstanding, the growth is affected by the prevalent malpractices discharged by advertisers, with the objective of luring the consumers and sustaining an edge over the competitors. Advertisement is often described as commercial speech and enjoys protection under Article 19(1) (a) of the Indian Constitution. As a facet Page | 3

of the Right to Information, it facilitates the dissemination of information about the sellers and their products. However, the manner of facilitation is subject to a host of statutory provisions1.

LEGAL PROVISIONS REGULATING ADVERTISING IN INDIA Under the Indian legal regime, the prominent, prohibitory legal provisions that regulate advertising are2: Obscene publication or advertisement of a lottery under the Indian Penal Code. Harmful publication under the Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1956. The indecent representation of women under the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986. Use of report of test or analysis for advertising any drug or cosmetic under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. Inviting transplantation of organs under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994. Advertisement of magical remedies of diseases and disorders under Drugs and Magical Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954. Advertisements relating to prenatal determination of sex under the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994. Advertisements of cigarettes and other tobacco products under the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003. Any political advertisement forty hours prior to polling time under the Representation of People Act, 1951.

NEGATIVE ASPECTS IN ADVERTISING

Advertising Regulations in India, Friday, 22 January, 2010. Media Sarkar. Ibid.

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Ethics have always been a significant aspect of every business activity, although the term has expressed different things at different times in different lands to different people. Nonetheless, as ethical concerns are an inseparable element of business, advertising cannot overlook them. Sadly, the advertising industry has rarely cared to look beyond immediate marketing objectives. The argument in the industry is that it is the government's job to judge what is right and what is wrong. Shirking its own responsibility for regulation, the industry has belittled business values and agencies have harmed their balance sheets3. In this light it would be relevant for us to dwell upon some of the negative aspects of advertising. This will furnish some insight into the recent trends and will elucidate the fact that advertisers cannot promote anything and everything in a civilized society. Let us hence ponder upon the negative unethical aspects associated with advertising. While some of them are evident, most of advertisings potentially harmful facets go undetected4. Misleading Customers Advertisers are well versed with the truth that they cannot outright make false claims, because any claim they make must be supported by some kind of statistic, according to the law. However, advertisers are often found to bend and curve the truth for their own gain and in order to promote and advertise own product. Advertisements can be deceitful; especially for younger masses that spend much of their time in front of the TV screen and hence are exposed to aggressive and false advertising in between popular shows. Parents guidance and supervision plays a crucial role in such circumstances. Our case let however, is not related to the young populace, but on the obese masses in California, USA.

Case Study on CORTISLIM DRUG

Remember that CortiSlim Advertisement Scam back in 2003-04? It is a perfect case which highlights the deceit by the CortiSlim advertisers. A lot of customers complained having found no result.

<http://www.EzineArticles.com/1134642>. Accessed on July 30, 2011.

Advertising Accessed on: July 31, 2011. < http://commerceplus.blogspot.com/2010/09/assignment-onadvertisement-of-p-in.html>

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CortiSlim is a diet supplement available in four variations designed to suppress the stress hormone Cortisol and thereby prevent users from overeating due to stress. The pill also made bold claims that their unique weight loss system could aid anyone prone to stress-related eating lose weight. This claim was also completely unproven. And as a result of its unfounded claims, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) pursued a class action suit against the company for false advertising, imposing a crippling $12 million fine in 2007. Accompanying the diet pill was the CortiSlim Lifestyle Diet Plan that boasted of being a practical guide to nutrition and exercise designed to accelerate the weight loss effects of CortiSlims proprietary blend of extracts. According to the FTC, the defendants began marketing CortiSlim in August 2003, through nationally disseminated infomercials featuring Cynaumon and Talbott that aired on a number of television channels, including Access Television, Travel Channel, and Discovery Channel. The FTC alleges that the defendants promoted cortisol control as the answer for anyone who wants to lose weight, especially abdominal weight. According to the FTCs complaint, the defendants broadcast ads, print ads, and Web sites claimed that persistently elevated levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, are the underlying cause of weight gain and weight retention and also claimed that CortiSlim effectively reduces and controls cortisol levels and thereby results in substantial weight loss. The FTC passed their allegation confronting the defendants claim that CortiSlim causes weight loss of 10 to 50 pounds for virtually all users; causes users to lose as much as 4 to 10 pounds per week over multiple weeks; causes users to lose weight specifically from the abdomen, stomach, and thighs; causes rapid and substantial weight loss; causes long-term or permanent weight loss; and causes weight loss. The FTC also charged the fact that the effectiveness of CortiSlim and its ingredients was demonstrated by over 15 years of scientific research. According to the FTCs complaint, these claims were all sham and unsubstantiated5.

Conditioning and False Trendsetting Advertisements can be factual, sometimes annoying and occasionally funny. In a busy world, they are all jostling for our attention. Guided by the objective of hypnotizing the people, companies are known to craft trends that customers will adhere to. This is in fact, the true purport of advertising today. Advertisers have recognized that if they fashion a product and make customers believe that their product will make them contended sales are bound to skyrocket! To fulfil this end, advertisers
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FTC Targets Products Claiming to Affect the Stress Hormone Cortisol. October 5, 2004. Accessed on: July 30, 2011. < http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/10/windowrock.shtm>

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bombard customers with irresistible images and made-up claims for hours every day patiently, until people begin to believe in certain things. As soon as the trend and its image for the intention of advertising have been created, conditioning commences. Customers become addicted to products that they usually do not require, and that is the true image of our society of over-consumerism. Today, solely on account of ad conditioning and trendsetting, judgments are made on the sort of clothes people put on, the brand of shampoo and kitchen-cleaner they use, and not on who they really are. This leads to a certain degree of social discrimination and emotional insecurity, especially among the younger population. One, in order to be accepted and acclaimed, needs to part with the Almighty Dollar!

Adverse influence on children As discussed earlier, the prime motive of advertising is to grab our attention. With children, the messages need to be conveyed in a different manner. Products are specially packaged in order to appeal to the younger generation. Children today, are more specific about their needs and wants. They are therefore reckoned to be a major buying force by advertisers. Glossy images on various magazines, comic books, billboards or flashy advertisements on television only create the urge for impulsive buying. Parents who cannot deal with the rising demands or temper tantrums only tend to give in to the demands of their children. Children then get used to a certain kind of lifestyle, which they witness on television or other media. This only creates a very wrong impression on their young minds making them lose the ability to live a life without relying on materialistic joys. The power of advertising thus, cannot be ignored.

Case Study on MACDONALDS HAPPY MEAL6

There has been immense stereotyping in food commercials in the recent past. A study conducted by the American Journal of Public Health, aimed at analysing food commercials aimed at children consumers revealed that 53 to 87 per cent of the commercials projected were fast food and unhealthy products (Kelly, Bridget et al.). This information led to a search of fast food commercials from different restaurant chains. The first that popped up was MacDonalds! It may be hard for people to consider MacDonalds as accountable for obesity of children and their increasing desire for burgers and fries, but it is verity! Another new report released by Corporations and Health Watch, in early December 2007, clearly exposed the marketing tactics of McDonald's. According to the report entitled "McDonald's and
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<http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=happy-meal-ban-obesity> and <http://www.happymeal.com/en_US/index.html> Accessed on: July 31, 2011.

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Children's Health: The Production of New Customers, "the world's largest fast food chain uses cartoons, toys, schools, charities and even parents to reach its youngest customers. Fascinatingly, about 40% of McDonald's total advertising budget is directed at children. In 1998, 89% of children in the United States eight years of age or younger had visited a McDonald's at least once a month. Now how does MacDonalds boast of such a vast amount of children pouring in to their outlets? It needs admittance the strategy is quite unique! Consider the latest case. Kung Fu Panda 2, the movie has released in India on May 27, 2011. Shortly, Macdonalds introduced Kung Fu Panda toys like Po's Balance of Justice, Shifu's Scroll of Skill, and Tigress Toes of Truth of the others. These toys in happy meals are about marketing, not health. There is only one reason why they are there: to get kids to pester their parents for the meals. The more meals they go for, the more toys they have and thus the competition soars in their schools. The toys are not about the foodthey are about the marketing. Having said so, one meal is not going to affect obesity rates. But, if the child is desperate and adamant for the toy, obesity will definitely go up! Cooling down the marketing environment might make life a lot easier for parents who want to feed their kids more healthfully. Parents role, as it is personally opined gains crucial importance, because they are the customers, often not the consumers! If we consider the nations interference, the government's role can well be confined to giving the best possible advicedirect, unambiguous, based on available science and free of food industry influence about the role of diet in health. The government's role should be to make it easier for people to eat more healthfully Sexual Stereotyping used to sell

The issue of whether sexual innuendo can be used as an incentive to sell is usually entangled with a basic controversy. The controversy is whether the use of sexual advertising is offensive to the general public. Needless to repeat, the purpose of advertising is to convince people that products are of use to Page | 8

them in one way or another. The discrepancy is whether to sell the products in a provocative manner. Is then sexual advertising necessary? Should people in advertising use sex to help sell products and services? Some companies use this method, while some absolutely abstain from it, since they feel it might tarnish their brand image. For example, Calvin Klein uses men and women lounging around in underwear, while they also have television commercials with people saying "CK BE" for Calvin Klein's cologne fully clothed7. The use of sex in multimedia is seen by some as unacceptable and in poor taste. However, there are certain people who feel that using sex to sell is acceptable or even essential. This issue is proving to be of greater importance to the society today as well as to the advertising and marketing fields. Advertising and sex have been tied together since advertising became a big business. The use of sexually suggestive images to sell just about everything really emphasizes the point that sex is a merchandiser's best friend. Back in 2003, taking things to a new level, Volvos risqu ad read WERE JUST AS EXCITED AS YOU8. This is indeed amusing when we find manufacturers expressing a sense of humour and a bit of creative intelligence. It is personally opined that the ad captures the exact audience and hence sales for the figment it is designed! Well, Volvo has had other ads as well which humorously invite sex to promote their automobiles! The all new Volvo V-60, released earlier this year is indeed based on such lines! There are several other negatives, but the above couple of cons are more or less suited to our study on Lethal Advertising.

Advertising Ethics: Emerging methods and Trends

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<http://www.nku.edu/~issues/sexinadvertising/homepage.htm> Accessed on: July 31, 2011.

<http://justbliss.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/volvo-we%E2%80%99re-just-as-excited-as-you-no-punintended/> Accessed on: July 31, 2011

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There are three charges levelled against advertisers: They sell us dreams; entice us into confusing dreams with reality. They pander to our desires for things that are bad for us. They manipulate us into wanting things we don't really need. Ever since a boy recently jumped off a cliff and died imitating the bungee jump in a Thumbs Up ad, the debate on limits in advertising has taken on a new urgency. Especially in a crunch year when advertising billings have tumbled, media has proliferated, competition has increased, and admen and manufacturers are increasingly desperate to cut through the ad clutter for a share of the consumer's mind. Advertisers and their agencies are required to make several challenging moral choices, and the patterns of making these decisions are not always comprehended. Regardless of the decisions made by advertisers, there is no scarcity of third parties, like public interest groups, the Federal Trade Commission, competitors, media commentators to criticize or second guess. Thus, research on advertising ethics has the potential to assist managers and public policy makers as they make very difficult choices about communicating with their respective publics. One approach for understanding advertising ethics is to identify advertising practises, like subliminal advertising, advertising to children, which have potentially harmful consequences for the society at large or a figment of it. Actions which involve harmful effects certainly present a difficult set of moral choices and options. Using an iterative approach, Hyman, Tansey and Clark identified 33 prime topics which are of particular concern to researchers who plan to probe into the depths of advertising ethics. The seven most important topics out of this list include: use of deception in ads advertising to children tobacco advertising alcoholic beverage ads negative political advertising racial stereotyping, and

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sexual stereotyping

The study of advertising ethics is closely linked to other areas of advertising research. For example, when studying the effects of advertising on children, it is important to consider extant models of consumer behaviour and learning. As discussed by Zinkhan and Johnson (1994), legal studies are closely linked to the study of advertising ethics. Legal systems are designed, in part, to resolve disputes and enforce certain standards of morality (e.g. dont hurt others as in thou shalt not kill). Over time, a vast variety of rules and laws have been enacted to regulate advertising activity9. Keeping the above in mind, a list of ethical questions can be framed: Who should and should not be the target of an advertisement? What should and should not be advertised? What should and should not be the symbolic tone of the advertising message? What should and should not be the relationship between advertising and the mass media? What should and should not be the conscious obligations to society?

In that case, what is an unethical advertisement anyway? The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has a well-documented code of conduct for advertisements and it boils down to this: Does the ad lie, does it make fraudulent claims or does it violate your sense of decency.

Tobacco and Alcohol Advertisements in India

Hazards associated with Tobacco and Alcohol Consumption
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Zinkhan George M. Advertising Ethics: Emerging Methods and Trends. Vol. 23, No. 3, Sep., 1994

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Tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable death globally. Interestingly, there is one tobacco related death every eight seconds. The health effects of tobacco are the situation, mechanisms, and factors of tobacco consumption on human health. Epidemiological study have been paying attention primarily on tobacco smoking, which has been studied more comprehensively than any other appearance of consumption10. Alcohol is an addictive substance and adverse effects of drinking occur at moderate to heavy levels in some individuals. Current evidence suggests that moderate drinking is associated with a lower risk for coronary heart disease in some individuals. However, higher levels of alcohol intake raise the risk for high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, certain cancers, accidents, violence, suicides, birth defects, and overall mortality (deaths). Too much alcohol may cause cirrhosis of the liver, inflammation of the pancreas, and damage to the brain and heart. Heavy drinkers also are at risk of malnutrition because alcohol contains calories that may substitute for those in more nutritious foods. The digestion system of alcoholics has reduced ability to absorb certain nutrients, causing other illnesses

Tobacco & advertising - 'made for each' other no more The tobacco industry, which contributes Rs 70 billion to the government by way of excise, will be compelled to cut down Rs 2,500 million of their advertising budgets with the ban. According to industry sources, the ban is going to take a heavy toll on tobacco companies, outdoor ad agencies, hoarding suppliers, charity organizations who rely very much on the tobacco companies' sponsorships to name a few. More than aware of this, the Indian tobacco majors and their marketing strategists have been scurrying around with their thinking caps on in order to come up with strategic and tactical ploys to continue to hammer their communication and product messages to cigarette smokers. "Apart from outdoor agencies, tobacco companies who rely heavily on outdoor promotions are going to bear the brunt," feels Maxus India managing director CVL Srinivas. No wonder, outdoor agencies, like Ogilvy Landscape which handles the account of ITC cigarettes, sound very upset about the ban. "It is going to affect us to a large extent and obviously we are very upset about it" reveals Ogilvy Landscape managing consultant (West & North) Nabendu Bhattacharyya. He adds: "Tobacco-spends on outdoor, excluding retail signage, as per my estimate would be about 10 per cent of the outdoor spends in the country. The Indian outdoor industry would be close to Rupees 6000 million and tobacco advertising on outdoors would account for Rs 600 million approximately." According to an outdoor advertising agency executive, the ban has made a negative impact on the outdoor advertising industry's revenue. "The big hoardings that were occupied by tobacco companies are now being taken up by telecom companies" the executive said on condition of anonymity. "Advertising is one of the several factors influencing consumption in this category. More people smoke because of the habit, than advertising. Agencies that handle tobacco products will obviously lose money" explains Ravi Kiran, managing director, Starcom Worldwide India west and south.

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<http://healthmad.com/health/hazards-of-tobacco-on-human-health/>

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Ad agencies, which handle accounts of major tobacco players, are facing the heat. These comprise ITC's agencies Lowe, O&M, JWT and Initiative Media, and Rediffusion, which handles the account of Godfrey Philip India. Pan Masala brands have been handled by several large and small agencies. The media that would fall under the new law that bans all tobacco advertising include print, television, outdoor, Internet, etc. Kiran gives a low down on the revenue each medium will stand to lose with the ban. According to Kiran, print would lose Rs 1,000 million while TV will see Rs 350 million evaporating. Rupees 100 million loss is estimated for cinema while for outdoor hoardings it could be Rs 600 million. Internet, radio and sports, however, would suffer only negligible loses with the ban, he says. Though the ban would force them to mellow down on their advertising activities, tobacco companies have already started taking the changes in their stride. Since the last one year, the industry was anticipating such a ban as India signed and ratified the International Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. "Since the past year, tobacco companies have deliberately kept a low profile anticipating this ban. They had been making strategies looking at a long-term goal," informs Mindshare managing director Ashutosh Srivastava. Now, the question that confronts us is: how effective is this ban turning out to be? Who is going to monitor them? Srivastava retorted "The monitoring system is already there and it is very easy for the government to check. None of these big companies like ITC or GPI will play with the law of the land." Thus, once the ban is imposed, where would all this ad money divert to? Industry sources indicate that there would not be a colossal surplus, as transforming strategies would incur some expense. Srivastava perceived that the surplus would be utilised in below-the-line (BTL) activities. According to Kiran, the money would get diverted to retail signage, promotions inside movies and music (read: product placement), for localised private events and direct-to-consumer initiatives etc.

In a case which commenced in 1991 and ended in 1997, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, marketer of Camel cigarettes, was forced to withdraw its mascot, Joe Carmel, an animated camel, from all its advertisements, after the California Supreme Court (USA) ruled that the company could be prosecuted for exploiting minors. The accusation was that the slick, colourful advertisements (using an animated camel) appealed to the children and encouraged them to smoke. In India, analysts estimated that cigarettes contributed only 0.14% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the health costs roughly translated to 0.21% of the GDP. So the revenue logic of huge contribution in the form of excise to the Exchequer did not seem to be valid. Page | 13

Also, given the state's noted contribution to health care, smokers, by damaging their health were as a matter of fact, enhancing the State's expenditure. Questions were also raised about the economic impact of such a ban, given the fact that the tobacco industry provided direct and indirect employment to 26 million people. However, a study on tobacco consumption and employment revealed that effective policies to reduce smoking were likely to soar, and not decrease employment. The reason behind this was that when people quit smoking, the money did not disappear from the economy. It was spent on other goods and services, which the study showed, were far more labour intensive. This, in turn produced more jobs. The impact of cigarette advertising on consumers was another polemical issue. A World Bank report, had highlighted the idea that policymakers who wanted to control tobacco should be aware of the fact that bans on advertising and promotion would prove effective, only if they were comprehensive encompassing all media and all uses of brand names and logos.

Advertising of Tobacco and Alcohol and Children Tobacco and alcohol use among youth and children are a part of the spectrum of adverse health behaviours leading to acute and long term health problems. The diverse socio-economic, cultural and political milieu characterizing Indian states presents several challenges in delivery of health care services and organizing preventive programmes. While the traditional models of health care delivery have been found to be inadequate, there is a lack of new insight to appropriately manage the diseases of transition represented by high risk behaviours. With the central legislation in place for regulating trade and commerce including advertisement of tobacco products, an emerging trend has been the decreasing age of tobacco use and need to understand its determinants. Overcoming the methodological limitations of earlier individual studies, Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) India adopted a uniform methodology to estimate tobacco use amongst 1315 year olds across the States and Union territories in India. Following are the results of recollections of ad messages of tobacco by the non-users of Karnataka, India11.

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<http://www.nimhans.kar.nic.in/epidemiology/doc/ep_ft1.pdf> Accessed on: July 31, 2011

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Also, the harm perception of tobacco use and curricular discussion regarding tobacco use, again in Karnataka has been illustrated below12.

There is need for targeted and focused interventions by adopting a comprehensive approach. Antitobacco programmes should make inroads into transitional towns and rural areas. The focus in schools should be to make them tobacco-free. The school authorities should be included in stricter implementation and monitoring of their implementation of legislation. Regular and systematic education programmes catering to teachers, children and also their parents should be undertaken. Enabling teachers to educate the young impressionable minds regarding life style disorders should be a cornerstone activity in preventing the establishment of life style disorders like tobacco and alcohol use within the community.

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Ibid.

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