morality in advertising

Do you think that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people?


I think that advertisers should have a moral duty to avoid stereotypes since advertisements are a part of media which plays a huge part in society. The goal of advertisements is to make money by appealing to the audience in order to buy their products so it is understandable that advertisements turn to stereotypes to appeal to the largest part of the population. However, advertisements firms should not be careless when creating their ads because they are producing to an audience that is constantly being exposed to advertisements so a constant exposure to stereotypes could have an effect on them. By constantly consuming these advertisements, the audience will start to change and shape themselves according to the stereotypes in order to fulfil the expectations shown in the ads. These stereotypes could result in lowering self esteem and could influence its audience to make physical changes to their appearance either to a simple or extreme extent such as cutting your hair in a specific way or having surgery. It can be assumed that advertisements reflect public values which means they have a great responsibility in how these values as shown as they are what essentially shapes modern ethics. By creating these stereotypes, groups of people are being objectified and dehumanized which encourages there to be a specific label applied to these people. For this reason, firms should be careful when stereotyping in advertisements since they hold a great power of public opinions and morals.

Comments

  1. Honestly great overall. You were able to make statements about stereotypes while providing logical examples and explanations. Though I think you have the capability to make this writing have a much more critical analysis. You can go more into depth, as you are stating the obvious and can easily lead it into more depth. Apart from that you did great!

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  2. It can be said that ads are, quite literally, everywhere, as you have clearly stated. And this fact is, sadly, a true one. These ads mold the view we have on those who we aren't exposed to, such as people in the US who would only see heavily stereotypes versions of Australians with their thick accents or the British with their obsession with tea (completely untrue). I agree with your statement that advertisers DO have a moral duty to not create destructive stereotypes although, I would try to include real life examples, such as certain ads that show such destructive stereotypes.

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