Just
as marketing have enormous influence everywhere, so advertising, using media as
its vehicle and is pervasive and powerful force shaping attitudes and behavior in
today's world. An advertisement is simply a paid publication or message meant
to convey information and invite patronage or some other response. So,
advertisers naturally seek to reach audiences by shaping their content so as to
attract large audiences.
In advertising,
ethics is about the process of selecting one moral value over the other when
writing, designing or placing adverts. The promotion of harmful products
creates ethical dilemma for advertising professionals. They must ensure that
before any advert is placed in the public domain, the various ethical issues are
considered. In an attempt to find out if an advert is ethical, the TARES Test
was suggested by Baker and Martinson (2001) as a way to guide advertising
professionals when designing and placing adverts.
In
the presentation, I looked at the Metro Mass Transit Limited advert. The
advert has a slogan “For Safety, Comfort and Reliability” and comes in four
compartments.The first compartment shows a metro mass bus
on motion with passengers. Inside the MMT bus the driver is concentrating
driving whilst some passengers were talking to him. And there is an inscription ‘Don’t disturb the
driver’ under the picture.
The second compartment has a man standing at the far
end of the bus holding a book. Also, an inscription ‘We will take you there
safely’ was under the image. The third compartment says ‘Your Safety is our Concern’ and has a
picture of the MMT bus and a Mercedes Benz bus driving alongside each other
while some passengers in the MMT bus are up standing looking towards the
Mercedes Benz bus.
The final section of the advert has a picture of the MMT bus
still driving on the road while the Mercedes Benz bus has subside and off the
road and it says ‘We are dependable’.
WHAT THE TARES TEST STANDS FOR
Indeed, the TARES test is useful in evaluating
whether an advertisement is part of an ethical way of advertising or not. The -T- stands for truthfulness which
evaluates whether an ad is honest or not, and whether it is used to deceive the
audience. The -A- stands for
Authenticity which states the question, “Does this ad motivate the creator for
the same reasons that it was made to motivate the audience? The third part of
the test the -R- stands for respect.
Does the advertisers respect the audience enough to promote a decent product
that will indeed, hold some to its use?
The fourth part -E- of the test deals with equity. This has to do with whether or
not the advertiser and the consumer are “on the same level” of understanding
the product. Does the consumer get the full idea with what is portrayed in the
commercial, or is there some extra information that needs to be explained in
order to understand the entirety of the ad? Finally, the S in the TARES Test stands for social responsibility. This looks at
who is affected by the ads and what are the effects. Is every consumer
affected? Is the ad promoting negative effects or positive effects?
Looking at the TARES test, advertisers can be responsible.
EVALUATING THE AD WITH THE TARES TEST
The question
one will ask is does this advert pass the TARES test for making ethical
decision in this advert?
Primarily,
advertising
is not just about the things we buy or patronize but it is about how we feel
about things including ourselves.
The T in the TARES test stands for
truthfulness, whether the advert is visually or verbally truthful. In the Metro-Mass transport advert, it can be
argued that the advert to some extent is truthful and this is evident when it
says ‘we are dependable’, thus, the Metro-Mass bus is still driving on the road
whiles the Mercedes Benz bus have been involved in an accident because it tries
to overtake the MMT bus. But it is absurd that a transport service that is
aimed at ensuring the safety for its passengers and even other users of the
road could not help the victims involved in the accident but continue to drive
on.
Indeed, this act is indescribable; hence, there may be more the advertising
agency of the ad wants to tell rather than as it is portray in the ad and since
those information or visuals are not provided its misleading in a way.
Secondly,
the A in the TARES test stands for
authenticity. The question is whether the ad was made and delivered with the
right attitude. In creating ads, authenticity ensures that advertising professionals
make ethical choices by placing ads of products or services that are sincerely
needed among the range of products available. Honestly, there is a sincere need for the
Metro Mass transport service within the range of other transport services available
to be advertised because the introduction of the MMT buses into the country has
improved the transportation system in the country and it is safety as compare
to other transport services in the country.
Although
it is important for the MMT to be advertised, the ad lacks authenticity. This
is evidence in the last compartment of the advert as the Ad agency developed an
advert that scared clients into considering its service. Hence, inciting fear
into clients who may decide whether to patronize MMT service or not. This is because
the MMT bus is presented as if it was it fault that the mini bus subsides. The advert does not make more
in touch with reality.
Furthermore, the third
element in the TARES test is R for
respect. In this case, respect for the person who receives the persuasive
advert.
The persuasive appeal made to persuaders is to rational, self-determining human
beings. The R aspect of the test in the advert passes the TARES test somewhat.
The receivers of the message know that they are being informed of their safety
rather than persuaded which shows respect from the Ad agency for its client. But the Ad agency also failed to show respect
to the passengers on the mini bus. As depicts in the fourth section of the
advert the ad agency tries to say that those who patronize the services of the
mini-bus as a means transport should expect to lost their lives or be involved
in accident. Hence, the ad strives to scare passengers who would want to
patronize mini buses.
In
addition, the element E in the TARES
test is equity. It asks whether the
viewers are at the same level as the advertisers. This guides advertisers to make sure that
their adverts are simple and can be easily interpreted and understood by all
manner of people. Meaning it does not require a person to be highly
knowledgeable to be able to conceptualize the advert. With regards to the MMT
advert, the Ad agency employs simple sentences and images to communicate
product information to its clients. Even though the ad may look simple the fourth
picture can be easily misinterpreted in the sense that viewers might think that
the Metro-Mass bus knocked down the mini-bus and was callous enough not to stop
to help the victims in the small bus.
Finally,
addressing the S in the TARES test
we ask whether the ad is socially responsible or not. Advertising professionals
do owe it a duty to society at large to ensure that the products they advertise
to the public are healthy and will in a way help society to grow. In the social
responsible category, we think this ad could be detrimental to what some people
think about persuasive messages, but we do believe the ad had a sense of
corporate and social responsibilities, both to make money and to improve human
life. The advert tries to perform a social responsibility by informing and
assuring its clients of safety when they patronize their service.
However,
the advert does not pass the TARES test of social responsibility. This is
because MMT transport service owes it a duty to ensure the safety for its passengers
and even other users of the road. The MMT bus was irrational and callous enough
not to stop to help the victims in the small bus who were involved in the
accident as portrayed in the fourth compartment of the advert whereby the MMT
bus is still driving on whilst the Mercedes Benz bus has subside. Indeed, this act is indescribable since it owes
a duty to society to ensure that people are help in such circumstances.
JUSTIFICATION BY THE AD AGENCY
The
Metro-Mass Transport advert is appropriate because it took into consideration
some ethical theories to justify its reason to advertise its service.
Firstly,
the ad Agency considered the theory of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism theory holds that we should seek the greatest
happiness for the greatest number. This however means that an action is
justified and morally right if it constitutes to general happiness. And the
moral worth of an action
is determined by its outcome. In view of the advert under study, despite
the advert relies on fear as a primary emotional tactics because of the way it
is presented, it provides the rational to patronize metro-mass buses (for
safety, comfort and reliability).
This is because with the high
incidence of road accidents in the country the MMT advert emphasize that their
service will offer greatest safety and comfort to a larger number of people and
will serve the society as a whole if people patronize their service instead of
other competitors. The consequence of the advert is that MMT buses are safety. In
this case, the
ad agency have used the ad to inform viewers and patrons about their service
and also achieved in fulfilling the human need of the masses.
Also,
the Ad agency assures safety when clients conform to the rule of not disturbing
the driver and other road users avoid overtaking that will cause accidents because
in reality, Metro-Mass Transit Ltd buses are recognize and known for being
reliable and affordable and hardly will you hear they are involved in an
accident.
Secondly,
the communitarian theory justifies
the use of the advert. It espouses that an action should have an aggregate
impact on society and urges that one should pursue justice and improvement of
society. And this is communicated in the advert as it commands society to frown
on transport services that will not ensure the safety of people and will not
improve society as lives are lost over and over because those vehicles cannot
guarantee that they are reliable.
Thirdly,
the pluralistic theory of values
also justifies the reason for the use of this advert. The duty of justice
aspect of this theory ensures the meritorious distribution of welfare and
pleasure. It means that as the advertiser one should be able to provide
happiness to everyone and this advertiser aimed at achieving as people will be
happy because they are not lost their loved ones as a result of road accident.
Another
theory that justifies the ad is the cognitive
dissonance theory developed by Leon Festinger (1957).
Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two
contradictory ideas simultaneously. The message and
pictures that comes with the ad give conflicting and uncomfortable signals as the
mini bus is seen to be unsafe and the metro-mass is for safety, comfort and
reliability therefore the metro-mass bus is suppose to restore the dissonance.
Therefore with the coming in of the metro-mass transport into the country
peoples life will be safe and there will be fewer accidents on our roads.
In
a nutshell, the TARES Test has been considered during the creating of the
advert and it became apparent that though the advertiser may not answer all the
questions in the affirmative but his decision to place such an advert has been
influenced by making morally ethical choice.
REFERENCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_%28philosophy%29
http://myweb.wwu.edu/karlberg/498/readings/TARES.pdf
