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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

ETHICS IN ADVERTISMENT (CASE STUDY OF THE METRO MASS TRANSIT LIMITED ADVERT)



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

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