ETHICAL ISSUES IN ADVERTISING

1. Ethical Issues In Advertising
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 1
Presented by
Preethi S
Pratheeksha Rao
Under the guidance
Sandya Rao K P
Associate Professor
Justice K S Hegde Institute of Management
Nitte

2. • Introduction
• Objectives of the study
• Methodology
• Literature review
• Ethical Issues prevailing in Advertising
Industry
• Analysis and findings
• Conclusion
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 2

3. Introduction
• Ethics means a set of principals which govern a
person’s behavior or how activity is conducted.
• Advertising means a mode of communication between
a seller and a buyer.
• Ethics in advertising means a set of well defined
principals which govern the ways of communication
taking place between the seller and the buyer.
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 3

4. Objectives of the study
• To know the awareness level of ethical issues in
advertising.
• To know the customer behavior when exposed to
advertisement.
• To know customer perception of ethical issues
in advertising.
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 4

5. Methodology
• Primary research Data:
Conducted through structured questionnaire and
circulated through Google forms.
Analysis: SPSS Software and Chi square test.
• Secondary research Data:
Literature review through articles.
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 5

6. Literature Review
• Neeraj Aneta (2014)
– Ethics in advertisement and impact on children
– To know how various techniques are used by organization on
consumers to make them purchase the product
– It concludes that dishonesty in advertising creates the lack of trust
among the consumers.
• Preethi K (2013)
– Ethical aspects of Indian advertising – A critical reflection
– Attempts to focus on ethical conflicts in ads
– It concludes that regulation on unethical advertisements is needed
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 6

7. Cont….
• Dharamesh Motiwan (2012)
– The effect of sex appeal in advertisements on
adolescents an ethical question.
– The effect of sex appeal in advertisements on
the consumers
– The study also found out that sex appeal was
not taken in negative manner by adolescents if
it was used in the limit for the relevant
products.
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 7

8. Ethical Issues prevailing in
Advertising Industry:
• Puffery
• Exaggeration
• Misleading and false claims
• Women stereotyping
• Women used as sex symbols for promoting products
• Use of children in Ads
• Racial discrimination Ads
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE
8

9. Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE
9

10. The awareness level of ethical issues
in advertising.
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 10
Hypothesis:
• H0: there is no significance level between
gender and awareness of ethical issues
• H1 : there is significance level between gender
and awareness of ethical issues

11. 11
Awareness
Male female
Chi-
Square
(a,b)
Df
Asymp.
Sig.Ethic
al
Unet
hical
Ethical unethic
al
Advertising to children. 10 4 10 2
12.250
2 0.002
Ads making claim of the
product’s effectiveness.
11 2 6 5
5.688
2 0.058
Ads that offer free gifts 9 4 12 2
15.063
2
0.001
Ads that use subliminal
advertising to influence
your subconscious
8 5 4 8
1.938
2
0.380
Ads that use disguised or
surrogate advertising
4 8 5 7
2.688
2
0.261

12. Awareness Male female Chi
Square
DF Asymp.
Sig.
Ethical Unethic
al
Ethical unethic
al
Ads using sexual themes 4 8 1 13
15.063
2 0.001
Ads using decorative
attractive models
8 5 9 4
6.063
2
0.048
Ads using women as sex
appeal
2 12 1 14
33.063
2 0.000
Ads using Nudity 2 10 1 13
21.813
2 0.000
Ads creating materialistic
culture in society
7 8 3 8
4.750
2
0.093
Ads using violence and
negative contents
3 13 1 15
18.000
1 0.000
12

13. 13
Awareness
Male female
Chi-
Squ
are(
a,b)
Df
Asym
p. Sig.Ethical Unet
hical
Ethic
al
unethica
l
ads using puffering, blown-up values
or attributes
3 11 3 11
18.2
50
2 0.000
use of racial stereotyping
4 12 5 11
6.12
5
1 0.013
false and misleading ads
2 14 1 14
42.4
38
2 0.000

14. Findings
• The awareness level of ethical issues in
advertising.
• As we could see that tabulated chi square
values are less than the calculated chi square
values in all the ethical issues related to
awareness, thus the null hypothesis gets
rejected. Hence which gives a clear evident
that there is significance level between gender
and awareness of ethical issues.
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 14

15. To know the customer behavior when
exposed to advertisement.
Hypothesis:
• H0: there is no significance level between
gender and behaviour of customers when
exposed to ads
• H1 : there is a significance level between
gender and behaviour of customers when
exposed to ads
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 15

16. Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 16
Buying behaviour Male Female Chi
Squar
e
DF Asymp.
Sig.
Agree disaag
reel
agree Dis
agree
I buy products whose ads offer
quick solution to my problems
29 6 30 4
11.404
4 0.022
I buy products whose ads offer
free gift
24 10 22 4
5.366
4 0.252
I buy cosmetics that shows
attractive model in ads
16 19 16 15
0.611
4 0.962
I buy products whose ads show /
use children in them
14 18 19 11
4.855
4 0.303
I buy products whose ads call
for participating in contests and
winning prizes
16 16 18 14
9.138
4 0.058

17. Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 17
Buying behaviour Male Female Chi
Squar
e
DF Asymp.
Sig.
Agree disaag
ree
agree Dis
agree
I buy products whose ads claim
they are the best in the market
22 11 17 8
3.968
4 0.410
I buy products whose ads
contain information on lucky
draws / lottery
8 25 10 13
11.443
4 0.022
I buy brands that show ads
using sexual themes
10 24 9 23
1.242
4 0.871
I buy products whose ads
features the product
effectiveness and values
35 3 32 3
6.656
4 0.155

18. Findings
• The customer behavior when exposed to
advertisement
• As we could see that tabulated chi square values are
less than the calculated chi square values in all the
ethical issues related to customer behavior, thus the
null hypothesis gets rejected. Hence which gives a
clear evident that there is significance level between
gender and behaviour of customers when exposed to
ads.
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 18

19. To know customer perception of
ethical issues in advertising
Hypothesis:
• H0: there is no significance level between
gender and perception of customers on ethical
issues in advertising.
• H1 : there is a significance level between
gender and perception of customers on ethical
issues in advertising.
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 19

20. Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 20
To Children
Male Female Chi
Squar
e
DF Asymp.
Sig.
Agree disaag
ree
agree Dis
agree
Ads featuring fast/junk food to
children
28 8 32 7
9.633
4 0.047
Ads can feature free gifts to
children
29 9 25 7
4.186
4 0.381
It is good if children are exposed
to ads at young age
20 10 17 9
6.431
4 0.169
It is good using children in ads 29 6 26 7
3.695
4 0.449
Using sex appeal in ads will not
have a negative impact on
children
18 23 14 24
0.944
4 0.918

21. Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 21
Women
Male female Chi
Squar
e
DF Asymp.
Sig.
Agree disaag
ree
agree Dis
agree
An ad can show women as a sex
object
17 17 14 21
8.280
4 0.082
It is good to show women as
house wife in ads
21 6 21 6
2.507
4 0.643
Ads can show women in
secondary role
15 16 16 12
8.576
4 0.073

22. Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 22
Violence
Male Female Chi
Squar
e
DF Asymp.
Sig.
Agree disaag
ree
agree Dis
agree
Advertising shows an accurate
views of reality
16 18 16 9
5.080
4 0.279
Ads depicting Violence are
reflecting the values in society
30 8 22 4
6.719
4 0.151
Ads depicting violence are
creating values in society
20 16 24 8
3.342
4 0.502
Ads can depict racial
discrimination
18 18 15 12
3.590
4 0.464

23. Findings
• The customer perception of ethical issues in
advertising
• As we could see that tabulated chi square values
are less than the calculated chi square values in all
the ethical issues related to customer perception ,
thus the null hypothesis gets rejected. Hence
which gives a clear evident that there is
significance level between gender and customer
perception of ethical issues in advertising
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 23

24. Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 24
Gender Are you aware of the Advertising
Standards Council of India( ASCI)
Yes No
MALE
25 19
FEMALE
28 12

25. Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 25
Gender
Would you complain to the ASCI if you
find any ad is either misleading or
making false claim to the customers
Yes No
MALE
13 31
FEMALE
10 30

26. Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 26
Gender
If yes, can you list out any brands that are
misleading or making false claims to the
customer
Fai and lovely Maggi Others
MALE
16 18 10
FEMALE
10 16 14

27. gender In future would you refrain from buying
product or service because you perceive
its advertisements as unethical
yes no
MALE
33 11
FEMALE
29 11
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 27

28. Conclusion
• Different individual perception
• The ethical aspect of Indian advertisement has
to strike a balance in the restoration of our
Indian culture
• The government should establish an
independent regulatory mechanism
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 28

29. Thank you
Date: Dec 30,2015 NITTE 29