...of consumers. Basically, the function of advertisements is to make consumers want the products and services advertised. They tell consumers what to eat, how to dress, where to travel, where to shop, how to look, how to feel better, and in other respects as well. In trying to change consumer behaviour, all advertisements aim to increase the volume of sales of their respective products and services. Since they affect consumer behaviour profoundly, consumers who are not careful will be tempted to buy and try out products which come with all sorts of claims. How advertisements influence consumers? Some advertisements are useful, for example, those that tell consumers about new goods and services or those that provide useful information about the things advertised. The main purpose of advertisements however, is to sell to consumers. While advertisements can be helpful, they can also be misleading and confusing. Certain advertisements mislead by not tell consumers much about the product or service. In a few cases, advertisements are deceptive. Others try and make the consumer buy things they do not really need or want. Many advertisements play with your feelings, rather than give useful factual information. For example, advertisements try to convince women that products and services can enhance their looks and make them slim and beautiful, in addition to making them fair and youthful. False and misleading advertisements According to our law, an advertisement is an...
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...nonpersonal 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). Consumers are greatly influenced by countless advertisements urging them to purchase products that they may or may not need or want. While many of these advertisements honestly inform and educate consumers, some are false, deceptive, and even illegal. An advertisement is considered deceptive if there is a "representation, omission, or practice that is likely to mislead the consumer". The advertisement does not necessarily have to cause actual deception, but, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the act need only likely mislead the consumer (Federal Trade Commission, 1998 [on-line]). Advertising that makes false claims or misleading statements, as well as advertising that creates a false impression. If retailers systematically advertise merchandise at low prices to get customers into their store and then fail to have the merchandise, they are guilty of deceptive advertising. Deceptive practices can take many other forms as well, such as false promises, unsubstantiated claims, incomplete descriptions, false testimonials or comparisons, small-print qualifications of advertisements, partial disclosure, or visual distortion of products. According to David Gardner (1975) there are three types of deceptive advertising: Fraudulent advertising which is an outright lie; false advertising...
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...shell. There is also a link that will allow you to print the script of the video. Betty drove three hours in one hundred degree heat. Explain if this fact has any bearing on whether or not the dealer must perform in accordance with the published advertisement. The statutes responsible of regulate advertisements are the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Lanham Act, and these are the ones whose can determinate the issue whether the customer has the right to claim the published advertisement since the fact that she drove many hours in uncomfortable conditions to the dealer expecting to buy the product advertised. The FTC is in charge to protect consumers from false or misleading advertising. The Lanham Act is a series of laws regulating trademark registration and protection. In this case, the fact that Betty drove three hours in one-hundred degree heat is not regulate in the FTC neither in the Lanham Act, therefore, it has no relevance to the dealer. The dealers need not to take care about the difficulties the people face on reaching the venue given in the advertisement. The people who read the advertisement must make sure that the advertisement meets the requirements that they are interested in. Whenever an advertisement is published, numerous people may contact the advertiser. If the advertiser will start taking care of the sufferings and hardships of the people who visit the venue of advertiser, his budget will become difficult to manage. The dealer may give some...
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...the consumer as it relates to advertising and communications law and bait and switch. The publications all agree with their definitions and uses of advertising and communications law and bait and switch. The Advertiser is required to follow the advertising and communications law. Bait advertising is created to allure a consumer to an insincere offer to purchase a product or service which the advertiser does not intend to sell or want to sell. The purpose of bait advertising is to switch a consumer from buying the advertised product or service, in order to sell that consumer another product or service that usually is a higher price or is more advantageous to the advertiser. The scenario that has been presented, demonstrates how the advertiser, the car dealership advertised a truck that possible was unavailable, that resulted in alluring the consumer, Betty, to the dealership in order to purchase that vehicle. The switch occurs when Tony, the salesperson of the advertiser, tried everything not to sell her that truck in order to sell that consumer another product or service that usually is a higher price or is more advantageous to the advertiser. This is an ideal case of Bait and Switch. Betty drove three hours in one-hundred degree heat. Explain if this fact has any bearing on whether or not dealer must perform in accordance with the published advertisement. The dealer must perform in accordance with the published advertisement; it is not a factor that the consumer has...
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... Abstract Bait and switch advertising is a violation of consumer laws. It is a type of business practice where one party such as a business, will offer “bait”. This tactic is used to lure the customer by advertising a product at a very low cost. Once the customer is interested, the business will pull the “switch” and the product is no longer available at the advertised price. Instead, the product is offered at a higher price. In the video, “Bait and Switch”, the newspaper ad advertising a pickup truck for an attractive price lured Betty to the dealership. Betty drove three hours to the car dealership to get three thousand for her used pickup truck and to purchase the pickup truck advertised in the ad. Betty was baited by the advertising for a product at a low price. Betty discovers that the pickup truck advertised in the newspaper ad is not available and is switched to a higher price product. Tony did not show Betty the advertised pickup but a more expensive truck. In this paper, one will discuss the rights that consumers such as Betty have when victimized by Bait and switch advertising. An individual will be able to discuss if the distance and temperature conditions are a factor in determining if the dealer must perform in accordance with the published advertisement. One will also be able to discuss the factors that dictate a binding contract and if employees of the advertiser can take advantage of advertised specials. Does the fact...
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...Ethical Advertising The Ethical Advertising Standard (EAS-405) states that “all advertising should be legal, decent, honest and truthful.” (International Charter, 2012) It continues by adding that all ads should be prepared with a due sense of social responsibility and that they should conform to principles of fair competition. (International Charter, 2012) EAS-405 consists of 25 articles that cover all aspects of advertising from decency and honesty to asterisks and abbreviations. Article 5 corresponds to truthful presentation. The article reads as follows: 1. Advertisements should not contain any statement or visual presentation which directly or by implication, omission, ambiguity or exaggerated claim is likely to mislead the consumer,...
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...Starbucks and Business Ethics Different businesses have different ways of advertising their products and contributing to the outside world. Starbucks being amongst these different businesses has an unethical way of marketing its goods. Their advertisements are very broad and manipulative to their customers. Starbucks follows business ethics, which is what makes marketing and global contribution circulate. They also give businesses different objectives they follow to be more fair and truthful to their consumers and workers. Starbucks, on the other hand, uses different strategies to reach its objectives while making unethical actions. Manipulations of consumer education, fair-trade, and advertisements can lead Starbucks to make unethical decisions. All businesses use one overall outlook on their future of their company; making money while having a respected name. They perform these measures by having an ethical image in the business world or to their consumers. Likewise, Starbucks projects an image of community contribution and ethical surrounding in its name. One community contribution it brings is being a part of helping out its environment, by having recyclable cups, clean community environment, and bring about a green attitude. While all these are great ways of helping around the globe, they all have immoral actions brought by them. In correspondence to this idea, Slavoj Zizek speaks of Starbucks and its comfortable environment in his video "First Tragedy than...
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...Limitations and Constraints – P2 Legal constraints * Sale of Goods Act 1979 * The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 * Consumer Credit Acts 1974 and 2006 * Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations * Data Protection Act 1998 Sales of Goods Act 1979 Under the Sales of Goods Act 1979 a company has to follow rules and regulations by law; this gives customers certain legal rights such as the right to return an item that may be faulty, if they want a refund or if they want to exchange the item for something else. All customers are entitled to goods that are: * As described. * Of satisfactory quality. * Fit for the purpose. Companies have to abide by the rules and regulations of this law; for example if Tesco were to sell a product that was not of satisfactory quality and not as described this would affect their company as they may face a penalty and/or loose customers. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 Some companies use misleading methods of advertisement and sales tactics to increase their sales of their products and/or services; therefore the law and rules for consumer protection from unfair trading regulations were implemented to stop companies from using misleading/unethical ways of advertisement. The law protects consumers from unfair trading practices, such as: * Pressure selling. * Misleading product offers. * False limited offer notices. * Aggressive...
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...Critical and Ethical issues faced by advertisers in drafting advertisements Almost all companies use some sort of advertising when selling a good or a service. The expenditure for the campaign might depend on the type and the size of the Business. Advertising is a complex form of communication that influences customers to purchase a certain product or consume more from that product and, it always identify the sponsor or the company. Advertisements draw public attention to goods and services. Objectives and strategies of advertising lead to various types of impact on consumer thoughts, feelings and actions. Advertising is a paid medium. Generally advertisements provide information of the certain product or service in many different ways. Traditional media, such as; television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, direct mail and billboards are most commonly used to transmit advertisements to consumers. Advertiser holds the main role in Advertising. Advertiser is the person or organization that uses advertising to send out a message about its products. Advertising Agency is the second player in Advertising. One of the primary benefits of advertising is its ability to communicate to a large number of people at one time. There are different types of Advertising; Print advertising, Outdoor advertising, such as; Billboards, kiosks, tradeshows and events, Broadcast advertising, Covert advertising, Surrogate advertising, Public service advertising and Celebrity advertising...
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...Ethical Issues in Business: Ackerman vs. Coca Cola Coca Cola was brought under scrutiny and to court by Ackerman, filing in the United States District Court in the Eastern District of New York {Ackerman v. The Coca- Cola Company and Energy Brands Inc. (d/b/a Glaceau), Case No. 09-cv-0395) (Brison, 2012). The suit compiles a class action suit from the states of New York, New Jersey, and California. Thirteen allegations are identified with three dismissed. We will be discussing the issue at hand, what the basis of the suit is and ground rules, ethical issues, how Coca Cola’s leadership conduct affected the company, and the changes needed. The history of Coca Cola dates back to the 1886 when an Atlanta pharmacist named of Dr. John S. Pemberton discovered that by mixing sweet syrup with carbonated water an eccentric taste was produced. In 1886 Coca-Cola started as a five cent drink in a neighborhood pharmacy and today has become a household name for millions. With the increasing push for health, coke, and other carbonated soft-drink manufacturers have experienced a 2.1% volume decline in one year alone. In an effort to prevent decreasing soda sales, Coca-Cola decided to manufacture Vitaminwater. The success of this product was largely because of the marketing power of the organization and the products health claims. For example they listed that this product will provide “optimal functioning of the immune system,” and that Vitaminwater “is specially formulated to provide 50% of...
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...In the world of advertisement the way the way words are used to describe products can be very misleading and it is the key to advertisement deception. For the past few days I have been watching commercials, and have seen these deceptive commercials in the advertisement industry. These commercials mislead people into thinking that these products are “wonder products” and these products will do everything they claim it says it will do. Recently, I was watching television and caught the new Roc Multi Correxion Cream, and it stated that it has five Anti Age Actions that will help moisturize the skin and make wrinkles disappear. What exactly are Anti Age Actions and how can they “dramatically” make someone look younger? The name of the product uses Correxion instead of Correction. This implies that it is not guaranteed to work so that’s why they spelled it differently. In addition, the little slogan or jingle says it corrects what aging you but doesn’t spell it out. It implies it is correcting you so it sounds like the name of the product. On another occasion I caught the AT&T commercial for the Iphone 3gs, and it states “the phone that changed everything”, but what did it really change if anything, except the price of the phone and the monthly bill costs. What could this phone possibly have changed; in the commercial they were very broad about that part. AT&T said they made the phone that changed everything even more amazing because not it was forty-nine...
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...phrase for their Old Spice Champion ad. When it comes to selling a product Old Spice tries to make the costumer think that if they get their product it will change them. Can think of a company that uses weasel words more than Old Spice does with their advertisement? Old Spice tries to make it seem as if, by purchasing their product, you will all of a sudden have a much more glorious life. Old Spice is notorious for misleading an audience into buying their product. They have multiple commercials where they use doublespeak to try and make their product sound better. Old Spice also frequently uses weasel words as well as doublespeak to get people more interested in their product. Lutz said this about weasel words, “Weasel words appear to say one thing when in fact they say the opposite or nothing at all.” (Lutz 310) Lutz describes doublespeak as, “It is a language which makes the bad seem good, the negative seem positive, the unpleasant to seem attractive, or at least tolerable. “ (Lutz 304) Old spice has multiple commercials making false claims of how you can be changed by their product. As a consumer of any product you must be aware of what ads trying to sell you. Old Spice Champion is trying to get people to “Believe in your smellf.” Many consumers buy Old Spice Champion for misleading reasons, but no consumer should ever buy Old Spice Champion because of the lack of knowledge of weasel words. The Old Spice commercial with NFL wide receiver Greg Jennings is very misleading because...
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...protect consumers from fraudulent and misleading advertisers. These laws are put into place for businesses to be honest and be truthful about their products or services that are being advertised. However, failure to adhere to these regulations business could be fined, face costly lawsuits, and see civil penalties brought against them. It is important for businesses to advertise truthfully, to show evidence about their products or services, and to use fair advertisements. Advertise Truthfully Technology has become the mainstream of life. One can search the Internet for almost everything. However, information that is place for advertising use only sometimes can be used unintentionally or is misleading. Businesses who falsely advertising and use deceptive information could fall under the jurisdiction of laws and regulations. It is imperative for businesses or companies to be truthful about their products and services. They must justify the reason “why” the advertisement is being advertised and the intended use of the advertisement. Therefore, businesses in general should be responsible for providing accurate information when it comes to advertisements. Advertising and the use of the Internet has become a helpful resource to many advertisers companies and businesses. Otto Kleppner, (1979) stated, “The fact is that advertising is a technique, techniques have no morality of their own, but reflect the morals of the times and the standard of their users” (pg.549).” Consumers must understand...
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...Referral selling is when a consumer is persuaded to purchase goods or services by promising a rebate, commission or other benefit for supplying information that helps the trader sell to other consumers. The consumer does not get the promised benefits unless the supplied information is fulfilled. For example a salesman for a telephone company persuades you to sign up to a contract for a mobile phone plan and says that you will receive a commission for introducing the product to other customers who buy the same product. (A.2) Unconscionable conduct is when the consequences of a contract is unfair and harsh. Where one party is in a position to exploit a particular weakness of the other; either a business to business contract or a business to consumer contract. For example if a real estate agent drew up a lease agreement for a mentally deficient man and the contents in that contract exploited the lessor because of his condition. The contract for example would include things such as obligating the lessor to replace fixtures of the property even though the damage was not at fault of the lessor it was general fair wear and tear. The lessee exploited the fact that the lessor did not fully understand the laws regarding to the landlord’s obligation to replace fixtures of his property if the fixture is not fit for its use due to wear and tear. (A.3) i) A compliance program is designed to identify and reduce the risk of breaching the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and to remedy any...
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...is the foundation of ethics and a rule of advertisement. Advertising regulation refers to the laws and regulations that define the specific products that can be advertised on the country/region specific. Rules can include various aspects such as place settings advertising, advertising time, and the content of the ad. There are five main political/economic systems operate in the world that has its own policies structure for dealing with the media, such as the libertarian/capitalist (i.e., the United States), Socialist/capitalist (e.g., Japan, Australia, Singapore, and Britain), Authoritarian/capitalist (e.g., Brazil, Thailand, and Malaysia), Sectarian/authoritarian/capitalist (e.g., Saudi Arabia and Iran), Communist/planned economies (e.g., Vietnam or China). It also will be discussed to study the different of advertising and regulatory systems in several representation of the world. B. Discussion 1. The Definition of advertising and regulatory systems Before differentiating of advertising and regulatory systems in several parts in the world, it is important to understand what that system is. As is known in the introduction that regulation of advertising is aimed to protect the consumer goods / services advertised. This is the foundation of ethics and rules in advertising. Advertising regulation refers to the laws and regulations that define the specific products that can be advertised on the country / region specific. Rules can include various aspects such as setting place...
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