Children, Media and Culture a work of Marie Davies, addresses the continuing concerns around media effects

and critically examines the view that technology has dramatically changed modern children's lives also the role and
impact
of popular media currently including television, the internet, computer games, mobile phones and i-pods, in
children's
lives. Also addresses the provoking ads showing imagery lifestyles which a common child can barely imagine. This
book
situates the study of childhood and the media within a framework of different disciplines, including historical,
sociological
and psychological approaches. (Davies 2010: 84)

PERCEPTION OF INDIAN CONSUMERS TOWARDS INDIAN ADVERTISEMENTS

VASANTHI AJAY
Department of Cultural Studies, Jain University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

SCOPE OF THE PRESENT STUDY

The works of the authors like Maitra, Gupta and Davis as described previously have analysed about ethics and
advertising and is limited to a very brief interpretation. The present research study will be focusing on the Indian
advertisements making false claims affecting the Indian Consumers and also Influence of Advertisements on
adolescents
life. So with this present research study a methodological analysis is made to give suggestions to create a conscious
awareness in the Indian Advertisements.

Corporate Social Responsibilty (CSR)

and Ethical Issues in Marketing
Ruchi Tripathi1 and Vinay Pratap Singh2
Social resposibility about the marketing and advertising roles and responsibility.

Ethical Issues Involved in Integrated Marketing

Communication(advertisement) in Nigeria
Ayozie Daniel Ogechukwu1, Ayozie Kingsley Ndubueze2, and Ayozie Victoria
Uche3
For the purpose of this paper, ethics and morality are used interchangeably and considered
synonymous with societal notions of honesty, honour, virtue and integrity in matters of
integrated marketing communications conduct in Nigeria.

ETHICAL ISSUES IN ADVERTISING AND MARKETING: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

OF THE HINDRANCES TO EFFICIENT MARKETING AND PRODUCT
COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT IN KENYA
General objective
The main intent of this research was to empirically assess hindrances to efficient marketing and
product communication management in Kenya.
Specific objectives
Key specific objectives of this research were:

(i)

To find out the level of stakeholder satisfaction in marketing and product communication
management.
(ii) To assess the level of value observance in marketing and product communication management
(iii)To ascertain the level of privacy enhancement in marketing and product communication
management
(iv) To determine the extent of the harm prevalence in marketing and product communication from
an ethical perspective.

Ethics in advertising
Swedish consumers perceptions of sexual appeals and body
ideals(PATRICIA MEIJER ;MARIA STYVN)
It has been claimed that as competition between companies and the amount of advertising
increase, so will the amount of controversial1 advertisements, as companies try to gain the
audiences attention and cut through the noise (Waller, 1999). Treise and Weigold (1994)
point out that advertising has been accused of many different ethical weaknesses, most of
which focus on the obvious lack of societal responsibility. Three issues are central to an ethical
discussion of advertising according to Wells et al (2000): advocacy, accuracy, and
acquisitiveness.
Advocacy refers to the persuasiveness of advertising, which disturbs critics who
think that advertising should be objective, informative, and neutral. Accuracy is related to
matters of perception. A consideration like Will buying the new car make me more attractive
to the opposite sex? may be a message that is implied by the situations pictured in the ads.
Such innuendos in messages we see or hear cause concern among advertising critics, especially
when they are aimed at more vulnerable groups (e.g. children, elderly or disabled).

ETHICAL ISSUES AND

PRINCIPLES RELATED TO
ADVERTISING Manender Singh
Research Scholar, Department of Commerce,
Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India
(Dr. Githui Donatus Mathenge,2013) defined that It is very difficult to identify what is or not ethical
conduct in integrated marketing communicating as it varies from country to country. Ethical values as
situation specific and time oriented. Nevertheless everyone both in business, marketing and specifically in
advertising and marketing communications must have an ethical base that applies to conduct in the
business world and in personal life morals.
(DR.N.A. ANBARASAN and DR. K. PONGIANNAN, 2012) conclude that Honesty, integrity and
quality are the important features of ethical advertising. These features create value to all the stakeholders
of the advertising media. Now-a-days only ethical based advertisements are highly welcomed by all the
audience. Ethicality in advertising improves the quality of the advertisements in any media and enhances

the brand image for the advertised product. Thus, it can be concluded that strictly adhering to ethical
values in advertisements will increase the market share for the advertised product.
1. To evaluate the major ethical issues related to advertising.
2. To define the principles of advertising ethics.
3. To describe the code of ethics for advertising.

4. To define the ethical theories of advertising.

5. To describe the importance of advertising ethics.
6. Safeguard against misrepresentation and misleading advertisements.
Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to
do.
- Potter Stewart
ETHICS MEANS: - The term ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos which refers to
character, guiding beliefs, standards and ideals that pervade a group, a community or people. The
Oxford Dictionary states ethics as the moral principle that governs a persons behaviour or how
an activity is conducted. The synonyms of ethics as per Collins Thesaurus are conscience,
moral code, morality, moral philosophy, moral values, principles, rules of conduct and standards.
Ethics has following features:
Ethics is a conception of right or wrong conduct.
Ethics tells us when our behaviour is moral and whenit is immoral.
Ethics relates to the formalised principles derived from social values.
Ethical principles are universal in nature.
The concepts of equity and justice are implicit in ethics
Ethics and legality of action do not necessarily coincide
For example, not helping an injured person in a road accident may be unethical but not illegal.
Important Ethical Principles
1) Do not deceive or cheat the customers by selling substandard or defective products by under
measurement or any other means. Example : Textile merchants in general clear the defective
stock under the guise of discounts.
2) Don not report to hoarding, black marketing or profiteering.Example : Management of
theaters sell the tickets for higher prices during the initial days of release of a film starred by a
crazy hero and heroine.
3) Do not destroy or distort competition.
4) Treasure sincerity and accuracy in advertising, labeling and packaging. Ads of automobiles in
general provide false details in every aspect.
5) Do not furnish the image of competitors by unfair practices. Publishing false information
about competitors, bribing the retailers etc.
6) Make accutrate business records so that transperancy to the share holders can be achieved.
7) Pay taxes and discharge other obligations promptly.
8) Do not form castle agreements, even informal, to control production, prices etc. to the
common detriment. Example : Cellular network providers will be in informal castle agreements
to control the traffic.

9) Refrain from secret kick backs or pay logs to customers, suppliers, administrators, politicians
etc.
10) Ensure payment of fair wages and fair treatment to the internal customers as well as external
customers and share holders.
Business Ethics
Ethics are moral guidelines which govern good behaviour. So behaving ethically is doing what is
morally right. Behaving ethically in business is widely regarded as good business practice. What
is "Business Ethics"? The concept has come to mean various things to various people, but
generally it's coming to know what it right or wrong in the workplace and doing what's right -this is in regard to effects of products/services and in relationships with stakeholders.
Business Ethics are:
Normal principles and standards that define right and wrong behavior in the world of
business.
What is right and wrong is determined by public interest groups/ business organizations.
Business Ethics can be defined as the critical, structured examination of how people &
institutions should behave in the world of commerce. In particular, it involves examining
appropriate constraints on the pursuit of self-interest, or (for firms) profits, when the actions of
individuals or firms affect others.
Two Broad Areas of Business Ethics are:
1. Managerial Mischief: Madsen and Shafritz, in their book "Essentials of Business Ethics"
(Penguin Books, 1990) further explain that "managerial mischief" includes "illegal, unethical, or
questionable practices of individual managers or organizations, as well as the causes of such
behaviors and remedies to eradicate them." There has been a great deal written about managerial
mischief, leading many to believe that business ethics is merely a matter of preaching the basics
of what is right and wrong.
More often, though, business ethics is a matter of dealing with dilemmas that have no clear
indication of what is right or wrong.
2. Moral Mazes: The other broad area of business ethics is "moral mazes of management" and
includes the numerous ethical problems that managers must deal with on a daily basis, such as
potential conflicts of interest, wrongful use of resources, mismanagement of contracts and
agreements, etc. Business ethics reflects the philosophy of business, one of whose aims is to
determine the fundamental purposes of a company. If a company's purpose is to maximize
shareholder returns, then sacrificing profits to other concerns is a violation of its fiduciary
responsibility.
Purposes of Ethics
The primary objective of ethics is to define the highest human characters of individual and set a
standard for the same. Ethics also deal with several interrelated and complex problems which
may be of psychological, legal , commercial, philosophical, sociological and political in nature.
However, there are other many objectives
of ethics which are as follows:
Study of human behavior: making evaluative assessment about them as moral or immoral.
Establishing moral standards and norms of behavior.
Making judgment upon human behavior based on these standards/norms.
Prescribing moral behavior and making recommendations about how to behave or vice-versa.
Expressing an opinion or attitude about human conduct in general.

Importance of ethics
Stop Business Malpractices : Some unscrupulous businessmen do business malpractices by
indulging in unfair trade practices like black-marketing, artificial high pricing, adulteration,
cheating in weights and measures, selling of duplicate and harmful products, hoarding, etc. These
business malpractices are harmful to the consumers. Business ethics help to stop these business
malpractices.
Improve Customers' Confidence : Business ethics are needed to improve the customers'
confidence about the quality, quantity, price, etc. of the products. The customers have more trust
and confidence in the businessmen who follow ethical rules. They feel that such businessmen
will not cheat them.
Survival of Business : Business ethics are mandatory for the survival of business. The
businessmen who do not follow it will have short-term success, but they will fail in the long run.
This is because they can cheat a consumer only once. After that, the consumer will not buy goods
from that businessman. He will also tell others not to buy from that businessman. So this will
defame his image and provoke a negative publicity. This will result in failure of the business.
Therefore, if the businessmen do not follow ethical rules, he will fail in the market. So, it is
always better to follow appropriate code of conduct to survive in the market.
Safeguarding Consumers' Rights : The consumer has many rights such as right to health
and
safety, right to be informed, right to choose, right to be heard, right to redress, etc. But many
businessmen do not respect and protect these rights. Business ethics are must to safeguard these
rights of the consumers.
Protecting Employees and Shareholders : Business ethics are required to protect the
interest
of employees, shareholders, competitors, dealers, suppliers, etc. It protects them from
exploitation through unfair trade practices.
Develops Good Relations : Business ethics are important to develop good and friendly
relations between business and society. This will result in a regular supply of good quality
goods and services at low prices to the society. It will also result in profits for the businesses
thereby resulting in growth of economy.
Creates Good Image : Business ethics create a good image for the business and
businessmen.
If the businessmen follow all ethical rules, then they will be fully accepted and not criticised by
the society. The society will always support those businessmen who follow this necessary code
of conduct.
Smooth Functioning : If the business follows all the business ethics, then the employees,
shareholders, consumers, dealers and suppliers will all be happy. So they will give full
cooperation to the business. This will result in smooth functioning of the business. So, the
business will grow, expand and diversify easily and quickly. It will have more sales and more
profits.
Consumer Movement : Business ethics are gaining importance because of the growth of the
consumer movement. Today, the consumers are aware of their rights. Now they are more
organised and hence cannot be cheated easily. They take actions against those businessmen who
indulge in bad business practices. They boycott poor quality, harmful, high-priced and
counterfeit (duplicate) goods.
Therefore, the only way to survive in business is to be honest and fair.

 Consumer Satisfaction : Today, the consumer is the king of the market. Any business simply
cannot survive without the consumers. Therefore, the main aim or objective of business is
consumer satisfaction. If the consumer is not satisfied, then there will be no sales and thus no
profits too. Consumer will be satisfied only if the business follows all the business ethics, and
hence are highly needed.
Importance of Labour : Labour, i.e. employees or workers play a very crucial role in the
success of a business. Therefore, business must use business ethics while dealing with the
employees. The business must give them proper wages and salaries and provide them with better
working conditions. There must be good relations between employer and employees. The
employees must also be given proper welfare facilities.
Healthy Competition : The business must use business ethics while dealing with the
competitors. They must have healthy competition with the competitors. They must not do cutthroat competition. Similarly, they must give equal opportunities to small-scale business. They
must avoid monopoly. This is because a monopoly is harmful to the consumers.
Moral obligation of Ethics
These are statements of behavioural ideals, exhortations, or prohibitions common to a culture,
religion, traditional profession, corporations and trade associations. Codes combine philosophical
with admonitions toavoid certain illegal actions and espouse certain moral principles, especially
those that elevate personal behaviour.
The Ten Commandments is the most well known code of ethics known worldwide. In addition,
we have all heard of Code of ethics in the form of Hippocratic Oath that all the Doctors are
supposed to take prior to being awarded permission to practise medicine. Poor ethics can shape
business productivity, so follow Ten Commandments of Ethical Business Behavior:
1. Be honest, truthful, forthright, candid and sincere.
2. Have integrity: Strive to be scrupulous.
3. Keep your word and abide by the spirit as well as the letter of the law.
4. Maintain fidelity: Be faithful and never disclose confidential information.
5. Always be fair: Demonstrate a commitment to justice, with equal treatment of all.
6. Care for others: Be kind.
7. Respect others in every way.
8. Be a responsible citizen. Obey just laws and protest unjust ones.
9. Rigorously pursue excellence. Never be content with mediocrity.
10. Always be accountable: good leaders lead by example

CHAPTER-I
INTRODUCTION
Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos which means a persons fundamental orientation
toward life. Ethics refers to the moral standards used to govern behaviour and to determine right or
wrong, good or bad. Ethical behaviour is the acts consistent with the moral standards or codes of
conduct established by society (Fernando, A., 2009) 1. Ethical standards may change over time and
differ from culture to culture. For example , political bribes or payoffs may be acceptable in one
culture but not in another. Ethical issues are inevitable in business.
Our country has been known as the leader in the area of ethics, values and so on for the rest of world
since time immemorial. Over a period of time our own countrymen have gone away from the area of
ethics, though gradually. Recently there is a rapid fall in ethics throughout the country, which again
necessitates thinking over the meaning, need/significance and its practice. The Oxford English
Dictionary defines ethics as the science of morals, rules of conduct or moral principles. It is very
often used, as a synonym for terms like values, norms, standards and morality etc. Ethics is
something like electricity, not apparent to the naked eye, but felt instantaneously in certain specific
conditions and also visible when power is switched on. Ethics is like a fabric of whole society and
therefore a society without ethics is like a man without clothes. (Stephen R. Covey 2012) 2. It means
ethics is something which prevents nudity in any society and thus also determines the comparison of
degree of nudity in any civic society. Ethics therefore is essentially required to adopt and cover
wholly the whole body of bodies of any civic society. It only differentiates between a civic and
barbaric action (Manuel G Velasquez, Fall 1987)3.
Ethics is Two Things:
First, ethics refers to well based standards of right and wrong that prescribe what 2

humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific
virtues (Michael J Meyer 1987)4. Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the
reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical
standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. Ethical standards
include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and the
right to privacy. Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because they are supported by
consistent and well founded reasons.
Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one's ethical standards. As mentioned above,
feelings, laws, and social norms can deviate from what is ethical. So it is necessary to constantly
examine one's standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also means, that
the continuous effort of studying moral beliefs and moral conduct, and striving to ensure that the
institutions help to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.
Ethics is a system of moral principles. They affect how people make decisions and lead their lives.
Ethics is concerned with what is good for individuals and society and is also described as moral
philosophy.
Ethics covers the following dilemmas:
how to live a good life
rights and responsibilities
the language of right and wrong
Moral decisions - what is good and bad?
i. Evolution of Ethics Over the Years:
If trace the history of ethics in business, it would realize that ethics had been part of theological
discussions prior to 1960. Before 1970s, there were a few writers like Raymond Baumhart who dealt
with ethics and business. Ethical issues were mostly discussed as part of social issues. Men of
religion and theologians continued writing and teaching on ethics in business. Professors in Bschools 3

wrote and continued to talk about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the handmaid of ethics.
However, the catalyst that led to the field of business ethics was the entry of several "philosophers,
who brought ethical theory and philosophical analysis to bear on a variety of issues." Norman Bowie
- dates the genesis of business ethics in November 1974, with the first conference on the subject held
at the University of Kansas. In 1979, three anthologies on business ethics appeared. They were (i)
Ethical Theory and Businesses by Tom Beauchamp and Norman Bowie; (ii) Ethical Issues in
Business: A Philosophical Approach by Thomas Donaldson and Patricia Werhane: and (iii) Moral
Issues in Business by Vincent Berry. In 1982, Richard De George brought out Business Ethics while
Manuel G. Velasquez published his Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases. All these books created a
lot of interest on the subject and business ethics courses were offered in several management schools.
The emergence of business ethics, however, was not restricted to textbooks and courses in B-schools.
By 1975, business ethics became institutionalized at many levels through writings and conferences.
By 1980s, the subject was taught in several universities in the United States and Europe. There were
also, by this time, many journals of business ethics, apart from societies established to promote
ethical practices. By the year 1990, business ethics as a management discipline was well-established.
"Although the academicians from the start had sought to develop contacts with the business
community, the history of the development of business ethics as a movement in business, though
related to the academic developments, can be seen to have a history of its own."
ii. Approaches to Ethics:
Philosophers now-a-days tend to divide ethical theories into three areas: Meta ethics, Normative
ethics and Applied ethics.
Meta-ethics deals with the nature of moral judgement. It looks at the origins and meaning of ethical
principles.

Normative ethics is concerned with the content of moral judgements and the criteria for what is right
or wrong (H Carens 1996)5.
4

Applied ethics looks at controversial issues like war, animal rights and capital punishment and
human rights.
Philosophers Views on Origin of Ethics:
Philosophers have several answers to this.
God and religion
Human conscience and intuition
A rational moral cost-benefit analysis of actions and their effects
The example of good human beings
A desire for the best for people in each unique situation
Political power
iii. Ethical Behaviour of Employees:
Before venturing to discuss the ethical behaviour of the employees, one has to go into grass root level
of ethics. There are various definitions to Ethics. Ethics is a set of moral rules and regulations
formulated from time immemorial by the Society for its members to lead an honest and happy life.
For achieving the same, self-interest of the members is secondary and caring for others is primary.
Ethics indicates the way of life one has to lead, where honesty, discipline and understanding of moral
ideals, character and relationship with others are the influencing forces. It also cautions the members
about the opposing forces to which one should not succumb. Mike Martin, in his Book Ethics in
Engineering says, Ethics is also used to refer to the particular set of beliefs, attitudes and habits that
a person or group displays concerning morality. It is the discipline dealing with what is good and
bad and with moral duty and obligation (Mollie Painter-Morland - 2011) 6.
Ethics are of two types. They are: Personal Ethics and Professional Ethics. Personal Ethics is defined
as the rules by which an individual lives his or her personal life and Professional Ethics indicates
the moral way the Professional should behave in his domain of profession, be it engineering,
medical, legal or business. Ethics in general indicates the moral choices made by each person in
relationship with other persons. 5

Great philosophers such as Socrates and Aristotle propounded their theory of ethics based on ancient
religious thoughts prevailed in Greece. Later, philosophers like Kant and Mill modified the base of
Ethics to say that it need not stem from religion and advocated that the moral principles are universal
regardless of their origin and are applicable even in secular settings.
There are many moral theories helping the employee how to conduct in various situations relating to
personal and professional areas.
Duty Ethics, Rights Ethics and Virtue Ethics are important moral theories.
Duty Ethics contends that there are duties that an individual should perform, like treating others
fairly or duty not to injure others.
Rights Ethics emphasizes that all have moral rights and any action violating those rights is
ethically unacceptable.
Virtue Ethics regards actions as right that manifest good character traits and regards actions as
bad that display bad character traits called vices. This theory underscores the type of person one
should be. Responsibility, honesty, competence and loyalty are considered as virtues and they are
more of personal ethics. However, in using Virtue Ethics it is important to ensure that the traits one
identifies are really virtuous and will not lead to negative consequences.
Employees are bound to have moral problems in their personal as well as in their professional areas.
Employees behaviour will change according to different situations. Unless they understand the
ethical problem fully, their behaviour is bound to be different and consequently, no solution would be
at sight.
iv. Ethics and Responsibilities:
Ethics has several attributes, some of which are universal in nature, while others are bound by time
and place. It may be specific to a particular task situation, profession or area of responsibility, e.g.,
ethics of top executives, middle executives, junior executives in any company, ethics of a Judge,
ethics of a Doctor, Teacher or a Chartered Accountant and so on. Now-a-days ethics or values are
being prescribed even for 6

organizations as a whole to carry out the activities with the sense of right and wrong i.e., what is
permissible, what is not permissible, what is to be done and what is not to be done. Certain things are
expected from everyone, while there may be a few specific things expected according to the nature of
groups or responsibilities. Ethics is something related to a state of mind, a way of looking at things,
which may develop into a pattern of behaviour, or way of life and social conduct. Ones values may
indicate or reveal ones preferences, while norms identify social prescriptions or obligations, which
have a regulatory significance (Carter, C., 2007) 7. One should always bear in mind and have clear-cut
difference in authority, responsibility and accountability. No authority can be without responsibility
and accountability. Duty is the balanced mixture of authority, responsibility and accountability. Thus,
every person is accountable for his good or bad decisions/deeds.
Ethics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality, such as what the
fundamental semantic, ontological, and epistemic nature of ethics or morality is (meta-ethics), how
moral values should be determined (normative ethics), how a moral outcome can be achieved in
specific situations (applied ethics), how moral capacity or moral agency develops and what its nature
is (moral psychology), and what moral values people actually abide by descriptive ethics (Paul,
Richard; 2006)8.
v. Objectives of Ethics:
1. The primary objectives are to define the highest good of man and set a standard for the same.
Ethics deals with several interrelated and complex problems which may be of psychological, legal,
commercial, philosophical, sociological and political in nature.
2. The other objectives are many. These are:
a. Study of human behavior; making evaluative assessment about them as moral or immoral.
b. Establishing moral standards and norms of behavior,
c. Making judgment upon human behavior based on these standards/norms,
7

d. Prescribing moral behavior making recommendations about how to behave or vice-versa.

e. Expressing an opinion or attitude about human conduct in general.