Advertising business aspects? Not in this world. How can advertising be ethical when we live in a society that says sex sells? The less you have on the better the ad is. Then we also live in a time that still portrays most minorities in stereotypical roles. Most minorities are still seen as second-class citizens in some advertisements. I think until advertisements depict women and minorities in a better way, advertising will never be ethical.
Women are seen as insurance to an advertiser to sell their product. Many advertisements that are targeted to men use partial or complete female nudity, sexual suggestiveness, and innuendo (Sex stereotyping in advertising 103). In other words these ads imply that the female in the advertisement is the man reward for him buying the product. For example there is a corona (beer) commercial out now. The first thing you see in the commercial is two women walking on a beach in tiny bikinis.
An 1890s advertisement showing model Hilda Clark i...
Advertising
Banana AdvertisingThen after that you see a couple holding hands finally the corona bottle appears. Women are not only used for men advertising, female models that are half naked are used to sell women products also. Victoria Secrets commercials and ads would fall under this category. Although the product is clearly for women, according to Berger the advertiser is still trying to draw a male audience. Advertisers believe that men and women prefer to see female bodies in advertisement.
Public Service Announcement is usually thought of as informative. Public service announcements are ad that tries to bring awareness about certain issues such as cigarettes.
But there are some public service announcements that can send mixed messages out to the public. In one public service announcement there is an ad with this tall, thin and attractive women. In the poster she is smoking a...