Ethics and Truths in Indian Advertising AND Integrated Communication Mix (ICM) Meaning and Importance

1. Ethics and Truths in Indian Advertising AND Integrated Communication Mix (ICM) Meaning and Importance AkashkumarSrivastava Asst.professor (BBA/BCA DEPT.) IIMT COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT

2. Ethics and Truths in Indian Advertising • Ethics means a set of moral principles which govern a person’s behavior or how the activity is conducted. And advertising means a mode of communication between a seller and a buyer. • Thus ethics in advertising means a set of well defined principles which govern the ways of communication taking place between the seller and the buyer. Ethics is the most important feature of the advertising industry. Though there are many benefits of advertising but then there are some points which don’t match the ethical norms of advertising. • An ethical ad is the one which doesn’t lie, doesn’t make fake or false claims and is in the limit of decency. • Nowadays, ads are more exaggerated and a lot of puffing is used. It seems like the advertisers lack knowledge of ethical norms and principles. They just don’t understand and are unable to decide what is correct and what is wrong.

3. 1-Pharmaceutical Advertising Companies in the pharmaceutical industry employ advertising strategy as a way to create awareness. The main point in the adverts which is emphasized upon by advertisers is that medicines cure; however, they rarely give information regarding the side effects or associated risks. This obviously shows that most advertisers talk of positive values while neglecting the negative effects associated with the product. 2-Children The main sellers in product advertisements are the children. The reason is that they have a convincing power to lure buyers to purchase a product. The thing is that in case children are used in ads, they should not be casted handling activities independently, for instance, holding milk bottles, toy playing and teeth brushing. These should be shown when an adult person is assisting them to handle the activities. It is logical for parents to be shown getting involved with their children when advertising certain products and services.

4. Alcohol Up to the current market place, no advertisement has been shown with a person practically drinking the actual liquor. In these ads, the demonstrators usually use sodas and mineral water which pose the actual liquor brand name. For such ads, they are referred to as surrogate adverts. Practically, whether there are alcohol advertisements or not, it is highly possible that loyal consumers will continue drinking alcohol. • Cigarettes and Tobacco In the real sense, tobacco and cigarettes need not be advertised because people consuming these products are likely to suffer severe health issues and cancer. Practically, such adverts are banned in a number of countries namely Singapore, Finland, India and Norway. • Ads for Social Causes Adverts associated with social causes are classified as ethical and should be acceptable among people. Nevertheless, advertisements associated with condoms and pills for contraceptives should be controlled because they exhibit unethical nature. Basically, such activity may compromise the decency and morality particularly in areas where education and knowledge of the product are limited. Based on the approach mentioned above, it becomes vital for advertisers to be responsible for ensuring that ads are self regulated.

6. Integrated Communication Mix (ICM) Meaning and Importance • Integrated Communication Mix (ICM) is an approach to planning communications that gives your small business the potential to get better results from your campaigns and reduce marketing costs. Rather than relying on individual marketing efforts, like a print ad campaign, an integrated approach simultaneously makes the best use of the multiple channels available to modern businesses. By integrating tools such as advertising, direct mail, social media, telemarketing and sales promotion, you provide clarity, consistency and maximum communications impact. • Advertising is often the most prominent element of the communication mix. In fact, marketing and advertising are often misconstrued as the same thing. Advertising includes all messages a business pays to deliver through a medium to reach a targeted audience. Since it involves the majority of paid messages, companies often allocate significant amounts of the marketing budget to the advertising function. While it can be costly, the advertiser has ultimate control over the message delivered, since it pays the television or radio station, print publication or website for placement.

7. Importance of Integrated Communication Mix (ICM) 1-Receive Better Results In the traditional approach to marketing communications, businesses and their agencies plan separate campaigns for advertising, press relations, direct marketing and sales promotions. Integrated campaigns use the same communication tools to reinforce each other and improve marketing effectiveness. In an integrated campaign, you can use advertising to raise awareness of a product and generate leads for the sales force. 2- Creative Consistency throughout Channels In an integrated campaign, the different tools feature the same creative treatment. By repeating the headlines, key phrases and images in each communication, you ensure that prospects and customers receive consistent messages each time they see one of the elements of the campaign. Creative consistency helps reinforce the basic campaign themes by increasing the number of times prospects see or hear the same message. By working consistently through several different channels, you can better build awareness of your business name, brands, offers, catch phrases or other messages you emphasize.