Advertising Ethics

Advertising Ethics Is it just about selling a dream ...?

Develop an insight into advertising ethics and use of stereotypes in adverts All Level 4 • WHO the ad is aimed at and WHAT is being advertised • Identify/list some stereotypical characteristics used in advert Most Level 5 • Identify the message • Identify and explain why adverts use stereotypical characteristics to sell products • Explain WHY the advert helps sell a product • Discuss EITHER for or against arguments about an advert using gender stereotypes Some Level 6/7 • Discuss BOTH for/ against arguments about an advert using gender stereotypes • Discuss the social impact of stereotypes in adverts.

What is Advertising? • Advertising is a process • Advertising, in its simplest form, is the way in which the vendor or manufacturer of a product communicates with consumers via a medium, or many different media. • Advertising = messages

Lines of Appeal They use images of things to tap into our desires - and fears: • Happy families - everyone wants to belong • Rich, luxurious lifestyles - aspirational • Dreams and fantasy • Successful romance and love • Elite people or experts • Glamorous places • Successful careers • Art, culture & history • Nature & the natural world • Beautiful women - men AND women like looking at beautiful women, so the thinking goes: men admire them, women admire what makes the men admire them. • Self-importance & pride • Comedy & humour • Childhood - can appeal to either nostalgia or to nurturing instincts

What goes into a advert? • A slogan • Striking image catches our attention • The body of the ad contains more factual information about the product • Logo reinforces the brand identity • Cultural Values and often reinforces stereotypes Average time of 1.5 seconds, leaves us with an impression of the values that are attached to that brand, and a sense of who the target audience for the product is

For/Against • You have been given a card – for/against • Get into a group of 3 who are all for or against • Choose your roles • Team leaders collect your task sheet You have 10 mins!! • You need to write your answers on the A3 paper

Team Roles Team Leader You will be responsible for explaining the task to the group and ensuring all tasks are completed Speaker You will responsible for sharing your arguments to the rest of class. Scribe You are responsible for writing down ideas.

Task sheet • What are the aims of the advert? • Who is the target audience ? • What’s the message? • WHY does this help sell a product? • What’s your for and against argument? • What’s the social impact? Positive or negative impact on society Easy Challenging

Is this advert an example of gender stereotyping? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuHV4gwSXn4

People by giving them unrealistic expectations of what they should look like and how they should act They show images of how society expects us to be; muscly men with six-packs, or skinny women. When advertisers make an advert they are aiming to sell a product and make their advert memorable and stand out from the rest, why should it matter if they may use a stereotype in their adverts, everyone uses stereotypes in day to day life It is well known that the media has a profound effect on people, especially teenage girls; these images which are shown on our screens can contribute to eating disorders.

Examples • Dove campaign for real beauty • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUsKIApTewQ • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZSEt1xnFJM • Dove strives to change the image that people see of women in the media. • In many of their ad's they show women of all shapes and sizes, races and backgrounds. • Dove shows how wrong many companies can be when advertising their products. • They have recognized the effects of advertisements on women’s self esteem. • These being mostly negative effects as many women in the media are very small and “dolled up.” T • his kind of advertising, where women have obviously spent hours in the makeup chair can cause serious self esteem issues. • Not only has dove recognized this but they have also recognized how men view these ad’s and how they affect their view on women. • Dove’s approach at making everyone feel beautiful sells their product. • If a woman sees another that looks like her in a commercial, she will want to buy the product.

Analysing Adverts • WHO the ad is aimed at • WHAT is being advertising and WHAT is specifically highlighted about the product (the benefits) in this ad? • WHY this helps sell a product • Does the advert use stereotypes? Are the stereotypes used in the advert positive or negative? • What is the social impact of this advert? • http://www.mediaknowall.com/gcse/advertising/advertising.php?pageID=analysis

What is the social impact? – positive or negative impact on society What is good about the styles, colours and layout?

Powerful Aspirational Delicate Weak Strong Attractive Gentle Innocent Rebellious Confident Conformist Timid Role model Perfection Vulnerable Body Image

Commutation Test – Changing the meaning of an advert • Using fireworks change the faces of the people in the adverts? • What cultural narratives are spoken through this image? • Change the characters in the image to different genders, ethnic group, age, body type, class, • How does this change the meaning of the advert?

Tools • Lasso • Eraser • Smudge • Scale • Layers

Questioning advertising ethics Original advert • Why has this person been used in the original advert? What does this person symbolise? Masculinity/ Femininity/ personality traits • What cultural values in society does the advert reinforce? Does it use stereotypes? I.e. about men, women, ethnic groups, regional traits • Is this right? Is it ethical? What is the negative impact? Changed Advert • Explain how the meaning in the advert has changed – do you think the advert is more or less effective for selling the product – explain why

Advertising Ethics