The Truth Behind Ads

What is the real, true value that advertisement gives a society and those individuals who are exposed to them? According to an article I found in my research on the topic online titled “The cultural impact of advertising”, a report was conducted and found that “advertising promotes values that are directly opposed to human wellbeing, environmental sustainability and a fair society.” This is how we see this but not what advertisers are concerned with. The average American is exposed to between 500 and 1,000 commercial messages each day, that a lot of information from different media outlets and on different industries we are exposed to. Based off these facts, there is an intrinsic, real value these advertisements have to individuals or society. It matters how these advertisements are perceived by the viewers or target audience and those values differ from person to person. Therefore, the intrinsic values are what the viewers are getting out of these ads whether it be positive or negative, there is still some perceived value.

When it comes to governmental regulations on advertising products that can cause damage or hurt people, I believe it should be just that, regulations and not banning these advertisements. In class we have gone over the certain aspects and rules advertisements must contain and follow. FDI Advertising is an example of a type of ad this is not protected by the FA. Vice advertising is that of alcohol and tobacco. If these vice ads follow the health, safety, FA, and government guidelines that are laid out for them, no bans should be out into place.

Let’s talk about Alcohol Advertising. According to the FTC “the First Amendment provides substantial protections to speech, and thus substantially limits the government’s ability to regulate truthful, non-deceptive alcohol advertising based on concerns about underage appeal.” One regulation alcohol company must comply with to fall within the FTC standards is that “no more than 28.4% of the audience for an ad may consist of people under 21 and that ad content should not appeal primarily to people under 21.” The compliance with these codes is constantly monitored by the FTC.

These facts provided from the FTC back-up my claim that government should not ban these types of advertisement as long as the proper codes and regulations are being followed. Therefore, the responsibility of these companies to make the public and consumers knowledgeable if their product causes harm is to provide warning labels. If there are health products being advertised, two independent studies are required for substantiation. It is also important for companies to follow the 4 P’s when it comes to labeling so that information is “clear and conspicuous”.

When it comes to the limits set on advertising that should be up to and set by the federal government. The Federal Trade Commission already does a great job setting and implemented the proper codes products and their advertisements must follow. It is up to the companies to self-regulate before putting any advertisements out there. As long as companies follow the rules, advertisements should be fine, it is all up to how a person or society perceives the message being projected.