Is Advertising Immoral?
PHIL106 – 2010
Dan Turton
Does Advertising Manipulate
Us?
Reekie’s Defense of Advertising
PHIL106 – 2010
Dan Turton
Topic Summary

Does advertising manipulate us?


Does advertising manipulate us?


Crisp’s limited critique of advertising
Does advertising make us unhappy?


Reekie’s defense of advertising
Belch vs. Hamilton
Does advertising make us unhappy?

Hamilton again and wrap up
Assessment for this Topic
There will be one exam question on this
topic (the morality of advertising)
 You will need to be aware of the arguments
in lectures and the readings to be able to
fully answer the question
 The question is a simple, obvious and fairly
general one
 All of the four lectures and three readings
on this topic will be useful to answer the
question

Today

Start addressing the question:

Is advertising immoral?

An explanation of advertising

A defense of advertising

Setting up some of the moral issues
Advertising is…
Communication from a specific source that
intends to inform and influence the
audience so that they believe something
and/or behave in a certain way
 It is usually:

Persuading people to purchase a brand/product
 Paid for
 Using mass media

 But
some marketers are much sneakier…
Advertising might also be…

Rosser Reeves

Manager of a
successful advertising
company
While holding up two
coins:
 “[Making] you think
that this quarter is
more valuable than
that one”

Last Year ‘Fans’ were Tested
 Volunteers
were either
Speights or Tui fans
 Blind taste test of four cups
 Everyone got most wrong
 Everyone preferred
Speights slightly, but
 No one could even tell
which ones were the same
Thanks to Duncan Reekie

Most of these arguments are his


See his reading in the course book
But, the cutting-edge research tailored to
the NZ commercial, cultural and moral
environment has been carried out by me
The Role of Advertising


Advertising supports marketing and business
function.
A modern business model:





Perform consumer research
Develop new product based on research
Advertise product
Sell product
Importantly, both the business and the
consumers benefit from this


The business makes money for its investors
The customers get what they have been wanting
The Benefits of Advertising

Advertising helps consumers
decide what to buy




Informs about the existence of
new products
Informs about new uses for
existing products
Informs about differences
between products – laundry
powder & razors
Advertising provides
incentives to:


Make differentiated products, &
Innovative products

Who doesn’t like PS3s, wi-fi,
iphones?
The Benefits of Advertising 2
Advertising is
entertainment
 Many ads are:

Funny
 Interesting
 Artistic
 Appealing in
other ways

The Benefits of Advertising 3

Advertising is good for the economy
It is a huge industry
 It employs a lot of people
 It stimulates economic growth by connecting
more of consumers needs and wants with
solutions


Economic growth is good

Means you can get more things you want
The Benefits of Advertising 4



Winston Churchill:
“Advertising nourishes
the consuming power of
men. It creates wants
for a better standard of
living… It spurs
individual exertion and
greater production.”
Advertising improves
our well-being
So, What’s Wrong with Advertising?

Apparently, advertising deceives people
into buying things that they don’t really
need
Apparently, advertising lies, deceives and
misleads
 Apparently, advertising makes people think
they need things that they shouldn’t even
want
 Some people even think it makes us unhappy!

Advertising Doesn’t Lie

Reasons why advertisers don’t lie

Misleading ads are reported and removed from
circulation
 ASA:
“Truthful Presentation - Advertisements should
not contain any statement … which … is likely to
deceive or mislead the consumer … or exploits
his/her lack of experience or knowledge.”
 ASA: “(Obvious hyperbole, identifiable as such, is not
considered to be misleading).”
Advertising Doesn’t Lie

Reasons why advertisers don’t lie
Misleading ads are reported and removed
from circulation
 Lies about product quality are soon
discovered, making the lying company go out
of business
 Really important product categories have extra
regulations to prevent lying
 Advertisers don’t want to tarnish the reputation
of advertising generally

Advertising Doesn’t Make Us Buy
Things We Don’t Need
Advertising never forces anyone to do
anything
 Advertising does influence our purchase
decisions (at least it intends to)

But what is wrong with that?
 Advertising can’t encourage you to want
something you really don’t need
 Advertising can only help you fulfill wants and
needs you already have

Should Advertising be Allowed to
Help Us Fulfill Our Wants?
Should we stop people from helping others
to fulfill their wants?
 Depends on the wants…


Some things we want are bad for others


Slaves, over-sized cars, blow-off valves
Some things we want are bad for ourselves

Cigarettes, highly processed foods, blow-off
valves
Should Advertising Help Us Fulfill
Our Wants?

Advertising obviously shouldn’t encourage or help
people to harm others but…



What is better, freedom or having the government
protect us from our own wants?
Why shouldn’t I be able to do whatever I want with
my money (without hurting others)?


Who should decide what we should and shouldn’t want
(for our own good)?
Consumer Sovereignty: Surely I have that right!
Where do we draw the line?
Summary

Advertising is good because:






It helps consumers decide what to buy
It provides incentives for innovation
At least some of it is entertaining
Its good for the economy
It allows us to improve our lives (as we see fit) by
helping us to satisfy our wants and needs
Busting the myths about advertising:


Advertising does not lie or deceive
Advertising cannot make people buy things they don’t
want
Next Time
Dan is back
 Read:



Roger Crisp’s ‘Persuasive Advertising,
Autonomy, and the Creation of Desire
Get ready to discuss:

Why advertising actually is immoral – it creates
desires in us that we cannot even attempt to
reject
Does Advertising Manipulate
Us?
Crisp’s Limited Critique of Advertising
PHIL106 – 2010
Dan Turton
Today



Looking at an argument that
a certain type of advertising
is immoral
Roger Crisp:
“In this paper, I shall argue
that all forms of a certain
common type of advertising
[persuasive advertising] are
morally wrong, on the
ground that they override
the autonomy of
consumers.”
Informative Adverts
Crisp: informative
advertising is usually
OK because it
facilitates (not
overrides) the desiremaking process
 E.g. Jacket on sale


He already wanted that
kind of jacket, now he
knows where to get it
(for cheap)
Persuasive Adverts


Crisp: ‘persuasive advertising’ is
immoral because it overrides our
autonomy (our ability to make
purchase decisions for ourselves)
Forms of persuasive advertising (by which the
desire for products can be created):



Repetition – drumming a brand into your head
‘Puffery’ – linking the product to unconscious survival
and reproduction-related desires
Subliminal ads – New Jersey cinema experiment
How Subliminal Ads ‘Work’

Unconscious emotional manipulation by
Suggestion – often just the product logo
 Association – the logo and something good


If you are aware of seeing/hearing it, then
it’s not subliminal advertising

(or it’s a failed attempt at subliminal
advertising)
The Truth about Subliminal Ads
Subliminal ads alone can’t
make you buy something
that you didn’t want
 Purchasing a product is
too complex a behaviour
for subliminal ads to
control
 Unconscious priming
works sometimes
 Some priming is rejected

Arrington: Autonomous Desire
Desires are autonomous if we
accept them
 E.g. Arrington sees an ad for
hair dye

He desires hair dye because he
desires to look younger
 And, he is perfectly happy to
have both of those desires
 Therefore, (according to him) his
desire for hair dye is autonomous

Crisp: Autonomous Desire
Is Arrington’s desire autonomous?
 What if the ad showed a man (with 100%
not-grey hair) in a position of authority and
surrounded by beautiful women?
 Perhaps Arrington's real desires were for
power and sex
 Show your
experience
and vitality

Crisp: How Adverts Persuade
They appeal to our unconscious desires
 Crisp: they might appeal to our
“unconscious desires for power and sex”

Unconscious Desires?

The unconscious desire for sex


Makes us laugh at jokes that aren’t funny
The unconscious desire for power
$$ is the best indicator of power these days
 Makes us angry/disappointed if we don’t get
that promotion/job we were after
 Also makes us laugh at jokes that aren’t
funny

Evolution by Natural Selection



Over many generations, types
of organisms tend to develop
traits that increase individual
members chances of surviving
and reproducing
Unconscious desires for power
and sex are traits that can help
with this
Therefore, we should expect to
see a lot of traits that are
conducive to noticing and
getting power and sex
Unconscious Desires
Advertisers don’t always target sex and
power though
 Most ads for FMCGs are targeted at
women or women and children

Remember that Persil makes your clothes
whiter?
 Well, that’s not all it does:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuTspd9lFFE&f
eature=related
Crisp: Rational Desire
Persuasive advertising creates irrational
desires
 If our main desire for a product is
subconscious, then rationality doesn’t
even come into it - we cannot possibly
accept it or even consider it!


Remember that an autonomous desire is one
that we accept
Crisp: Free Choice/Autonomy

Being able to provide any old reason for
why you bought something (like
Arrington’s e.g.) isn’t necessarily helpful


“But, I like Meow Mix”, “But, I like Grecian
Formula 16”
We need to weigh up the relevant
reasons in order to make a free choice

Persuasive advertising uses reasons that we
are not aware of and so cannot evaluate
Crisp: Control or Manipulation

You control someone if you
make them do something for
reasons that they would not
consider… reasonable.
Making Crisp do a jig (by tying
ropes to his limbs) just
because I feel like it would be
controlling him
 Making me buy hair dye
because I unconsciously
desire power and sex


Adverts can do this
Crisp’s General Argument
1)
2)
3)
4)
Persuasive advertising unconsciously creates the
desire for a product by drumming it into your
brain or by associating it with sex, power or some
other thing that is commonly and unconsciously
craved
Therefore, the real reason for our desire to buy a
product is hidden from us, we cannot evaluate it
Therefore, the desire is not autonomous
Therefore, persuasive advertising overrides our
autonomy/freedom of choice (which is immoral)
Summary
Crisp: Persuasive advertising uses
subconscious associations to try to make us
desire products in a way that bypasses our
autonomy
 Remember that this is a specific definition of
‘persuasive advertising’
 Some adverts clearly try to be persuasive in
the manner Crisp suggests
 Are such adverts immoral for trying to do
this?

Next Time

Read:


Belch & Belch ‘Economic Effects of Advertising’
Get ready to discuss:

Does advertising make us happy… or
unhappy?
Does Advertising Makes Us
Unhappy?
Belch vs. Hamilton
PHIL106 – 2010
Dan Turton
Recap of Crisp





Persuasive advertising uses repetition and
subconscious associations to try to make us
desire products
Crisp thinks it works and that it is immoral
because it overrides our autonomy
It most likely works to some extent, because
persuasive advertising is so widespread
Does it actually override our autonomy, though?
Is it manipulative enough to be immoral, though?
Today
The advertisers
argument for
how advertising
makes us
happier
 Hamilton’s
criticism of that
argument

Problem: Margin of Discontent



Margin of Discontent = Gap
between what we have and what
we want
Happiness = satisfaction with how
your life is going (no discontent)
Examples of discontent :



You have a Corolla, but you want a
Porsche
You work at McDonalds, but you
want a job at Logan Brown
You have a 14” tube TV, but you want
a 21” flat screen
Hamilton’s Solutions to the
Margin of Discontent
Hamilton mentions two possible solutions,


but he thinks that the first solution doesn’t
seem to work:
Economic growth solution:
1)
•
“People satisfy their wants by increasing their
possessions, thus becoming happier”
‘Sages’ solution:
2)
•
“Give up wanting”
‘Neo-Liberal’ (Advertisers) Argument
(Roughly According to Hamilton)
Reducing the Margin of Discontent makes
people happier
2) Economic growth helps consumers to reduce
their Margin of Discontent
3) Advertising encourages economic growth
4) Advertising helps consumers to make better
decisions about how to reduce the Margin of
Discontent
c) Therefore, advertising helps make people
happier (by helping to reduce the Margin of
Discontent in two ways)
1)
Hamilton’s Refutation of the ‘NeoLiberal’ (Advertisers) Argument

More $$ (economic growth)
does not make us happier


Therefore, P2 is false
And, advertising does not
help consumers to make
better decisions about how to
reduce the Margin of
Discontent

Therefore, P4 is false
Does $$ Make Us Happy?
1)
2)


Reducing the margin of discontent makes
people happier
Economic growth helps consumers to reduce
their margin of discontent
If 1. and 2. are both
true, then why have
we gotten richer…
but not happier?
Evidence?
Adaptation



Lottery winners return
to pretty much the
same level of
happiness after 1 year
The more we have, the
more we want, and the
more we think we need!
Evidence?
So, Does $$ Make Us Happy?

So, unless you are materialistic, more $$ makes
very little difference to our happiness – much
less than:





A rewarding job
A loving relationship
Volunteering
But materialistic people seem to have a pretty
strange idea of happiness
Having said all this… who would not want to win
lotto?
Possible Neo-Liberal Response
(Consumer Sovereignty)

Remember Consumer Sovereignty?



Regardless of happiness, we have a right to
do what we want with our money
Economic growth gives people more
freedom to choose whatever they wish to
do with their lives and their money
Without advertising consumers would find
it very difficult to exercise this freedom
Hamilton Fights Back

Advertisers claim to be helping consumers
to freely choose how to best satisfy their
needs and wants – but this is false!



Consumers do not freely choose between
products because advertising manipulates our
preferences (Crisp agrees with this) –
Consumer Sovereignty is a myth!
More choice doesn’t help us satisfy our
needs and wants
Therefore, P4 is false
Consumer Sovereignty is a Myth!




Consumers do not freely choose between
products because advertising manipulates
our preferences
Our preferences are formed inside, not
outside, of the marketplace
Indeed, consumers values, goals and
personal identities are all formed inside
the marketplace!
Evidence?
The Abundance of Real Choice is a
Myth



The abundance of choices advertising
provides are limited to meaningless
choices between variations of things that
we didn’t need in the first place
“Most advertising, unfortunately, is
devoted to an attempt to build up…
irrational preferences for certain brands…
to persuade consumers [to] buy Bumpo
rather than Bango” – Prof. Boulding
Evidence?
How Well Did Hamilton Fight Back?


Advertisers claim to be helping consumers
to freely choose how to best satisfy their
needs and wants
Hamilton claims that:


Advertising coerces consumers into satisfying
the greedy financial wants of businesses, not
their own wants or needs
Advertising doesn’t provide more real choice,
so it doesn’t help consumers choose what
they really want
Summary – You Decide

Does advertising make us happier by
making us richer?


Or do we adapt to and waste our extra income
on things that don’t make us happy?
Does advertising help us decide how best
to satisfy our needs & wants?

Or does it make it harder to decide between a
bunch of irrelevantly differentiated options?
Next Time

Read:


Clive Hamilton: ‘Identity’
Get ready to discuss:
Hamilton’s idea that the whole point of
advertising is to make us dissatisfied
 Exam tips!

Does Advertising Makes Us
Unhappy?
Hamilton Again & Wrap Up
PHIL 106 – 2010
Dan Turton
Today




A quick recap, then
Clive Hamilton's
argument that
advertising makes us
unhappy and is
therefore immoral, then
A summary of the
whole morality of
advertising section
Tips for the exam
question on this topic
Hamilton’s Argument that
Advertising Makes Us Unhappy
1)
2)
3)
c)
The margin of discontent is a source of
unhappiness
Advertising perpetuates the margin of
discontent by making us feel dissatisfied
with our lives
Therefore, advertising encourages us to
be unhappy (via dissatisfaction with our
current lives)
Therefore, advertising is immoral
Does Advertising Make Us
Dissatisfied 1?

Advertisers and their critics both agree
that advertising influences consumers…


But, to what extent does it do it? And,
How does it do it?
How Much Does Advertising
Influence Us?

Advertising companies are in the funny
position of:




Having to tell their clients that they can
influence consumers very strongly. While,
Having to tell consumer rights groups that
they have very little influence on consumers
Anyone who thinks that advertising
doesn’t affect them at all is wrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbj03sd
oyOs
Does Advertising Make Us
Dissatisfied 2?

Remember Winston Churchill’s
quote…


He thought advertising was good
because it made people strive for a
higher standard of living… but how did
it do that?
Maybe by making everyone feel
dissatisfied with what they have at
the moment by showing them
something ‘better’
Does Advertising Make Us
Dissatisfied 3?

Never more so than with our prime
biological motivators (for getting a good
mate/s)…



Status for men (or more directly; just getting
women).
Beauty (sexiness) for women.
Real beauty for women.
Brand vs. Company Integrity
Crazy that some companies/brands
advertise in a much more moral manner
than others…. right?
 Wrong (In this case anyway) !
 Remember that companies are there to
make money


(Charities are there to make the world a better
place)
Does Advertising Really Make Us
Dissatisfied?



Advertising either helps us solve our
existing dissatisfactions, or
Advertising constantly provides reasons to
be dissatisfied and then helps us
momentarily ‘solve’ them… and then tries
to make us dissatisfied again! …Or
A woosy in between position (only some
ads are bad)

Could ads that make us feel satisfied work?
Summary – Hamilton on Ads

Advertisers would say they help us all by:




Helping us close the margin of discontent
Raising the standard of living
Helping us to exercise our consumer sovereignty and
our personal choices about how to live
Hamilton says that advertising is immoral
because:


It doesn’t make us happier like they claim it does, and
It coerces us into a constant state of dissatisfaction
Section Summary:
Is Advertising Immoral?

Advertisers help everyone by:




Hamilton: advertising is immoral because:


Helping us close the margin of discontent
Growing the economy & raising our standard of living
Helping us to exercise our consumer sovereignty and
our personal choices about how to live
It coerces us into a constant state of dissatisfaction
Crisp: persuasive advertising is immoral:


Because it overrides our autonomy and…
It makes us desire products without us realising!
Exam Question Tips

Ask Ramon about the exam format
Answer booklet provided
Closed book (don’t bring notes etc. in!)

Approach:








Make sure every paragraph refers back to the main qn
Be clear what you are arguing for
Better to discuss 1 argument from each side in detail
than all arguments in no real detail
Use some examples
Justify all of your non-obvious claims!
The qn itself is obvious and requires a knowledge
of all the readings and arguments from the 4
lectures on advertising
Find Out More

The perils of consumerism and what to do
about it:


See what the anti-advertising community is
up to (and trying to sell to you):


http://www.storyofstuff.com/
http://www.adbusters.org/home/
Don’t worry though! Find out how
advertising is self-regulated in New
Zealand

http://www.asa.co.nz/
Do More
Let the government know what you think
about how advertising is regulated:
 Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman – minister of
broadcasting

jonathan.coleman@national.org.nz
 TEL (04) 817 6818 (Parliament)


Hon Simon Power – minister of commerce
simon.power@national.org.nz
 TEL (04) 817 6803 (Parliament)
