Introduction:
The film The Truman Show is about a man, Truman Burbank, and his life. His life is filmed from
birth 24/7 and his life can be viewed 24/7 on television by anyone who has a TV. Truman is completely
unaware of his life being filmed. For his life to be filmed the way it is, he lives in a small community that
is built for him. He lives in a rather large studio building that can be seen from space on an island in the
building. The building was created for the purpose of filming his life with over 5000 cameras around in
the studio. Inside this studio, is a community on an island surrounded by water and some land. Truman
has never left this land because he was afraid of water. During the film, Truman recounts his actions
with a girl that he met in the past and wanted to find, her name in the show was Lauren, but her real
name was Sylvia. Sylvia watches The Truman Show to see what happens to Truman and she felt it
wasn’t right to exploit his life the way that it was. In Truman’s search for Sylvia, he realizes that not
everything is perfect. He notices the same people and cars circling his neighborhood, along with his wife
explaining products for no reason. When he tries to escape from his world, he is stopped every way that
he tries even when he faces his fear and tries to sail away. He finds that he is locked in this studio, and
he finds his way out through a door on the side. The creator says he will never find a decent life in the
real world, that his world that he created is the best to live in. As Truman walks out, he says the line he
says every morning to his neighbors; “Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good
evening, and good night!”
Questions and Answers:
Question 1: How was “the marketing profession” portrayed… in a positive light, negative light, neutral,
etc?
The marketing profession is portrayed extensively throughout the film and the show that the
film is depicting. The Truman Show gets its money from product placements throughout the show. It is
the only source of income for the production so they rely on it heavily. Much of the product placements
are all in a positive light; while Truman walks to work, he’s stopped daily by these two twins that put
him against a sign that promotes something different every day. Also during the film, when Truman is
fixing the lawn mower, his wife mentions the brand and how good that mower is. Mococoa is another
product that is in the film; Truman’s wife Meryl, again states the product and its uses. There is also a
commercial for this product showing that Truman uses it, influencing its viewers to use the product.
Truman’s best friend is shown drinking a beer with the label of the beer facing the camera. His friend
Marlon is always shown having this beer and you always see the label towards the camera every time he
has it. All of these product placements are portrayed in a positive light by an actor just stating the uses
and what it does, or simply showing the image of the film. There is nothing negative about them.
Truman’s job in the film is a salesman at an insurance company so he somewhat has to deal with
marketing. He has to market himself to his clients so he can sell his insurance and meet his sales goals
for the quarter. The film doesn’t really go in depth about his job but he does have to market himself if
he wants to get his sales goals.
Question 2: Choose 3 specific marketing ethical dilemmas for each issue state the following
A. Briefly describe how the issue was portrayed
B. How was the issue resolved, if at all?
C. How should the issue have been resolved in your opinion? What would you have
done in that situation?

The major marketing ethical dilemma in this film is whether it is okay to film someone’s life from
birth without their knowledge of being filmed and it being shown to the entire world 24/7.
o
The entire point of the film is that Truman Burbank’s life is filmed from the moment he
is born and it’s supposed to be until he dies. We find that everyone else in the film, and
on the show know that his life is being filmed and they are actors. His life is controlled
by every step he takes by the creator Christof. They make some decisions to influence
him and take away people that might spill the secret to him. It is scripted who his best
friend is and who he marries. His entire life is exploited to the entire world with no
break from the cameras rolling.
o
The issue wasn’t really resolved completely. Truman discovers that his life was being
filmed from the start, and he resolves it himself by escaping from the set. The creator,
Christof, didn’t want him to leave the world that he created and controlled for Truman,
but Truman wanted to explore and not be kept prisoner anymore.
o
This issue shouldn’t have ever started, or been created. In my situation, I wouldn’t have
filmed someone’s life like that or kept them in a little world that was the studio. I would
have tried, like others, to intercept The Truman Show to tell Truman that he was being
filmed. Though with how controlled his life was, it wouldn’t have happened.

Another marketing ethical dilemma in the film is how they ‘kill’ Truman’s father in the TV show
to make him afraid of water.
o
During the Truman’s life, he became more and more curious about the world around his
community. To get Truman to stay on the island and never leave, they ‘killed’ off his
father in the show making Truman believe that it was his fault. Truman was out sailing
with his father and didn’t want to go back when the weather started to take a turn for
the worse. His father then fell overboard while they were sailing and his body was
never found convincing Truman that his father died. In reality, it was a set-up on the
show to make Truman afraid of the water so he would never leave the island or attempt
to leave.

Near the end of the film, while Truman is trying to escape, Christof doesn’t care whether
Truman lives or dies while sailing in the storm. He throws everything at Truman to try to capsize
the boat.
o
During the film, Christof gets very frustrated that Truman was trying to escape by sailing
away from the island. He throws every kind of wave he can and all the rain he can to
attempt to capsize the boat that Truman was sailing. The people in control of the
weather were even saying that it wasn’t right to try to kill him. They were saying that
they shouldn’t show someone die on television but as Christof said, “He was born on TV,
and he can die on TV.”
o
The issue wasn’t really resolved; the workers went ahead and intensified the storm by
Christof’s order even though they knew it would probably kill him. In the end, Truman
survived all of the waves that were thrown at him even though it seemed he died.
o
Personally if I had Christof telling me to throw everything at him, I would tell him that I
won’t do it. I wouldn’t jeopardize killing Truman just because my manager told me to. I
especially wouldn’t want to show someone dying on television incase kids were
watching the show.

The marriage between Truman and Meryl is marketing to be a perfect and happy marriage.
o
During the film, their marriage is portrayed to be happy and perfect. He is working in an
insurance firm, and she, having a job as a nurse. Though, when looking at their marriage
photos, Truman notices that Meryl has her fingers crossed ‘lying’ about their marriage.
o
The issue was resolved by Meryl wanting a divorce when Truman seems to go crazy. It
was kind of resolved, but in a negative way through a divorce. They were going to spark
a new love interest for Truman so he could marry again and the issue of a divorce could
be resolved.
o
They shouldn’t have controlled Truman’s life so much where they decided who he
should love with and marry. He should have had the opportunity to live his own life and
find his own love. They shouldn’t of had an actor lie about love. I wouldn’t have
married someone if I wasn’t actually in love with them. I wouldn’t want to be controlled
by a television show as Truman was.

During the film, and on the TV show, they control what some of the characters say and give
them lines.
o
During the film, characters are given lines to say to Truman. We see it most when
Marlon is trying to convince Truman that where they live is real and all the lines are fed
to him by the people in the moon. It isn’t very ethical for them to market the show and
twist it the ways that they want if they want the show to be real with Truman’s life.
o
The issue really isn’t resolved since there is no way for them to resolve other than to
stop feeding lines to the characters on the show.
o
In my opinion, they shouldn’t have fed the lines to the actors, and they should have
seen their true acting skill in some situations. They maybe should have created it to be
more of a reality show and filmed many people’s lives rather than one person’s from
birth to death. I don’t think that I could work for an organization or corporation that
exploited someone’s life the way they did in the film. It just isn’t ethical in my eyes so I
would struggle greatly while working there.
Question 3: Briefly list any other marketing ethics issues that were portrayed.

When Truman attempts to go to Fiji, when he goes to the travel agency, there are posters on
the walls showing the negative things about travelling; there is a plane with a bolt of lightning
going through it saying “It could happen to you.” The travel agency should be marketing
travelling as something fun to do, when really; they are marketing it to be bad.

During the film, Christof explains about showing the first conception on television. It isn’t very
ethical for an organization to control someone’s life so much where they even control the
conception of a child. Would the child’s life then be filmed 24/7 just like his father’s and would
he not know the life outside the community and studio? It isn’t ethical to control someone’s life
as much as their lives were on The Truman Show.

In the beginning of the film, before Truman goes to work, a light falls from the studio sky. Then
on the radio when Truman is driving to work, they say that it was just a plane losing parts in the
sky and that no one was hurt. They lied straight out and that isn’t very ethical since Truman
should have known he was in a studio and that it was a light that fell from the ceiling.

Truman as a baby was adopted by the organization that filmed his entire life. It doesn’t seem
ethical for an organization to adopt a child and market the life of the child in a 24/7 TV show.
Summary:
This film has made me think about how filming people’s lives can be very unethical. It isn’t right
to film someone’s life from the moment they are born till the moment they die without telling them that
they are being filmed. Truman’s life was so controlled that he couldn’t go anywhere without being
watched or followed. It isn’t right or ethical at all to do that and control someone’s life that much. I
can’t imagine something like this being okay in today’s society. No one would be able to create a
completely closed off studio and control a person’s life from birth. All of Truman’s rights were taken
away from birth, and even though he was a baby, he should have had the right to not be filmed every
moment of his life.
Overall, I learned the effects of controlling someone’s life as much as they did in the film can
greatly affect how a person is, especially when they are unaware that they are being filmed. Once that
person finds out they are being filmed, their whole life seems to be nothing. No one should be able to
control someone’s life as much as Christof controlled Truman’s. I learned the importance for someone
to live freely aside of the camera’s eye. It also opened up my eyes to being aware that I could be
watched, that maybe every movement of mine might be seen by someone on camera. It’s important to
let someone live their life freely and make their own decisions and not be controlled by anyone.