Paper: BA (JMC) 202: Basics of Advertising

Unit: Unit 1 (Concept of Advertising)

Writer’s Name: Ms Deepa Zutshi

Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Advertising: ASCI & AAAI Code

Introduction: The word 'ethics' has been derived from the Greek word 'ethikos', which refers to
one's moral character and the way one should behave in the civilized society. Similarly
businesses also have ethics and theses ethics govern the way that a business behaves. It is a
behaviour that a business must adhere to in its daily dealings with the external world and internal
public. The ethics of a particular business can be diverse. They apply not only to how the
business interacts with the world at large, but also to their one-on-one dealings with a single
customer.

Ethics in Advertisement: Morally good advertising is that advertising that seeks to move people
to choose and act rationally in morally good ways; morally evil advertising seeks to move people
to do evil deeds that are self-destructive and destructive of authentic community. Means and
techniques of advertising must also be considered: manipulative, exploitative, corrupt and
corrupting methods of persuasion and motivation.

Specific Moral Principles in Advertising

1. Respect Truthfulness- An advertisement should always respect the concept of truthfulness of
every individual. It should never be deceiving and should never intend to deceive the
audience/viewers. Neither should advertisements be untrue.
Never distort the truth by implying things that are not so or withholding relevant facts.
Every advertisement should respect the dignity o each human.
An advertisement should never exploit our "lower inclinations" to compromise our capacity to
reflect or decide either through its content or through its impact: using appeals to lust, vanity,
envy and greed, and other human weakness.
An advisement should show utmost care to the weak and vulnerable: children, young people, the
elderly, the poor, and the culturally disadvantaged. A special care should be taken of these while
making an advertisement. All advertisements should respect social responsibilities and make sure
the advertisements don’t hurt any sentiments.
Example: Concern for the ecology—advertising should not favour a lavish lifestyle which wastes
resources and despoils the environment.

Advertising is a highly visible business activity and any lapse in ethical standards can often be
risky for the company. Some of the common examples of ethical issues in advertising are given
below:
Vulgarity / sexually suggestive used to gain consumers’ attention
 Misleading information and deception
 Puffery
 Stereotypes
 Racial issues
 Controversial products (e.g. alcohol, gambling, tobacco etc)
 Use of women
 Targeting kids
 Subliminal advertising
 Targeting health
 Hitting vulnerable minds – youth

Advertising standard council of India (ASCI)

Established in 1985, is a self-regulatory voluntary organization of the advertising industry in
India. It is a non-Government body. ASCI is committed to the cause of self- regulation in
advertising ensuring the protection of the interest of consumers. ASCI seeks to ensure that
advertisements conform to its Code for Self-Regulation, which requires advertisements to be
legal, decent, honest and truthful and not hazardous or harmful while observing fairness in
competition. ASCI looks into complaints across all media such as Print, TV, Radio, hoardings,
SMS, emailers, Internet / web-site, product packaging, brochures, promotional material and point
of sale material etc. ASCI’s role has been acclaimed by various Government bodies.
The four main constituents of advertising industry viz advertisers, advertising agencies, media
and allied professions came together to form this independent NGO. The aim of ASCI is to
maintain and enhance the public's confidence in advertising. Their mandate is that all advertising
material must be truthful, legal and honest, decent and not objectify women, safe for consumers -
especially children and last but not the least, fair to their competitors.
When an advertiser is creating an ad, the consumer is his audience. The feedback from a
consumer is important to the advertiser so he can be assured if his message has been correctly
conveyed. If a consumer feels that a particular advertisement is in bad taste or is false in its
claims, they need a body or council to whom they can air their grievances and who will take any
appropriate action, if necessary. ASCI as a self-regulatory body governing advertising content is
the ideal medium as its purpose is to serve both the advertisers as well as the consumers.

Mission of ASCI: To maintain and enhance the public's confidence in Advertising.

Goals of ASCI:
1. Truthful and honest: Truthful, fair and non-derogatory to competitors.
Advertisements should not be misleading and plagiarized.
2. Non-offensive to public: Within the bounds of generally accepted standards of public
decency and propriety.
3. Against harmful product/unsafe situations: Not used indiscriminately for the
promotion of products, hazardous or harmful to society or to individuals particularly
minors, to a degree unacceptable to society at large.
4. Fair in competition: Ensure that Advertisements observe fairness in competition so
that the consumer’s needs to be informed on choices in the market place and the
canons of generally accepted competitive behavior in business are both served.

Codes prescribed by ASCI:

• Ensuring truthfulness and honesty of representations and claims made through
advertising and safeguarding against misleading advertising.
 • Ensuring that advertising is not offensive to generally accepted norms and standards of
public decency.
• Safeguarding against indiscriminate use of advertising for promotion of products or
services which are generally regarded as hazardous to society or to individuals or which
are unacceptable to society as a whole.
• Ensuring that advertisements observe fairness in competition and the canons of generally
accepted competitive behavior.
Official website of ASCI:
https://ascionline.org/

Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI)

Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) is the official, national organisation of
advertising agencies, formed in 1945, to promote their interests. The Association promotes
professionalism, through its founding principles, which uphold sound business practices between
Advertisers and Advertising Agencies and the various media. AAAI today is truly representative,
with a very large number of small, medium and large-sized agencies as its members, who
together account for almost 80% of the advertising business placed in the country. It is thus
recognised as the apex body of and the spokesperson for the Advertising industry at all forums –
Advertisers and Media owners and their associations and Government.

Official website of ASCI:

https://www.aaaindia.org/advertising-codes/