Introduction.

The study of ethics examines the moral rules that govern how one acts or conducts an

activity. An effective way to communicate with a customer is through advertising. As a

result, the ethical aspects of advertising take into account the clearly established rules that

regulate how the vendor and the buyer communicate. The ethics of the advertising sector are

of utmost importance. Advertising has many advantages but also adheres to some non-ethical

principles.

Advertising is the major important factor in strengthening the efficiency of the markets and it

simultaneously decreases the efficiency of many businesses. To make ease of this conflicting

area it is to understand that without advertisement it’s not possible to reach mass audiences

for selling products. Advertising across different mediums will help the organization to boost

up the outreach and to aware many people to know about products. But; an advertisement

may also decrease efficiency if the purpose of showcasing the content of the advertisement is

not worth. It may hamper the reputation for spreading wrong methods and competitors will

take the opportunity to target their products to gain popularity. It is necessary that advertising

should be done for a meaningful purpose that should benefit audiences along with the

company to increase profits from the market. Thus, it will automatically gain the efficiency of

markets and the intent of the advertising is expected to be fulfilled.

Advertising helps increase worth for the products by providing the positive image of the

product that in turn helps convincing customers to buy it. Advertising assists in educating the

consumers concerning product use thereby increasing its value in minds of the consumers.

For example, mobile phones were first considered as necessity but nowadays it is more of

convenience and a number of features have been enhanced to make them more convenient to

the consumer.
Just as there are some positive aspects to advertising, there are also some negative. It is not

always that advertised products are the best products in the market. While there are some

unadvertised products, which are good enough. A vendor and buyer cannot have a healthy

relationship if the seller portrays a product in an exaggerated, deceptive, or misleading

manner in an advertisement (Hamilton, Richards, & Stiegert, 2011).

Nowadays, advertisements are more exaggerated and with use of a lot of puffing, as the main

interest is to increase sales, increase number of customers while increasing demand for the

product with each advertiser trying to convince the customer on why their product is better

than the other through their unique qualities, cost and benefit.

To ensure that customers' requirements are met in all respects, advertising should emphasize

the moral side of the company. Analysis of the consumer's demands and the potential markets

for satisfying those wants should be done before any advertising. Consumers may feel that

the business genuinely cares about them as a result, increasing consumer trust in the brand.

To this end, on communication aspects, it is necessary to enhance the relationship between

seller and buyer for correctly maintaining the principles of advertising. Customers should not

be duped by advertisements, and the company must provide accurate information pertaining

to the goal of the advertisement. It will make the consumer aware of the organization's

adherence to ethical standards throughout the process, and this could enhance their perception

of the company as being ethical, which is advantageous to the enterprise.

Conclusion

When customers are happy with the advertised product and find it to be worth their money,

the relationship between buyers and sellers is maintained. However, a misleading, deceptive,

or overstated advertisement will damage that relationship. In an effort to capture new clients,

adverts are educative and are accepted by people while some adverts are so offensive that
they are not acceptable. To avoid unacceptable, deceptive and offensive advertising, the seller

should maintain clean advertisements and display right images of the product. It is important

that while advertising on one hand improves market share and purchasing power of

customers’, ethics should always be considered so that the advertiser does not lose customers

References

Hamilton, S. F., Richards, T. J., & Stiegert, K. W. (2011). How does advertising affect

market performance? A note on generic advertising. Economic Inquiry, 51(2), 1183–1195.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7295.2011.00405.x