Ways of unethical advertisement

• Surrogate advertisement
• Puffery
• Exaggeration
• Unverified claims
• Women stereotyping
• Women used as sex symbols for promoting
products
• Comparative advertisements
• Use of children in advertising
Surrogate advertising is prominently
seen in cases where advertising
Surrogate advertising
a particular product is banned
by law. Advertisement for
products like cigarettes or
alcohol which are injurious to
heath are prohibited by law in
several countries and hence these
companies have to come
up with several other products that
might have the same brand name and
indirectly remind people of the
cigarettes or beer bottles of the
same brand Common examples
include Fosters and Kingfisher
beer brands, which are often seen to
promote their brand with the help
of surrogate advertising.
 Puffery
• Puffery as a legal term refers to promotional statements and
claims that express subjective rather than objective views,
such that no reasonable person would take literally. A two-
year old might believe that polar bears enjoy sipping Coca-
Cola. But we know better.
 EXAGGERATION
• Using false claims in the advertisements about the product.
• For example:-Ghari detergent - “Pehle Istemaal kare phir
vishvaas kare.”, Tide detergent – “White ho to Tide ho.”,
Vodafone Essar – “Wherever you go our network follows.”

White ho to One Drop Challenge Wherever you go our

Tide ho. network follows.
 Unverified Claims

• It includes advertisements of “energy drinks” which tells

us about the number of vitamins and how they help
children to grow strong and tall.
• There is no way of verifying these false claims.
• For example:-Horlicks, Maltova, Tiger biscuits.
WOMEN IN ADVERTISING
 Women stereotyping

Women are generally associated with household

works and is not supposed to be a good decision
maker which contributes to women stereotyping .
Women shown as doing domestic work which
reflects stereotype image of women.
Women in advertising used as sex symbols
 Unhealthy Brand comparisons

• Nowadays advertisers are engaged in

unhealthy brand comparison with the help of
advertising. Such comparisons create problems
and confusions for the right choice of the
product as far as audience are concerned.
• Example can be cited of colgate and pepsodent
toothpaste.
Colgate Vs Pepsodent

Complan Vs Horlicks

Coca cola Vs Pepsi

 Children in
advertising

• Children are easily persuaded

and have a large pull on today's
markets, as is known by all
advertisers, even ones who do
not intend for their products to
be consumed by children.
Children and adolescents as target groups

The children’s market where

resistance to advertising
is weakest is the “pioneer
for ad creep”.” Kids are
among the most sophisticated
observers of ads. They can
sing the jingles and identify
the logos, and they often have
strong feelings about products.
What they generally don't
understand, however, are the
issues thatunderlie how
advertising works.
Vulgar Advertisements banned by I & B Ministry :-

Amul macho

Axe dark temptation

Newspaper ads
A wine bottle that is considered ethically wrong because the lorry may have to move
to certain places where drinking is unethical