Advertising Ethics as Part of International Communication

Introduction

Advertising is an important element in business.  Advertising is an attempt by a business to be able to communicate their product, either in the form of goods or services to consumers through a variety of interesting visual and video content and aims to make the general public know about the product and use the product or service.  Currently, there are many advertisements spread across various countries in the world with various types and variants of each, there is what is called online advertising where these advertisements are displayed through online media such as social media, YouTube, and so on.  There are also advertisements broadcast on television or advertisements shown on billboards or other conventional media. 

In advertising, of course, every company hopes that their products or services can be recognized by the public and produce a good impact, namely products can be sold and have value in the eyes of society, but often many companies and advertisers forget an important element when they advertise a product or service, namely advertising ethics, advertising ethics is one of the important elements when creating and disseminating advertisements.

Advertising ethics itself is a series of rules or regulations that must be obeyed when you want to advertise a product or item, this advertising ethics includes good or bad things that should and should not be done so that they are included in an advertisement, a good advertisement, of course, must meet the rules of advertising ethics if an advertisement violates advertising ethics then the advertisement can be said to be unethical. Simply put, advertisements will definitely ignore information that if conveyed to viewers will actually make viewers not interested in becoming consumers of their products or services.

Advertising has 2 (two) functions, namely the informative function and the persuasive function. But in reality, there is no advertisement that is purely informative and no advertisement is solely persuasive. Ads about new products usually have strong information. For example about tourist places and advertisements about food prices in supermarkets. Whereas advertisements about products with many brands will have a more prominent persuasive element, such as advertisements about branded clothes and houses (Bertens, 2000: 265). ethics in advertising. The three principles are:

(1) The Principle of Honesty: The principle of honesty relates to the fact that the language of advertisement symbols is often exaggerated so that instead of presenting information about the supply of goods and services needed by consumers, it affects and even creates new needs. So what is emphasized here is that the content of advertisements that are communicated must truly state the true reality of the production of goods and services. While what is being avoided here, as a logical consequence is manipulation attempts with any motive whatsoever

(2) The Principle of Human Dignity: a Person That advertisements should respect human dignity as a person is increasingly emphasized today as a kind of imperative requirement. Advertisements should respect the rights and responsibilities of everyone in choosing responsibly the goods and services they need, this relates to the dimensions of the services offered (lust), the pride that having certain goods and services determines social status in society, and so on.

(3) Advertising and social responsibility: Manipulation through advertising or in any way is an unethical act. There are 2 (two) ways to manipulate people with advertising:

a. Subliminal advertising The meaning is an advertising technique that at first glance conveys a message so quickly, that it is not consciously perceived, but stays below the threshold of awareness. This technique can be used in both visual and audio fields (Bertens, 2000: 273) b. Advertisements aimed at children should also be considered unethical because children are easily manipulated and made fun of. Advertisements aimed directly at children cannot be judged other than manipulation and therefore must be rejected as unethical.

Discussion

The object of advertising is indeed different from one another, therefore, advertising communications differ from one another according to the object and purpose of the advertisement itself. Advertisements can aim to educate, and introduce a product to increase insight into the product. Advertising aims to create a positive image of a product. is a form of violation In general there are three objectives to be achieved by companies with advertising communications, namely:

1. Provide information to target consumers about products and

their benefits. notifications about the presence of new products on the market, price changes, and how to use goods.

2. Convince target consumers to choose a competing company's product or trademark. This kind of advertisement is known as persuasive advertising. For example: appealing to target consumers to buy the product, choosing the advertised product or brand, or convincing consumers about the superiority of the advertised product attributes compared to competing products.

3. Remind consumers of the existence of market products and the various benefits they promise.

advertising ethics is the presence of manipulative advertising. Ethics is necessary in all aspects of life and in everything we do

            Reflection on the ethical issues surrounding advertising practice is a good example of the complexities of moral reasoning. Here ethical principles are important, but the availability of ethical principles is not enough to judge the morality of an advertisement. Reflections on advertising ethics remind us that moral reasoning is always nuanced by listening to and judging concrete situations. There are several factors that must be considered in applying ethical principles in advertising (Bertens, 2000: 277)

a. The advertiser's intent

Whether or not an advertisement is ethical is of course strongly correlated with the intent of the advertiser, if the intent of the advertiser is not good, then it is certain that the advertisement will also be difficult for the public to consider ethical. For example, cellular operator advertisements in all countries in the world (internationally) which we often see bring down one another, if left unchecked, this will become an advertising war between cellular operators, which of course will not have a good impact on society.

b. Ad content

In addition to the intention of the advertiser, an advertisement will be unethical if the contents of the advertisement are not good, for example, an advertisement about liquor, especially if it is broadcast in a country that upholds eastern customs, such as. There is also advertising controversy regarding products that are detrimental to public health, for example, cigarettes. International law can take strict action to ban existing cigarette advertisements with the aim that people are not affected by smoking, especially the younger generation and adolescents. But on the other hand, cigarettes may be traded legally, of course, it will reap a lot of protests when advertisements about cigarettes are banned.

In cases like this, consumers themselves have to filter

these advertisements, can consider their use for their health, especially the risks obtained rather than the benefits obtained

c. Targeted public state

In making advertisements, the producers must have targeted their advertisements to the right target, that is, to target the particular consumer market, for example, a car advertisement targeted that its advertisement could appeal to the upper middle class (because in reality they were the ones who could afford it). If this is conveyed inaccurately, it can lead to ethical issues for the lower class of society. Is it ethical if there are advertisements about luxury cars in the midst of a chaotic society and the majority are below the poverty line? Because with this kind of advertising, the dividing line between the rich and the poor will get thicker

d. Habits in the field of advertising

Advertising is always practiced within the framework of a tradition, in which in that tradition, people are used to serving advertisements in a certain way. There are already rules of the game that are agreed upon implicitly or explicitly and which often cannot be separated from the ethos that characterizes that society (Bertnes, 2000: 280)

Closing

Advertising is a commercial product that has become an international culture in all countries in the world. Advertising can help a product to be better known and develop financially in society. However, many companies often ignore the elements of ethics in advertising, even though advertising ethics is an important factor that must be considered. Advertising ethics is not standardized internationally, but follows the culture and habits of the regional community in the country. Advertising ethics relates to the content of advertisements, the language used in advertisements, to the objectives or targets of advertisements. Ethical advertising means paying attention to the elements of communication in it. Conversely, unethical advertising means ignoring the elements of communication.