Sensory Invasion by False Advertisements

Advertising and the media of social communication share a crucial characteristic together: both have massive influence everywhere. Advertising is pervasive, powerful and shapes attitudes and behaviour, while the sophisticated visual forces of today’s hi-tech media ironically cause unprecedented complications by way of endless aggressive and intrusive advertising to which they expose consumers.

It is believed that the average American watches about 37.5 hours of television weekly which approximate to 1,856 hours per year. With an average of 714 commercials per week, the viewer is exposed to about 37,000 advertisements annually, on television alone (Henning Thiel 2003). However, as many as one-quarter of all these advertisements are deliberately deceptive (Nolo 2004). And to think that by the end of 2005 U.S advertisers alone would have spent $279 billion! (Daniel Gross 2005).

False advertising refers to a situation when advertisements lie or conceal facts so as to convince a consumer to buy a product or service (Dennis Dillion 2003). Bait and switch advertising for example, is an attractive but insincere offer to sell a product or service which the advertiser in reality does not intend to sell. Advertising can also be false through pictorial misrepresentations.

William Bernbach, copywriter and DDB’s founder, who lived between 1911 and 1982 had warned in a notable quote that: “No matter how skillful you are, you can’t invent a product advantage that does not exist. And if you do, and it’s just a gimmick, it’s going to fall apart anyway.” (EdLibrary 2003).

Why, for example, do advertisers use the term “regular price” and then compare their “sale price” to the “regular price”? A lot of “smart” advertisers actually use a fictitious or inflated price as their “regular price” so as to make an unsuspecting consumer believe that he is getting a bargain. In the same vein “irregulars” or “seconds”, that is, products which are not first quality, are not usually described as such in several advertisements.

In the case of “Limited Quantities” consumers are deceived by an advertisement in which an item is offered at an attractive price but on getting to the store they discover they can only buy one unit of the advertised product. Shouldn’t any limitation of quantity be disclosed in the advertising? That advertising professionals wield a terrific power to change lives with their words is never in doubt. However, such power needs to be handled carefully.

Why exaggerate in your advertisements when you can simply tell the truth? According to Allan Fels of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), it is important to get things right before an advertisement is exposed to consumers and in the event that something goes wrong, there should be a procedure for either satisfying demand through a ‘rain check’, i.e. offer of later supply, or the provision of equivalent goods at the same price as the ones advertised (Media Report 147/98).

A study done for the Harvard Business School 30 years ago clearly showed how the American public felt about traditional advertising: 43% believed that most advertising insults the intelligence of the average consumer and 53% disagreed that most advertisements present a picture of the advertised product (Nolo). The study further stated that the major reasons for the hostility toward advertising are that, it is intrusive and patronizing (73%), morally objectionable (50%) and false and misleading (36%).

Even today, the situation has not changed much. In the October 1983 issue of Advertising Age, the judgement of the general public about honesty in advertising was reported as not having improved. According to Nolo, legal information providers, “Industry studies repeatedly show the image of advertising very close to the bottom of the ladder in comparison to other professions. A study presented at a recent industry conference shows advertising professionals next to last, just above used car salesmen.”

The print media, especially the ones you might have respected before you discovered their policy are now subjecting their editorial integrity to the caprices of advertisers. The publication becomes an advocate of products and services of its advertisers in its news stories, not caring that there just might be something dishonest about what they are claiming.

Nigerian media owners should emulate their Indian counterparts who collaborated with the Advertising Standards Council of that country in unveiling a campaign sometime in 2001 with the aim of building public confidence in advertising. The campaign also had language versions that were supplied to regional channels. The Council launched a press campaign while leading publications all over India featured the advertisements free of cost as a service to their readers (The Hindu 17/08/01).

This move, according to Sam Balsara of the Standards Council (ASCI), was to ensure that no advertiser got away with dishonest, indecent or misleading advertisement.
Nigeria’s Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) should also learn from this example by being very proactive in its operations and not wait until it has a special event before it solicits pro-bono support of media. In addition, the body should strive to be consistent in its relationships with various industry players.

For Foley and Pastore of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, advertising professionals “do have sensitive consciences, high ethical standards and a strong sense of responsibility. But even for them external pressures- from the clients who commission their work as well as from the competitive internal dynamics of their profession- can create powerful inducements to unethical behaviour.”

David Ogilvy, a self-described “advertising classicist”, lived between 1911 and 1999. Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide which he founded in 1948 created clean, powerful advertisements characterized by graceful, sensible copy and a palpable respect for the consumer’s intelligence. Similarly, Bernbach was reputed for pioneering the subtle, low-pressure advertising that became the hallmark of Doyle Dane Bernbach, Inc (DDB).

Ogilvy had admonished advertising professionals as follows: “Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your own family to read… if you tell lies about a product, you will be found out- either by Government which will prosecute you, or by the consumer who will punish you by not buying your product a second time. Good products can be sold by honest advertising. If you don’t think the product is good, you have no business to be advertising it.”
During the creative revolution in 1961, the copywriters Hall of Fame honoured Ogilvy as one of its first inductees (ARC INC 2003).

False advertising comes in many more forms such as: “going out business sale”, “fire sale”, “clearance sale”, “referral selling”, “oral or written misrepresentations”, “warranties”, etc. Consumers only need to watch out for them