Are semi-subliminal and manipulative advertising unethical?
The author holds the view that such advertising is clearly unethical. A statement to this effect was also made on behalf of the American Association of Advertising Agencies in 1981. Such advertising intends to deny the consumer the right of conscious appraisal. Such ads do not breach any specific guideline agreed by the Advertising Standards Association in the United Kingdom but nevertheless breach the spirit of these guidelines. The ASA and AAAA pages indicate how little attention such organizations are willing to pay to ethical principles when their ‘bread and butter’ is provided by commercial concerns whose sole interest is their profit margin. The actions of companies such as Philip Morris, R.J.Reynolds-Nabisco and British American Tobacco have, over the years, shown their disdain for ethical practices where the consumer is concerned. There is little likelihood that these organizations. and commercial concerns will change their ways unless members of the public insist that consumer
