Advertising Ethics: Reasons, Rationalizations, Biases, and Heuristics

Author: Drumwright, Minette E.
Source: The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education
Year: 2005

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Abstract:

A teaching note for the case on Advertising Ethics is available to registered faculty users on this site.

Advertising practitioners often have difficulty seeing ethical issues or have a distortion of moral vision that has been referred to as “moral myopia” by researchers. Even if they do see ethical issues, they often have difficulty talking about them, a condition referred to as “moral muteness.” Moral myopia and moral muteness are typically supported by rationalizations, biases, and heuristics that lead to problematic decisions. While moral myopia and moral muteness occur in other fields as well, the purpose of this module is to consider the forms that they take in advertising. It provides students opportunity to “pre-script” themselves, so that they will be more likely to recognize ethical issues when they encounter them and respond appropriately. The objectives of this module are three-fold:

1) To help students identify ethical issues in advertising at three levels: the individual, the organization, and society.
2) To help students recognize the rationalizations, biases, and heuristics that can impede ethical sensitivity and lead to unethical behavior.
3) To provide students practice generating responses that encourage ethical sensitivity and sound decision making.

This Teaching Module was developed by Minette E. Drumwright, Associate Professor of Advertising University of Texas at Austin.