The Morality (?) of Advertising
...ts because we tend to buy off of promise instead of experience. But all promises and images, almost by their very nature, exceed their capacity to live up to themselves. Most consumers, however, know that an advertisement is an ad, and not factual, not reality. Charles Revson of Revlon, Inc. once said “In the factory we make cosmetics; in the store we sell hope.” This is a profound statement about distinction. The distinction between fact and fluff. So then why has legislation gotten involved with advertising. Senator Philip Hart and Senator William Proxmire both are involved with consumer-protection and the truth-in-advertising. It seems that people want less fluff and more fact about the things they buy. That we want descriptions, not distortion, and we want some relief from the constant flow of advertisements forced on us. Some suggestions offered about advertising: it can support legislation to provide the consumer with the information he needs to make easy comparison between products, packages, and prices. Also, it can support efforts to moderate and clean up the advertising noise that dulls our senses and assaults our sensibilities. On the other hand, advertisers have a right to legitimately embellish and distort; it is what society demands. Society chooses to create its own reality. No one desires to live in a hut, we want a nice, comfortable house. It is symbolic communication. We are not satisfied with “nature” in the raw. We want to embellish and reshape our reality. This is human nature, even in some isolated regions of Africa where they have absolutely no advertising, the people wear bracelets, rings, and clips to amplify themselves. We demand symbolic interpretation in everything we see and know, and if we do not get it, we simply are not interested. As a society, we believe that the more things we have, or the more bells and whistles we have, better people we are. Our churches are no exception. Many of our churches have luxurious designs and expensive decorations. We alter ourselves and surroundings to make life more tolerable than God designed it to be, but without distortion and elaboration, life would be dull and drab. Is advertising deceitful? No. Advertisements are the symbols of man’s aspirations. They are not the real things, nor are they intended to be. Society u...