Discus Issues and Trends in Advertising

Discus Issues and Trends in Advertising
1. As private citizens, we enjoy freedom of speech, protected by the First Amendment
of the U.S. Constitution. The courts have generally held that ideological speech,
which is comprised primarily of political and religious speech, is highly protected. The
courts have ruled that commercial speech, including advertising, enjoys some First
Amendment protection, but not to the same degree as ideological speech. Thus,
commercial speech can be subject to more governmental regulations and restrictions
than ideological speech is.
z Should commercial speech have the same degree of First Amendment protection
as ideological speech? Explain why or why not.
2. The third-person effect describes how many of us recognize that advertising has a
powerful effect on many other people, but not on ourselves.
z Why do you think that so many people, although recognizing the power of advertising, do not believe that advertising affects them personally?
3. Some people argue that the market itself is the best way to regulate advertising.
They say that if a product or service does not perform as advertised, the advertiser
risks alienating its customers. As a result, advertisers are motivated to produce
advertisements that are accurate and not misleading. Other people argue that there
are too many unsophisticated consumers who will be victimized by misleading
advertising. This group supports government regulation of advertising as a means of
protecting consumers.
z Which argument do you find the most persuasive?
z Why did you answer the way you did?
Discus Issues and Trends in Advertising
4. Stealth marketing is an effort by advertisers and other marketing firms to create
material that is advertising, while attempting to disguise the advertising as something else.
z Visit the web site http://www.teen.com and look around.
z Discuss how the site uses “stealth marketing” to sell products and services.
z What are some of the ways that the site tries to gather data about its visitors?
z Why do you think that the site wants to gather this data?
z In your opinion, is this site ethical? Explain your answer.
5. Review Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid on p. 39. Advertisers commonly present
their products or services as meeting a need higher on the pyramid than one would
normally assume. Find a magazine advertisement that offers a product or service as
meeting one of these needs.