8629: Madison Avenue Ethics An Oxymoron…?

Last June, ad wonk Wally Snyder announced the formation of an Institute for Advertising Ethics whose primary goal was to draft a code of ethics for the industry. Advertising Age published a follow-up, and here is the much-anticipated result:

Principles and Practices of Advertising

• Advertising, public relations, marketing communications, news, and editorial all share a common objective of truth and high ethical standards in serving the public.

• Advertising, public relations, and all marketing communications professionals have an obligation to exercise the highest personal ethics in the creation and dissemination of commercial information to consumers.

• Advertisers should clearly distinguish advertising, public relations and corporate communications from news and editorial content and entertainment, both online and offline.

• Advertisers should clearly disclose all material conditions, such as payment or receipt of a free product, affecting endorsements in social and traditional channels, as well as the identity of endorsers, all in the interest of full disclosure and transparency.

• Advertisers should treat consumers fairly based on the nature of the audience to whom the ads are directed and the nature of the product or service advertised.

• Advertisers should never compromise consumers' personal privacy in marketing communications, and their choices as to whether to participate in providing their information should be transparent and easily made.

• Advertisers should follow federal, state and local advertising laws, and cooperate with industry self-regulatory programs for the resolution of advertising practices.

• Advertisers and their agencies, and online and offline media, should discuss privately potential ethical concerns, and members of the team creating ads should be given permission to express internally their ethical concerns.

Wow. Wonder how many boxes of Dunkin’ Munchkins® the committee consumed to create this gem. The vague manifesto doesn’t even rival ex-con/adwoman Shona Seifert’s Proposed Code of Ethics for the Advertising Industry. Snyder gushed, “I believe [the code] will lead to a new way of thinking about ethics from, ‘Well, we should be ethical’ to ‘We’ve got to be ethical to build our business better.’” It would have been more efficient and effective to simply provide a link to The Golden Rule.