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Kevin Baylen
Professor Benjamin Young
IDH 3600 Business Ethics
6 May 2016
Moral Obligations of Advertising
Many would consider the art of seduction to be a manipulative and perhaps deceiving practice. In
many cases, the seducer might cause misfortune upon their prey, so it may be right to say that
seduction is deceiving. For example, in Greek mythology, beautiful creatures called sirens would
seduce sailors with their enchanting voices, luring them to their dooms. In the same way that
sirens lure sailors to their doom, misleading advertisements persuade consumers into buying
products which they otherwise would not want or need. Advertisements are a form of seduction
whose purpose is to manipulate consumers desires, but unlike sailors who lose all self-control
upon hearing the voices of a siren, consumers still have the choice whether or not to buy into an
advertisement. Although advertisements are a form of seduction, they are merely trying to sell a
product, so it is up to the consumer to be able to distinguish between their needs and desires and
the needs and desires created by advertisements. If sufficient information about a product is
available, a consumer should be able to determine whether or not it is a product that they need.
Businesses, assuming they provide adequate and accurate information on their product, have no
ethical obligation for their advertisements to be un-manipulative for the sake of the consumer.
Although advertisements do try to manipulate consumers into buying something they
otherwise would not, it is ultimately the consumers choice whether or not to buy a product that

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they see in an advertisement. A consumer might not even know a product exists, but upon seeing
an advertisement for it, decides that it is something that they want or need. Although the
advertisement did play a role, in itself, the advertisement did not cause the consumer to go out
and buy the product. The advertisement merely provided information that would otherwise be
unknown to the consumer. For example, if someone did not know of the existence of a
dishwasher, then they would just live their lives washing their dishes in the sink, and they would
not have a need for a dishwasher, because they would be getting along without one. Once, they
see an advertisement for a dishwasher, they might decide that it is a useful machine that would
make their life easier. Even though, they did not need the dishwasher, being able to get along
doing their dishes by hand, the advertisement simply opened their eyes to another option, one
that they otherwise would have been blind to. In this case, the advertisement simply informed the
consumer of a product, without any manipulation. However, in todays market, there are
incredible amounts of the same product, and advertisements seek to manipulate consumers into
buying the product of their business. In such a competitive market, it is up to the consumer to do
research on the available products in order to choose the one that best fits their needs or desires.
According to Goldman, one of the conditions for pure competition in a market is perfect
knowledge on the part of consumers of prices and features of various products and services
(337). As long as such information is provided to consumers by the businesses, then businesses
should be allowed to go about advertising as they please. It should not be expected for a business
to include all this information in an advertisement, because the point of an advertisement is to
make a product stand out from the rest, so limiting the content of advertisements to information
would highly stifle this goal. It is in the responsibility of the consumers, once their interest has
been piqued for a product by an advertisement, to do efficient research about the product to judge

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whether or not they actually need it and want to spend money on it. If the consumer fails to do
their part, and simply buys a product based on its advertisement, then it is not the fault of the
advertisement for causing the consumer to spend their money on a possibly unneeded product,
but the fault of the consumer who did not practice responsibility with their money. According to
Savan, once properly flattered, all thats left is to close the sale and only we can do that
(347). An advertisement cannot force anyone to do anything, it merely persuades. It is the fault
of the consumer if they allow an advertisement to persuade them. Ultimately, the consumer is in
control of their own money, and advertisements simply show them products which they can
spend this money on.
Though it is responsible for a consumer to research a product that they intend to purchase, they
still have the right to simply give in to what an advertisement presents. Since advertisements can
be deceiving, Goldman goes on to claim if consumers are misled, they will no longer be free in
their choices (339). However, this is untrue, because the consumer can choose to simply listen
to what an advertisement is telling them, essentially choosing to be misled. A consumer, perhaps
through an excess of income, may not be concerned with the useless spending of their money,
and in this case, they might see an advertisement, and simply purchase the product on a whim. It
is not the fault of the advertisement that the consumer chose to wastefully spend their money.
Ultimately, an advertisements goal is to inform the consumer of a product that they might
otherwise be unaware of, and to make this product stand out from other similar products so that
consumers choose to buy that certain product instead of others. In a way, an advertisements goal
is to control the consumers actions into buying a certain product, but advertisements only have
the control that the consumer gives them. If a consumer sees an advertisement, it is not as though

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they lose all self-control and involuntarily go out and buy whatever the advertisement told them
to. Advertisements are only able to exceed a consumers self-control and persuade them to go
buy something if the consumer allows it to. Even then, sometimes a consumer might want to
allow an advertisement to do that. If a consumer is out on a shopping spree, they might be going
from window to window looking for something to spend their money on, and in a situation like
that, they are less concerned with receiving a product, they are more concerned with giving their
money away. According to Savan, Itd be nice to say that now that youve consumed, youve
climaxed, and everyone can relax (347). After all, one could say that it is pleasurable to spend
money and get new things, no matter what those things are. If it is the choice of the consumer to
nonchalantly spend money and give in to advertisements, then it is their own actions and not
under the fault of the advertisement, even though the advertisement did provide the product on
which the consumer could spend their money.
Advertisements do have an influence on the desires of a consumer, but in the end, a
consumers needs and wants derive from so many other things that the role that advertisements
play is not significant. According to Galbraith, wants originate in the personality of the
consumer (329). Every person is different and wants different things, and advertisements can
point in the same direction as a persons original wants, and in that situation the advertisement
might be successful in persuading them to purchase that product. If an advertisement does not
coincide with a persons original wants, then the advertisement will not be able to connect with
them, because what the person wants is not granted by what the advertisement is presenting. An
advertisement is only on the persons mind for a couple seconds, the length of a commercial or
however long they choose to look at a billboard before they get bored, and there are so many

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other things on their mind for the rest of the time. People will tend to think about things that they
do not have and things that they wish they had, and if an advertisement includes any of these
things, then the person will be more likely to listen to the advertisement. For example, if a person
spends their whole day at work thinking of eating an ice cream sundae, craving the taste of the
ice cream and the crunch of the sprinkles, and then on their way home, they hear an ad on the
radio for a new ice cream shop in town, they are a lot more likely to give in to what is being
advertised than if they were to just hear it without having the craving. Even if an advertisement
does not coordinate with a persons wants, it might show them something that they were unaware
about and did not even know they wanted. In this sense, the production of a good creates the
need for the good. If the consumer did not know ice cream existed, then they would not have the
desire for ice cream. However, on single producer of a product has the power to completely
control their consumers desires. According to Von Hayek, the joint but uncoordinated efforts of
the producers merely create one element of the environment by which the wants of consumers
are shaped (335). Since, by itself, one producer does not have the power to completely control
its consumers, then it is safe for their advertisements to be persuasive. Even then, producers as a
whole only provide a single contribution to what goes into deriving a consumers desires.
Advertisements can shape a persons wants, but only a minute amount compared to all the other
things that also shape their desires.
Sometimes the products that a person desires is something that they do not necessarily need, so
in a way, it would be a waste to spend money on it. If it is assumed that anything that is not
needed would be wasteful to spend money on, then advertising such a product would be illintentioned, because it would be trying to get the consumer to waste their money. Some products

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like this exist, ones that have no essential purpose necessary to live. Snow globes, for example,
or any other type of souvenir product provide no intrinsic service that the owner would not be
able to survive without. Although these products are not necessity, a person might still want
them, and therefore, businesses should be allowed to show consumers that they provide for these
desires through advertisements. No matter how unnecessary a product is, businesses have the
right to promote their products and services (Goldman 340). Even though a product might not
be necessary, that does not mean that it is pointless. As well, even if a product is pointless, a
business is not in the wrong for selling a pointless product to the consumer. If the consumer
chooses to purchase a pointless product, then that was done under their own control. On the other
hand, if an advertisement claims that their unnecessary product is essential, then that is when the
advertisement crosses from advertising to just lying, which is immoral. If the consumer does not
need a product, then the advertisement should simply inform about the product without trying to
paint it as something that is essential. According to Goldman, one method of persuading
someone to buy something is simply to inform him of its features and availability (339). In this
way, the advertisement will not use deception in order to get the consumer to purchase its
product, but it will provide information for the consumer to construct their own decision.
Although spending money on products that are not a need could be considered a waste,
businesses still have a right to advertise their goods and services.
Advertising in itself provides some insight into the credibility of a business and their
products. If a company has enough income that it can afford to advertise, then it has enough
money to put into their products to ensure its quality. Consumers know this, as according to
Savan, the public more or less believes that something serious is going on between a product

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and its image (345). Advertisements, especially very widespread ones, such as commercials that
air during the Super Bowl, cost an extraordinary amount of money, and if a business is successful
enough to be able to purchase such advertisements, then their product must be worthwhile. In
this way, advertisements are not intrinsically manipulative, because their mere existence grants
some insight into the success of a company. The appearance of success, or wealth, may to some
people seem more important than many other needs, says Von Hayek (336). People want to be
associated with success, so that this success will soon be associated with themselves. Therefore,
people will buy into advertisements merely for the fact that the advertisements are present.
Additionally, an advertisement can even present the status of a company. For example, if you see
a product in a commercial for a product similar to many other as seen on TV products, it would
lend the idea that the product is gimmicky and a waste of money. In addition to the mere words
that advertisements say and present, advertisements are able to tell the consumers about the
product through the medium which the advertisement is presented. Advertisements will always
be intrinsically persuasive and perhaps manipulative, but businesses can use them to present their
success through the mere ability to produce such an ad.
All in all, advertisements do play some role in developing a consumers needs and wants,
but ultimately it is the consumer who is in charge of their own money. Advertisements will never
be able to completely control their consumers, because even if a consumers interest might be
piqued by an advertisement, it does not make them involuntarily go out and buy the product
being advertised. Even then, if the consumer wants to be seduced by the advertisement, even that
is in their right to go out and buy whatever an advertisement tells them to. Advertisements can
say whatever they want to try to get consumers to buy, but advertisements only play a minute

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role in shaping their consumers' desires. Consumer desires sometimes fall into products that are
not a necessity, but advertisements are doing no wrong in trying to get people to spend their
money on somethng they do not need. Lastly, advertisements provide some insight into the
success of a business, which could show a relation to the quality of their product. Advertisements
by nature are persuasive, but it is the consumer's choice to be manipulated or not.

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Works Cited
Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Dependence Effect. Honest Work: A Business Ethics Reader.
Eds. Joanne B. Ciulla, Clancy Martin, and Robert C. Solomon. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2007. 329-333. Print.
Goldman, Alan. The Justification of Advertising in a Market Economy. Honest Work:
ABusiness Ethics Reader. Eds. Joanne B. Ciulla, Clancy Martin, and Robert C. Solomon.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. 337-341. Print.
Savan, Leslie. The Bribed Soul Honest Work: A Business Ethics Reader. Eds. Joanne B.
Ciulla, Clancy Martin, and Robert C. Solomon. New York: Oxford University Press,
2007. 342-347. Print.
Von Hayek, Friedrich. The Non Sequitur of the Dependence Effect. Honest Work: A
Business Ethics Reader. Eds. Joanne B. Ciulla, Clancy Martin, and Robert C. Solomon.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. 334-336. Print.