Ad vertisement and its Social Responsibilty

Presented by : Mrs. Ravi Sidhu As sistent proffesor in commerce St.Soldier College ,Jalandhar E-mail id : ravneet_aman_r@ yahoo.com Contact: 9915870022

Ad vertisment
Advertising is an announcement regarding the launch of a product, service or idea through the usage of basically the most popular mass media . Advertising and its effectiveness is directly associated with its marketing that is the way in which a product has been launched or presented to the consumers . Advertising in its simplest form means public announcement. Advertising is any paid form o f nonpersonal presentation of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor. Advertising is multidimensional and is definitely a form of publicity. Any form of mass communication has a social responsibility attached with it and thus advertisement i s no exception. As advertising is a form of mass communication and thus just like other popular forms it too have some social responsibilities associated with it. However, one question in this context that needs to be cleared is whether advertisements fulf ill the so called responsibility or not. Advertisements are meant for the masses and people relate themselves with this medium. Thus, for understanding its responsibilities towards the public, its positive and the negative aspects needs to understood. .

Negative and Positive Asp ects of Ad vertising

Several studies have been conducted on the effect of advertising on the price sensitivity of consumers. . Like for instance, some of the studies imply that an increase in advertising leads to an increase in the anticipated price sensitivity of the public. On the other hand, some studies have indicated that an increase in advertising leads to a decrease in the price sensitivity of the consumers. In this competitive market, with the advent of so many advertisi ng agencies as well as with the arrival of billions of products, services and ideas, satisfying the needs of the clients have become the ultimate objective for the advertisers. People are often left with ample choices about the same kind of products which guarantee almost the same facilities but are not really the same. The advertisers rarely think about the benefit of the people, they are more inclined towards making profit. Further, advertising, apart from its plentiful direct effects, also affects the price sensitivity of the consumers as well as the prices of goods in the market directly. The advertisers in assessing the sensitivities of the consumers to price. This assessment is treated as an input to take strategic and tactical decisions regarding market segmentation, marketing activities, price strategies. The

claims made by advertising need to ensure honesty and truthfulness. On a lighter note, advertising people are citizens of the community and thus being a part of the community they do have certain duties to develop towards the society rather than demolishing the values of the civil society . Messages in any advertisement when delivered in real circumstances grab maximum attention of the audiences. Majority of the consumers felt that advertising holds quite a relevant and significant position in present day society. However, they also feel that the advertisements should be properly censored and checked for the claims being made in order to avoid any type of socially irresponsible advertisings. No wadays, a number of advertisements are being made that simply exaggerate the qualities of the product often leading to biasness. In those cases, it has been found later that the products were not as good as claimed by the advertisers In India, a large am ount of advertisements are being especially to attract the female audiences. Certain advertisements like that of ready-made garments, fabrics, cosmetics, leather goods, jewelries, etc., mostly feature celebrities and portray highly westernized and showy type of lifestyle. It definitely affects the mindset of the people often leaving them with the feeling of inferiority complex in front of those who can lavishly afford the kind of lifestyles portrayed in certain advertisements. Mostly, the commercials of Ra dio and Television feature women essentially as the consumers who are preoccupied with clothes, jewelries. W omen are mostly portrayed as housewives, loving wife and mother. Only minimum percentages of advertisements show the working class women and their p roblems.

Social Aw areness Ad vertising ( De velopment ad vertising )

Advertising is one of the most influential tools of mass communication, there is no doubt that any information delivered through this mode create an impact. In this context role of social service advertising needs to be mentioned.It is also referred as development advertising. Public service or social awareness advertising mainly focuses on social issues like pollution, family planning, care and concern for aged and disabled, awareness campaigns against smoking, drugs, alcohol, etc. The primary purpose of this type of advertising is to

educate the masses through hard hitting didactic messages. This form of advertising does not sell products rather effective messagesand ideas. Social Awareness Advertising promotes ideas. But for these ideas, creativity wil l be of a different kind. A product is out there in a shop. Trying to sell an idea like a free cancer check-up, the need to keep the Ganga clean, the importance of Family Planning, is altogether a different proposition. It needs more care, more study, mo re perception, and more inspiration and above all, more sensitivity but as honestly as it is possible for any human being to speak like a person and not an ad man. Ms.Tara Sinha (veteran in the field of Advertising, Public Relations, External Affairs, I ssues Management and Corporate Communications, memberships in The Delhi Advertising Club, India ) wants advertising to become an instrument to accelerate the process of change in the urban and rural society. Social awareness advertising, according to her, should be much more than tokenism with a potential to do PR job. It should have a better fate than being hung in galleries or occasionally released in media. Public Service Advertising or Social Awareness Advertising must bear a stamp of professional excellence that moves people to action It is also necessary that public service advertising be viewed on a campaign basis, adequate time must be given for advertising to work.

Advertiser' s Ethics & So cial Responsibility

1. .Advertising has a social responsibility to sell truthfully that the test of truth is not what is literally said in an advertisement, but what is understood. If you dont know what is understood by the consumer, do some more research. Once you know what is understood, make sure the product delivers whats understood.. 2. Advertising has a social responsibility to sell efficiently. properly practiced creativity can make one ad do the work of ten. When that happens, clients become more profitable and when clients become more profitable, they can give more back to society. 3. Advertising has a social responsibility to be especially sensitive to children. Younger children have a limited capacity for evaluating the

information they receive. They also may lack the ability to understand the nature of the personal information they disclose on the Internet. Advertisers, therefore, have a special responsibility to protect children from their own susceptibilities. Products and content which are inappropriate for children should not be advertised or promoted directly to children. 4 . A dv er t i s i ng s ho ul d a l w a y s ta ke i nt o a c co u n t t h e l ev el o f k no w l e dg e, s o p hi s ti ca ti o n a n d ma t ur i ty o f th e a ud i en c e t o w hi c h th ei r me s s a g e i s pr i m a r i l y d i r e c te d. 5 . A dv er t i s i ng ma y p l a y a n i m po r t a nt p a r t i n e du c a ti n g th e c h i l d , a dv e r ti s er s s ho ul d co m m un i ca te i n f o r m a t i o n i n a t r ut hf ul a n d a c cu r a t e ma n n er a nd i n l a n g u a g e u n d er s ta n da bl e to y o u ng c hi l dr e n w i th f u l l r e co g n i t i o n t h a t t he c hi l d ma y l ea r n pr a c ti c es f r o m a dv er t i s i ng w hi c h c a n a f f e ct hi s o r h e r h ea l t h a n d we l l - b ei ng . .

6. C a r e s ho u l d b e ta ke n to i n co r po r a t e mi no r i t y g r o u p s i n
a dv er ti s em e nts i n o r der to pr es en t po s i ti v e a n d pr o s o ci a l r o l es a n d r o l e mo d el s w he r e v er po s s i bl e .

THE BENEFITS OF ADVERTISING

Ad v e r t i s i n g h a s a s t r o n g e f f e c t o n s o c i e t y. I t s h a p e s a t t i t u d e s a n d f e e l i n g s a b o u t p e o p le a n d p r o d u c t s . A d v e r t i s i n g c a n p l a y a n i mp o r t a n t r o l e i n t h e p r o c e s s b y w h i c h a n e c o n o mi c s ys t e m g u i d e d b y mo r a l n o r ms a n d r e s p o n s i v e t o t h e c o mmo n g o o d c o n t r i b u t e s t o h uma n d e v e l o p me n t . A d v e r t i s i n g c a n b e a u s e f u l t o o l f o r s u s t a i n i n g h o ne s t a n d e t h i c a l l y r e s p o n si b l e c o mp e t i t i o n t h a t c o n t r i b u t e s t o e c o n o mi c g r o wt h i n t h e s e r v i c e o f a u t h e n t i c h u ma n d e v e l o p me n t A d v e r t i s i n g b y i n f o r mi n g p e o p l e a b o u t t h e a v a i l a bi l i t y o f rationally desirable new products and services and i mp r o v e me n t s i n e x i s t i n g o n e s , h e l p i n g t h e m t o ma k e i n f o r me d , , c o n t r i b u t i n g t o e f f i c i e n c y a n d t h e l o w e r i n g o f p r i c e s , a n d s t i mu l a t i n g e c o n o mi c p r o g r e s s t h r o u g h t h e expansion of business and trade. All of this can contribute

t o t h e c r e a t i o n o f n e w jo b s , h i g h e r i n c o me s a n d a m o r e d e c e n t a n d h u ma n e wa y o f l i f e f o r a l l . A d v e r t i s i n g c a n i t s e l f c o n t r i b u t e t o t h e b e t t e r me n t o f s o c i e t y b y u p l i f t i n g a n d i n s p i r i n g p e o p l e a n d mo t i v a t i n g t h e m t o a c t i n wa ys t h a t b e n e f i t t h e ms e l v e s a n d o t h e r s . .
In man y cases, social institutions, including those of a religious nature, use advertising to communicate their messages messages of faith, of patriotism, of tolerance, compassion and neighborly service, of charity toward the needy , messages concerning health and education, constructive and helpful messages that educate and motivate people in a variety of b e n e f i c i a l w a ys .

Conclusion
T h e s e c a s e s t u d i e s s h o w t h a t a d ve r t i s e me n t s d o h a v e a l a r g e i mp a c t o n t h e a ud i e n c e s . I t c l a r i f i e s t h a t a d v e r t i s e me n t s r e a l l y a r e o n e o f t h e mo s t p o we r f u l a n d s t r o n g e s t me d i um o f ma s s c o m mu n i c a t i o n a n d wh e n a u t h e n t i c a n d u n b i a s e d me s s a g e s a r e d e l i v e r e d t h r o u g h t h i s me d i u m, Th e p r o d u c t s g e t a n i n s t a n t p o s i t i v e r e s p o n s e i n t h e ma r k e t . I t a l l d e p e n d s o n t h e a d v e r t i s e r s , wh o i n t r o d u c e t h e p r o d u c t s o r s e r v i c e s wi t h c o mp l e t e a u t h e n t i c i t y a n d wi t h o u t f o r g e t t i n g t h e i r r e s p o n s i b i l i t y t o wa r d s t h e c o m mu n i t y. Ad v e r t i s e me n t s d o h a v e a s o c i a l r e s po n s i b i l i t y a n d it w o u l d n t b e wr o n g t o s t a t e t h a t p e o p l e c a n b e s u c c e s s f u l l y ma d e a w a r e o f t h e a l l t h e c o n c e r n e d a n d r e l e v a n t s o c i a l i s s u e s t h r o u g h t h i s s i g n i f i c a n t t o o l o f ma s s c o mmu n i c a t io n . In light of these reflections, therefore, we call upon a d v e r t i s i n g p r o f e s s i o n a l s a n d u p on a l l t h o s e i n v o lv e d i n t h e p r o c e s s o f c o m m i s s i o n i n g a n d d i s s e mi n a t i n g a d v e r t i s i n g t o e l i mi n a t e i t s s o c i a l l y h a r mf u l a s p e c t s a n d o b s e r v e h i g h e t h i c a l s t a n d a r d s i n r e g a r d t o t r u t h f u l n e s s, h u ma n d i g n i t y a n d s o c i a l r e s p o n s i b i li t y. I n t h i s wa y, t h e y wi l l ma k e a s p e c i a l a n d s i g n i f i c a n t c o n t r i b u t i o n t o h u ma n p r o g r e s s a n d t o t h e c o mmo n good.

(M rs.Rav i Sidhu)