SEX AND ADVERTISING
Among the ethical implications on companies (ad agencies):
There is a general consensus in the world of business that firms must implement Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Studies carried out in 2004, suggested that 80% of Americans feel better about companies, which were aligned with social issues.
CSR is not only involved with helping the community and environment, but also does carry a moral obligation to be behave responsibly and ethically towards society as a whole. As discussed earlier in implications (part 3), women are constantly being used by all ad makers, as objects of sexual appeal; which entice consumers to have more interest in the product, irrespective of whether they have any relation to the product or not. This leads to numerous impacts on the perception of the women who are being used in these ads.
ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS
This raises huge concerns by critics towards women being used as sexual instruments in advertising, reducing their individuality, devaluing their position in society and reducing them to mere objects or sexual symbols. This hence lays a huge responsibility on companies to consider the ethical implications and moral obligation they owe to society before they advertise their products.
Another important fact to note is that companies have the moral obligation to be truthful about their advertisements and avoid misinterpretation. Large numbers of sex-based ads mislead their audience and portray untruthful facts. A good example of this is the “Axe” ad, which claims to have an “axe effect” that draws all the women to you, which is not true in reality.
Among the ethical implications to society:
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Large numbers of parents are facing the increasing problem of being unable to limit the amount of information that reaches their children, trying to prevent corrupting and exposing them to explicit advertisements. Sex ads are creating a negative impact on children by influencing their mindsets and planting ideas of sexual acts, much earlier than they should be aware of it. This is unethical on the part of the Ad companies, because influencing young minds paves the way for social change in the society.
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There is a large cry by all the women associations around the globe who advocate women rights, complaining against the unethical usage of women as “sex objects” in advertisements. They argue that this devalues and demoralizes women, while consequentially causing problems such as body image, eating disorders, etc. The abuse of women through sexual advertisements has its impacts on an individual as well as societal level. At an individual level, as discussed already, the impacts are demoralizing and make women lose confidence in their skills and capacities, while also causing long term psychological damage.
As far as societal goes, sex in advertisements, further enhances more unusual and unethical kinds of sexual behavior and acts. Among the adolescent section of the population, such advertisements are largely viewed, and are increasingly changing the notions youngsters have on relationships, sex and marriage. This is causing increased acts of pre-martial sex, which is leading to unplanned families and increased problems for youngsters.
Another unethical implication to consider is the encouragement that sexual advertisements provide for sexual aggression to be committed. Increasing number of rapes and sexual harassment has been seen rising proportionally to the increase in sexual media.