Advertisers Have a Moral Duty

  Just as it can be said that parents have a moral duty to become the positive images that their own children learn from to become and to exceed, it can be said that advertisers have the moral duty to create images and ideas that are ethically correct and that aren’t destructive to our already fragile still-building images of our varied races, religions, genders and nationalities. Advertisements aren’t just viewed by the educated minds of open-minded adults, but are viewed by the younger, more influential generations of teenagers, children and toddlers whose views can so easily be manipulated to believe the stereotypes they are exposed to. These advertisements are everywhere from the billboards found on the sides of highways to the ads found in your nearby bus station. It is because of how frequently we are exposed to advertisements, whether they create destructive stereotypes or not, advertisers have total control of how individuals around the world ‘see’ those of different races, nationalities, genders or religions. Advertisers hold the paintbrush that paints those pictures and, if done wrong, images can become hurtful. For example, the image of women in advertisements for decades have been detrimental to the constantly developing equality between both women and men. In many advertisements, such as one of AXE’s commercial for their body spray, the woman in the advertisement is given a decorative portrayals and, additionally, she is heavily sexualized with high heels, a shorted and tight skirt and an exposing and body-tight shirt. She is not seen using the product, the body spray, and, even though she is a woman, she is involved in an advertisement for a product that is focused on men. She has no involvement with the product and yet, she is involved not as a person or potential customer, but a by-product that is ‘earned’ when the product, the cologne, is used. Her sexual clothing, submissive positions and actions and a lack of a voice role make her an object, not a human. This can give a negative image for women and cause young men or teenage boys the idea that women don’t have a mind and are, instead, objects that they can treat as they like. This can be the cause or can lead to domestically abusive behavior in men when they get older. This is only one of the possible hundreds of effects that an advertisement can have if it creates a degrading and unrealistic stereotype for a certain group. It is because of this that advertisers have the moral duty to avoid making new stereotypes and, in the long run, destroy existing stereotypes.