Issues in Interdisciplinarity 2020-21/Truth in 21st century advertising

Introduction With the advent of the 21st-century came the popularization of social media. It rendered the traditional form of mass advertising redundant, changing the way advertisers communicate with the market.Wright E Khanfar NM Harrington C Kizer LE 3 Nov 2010 The Lasting Effects Of Social Media Trends On Advertising. https://www.clutejournals.com/index.php/JBER/article/view/50 Journal of Business and Economic Research 8 11 https://doi.org/10.19030/jber.v8i11.50 10 Dec 2020 Big data mining and analytics allow advertisers to precisely target audience and optimise reach.Malthouse EC Li H 24 Apr 2017 Opportunities for and Pitfalls of Using Big Data in Advertising Research. https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080%2F00913367.2017.1299653 Journal of Advertising 46 2 227-235 https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2017.1299653 10 Dec 2020 However, advertising is increasingly perceived by the public as a distortion of reality; something not to be believed,Hetsroni A Amir Hetsroni 18 Oct 2012 Advertising and Reality: A Global Study of Representation and Content. https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=B4PFAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=Advertising+and+Reality:+A+Global+Study+of+Representation+and+Content&ots=_FTvU-LZx1&sig=t8jAt3083-T7XCNjJ-FLBhE19jY#v=onepage&q=Advertising%20and%20Reality%3A%20A%20Global%20Study%20of%20Representation%20and%20Content&f=false New York Bloomsbury Publishing 2-3 9781441118943 and in this chapter, we look into the truth and ethics behind this modern form of advertising from the perspectives of three disciplines: Psychology, Economics, and Philosophy, seeking to find common ground between the clashing ideas. Psychology's Discourse on Advertising's Truth Today, numerous firms propose similar products and services, consequently standing out is the key to success. According to psychologist Harry Hollingworth, to produce efficient advertisements, firms need to capture the consumer’s attention, make a lasting impression, and motivate them to buy.Will K 14 Mar 2014 Psychological Concepts in Advertising: Exploring the Uses of Psychology Through a Historical Overview and Empirical Study. https://sophia.stkate.edu/shas_honors/30/ Antonian Scholars Honors Program 30 12 Dec 2020 The consumer's willingness to purchase a good or service will depend on their idea of the product, how they identify with it, and their confidence in the expected benefit. The consumer is convinced of the truthfulness of the advertisements promoting the merits of the product(s), and this trust is key to ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty. The understanding of psychological elements enhances the precision of targeted advertising. Psychologists have developed approaches to influence customer perceptions through advertising. Harlow Gale's theory focused on how colours and designs affect customers’ decision-making. Walter Dill Scott discovered that people form categories of mental images according to their dominating sense, so advertisers would need to refer to all the senses to appeal to each person.Scott WD Jan 1904 The Psychology of Advertising. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1904/01/the-psychology-of-advertising/303465/ The Atlantic 12 Dec 2020 His theory is based on suggestion, mental imagery, perception, emotion, and memory applied to advertising. According to psychologist Gary Lupyan, perceptions aren't objectively true because they are shaped by our past experiences, needs, values, and expectations. As a result, perceptions are subjective to each person.Lupyan G 14 Feb 2017 How reliable is perception?. https://psyarxiv.com/r7sjj/ PsyArXiv https://psyarxiv.com/r7sjj/ 11 Dec 2020 For marketers, consumers' perceptions are of more value than their knowledge of objective reality.Duggal R May 29, 2018 The One Marketing Truism You Cannot Ignore: Perception Is Reality. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2018/05/29/the-one-marketing-truism-you-cannot-ignore-perception-is-reality/?sh=675433547030 Forbes 12 Dec 2020 Our perceptions are shaped by the marketer's willingness to create a need and make people buy. Customers’ perceptions of the marketed product do not necessarily reflect reality, since they are provoked and conditioned by marketers. This approach to truth in advertising through psychology allows us to understand the impact of marketing techniques using psychology on people's perception of truth. Philosophy's Discourse on Advertising's Truth Advertising is an innately utilitarian practice, seeking to “satisfy needs and wants through an exchange process”.Nantel J Weeks WA 1 May 1996 Marketing ethics: is there more to it than the utilitarian approach? https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/03090569610118713/full/html European Journal of Marketing 30 5 9-19 https://doi.org/10.1108/03090569610118713 10 Dec 2020 However, this attempt to satisfy the customer does not necessarily mean that utilitarian advertising is ethical. For example, McDonald’s advertisements hold utilitarian value in that they satisfy the desires of many consumers, but the health implications of regular consumption of such unhealthy foods contradict the suggestion that these advertisements adhere to utilitarianism. In fact, many argue that the negative impacts of such advertisements overshadow the gratification they evoke in those who view them, so much so that the UK government imposed a ban on television junk food advertising before 9pm in an attempt to tackle obesity.Rogers C 27 Jul 2020 Government rolls out junk food ad ban https://www.marketingweek.com/government-junk-food-ad-ban-coronavirus/ Marketing Week London 10 Dec 2020 However, from a purely utilitarian perspective, there are arguments to be made for both sides; hiding the truth of the repercussions of habitual junk-food consumption causes more widespread satisfaction among consumers who enjoy it, and it could be argued that this should be prioritized over showing the rather more grim truth of the realities of this sort of lifestyle. Another major philosophical perspective on advertising is the deontological one. Deontology is the study of moral duty along the lines of good and bad.Alexander L Moore M Deontological Ethics The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Zalta EN https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-deontological/ Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University 2020 Winter 2020 5 Dec 2020 A deontologist would support the restriction of communication that deceives consumers or takes advantage of their psychological traits for the sake of profit.Kim J Kim C 22 May 2017 Three Perspectives about Ethical Value in Advertising Business. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/747e/f98a640e9ac83628b8f177850b857bb5f162.pdf International Journal of Journalism and Mass Communication 4 1 124 https://doi.org/10.15344/2349-2635/2017/124 31 Nov 2020 Therefore, from a deontological perspective, the truth is the most important factor in advertising. In 2019, prompted by advertisements for products such as ineffective weight loss drinks, the UK’s advertising regulator told agencies to eliminate stereotypes “likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offense”, Tiffany K 18 Jun 2019 Gender stereotypes have been banned from British ads. What does that mean? https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/6/18/18684088/uk-gender-stereotype-ad-ban-sexism-advertising-history Vox 9 Dec 2020 supporting the deontological perspective that advertisements should not portray anything untruthful. Economics' Discourse on Advertising's Truth Since the beginning of the 21st-century, advertising has become a key business plan for firms and start-ups.Wikipedia contributors Business plan Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia 1 Dec 2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Business_plan&oldid=991720384 8 Dec 2020 Indeed, 80% of Google revenue per year comes from advertisements that they run on their platforms.https://www.statista.com/statistics/266249/advertising-revenue-of-google/ Advertising revenue of Google from 2001 to 2019. Clement J Statista 5 Feb 2020 Statista 8 Dec 2020 Social media greatly benefits from this, as US social network ad revenues have nearly doubled from USD$21 billion in 2017 to USD$36 billion in 2019.https://www.statista.com/statistics/271259/advertising-revenue-of-social-networks-in-the-us/ Social network advertising revenues in the United States from 2017 to 2021. Guttmann A Statista 23 Nov 2020 Statista 8 Dec 2020 However, advertising's success as a business plan has created significant monopolies such as GAFA, discouraging new firms from entering the market as they cannot compete against them. Advertising has benefited from a new economic study called “behavioural economics” which adds "insights from psychology and empirical research on human cognition and emotional biases to economic model”.Perloff JM Microeconomics 8th Pearson Education 2018 8 Dec 2020 9781292215624 In the digital era, this means mass collection of user data, subject of the 2018 Facebook trial. The discipline of economics helps perceive 21st century businesses' main motivation: using data to provide more accurate ads, resulting in increased profitability. Therefore, platforms' key interest is the amount of time we spend on their services, resulting in them creating increasingly addictive content.Roberts ST Behind the screen: content moderation in the shadows of social media. 1st Yale University Press 2019 9780300235883 In terms of data collection, great emphasis has been placed on Artificial Intelligence, as it helps understand users' behaviour by analyzing large amounts of data.Wikipedia contributors Artificial intelligence Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia 8 Dec 2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Artificial_intelligence&oldid=993889700 8 Dec 2020 The objective of 21st-century businesses that run ads is to make you perceive them not as a tool but a necessity, motivated by the fact that a click on an Instagram ad is worth, on average, USD$1.3 of revenue. Therefore, the study of the economic discipline within the context of ads in modern businesses gives better insight on how regulations on data utilisationhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/esade/2020/02/10/should-social-media-platforms-be-regulated/?sh=63a392613370 Should Social Media Platforms Be Regulated? Wareham J Forbes 10 Feb 2020 Forbes 8 Dec 2020 allowing a limited amount of data to be stored would prevent centralized economies such as monopolies and psychological addiction to technological services. Tension and Solution The prevalence of 21st-century digital targeted advertising brings concepts in behavioural economics, a subdiscipline developed from the foundations of economics and psychology, into practice.Foth, TJ; Gold, AR; Gravenstreter, NT; Xi, Y; inventors; Pitney-Bowes Inc, assignee (2012 Sep 27). "Method and system for creating targeted advertising utilizing behavioral economics marketing experts." United States patent application US 13/353,529. Retrieved 11 Dec 2020. This interdisciplinary approach has led to marketing and media communication advancements, but also tension between disciplines and different camps of ethics theories. With the discrepancy between the understanding and theorizing on truth across disciplines explored in this chapter, utilitarian interdisciplinary practice has struck deontological concerns, with its coherence with the truth disputed.James EL Pratt CB Smith TV 17 Nov 2009 Advertising Ethics: Practitioner and Student Perspectives. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327728jmme0902_1 Journal of Mass Media Ethics 9 2 69-83 https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327728jmme0902_1 10 Dec 2020 Despite the argument from some cognitive psychologists that to separate objective truth from subjective perception is impracticable, there remains a need to address the ethical issues raised amid a global climate of low trust levels.Leong LY Hew TS Ooi KB Dwivedi YK 8 Aug 2020 Predicting trust in online advertising with an SEM-artificial neural network approach. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957417420306618 Expert Systems with Applications 162 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2020.113849 10 Dec 2020 Given the unreliable nature of consumers' perception, we suggest exploring the often overlooked works of communication ethics scholars for the implementation of Aristotelian actor-centred ethic principles in existing frameworks of advertising-communication advisory codes, which emphasize advertisers' practical ethical awareness instead of universalist ethic values. This should come not just as a legal mechanism but more as self-regulation, in response to frequent violations of articles on 'misleading advertising' and 'honesty' in regulatory codes of ethics.Kavoura A 27 May 2016 Advertising Agencies’ Deontology and the Implementation of the Greek Advertising-Communication Code. http://195.251.240/jspui/handle/123456789/1205 International Conference on Contemporary Marketing Issues (ICCMI) 11 Dec 2020 From the perceiving side of the issue, a trend of fact-checking political advertisements by institutions, combining positive evidence and political communication techniques, has become increasingly common.Weiss, D (2010). "Truth in advertising." Campaigns & Elections 2010 32 (298): 34-37. Retrieved 11 Dec 2020. Exploration of the possibility of bringing the practice of truth validation into advertising for consumer products and services might provide interdisciplinary insight to truth-seeking in this issue. Bibliography