Does Your Advertising Reflect Your Reputation?
By Gail Zurek, Area Director, Merrillville Office
In an effort to reach consumers, some businesses may be unknowingly violating ethical advertising practices.
Consumers want to spend their dollars with trustworthy businesses. Demonstrating ethics begins with the business’ first effort to reach consumers, often through a piece of advertising. If consumers feel the advertisement was confusing or misleading, it can ultimately hurt their view of that business. Understanding common advertising pitfalls is the first step in preventing that from happening.
The Better Business Bureau Code of Advertising contains basic advertising standards for the guidance of advertisers, advertising agencies and advertising media. It contains information on sale pricing, comparison claims, “fire” sales, and “bait and switch” issues.
While it may seem obvious that a business should only have a liquidation sale when it is indeed liquidating its business prior to closing, other areas may not be as straightforward upon first glance. For instance, in today’s rapidly changing marketplace the claim of “lowest price” can quickly become untrue. Businesses should refrain from advertising in a way that makes claims that later the business cannot substantiate. The word “free” can also cause problems. If a business wants to offer something for “free,” then it does indeed need to be given as an unconditional gift and not as a part of a purchase. A purchase is not “free” if the consumer has to spend $50 first. Offering something “free” is the cost of doing business and should not be passed on to the customer.
Advertising to children can present even more difficulties as young children are not able to assess realistic expectations of products and services in the same way adults do. To assist businesses in reaching children, the Council of BBB’s Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) has compiled CARU's Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising. These voluntary guidelines help in driving businesses to truthful and accurate advertising, taking into account the uniquely impressionable and vulnerable child audience.
It is important to understand the power of advertising and how to use it ethically. The BBB has deep roots, in fact much of its origins come from helping honest trust worthy business reach consumers without the trappings of the non ethical advertisers. Please use the BBB’s Code of Advertising as a tool to maximize the power of adverting.