THESIS

The paper is about deceptive advertising and its consequences. The writer argues that no harmful
consequences to the consumer necessarily results from a deceptive advertisement as such,
instead one should focus on the consequences of permitting the practice of deceptive advertising
on society as a whole. The paper has been divided into different parts which logically integrate
and support the authors view point

1. Deceptive advertising without deceit

Deceit in general is used in a negative sense which means to intentionally cause

2. Objectifying misleadingness

A lot of questions arise when deceptive advertising entirely ignores intension and focuses
only on the outcome of a problem. There are cases where consumer holds false beliefs
due to distortion in the communication process. The first source of distortion is audience
and their inability to comprehend, selective perception or selective retention. The content
of the message can also cause distortion such as ambiguous language, confusing pictures
etc. Another source of distortion is context which includes time of the day, cultural
differences etc. So the harm caused or false decision making cannot said to be the result
of deceptive advertising it’s rather consumers own fault. An advertisement will only be
misleading or deceptive only if that people exposed to it or the target audience hold false
beliefs only as a result of exposure to the advertisement alone

3. Assigning responsibility

When the speaker is considered responsible for the distortion then the message is said to
be misleading, however if it's due to the audience then the message is said to be
miscomprehended
4. Harm to consumers

Is it always assumed that the consumer mislead by the advertisement will always make a
wrong decision however he might not be encouraged to act at all. So though a person
may prefer to hold true beliefs but holing his false belief will not necessarily affect his
welfare until and unless he believes in the false ones and acts on them.

5. Harm to competitors

Whenever a business enters a market it attracts the customers of some existing business
and if they are being attracted through advertising then it’s not harm, it is competitive
loss

6. Autonomy

It is argued that deceptive advertising reduces autonomy i.e. the right to do what you
really want to do and against manipulation by others but If misleading is non intentional
then it is not manipulative hence it doesn’t affect autonomy of the viewers.

7. Normative line drawing

Line was drawn to distinguish misleading from miscomprehension and the author
suggested rather than looking at the effect of an isolated advertisement on an individual
consumer, we look at the effect of general mass advertising on the target audience. The
conclusion is that if a standard of reasonableness has to be set then its better to be over
protective towards the consumer than too permissive towards the advertiser.
 EVIDENCE OF THESIS SUPPORT

According to the critical analysis, all the points made in this research paper are very well
supported with examples which help the reader to understand the argument and to draw
conclusion. Following is an account of such examples.

While assigning responsibility the author gave the example that the reasonable person standard
sets a level of attentiveness required from the consumer, a degree of self knowledge, experience
and critical capacity. A reasonable person would recognize an advertisement as one that could
create a false impression on him. It would signal him to activate all his self defense mechanism,
e.g. as a member of a foreign culture he should know that he is likely to misinterpret some of he
sees and hears. Another example would be that a lay person with no education is likely to
misunderstand some of the information transmitted on drugs and their effect. So according to
these examples it is evident that a reasonable person has the ability to comprehend certain
situations, draw conclusions and make decisions accordingly.

Another example in the research paper is as follows

To determine that whether the road is dangerous a person tends to look at the numbers of
accidents. However high rate of accidents on the road neither make the road unsafe nor the
constructor responsible, if motorist regularly indulge in dangerous driving practices. On the other
hand, a low rate of accidents would not make the road safe if motorists generally take care way
beyond what is reasonably required, by driving well below the speed limit, by being super
attentive, resulting in stiff backs and stressful driving. So it helps the reader to relate this
example in the advertising context that if a person is making false buying decisions it is not
necessary that it is the result of deceptive advertising it might be due to other reasons such as
buyers inability to comprehend, buyers preferences, peer pressure etc. however we can say that
the weakness of the evidence is that the examples quoted are somewhat irrelevant to the topic of
advertising , they are very general instead however no doubt they make sense. So by quoting
such examples the author reinforces what he is trying to conclude in this research paper that is it
is not so clear what normally bad consequences are involved in holding false beliefs following
exposure to a misleading advertisement.
 CONTRIBUTION TO THE LITERATURE
Intensive research has been carried out on Deceptive advertising and all tend to explore a
different dimension such as follows

Deceptive marketing has been around since the beginning of time and still prevalent today
especially in advertising. Sometimes it is done unknowingly by an advertiser, however more
often than not; it is done with the intent to mislead the consumer making deceptive advertising a
relevant marketing ethics issue. Deceptive advertising is a growing trend among business in our
society (Angela Hanson).

Most of the studies exploring deception in marketing involve an examination of advertising

Olson and Dover defined a deceptive ad as "one that creates a false or incorrect belief about the
product". It has also been defined as the "message distortion resulting from deliberate
falsification or omission of information by a communicator with the intent of stimulating in
another, or others, a belief that the communicator himself or herself does not believe" (Miller
1983).

Clearly, as Olson and Dover (1978) pointed out, the basic problem here is identifying whether a
particular belief is incorrect or false. This trend includes directly trying to deceive consumers
into thinking that they are getting something great but in reality they are getting nothing. Babar
Bhatti (2007) observed a trend of aggressive marketing and advertisement by the mobile
operators in Pakistan. 50 paisa, 3 paisa,1 paisa. Trying to one-up other competitors, he stated that
the advertisements emphasize the lowest possible rate to grab attention. In reality the low rates
being advertised come with many conditions. To figure it out one has to read the fine print
carefully. He argued that this is unfair to the consumers and that we need to criticize this trend
which some may characterize as deceptive marketing. Grouch said that the majority of
advertising is deceptive in some way or another. For example, your Big Mac never looks the
same as the one in the picture does it? It's usually lopsided with its innards hanging out, but that
doesn't stop us buying them. You look at the picture and say to yourself, "Yeah, I'd like one of
them", and then the disappointment sets in because the burger never quite comes up to the image
in your mind. You know it's never going to be quite the same but you do expect there to be a
close resemblance. This may appear to be a petty example of deceptive advertising but it is just
the tip of the iceberg, and no matter how petty it seems there is an impact. The advertiser
continues to get away with it and we are left feeling vaguely cheated in some way.

An interview with Salman Wassay, (Marketing head of Zong)

Question: Deceptive and unethical marketing has come under discussion these days; how do you
see margin for improvements for our advertising campaigners for cellular companies?

Salman Wassay: At the time of launch we were very much aware of the general feeling among
the consumers about the issue of ethics in telecom advertising. There were instances when it
became obvious that some of the telecom companies on purpose did not provide accurate
information about their services and packages.
I think all stakeholders are jointly responsible for ensuring ethics in advertising. The stakeholders
include the cellular operators to start with, the advertising agencies that come up with the
concept and the creative's, the PTA and other government agencies who regulate our business
and advertising.
On its part however, ZONG has been very honest and upfront about all their charges. We have
even produced ads which criticize competition on not giving the full truth about their offers. It
has actually resulted in the companies becoming very cautious in this regard.

Leigh Goessel conducted a research to reveal how deceptive advertising hurts businesses this is
indeed a different dimension stating the adverse effects of deceptive advertising on business
along with the consumers

• Deceptive advertising is poor business practice. Companies that engage in this type of
false promotion illustrate questionable ethics and give bogus impressions. Unfortunately
it is not uncommon for some consumers to initially fall for these deceptions, but the lies
and misrepresentations almost always come to light.

• When the deceptive advertising is brought to the forefront and exposed, this revelation
can really hurt a business. Often when marketers and advertisers engage in shady
 advertising they only focus on short term and don't think of the long term consequences
and this is a big mistake.

There are several differing kinds of deceptive advertising which include, but are not limited to,
bait and switch techniques, fake testimonials, false promises, vague descriptions, unsubstantiated
claims, and distorted photos and ad-copy. Any of these kinds of deceptions can harm businesses
for several reasons.

RECOMMENDATIONS

'What's wrong with Deceptive Advertising' (1999) is strictly in the consequential list framework
and can be interpreted at a utilitarian analysis. 'Deceptive advertising' as defined here implies that
'if no harmful behavior follows for such a (deceptive) advertisement then nothing morally
blameworthy ensues'. Indeed the legal issue turns on the beliefs not of real persons but of a
reasonable person to allow for the multiple meaning of advertisements.

The issue of harm done by an individual deceptive advertisement is analyzed and it is concluded
no harm is likely to result hence the effect of deceptive advertising on general public and the
consequences of the practice of misleading advertising should be analyzed as it is critical to
justify the balance of the interest of the consumer in receiving information and the interest of the
industry in gaining trust. This is entirely a different dimension of deceptive advertising bringing
the societal context of deceptive in the lime light which has never been stressed before. Hence
this research paper has indeed made a valuable addition to the body of knowledge.

Here forth it can be concluded that Deception may appear in a wide variety of forms. Indeed,
cynical observers might argue that synonym for disinformation is “advertising.” In any case,
examining the use of deception in marketing helps illustrate the difference between “fabrication
and manipulation.” If false information is created and presented as true, this is fabrication. It is
fabricated for the purpose of disinformation and is simply not true. Manipulation, on the other
hand, is the use of information which is technically true, but is being presented out of context in
order to create a false implication. This deception may be achieved by leaving out information or
by associating valid information in such a way as to create false correlations.
 REFERENCES

1. http://www.lahorimela.com/interviews/interview-mr-salman-wassay-head-of-marketing-
zong.html

2. http://www.helium.com/items/346007-the-impact-of-deceptive-advertising

3. http://pakistaniat.com/2008/01/17/are-mobile-companies-using-deceptive-marketing-in-
pakistan/

4. http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Deceptive-Advertising/96638

5. http://www.essays.com/essays/Deceptive-Advertising

Sheril, R. D. (1956). The terrifying future: Contemplating color television. San Diego, CA:
Halstead.

6. Loftus (1998). Impact-of-deceptive-advertising.

7. Carlson, Grove, and Kangun (1993). Deception in marketing & its impact.

8. Gardner and Leonard (1990). Growing trend among business.

9. Olson and Dover (1978). Marketing & its way to grab audience.