Ethical advertising guidelines

Ethical advertising guidelines

I've been digging through old boxes of notes, photographing them, naming the photographs, and then cataloging them on my new one terabyte external hard drive. Makes it very easy to find something now rather than trying to sort through all sorts of newspaper and magazine clippings and seminar notes. Saves a lot of room, too.

One of the things I found was an old set of notes from a seminar I took in San Francisco way back in 1977 when I was in the wholesale grocery export business in Houston. It is titled Ethical advertising guidelines, and although the seminar was directed at advertising to people in foreign countries, the guidelines can apply to any advertising, any business, any industry, any country.

• Honesty — Advertising should be clear, honest, and complete so that consumers know exactly what is being offered, at what price, and terms of payment.
• Disparagement — Know who your target market is and any cultural or ethnic taboos that involve race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, sexual orientation, etc.
• Advertising to children — Be sure that where you are advertising is appropriate to the demographics for that place.
• Photographs and art work — Photographs and art work generally should depict the present.
• Sponsor and intent — This is particularly important and goes back to honesty and clarity. Offers and solicitations should not appear to be research, surveys, charitable fundraising, etc..
• Seller identity — Always, always, always include contact information and, if necessary, time to contact and preferred method of contact.
• Call to action — Tell your prospect why s/he should buy from you, how soon, and what might happen if s/he doesn't buy from you.
• Solicitation appearing to be an invoice — This used to be common many decades ago, but many states have now cracked down on this tactic as the population aged, and the elderly fell for paying the invoice.
• Use of the word "free" — When something is free, it should be free. Not free as long as you pay shipping charges or handling fees, or if you buy something else first and then have to wait a period of time before getting the free stuff. If something is required to be purchased before receiving something else free, the thing to be purchased should not be increased in price or decreased in quality or quantity.

All photos ©2010 Russel Ray Photos

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