Truthfulness is a fundamental ethics building block. Along with refraining from harming others, truthfulness helps keep society safe and businesses functional. The world of persuasive advertising challenges honesty, as advertisers aim to inform potential customers about their product and persuade them to buy. Often, advertisers are tempted to stretch the truth, in one way or another, endeavoring to make their product seem more appealing than competitors' products. This truth stretching can sometimes verge on unethical or even illegal conduct under the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) laws regarding truthful advertisement.
Research Claims
Advertising is unethically deceptive when it cites invalid research to support claims. An advertised claim of scientific research must be proved by scientific evidence. For example, a cereal company can claim that their cereal comes in four flavors without needing scientific research (as long as their cereal truly does comes in four flavors). However, the cereal company cannot claim that their cereal is good for your heart without substantive evidence. To qualify as substantive, research must be backed by unbiased scientific studies. Unbiased research studies cannot be conducted by scientist who could benefit from the company's success (i.e.. shareholders, employees, etc.)
Benefits
Advertising is unethically deceptive when it exaggerates the benefits of the product. A diet pill that has been proven to help people lose about five pounds cannot advertise that it helps people lose 50 pounds. It's also deceptive to make broad claims about benefits that only happened to a few individuals. Advertisers often use the disclaimer "results may vary" to minimize the deception in claims that exaggerate benefits.
Testimonials and Endorsements
Testimonials are advertisements that feature recommendations from people who have tried the product. To be ethical (and lawful), testimonials have to be true, the person that gives the recommendation must have actually tried and liked the product. Endorsements are testimonials from experts or from famous people. Endorsements from famous people must follow the same rules as regular testimonials. Expert testimonials must be documented with the same method as research claims. Since many testimonials include the recommended claiming benefits, advertisers often include the "results may vary" disclaimer in these types of ads.
Internet Ads
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) puts the same restrictions on Internet advertisements as any other advertisements. Websites, banner ads and all other forms of Internet advertising must be just as free from deception as television, radio and print ads. It can be harder for FTC officials to pin down deceptive online advertising, because of the impermanence of Internet promotion. Ethical advertisers must ignore the urge to be deceptive in a forum where it's less likely that they'll be caught.
