Advertisers have a moral duty to avoid harmful stereotypes and representations of society. While the main objective of marketing is to attract attention and sell a product, advertisers also have the power to influence how we view ourselves and others. With such power, comes great responsibility. An example of advertisers disregarding their moral duties is the objectification of women in advertising. By objectifying women and reducing them to commodities, advertisers take away a woman’s humanity and make society treat them like a commodity rather than a person. Another example of careless marketing is the damage it does to a woman’s body image. By featuring unrealistically attractive women, women viewing these ads may believe they should look like the women even though it would be impossible to do so. The extensive use of photoshop by the media may have accelerated their sales it has had a detrimental impact on society. 10% of college women suffer from a clinical or nearly clinical eating disorder. This is why advertisers should and do have a important role in today’s society and carry a lot of responsibility. Lastly, advertising often also features stereotypes and generalisations about certain demographics or people. One of the most common examples of this is the American housewife. By featuring stereotypes such as these advertisers could be harming the self image of women that perhaps don’t want to or don’t fit into this stereotype. For example certain girls and women may want to pursue a career rather than a family. Therefore advertisers can do a lot of damage by only featuring women doing domestic work, rather than women who prioritize their career.
Of course one could make the argument that advertisers only aim to reflect society’s ideals and therefore society is at fault, not advertisers. However, just because society has become accustomed to unrealistic and stereotyping advertisements, that doesn’t mean it is okay for advertisers to still feature such harmful imagery and themes.
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