ADVERTISING ETHICS IN MODERN MARKETING

Abstract

It is already impossible to imagine the modern world without commercials on the Internet and on television, banners, posters, signs, posters, etc. In its essence, advertising is a whole complex of audio, verbal, written and visual techniques that create more opportunities to influence a potential client. Art, economic and political characteristics of society have always been a part of advertising, influencing it through the system of moral and ethical values, cultural images, aesthetic attitudes as ways of transforming objective reality. That is why the level, pace of development and spread of advertising depends on the level of freedom of action of society as a set of individuals in the political, economic or cultural plane. Advertising, in its various forms, is a mandatory element of the marketing activity of any modern enterprise. The main commercial goal of marketing is to increase the volume and pace of sales to ensure the efficiency of the enterprise, and advertising plays the role of the main "locomotive" that moves forward the entire set of tasks related to product promotion. At the same time, marketers are tempted to present advertising information in the most attractive form, highlighting only the advantages of the object of advertising, hiding the shortcomings, or for the sake of obtaining as much profit as possible, to generally present incorrect, distorted, unreliable information. But modern business, which focuses on the concept of socially responsible marketing, which is based on the basic principles of marketing ethics, does not accept advertising activity, the main motto of which is "profit above all else." The most common violations of ethics in advertising activities, which occur when performing the tasks set before advertising, as a basic component of the communication block of modern marketing. They can be combined into the following blocks: incorrect, incomplete, misleading information; unethical comparisons with someone/something; use of advertising of a sexual nature to the general public; failure to provide full information about the damage when advertising certain products (alcohol, cigarettes, etc.); violations related to a person's race, nationality; violation of gender equality for women, men, representatives of sexual minorities; addressing personal problematic issues of a person (death, illness of loved ones) for commercial purposes; advertising of goods or actions that will have antisocial consequences. Having studied the historical path of the development of ethics and advertising, their relationship, it can be argued that the ethics of advertising is an integral component of the communication block of modern marketing and represents a set of specific moral and ethical norms and rules of behavior that regulate relationships between people in the context of marketing activities. violation of which can lead to significant financial and reputational losses in the long term.