Abstract

The study examines how industry professionals perceive, process, and approach ethics in advertising. Thirty-four in-depth interviews with advertising practitioners were undertaken to assess the type of ethical considerations experienced by professionals today. Deceptive advertising was selected for a shared context in assessing level and process of ethical reasoning. Two scholarly frameworks focusing on cognitive moral development and ethical decision making were used to provide structure to the research. Participants expressed a general concern for deceptive advertising and converged on conceptual definitions. However, none had formal ethics-based training to equip them to recognize and avoid deceptive advertising, and most viewed deceptive advertising in terms of legal—not ethical or social—constraints and consequences. Comparisons with prior research indicate similar patterns in relation to experiencing Moral Myopia and practitioners operating outside the ‘Principled’ level of ethical concern from the cognitive moral development framework, but new and different areas also surfaced. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

摘要

该研究调查了行业专业人士如何看待、处理和处理广告中的道德规范。对广告从业者进行了 34 次深入访谈，以评估当今专业人士所经历的道德考量类型。欺骗性广告被选择用于评估道德推理水平和过程的共享上下文。两个专注于认知道德发展和伦理决策的学术框架被用来为研究提供结构。与会者对欺骗性广告表示普遍关注，并就概念定义达成一致。然而，没有人接受过正式的基于道德的培训，使他们能够识别和避免欺骗性广告，而且大多数人从法律（而非道德或社会）约束和后果方面看待欺骗性广告。与先前研究的比较表明，在经历道德近视和实践者在认知道德发展框架的“原则性”道德关注水平之外运作方面存在相似的模式，但新的和不同的领域也浮出水面。理论和管理影响进行了讨论。