Advertising - Ethical Issues Ethical,

Advertising - Ethical Issues

ETHICAL, LEGAL and SOCIAL ISSUES in FOOD ADVERTISING

Ethical Issues in Food Advertising:

Advertising in the United States has come a long way since the era of Hollywood movie stars doing television commercials for Lucky Strikes cigarettes. Nowadays, the ethical component of advertising requires that statements about products be truthful and limits the advertising options available to certain types of products altogether. Alcohol consumption, for example, may no longer be depicted in television advertisements because of its potential to influence young people to emulate what they see on the screen. It is still permissible to advertise fast food products without restrictions of this type, but it is conceivable that in time ethical concerns over the nationwide epidemic of obesity (Gibbs 2007), especially among children, will limit the types of advertisement currently available to the industry.

Legal Issues in Food Advertising:

Liability concerns have arisen in litigation over food and beverages in several contexts already, including cases over hot coffee that was alleged to be too hot and fast food that was allegedly advertised deceptively, thereby contributing to the consumer's obesity and weight-related health problems (Howard 2005). Legislation restricting the time, place, or manner of commercial advertising is nothing new (Halbert & Ingulli 2000), but the recent liability claims suggest that advertisers must adapt their messages to anticipate possible adverse consequences, especially where the products involved may be associated with negative consequences to the user.

Social Issues in Food Advertising:

As mentioned previously in another context, obesity is national concern and the fast food industry has been widely implicated as one of the main factors contributing to the national obesity epidemic (Gibbs 2007). To the extent that association is accurate, it raises legitimate social issues because obesity is known to be a major cause of a variety of medical conditions and serious ailments including diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and arthritis, just to name a few. Therefore, social consciousness demands that the fast food industry consider the long-term effects of its products on society

Challenges to the Healthy Fast Food Industry:

The primary challenge to the healthy fast food industry is simply distinguishing itself from traditional fast food. On one hand, the viability and success of healthy fast food ventures depends on its ability to mirror the associations triggered by the draw of traditional fast food, which means it must be convenient, fast, and extremely recognizable from the consumer's perspective. On the other hand, the entire healthy fast food industry must also communicate throughout its marketing strategy and advertising campaigns that it is a healthier alternative to traditional fast food.

Studies (Howard 2005) have indicated that it may be very difficult to position healthier foods against traditional fast foods, by virtue of the strength of the latter's long- standing successful history of advertising. Naturally, the fact that healthy fast food cannot hope to compete with traditional fast food in terms of taste and its purported addictive quality presents another challenge that must be met by creative advertising and marketing strategies to overcome those disadvantages from the advertising perspective. Incorporating Challenges into a Marketing Plan:

Incorporating those challenges into a marketing plan requires long-term vision to anticipate the likely pattern of consumer demand over time, specifically in response to advice about health, wellness, and the relationship of diet to overall human health.

Naturally, the healthy fast food industry should emulate some of the strategies that have traditionally proven successful, particularly in the case of fast food in terms of name recognition and availability.

One advantage available to the healthy fast food industry is that instead of downplaying or minimizing the connection between its product and the detrimental consequences of fast food continually expressed by health and wellness experts, the industry can exploit those concerns through promotions designed to promote its products as healthier alternatives to traditional fast food. This is an approach already implemented by low calorie beer manufacturers and many over the counter medications who present their products side-by-side against their competitors' products in conjunction with the appropriate message about the former.