KMT 2021 nr 4 Download PDF

Ethics in advertising and the limits of expression (self-regulation context)

Cite: , Etyka w reklamie a granice wypowiedzi (kontekst samoregulacji), "Kultura - Media - Teologia", 2021( 48) nr 4, s. 24-60.

DOI: 10.21697/kmt.48.2

The aim of the article is to discuss the impact of ethics on the shaping of the advertising market, both in the context of influence on the content of the message, self-regulatory processes taking place, the evolution of the marketing environment, as well as the increase in the activity of society in the process of observing socially valued values. In the face of limited effectiveness of law enforcement, caused by technological changes in the media market, the role and importance of non-standard solutions is growing. It has been hypothesised that the environment of advertisers and media content providers adheres to the principle of corporate social responsibility, which is reflected in non-normative solutions and their effective enforcement by authorised bodies. The processes of professionalisation and institutionalisation taking place in the international forums oblige to consider the issues related to the normative understanding of ethics and the formal basis for issuing decisions by the bodies appointed to that end. Discrediting of advertisements qualified as unethical is not only an expression of growth of social awareness which (public opinion through available communication channels and tools expresses its dissatisfaction), but also an expression of effective control. The publication refers to the social discourse on the role played in J. Habermas’ social theory of communication, Claude Jean Bertrand’s concept of Media Accountability Systems (MAS) and neo-institutional theory (M. Weber, J. Powell and DiMaggio). The adopted assumption is part of the stream of issues concerning the management of media organisation, the content of the advertising message, thus, among others, the sciences of: the media and social communication, economics in the field of marketing (message content). The questions considered to be fundamental were: To what extent does self-regulation influence the content of broadcast advertising? To what extent do the bodies supervising the sphere of advertising ethics shape the new reality and what factors determine their actions? To answer these questions it was necessary to use the method of exegesis of legal texts, the comparative method (analysis of similarities and dissimilarities of important aspects of the EU and Polish advertising law), the institutional method (analysis of the course of implementation of institutional changes and an attempt to assess the effectiveness of their implementation) and content analysis of advertising messages. Analysis of resolutions and decisions issued by the Council of Ethics in Advertising proved helpful in preparation of the publication.

About authors

Marzena Barańska

ORCID: 0000-0003-0026-9803

Lucyna Szot

ORCID: 0000-0001-5045-3276