ADVERTISING ETHICS - A CONTEXTUAL RESPONSE BASED ON CLASSICAL ETHICALTHEORY

F. P. Bishop argues that the ethical standard for advertising practiti oners must be utilitarian. Indeed, the utilitarian theory of ethics in decision-making has traditionally been the preference of U.S. adverti sing practitioners. This article, therefore, argues that the U.S. adve rtising industry's de-emphasis of deontological ethics is a reason for its continuing struggle with unfavorable public perceptions of its et hics - and credibility. The perceptions of four scenarios on advertisi ng ethics and the analyses of the open-ended responses of 174 members of the American Advertising Federation to those scenarios suggest that advertising practitioners need a stricter adherence to deontological ethics than is indicated in this study.