ADVERTISING ETHICS - EMERGING METHODS AND TRENDS

What is Ethics? What is Advertising? The contemporary philosopher, Wil liam Frankena (1973), has defined ethics as a set of moral principles directed at enhancing societal well-being. Frankena reduces those mora l principles to two: beneficence (doing good) and justice (being fair) . Another contemporary philosopher, Geoffrey Warnock (1971), lists fou r principles which seem to be particularly appropriate for advertising : beneficence, nonmaleficence (don't harm), nondeception, and nondiscr imination. At times, questions have arisen as to whether such principl es are followed and whether societal well-being is, indeed, enhanced b y the actions of advertisers.