THE NARRATIVE PARADIGM AS A PERSPECTIVE FOR IMPROVING ETHICAL EVALUATIONS OF ADVERTISEMENTS

Recently, an increased number of advertisements have been questioned a s being potentially unethical. Because of complaints from academicians , special interest groups, competitors, and broadcasters, certain adve rtising campaigns have been pulled from the media. The fact that poten tially unethical ads are reaching the market-place suggests that curre nt methods of ad evaluation may be inadequate for some of today's cont roversial or innovative campaigns. The authors introduce the narrative paradigm as a possible solution or tool for discerning potentially un ethical aspects of advertisements. A narrative approach to the evaluat ion of ad messages can reveal inconsistencies between the ad and the i ntended or influential audiences before the damaging effects of inappr opriate campaigns occur.