ETHICAL ISSUES IN FASHION ADVERTISING Advertising plays an important part in our everyday lives as it enables us to choose between different

ranges of products (fashion products). These products are promoted through different types of advertisements and cater to some specific types of markets. Some times Fashion advertising creates an environment where it abuses certain values and interests that are not universally agreed upon. For example in 2001Yves Saint Laurent launched a fragrance called Opium which featured a naked model. This stirred controversy and people found it offensive and sex was being used openly to promote a perfume. For a fashion magazine the advertisement was fine but for billboards it was inappropriate and some social groups found it morally and ethically wrong. Sometimes advertising draws mixed response from the public, while sometimes it becomes controversial. Ethics basically refers to what is right, good or consistent with virtue. Fashion Advertising generates complex ethical questions, which have to be considered, as this mode of communication commits some highly controversial ethical acts, which are damaging to the society as a whole. Some of the ethical issues in Fashion Advertising are: It promotes overselling Exploitation of vulnerable groups Vulgarity Offending the public Promoting socially harmful values or behavior and intrusion of privacy.

EXAMPLE : -

The shock value of an ad is known to help get the consumer to remember the ad, and consequently the

brand. However, it isnt always a good memory. If you shock people, they remember you, and if they remember you, they talk about you, which lead to more brand awareness. However, sometimes it goes too far. Some of the examples are:

this is a jeans ad, from the French company Girbau. it was banned in France and Italy because it looked too much like this: DaVinci's Last Supper.

3. DO you feel such Ad is effective?

I personally feel that fashion advertising should always target their consumers in the right and positive manner. But some times unethical advertising gets a lot of attention for the brand and due to controversies they gain

a brand value. For instance Calvin klein advertisingKlein insisted that the campaign was not pornographic -that the ads were intended to "convey the idea that glamour is an inner quality that can be found in regular people in the most ordinary setting; it is not something exclusive to movie stars and models." Consumer and child welfare advocates disagreed, finding the ads disturbing and exploitative. The American Family Association began a massive letter campaign to retailers, threatening to boycott their stores if they carried Klein's jeans and Seventeen and other major magazines refused to carry the campaign. Eventually the U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation into whether or not Klein had violated child pornography laws. Under increasing pressure and scrutiny, Klein recalled the ads, but not before the ensuing controversy and publicity had turned his jeans into the "must-have" item of the season. As one marketing director noted, this controversy took Klein's "coolness factor from a 10 to a 60," and if continued sales are any indication, his "bad boy" reputation has only enhanced his products in the eyes of young consumers. Klein is not alone in his use of controversial images in advertising. After all, the whole point of advertising has always been to attract attention, and fashion advertising is notorious for its exploitative use of young men and women. This suggests that in spite of going against the ethics, the advertisement has proved to be effective in increasing the demand for the brand. So I feel such ads are effective in getting the attention of the consumer in a very quick way. These are called shock advertising and prove to be very essential in getting consumers attention in a short span. 4. Would you run such advertising on network television if you felt it was effective if you were an advertiser?

As an advertiser I would not run such ads, though it is effective because I believe it is very essential to consider

ethical issues in advertising and not hurting the emotions of people for getting their attention. It is not important to just get the attention of the target consumer but also to consider the impact of the advertisement on the society as a whole, as the audience not only includes the target consumer but the general mass. For instance Calvin Klein advertisements may appear very effective to the youth who may consider it to be cool and a rebel statement. But this advertisement may not be accepted by the older generation, who may consider it atrocious and uncouth. Also this ad may have a very negative impact on small kids who are exposed to it. Therefore as an Advertiser I would not run such ads because advertising is a very powerful tool and it should not be misused at the cost of the public as a whole.

5. If you were a member of ASCI, would you allow it on network television? Considering India as the target market, I would totally not consider allowing it as one of the codes of ASCI states, To ensure that advertisements are not offensive to generally accepted standards of public decency. Advertisements should contain nothing indecent, vulgar or repulsive which is likely, in the light of generally prevailing standards of decency and propriety, to cause grave or widespread offence. Indian market is a very conservative and value bound market. Ads like Calvin Klein are not even accepted by the American market; therefore it is not welcome in the Indian scenario.

CONCLUSION In todays world no one can ignore the importance of

advertisement. In this globalized world advertisements play an important role of the success of any organization. These days a different sector has develop to handle the advertising of the company and a lot of money spends on that sector as seeing the importance of this. One the one hand we accepts the importance of advertising but on the other hand we cant avoid its bad impact on the society and culture. Due to the high competition today companies are accepting cheap and unethical equipments for advertising. These ads give a wrong message to the society and to the new generation who are the future of the upcoming society. If today new generation gains a wrong moral values and wrong method of living they will harm their health as well as mental analyzing power. And in future they will enable to give right message to their traits. We have to think about this unethical problem and this wrong presentation of business. So that we can give a good ethics to our youngsters.