Amanda Fisherman - Bayshore Solutions Account Associate
By: Amanda Fisherman – Bayshore Solutions Emarketing Team
I’ve recently become certified in Advertising Ethics. Really, this exists. It does now anyway. And being one of the first to become certified nationwide, I wanted to take the opportunity to share a little about this certification.
The Institute for Advertising Ethics (IAE), administered by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), hosted the first certification course this month with the local AAF Tampa Bay chapter. The half-day session was presented by Wally Snyder, AAF President Emeritus, IAE Executive Director and Visiting Professor, Missouri School of Journalism. I was invited to attend as the current President of Ad 2 Tampa Bay, a young professional’s affiliate of AAF.
The AAF and IAE introduced this opportunity for advertising, PR and marketing communications professionals based upon the growing and documented importance of ethics to consumers and clients. The course provides the opportunity for professionals to understand and resolve the ethical dilemmas in the real world of advertising.
We covered marketing research, case studies on ethical dilemmas in the marketplace and office, and the ethical stories of leading advertising and marketing professionals. The course was centered around discussions on why advertising ethics is important to the consumer, the advertising professional and their agency or company, what the current ethical dilemmas professionals are being faced with in the workplace and how we can instill values and inspire professionals to practice positive ethics.
We were also introduced to 8 Principles and Practices for Advertising Professionals:
Principle 1 – Advertising, public relations, marketing communications, news and editorial all share a common objective of truth and high ethical standards in serving the public.
Principle 2 – Advertising, public relations, and all marketing communications professionals have an obligation to exercise the highest personal ethics in the creation and dissemination of commercial information to consumers.
Principle 3 – Advertisers should clearly distinguish advertising, public relations and corporate communications from news and editorial content and entertainment, both online and offline.
Principle 4 –Advertisers should clearly disclose all material conditions, such as payment or receipt of a free product, affecting endorsements in social and traditional channels, as well as the identity of endorsers, all in the interest of full disclosure and transparency.
Principle 5 – Advertisers should treat consumers fairly based on the nature of the audience to whom the ads are directed and the nature of the product or service advertised.
Principle 6 – Advertisers should never compromise consumers’ personal privacy in marketing communications, and their choices as to whether to participate in providing their identity should be transparent and easily made.
Principle 7 – Advertisers should follow federal, state and local laws, and cooperate with industry self-regulatory programs for the resolution of advertising practices.
Principle 8 – Advertisers and their agencies, and online and offline media, should discuss privately potential ethical concerns, and members of the team creating ads should be given permission to express internally their ethical concerns.
All participants received a certificate immediately following the training and will be listed, with their respective company as Certified in Advertising Ethics on the IAE website.
I thought the course served as a significant reminder of how to handle ethical dilemmas, big or small, that we as advertising and marketing professionals find ourselves having to manage every day within our organizations.
The next live certification course will take place in Austin, TX next month and future courses will be available online.
Amanda Fisherman is an Account Associate at Bayshore Solutions—a Tampa Web Design, Web Development, and Internet Marketing Company.