There should be truth in Advertising. Why ? Explain ?

Lenard Ginyard: How long? 500 words, double-spaced?There are limited resources in the world, and we all need to compete to get these resources. How societies choose to share these resources is the basis of their economic systems. In order for the economic systems to work, there have to be rules associated with them. Otherwise, they would not be effective. One rule for capitalism is that there be a "perfect knowledge of the markets." Obviously, this is best afforded by truth in advertising, as it most effectively supports this perfect knowledge (although perfect knowledge is more a theoretical goal than a practical goal.)If advertisers were allowed to lie about their products without any kind of oversight, people would stop buying products and take to other means for acquiring them (such as stealing them or having the government sieze them.) In summary, for capitalism to survive and flurish, consumers must be able to get what they need to survive while pulling from a! shared resource pool. Truth in advertising helps make this possible....Show more

Marco Stolarz: False advertising is wrong.. it's a scam when they pay people to lie about their product. Would you want someone to take your money for something that isn't legit?

Tracy Huesso: There are two main sides that you must look at to answer this question, the consumers and the companies. Consumers: Consumers need protection from the media, and they rely on the government to offer them that protection. FTC, or the Federal Trade Commission, is in existence to protect American consumers. Laws and regulations are in place that restricts lying to American consumers through advertisements. Consumers have the right to know; that what is played on TV, shown on their packaging or read in a magazine is honest and truthful. Even with all the laws and rules on advertisements, consumers still cannot look at them and believe everything they say. There are always loopholes that ! companies use, or different strategies, that have yet to be sc! rutinized by the government and affiliate agencies. Studies have been done, about individuals that were blind for all their lives, and had corrective surgery and were able to see again. Once they gained sight, they had to be taught how to “read” the media. They had to learn signs, and advertisements, and understand that you cannot read them the way you were to read a textbook or other scholarly works, but must take them with a grain of salt. Even though the FTC and other governmental agencies are out there to protect the consumers from being lied to, it is still being done, but in more mild and less abrasive manners. Also…If companies can put out false advertisements, what would be the use of them? The point of them is create awareness and increase demand for a product. If people knew they were false and there were no laws against lying in advertisements, people wouldn’t believe anything they said. The advertisements would be a waste of money, because peo! ple knew they weren’t honest. Companies:Again, the point of advertising is to increase brand and product awareness, in effect increasing sales. If companies put out lies, their brand/product awareness would go up, but the image would be destroyed, leaving no positive idea of the brand/product. Also, lying in advertisements may increase initial purchasing, so people would test out new products, but their repurchase would be low, so the company/product would have not have a long life. The most expensive and difficult consumers to get are new ones. Once you have them, they are then less expensive. So, if a company falsely advertises their product/brand, they can get new consumers, but they won’t stay. Advertising false images also gives a negative name to the company. The strongest companies and brands have a strong brand image. If they were to know to lie and be deceptive, this would negatively affect their image, and not benefit the company. Susan Arnold, the Vi! ce Chair, of beauty and health, at P&G spoke about her products and how! they really work. Many women today are discouraged about health and beauty products put out that say they do something and never do. She is claiming that her products really work, and do what they advertise. If possibly, companies began to put out products that really do what they say, they would become more successful and stronger. (cannot recall the article it was in - just google her name)...Show more

Arlene Maycumber: sounds like a term paper.Truth in advertising is required to build brand trust with their consumers. When a consumer trusts a brand and the brand delivers on it's promises it is more likely to maintain/increase advocacy for their brand. Granted a brand can bend the rules if it decides to bend them in a satirical way where people know it's a lie so they aren't necessarily lying. Given that this seems like a term paper rather then a real question I stop there. Have a nice day and good luck....Show more

Asa Soho: In commercial you never ! get the real truth or the full truth. You only see the benefits and not the negative results of it. Like side effects.You think it is the BEST , they talk about it like a present from God himself. Full of confidence you want to try out the product. First you see that it is (can be) very expensive. You think "hey something , something to try".In most cases it is just as average like all the others soda's ,yoghurt's,cookies like you once bought before only more expensive.In case of cleaning products or make up. It is NEVER that amazing. the before and after results are just 2 completly DIFFERENT situations.For make up/medication/... : first you see a very displeased person (mostly women) and then suddenly a giant layer of make up , a big smile and a happy song.Those are not the 3 elements of a good product but of a good campaign. good campaign not equals good product...Show more

Zulema Baccam: Truth in advertising is existent. Its how they give the facts that should be! the relevant question. They manipulate facts with words like "virtuall! y, nearly, and quite possibly." If they advertised the plain and simple truth, they would hardly sell anything. They omit information intentionally so you buy their crap. False advertising is illegal and law suits do incur. Facts cannot be lied about. However, desired effects or appearances can be. Like looking at a juicy new hamburger from Wendy's is perfection encompassed on the screen, but the reality is not. The facts of whats on there is true, the opinions and visual templates of deliciousness do not have to be. When Coke says it won taste tests over Pepsi, those facts have to be backed up, but since it was a non biased poll in favor of coke, Pepsi can do the same. But for Pepsi to show the taste testers say how gross Coke is and point out negative values is a violation of advertising and it results in law suits. Is truth in advertising necessary? Yes. I don't want to be told that some product i buy is going to set me down a path to euphoria. As I will not be happy wit! h any competitive product. When I would buy said product, the disappointment is because I wasted money, money I worked for.When you apply for a job, if you advertise yourself falsely and not live up to what you sold yourself to the company for, you can be terminated. Truth in advertising is a consumer protection. It also protects the advertiser in that when they say something it must have facts based in conclusive evidence or else they would never have repeat sales.Example:ExtenZe claims their product enhances that certain male body part. Well if I took this product and I acquired elephantiasis of the testicles, can I sue them? Probably not, because testicle are a certain part of the male body. So they could be possibly telling the truth about which part they mean. They never specifically say penis, and though they may imply the penis, this is not the context of the commercial and therefore they are protected. On the other hand, if a commercial for Nike's specifically said ! their shoes can help you play like Micheal Jordan and then you buy them! based on that premise, only to fail to find improvement, you can sue them. Implying and saying are a fine line, but within the law they are the defining line between truth and lies....Show more

Francisco Schonhardt: we should. advertising should be all true for example, when the say ONLY 10$ and they dont tell you about the s&h so when you get it its like sign here and give me 30$also when they say it cleans every thing even though its not true becaue thsts impossible people might still believe mc(mentally challengedand one last thing . IT IS THE LAW DUHhHHhyou can get in big trouble for not doing it. and it will waste our money...Show more

Dedra Furguson: Truth in advertising? Ofcoarse we as a consumer should have truth, but if I owned a corporation and wanted you to buy my merchandise, I wouldnt be as truthfull. Its all about who you are and where you stand.

Virgil Loatman: we should have truth in advertising because the people that watch and look a! t the adverts are the ones spending their money on what is being advertised. and not even for things that we purchase, but for things that we look at on a daily basis. like women who look like stick figures, under thier picture it should say "dont try this at home, i make myself vomit several times a day"