Do you think that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people?

Alas I’m back once again to intrigue my readers with some insightful input regarding the world we live in and the deception we are exposed to in our day-to-day lives.

Well, as we may know but not really acknowledge, the main goal of advertisements is to ultimately persuade individuals to purchase the product they are presenting. Not to be a source of information and educate people. Advertisements are displayed in the media, and mass media has allowed them to be ubiquitous. We see them on every billboard, bus, building, we see them interrupting our favorite TV show, before the movie in the cinema… Everywhere. With that being said, it’s easy to say that advertisements have an immense capability to deceive us. Little do we know such images and slogans constantly are being engrained into our train of thought and will ultimately shape the way in which we perceive facets of life. One might live to rue allowing advertisements to impetuously embed false concepts of social groups or instill stereotypes.

What can be concluded from the ramble I just threw at you above is that advertisements weaken or undermine personal autonomy. Thus, I believe that advertisers do in fact have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people to conserve our society. Inaccurate representations of ethnicities, social groups, cultures, races and so on, will lead to corruption and discrimination within our society. I feel that it is imperative to meet the exigency of our society and use persuasive techniques within advertising that do not encourage discrimination. Stereotypes within media may harm culture and cultural values by contradicting traditional values resulting in tawdriness. As a whole, advertisements have a great effect on our culture and society in general, making it a moral duty to avoid stereotyping. I condemn the use of stereotypes in order to sell a product. The negative effects on individuals or groups aren’t worth it!