#3 Advertising Ethics

 False Advertising

One key to building trust between a company and its customers is to provide accurate advertisement for the product being offered, that later on lives up to the expectations created by the advertisement. The advertising part of showing off a product can therefore also turn into negative ethics in form of false advertisement. Marketing is a key part for companies to gain attention from customers as they are trying to convince you to buy their products. There are a lot of different brands on the market today trying to sell similar products and due to the competitive environment, the practice of false advertising might seem like a good idea for businesses looking for an edge. 

"False advertising is marketing a product with misleading or blatantly false claims to convince people it's a better option than the competition". This is illegal in the United States since the introduction of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 1914. Companies that use false advertisements are at risk zone of receiving lawsuits from customers who were deceived into buying the product. 

One example of a false advertising scandal is when L'Oreal used the phrase "Clinically Proven" without any actual studies for it. The brand claimed that its products were "clinically proven" to do certain things to your skin, for example boosting genes and making skin look visibly younger in only a week. All this without doing any types of studies on this topic and their products' abilities. L'Oreal faced significant fraudulent advertising charges in 2014 due to this scandal and when the FTC stepped in, the brand got banned from using any anti-aging claims or the phrase "clinically proven" without scientific evidence. (FTC)

This is a classic example of how health-based brands are exaggerating or lying about what their products are able to do. It is common to use "scientific" claims in order to make their products seem more appealing to their customers. If these claims are not backed up by genuine research, they are considered false. 

Another example of a false advertising scandal is when Volkswagen actively faked emissions standards. The company developed an entire marketing campaign around its line of diesel vehicles claiming they were "clean diesel". The campaign was relying on an emission test with a result that demonstrated the cars' low levels of pollutants. In 2016 it was found that the company was fitting the entire line of cars with "illegal emission defeat devices designed to mask high emissions during government tests", according to the FTC. Once the fraud was discovered FTC forced Volkswagen to compensate the customers who had bought the cars assuming they were environmentally friendly. (FTC)  Without FTC's investigation going public, there was no way that the customers would have known the tests were fraudulent. 

Many businesses will do everything that it takes to make a sale and to become different from their competition, including lying to their customers. I do not understand why this event would be an option since by doing this the companies are risking losing a lot of customers if they get caught.