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reading: Randal Martin’s “Advertising and Public Relations Ethics” Randal Martin is an instructor in the philosophy department at Carleton University. In this book on the problem of propaganda and persuasive communication as these relate to ethics, Martin addresses advertising and public relations as common forms of persuasive discourse. This chapter comes from his book, Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion (Broadview, 2002). While he doesn’t subscribe overtly to any philosophical doctrine in this chapter, the style of his argument is consistent with the Pragmatist approach. a. advertising Advertising has a legitimate role in society—in Martin’s terms, it is a “modern necessity.” It provides information to consumers about goods and services they might purchase, and in allowing for communication about mass-produced commodities in large markets, makes possible economies of scale that provide purchasers with high-quality, relatively inexpensive goods. For Martin, the question is not whether advertising should exist, but what forms and what ethical standards should it take. Martin identifies two kinds of “harms” that follow from advertising. There are negative consequences that follow from the product itself (it’s defective, dangerous, doesn’t meet expectations) or those that come from the advertising (it features negative images, exaggerates, is untruthful). Martin then provides a list of the harms advertising is typically held responsible for. * Advertising is misleading; it makes false claims for the products * Advertising exploits women and minorities in ads; use of stereotypes, sexuality * Advertising encourages greed and excess in consumers * Advertising encourages anti-social behaviour; for example, tobacco use, excessive drinking, reckless driving * Advertising encourages a “gambling” mentality; that is, people are encouraged to buy things in order to win things, e.g., Publisher’s Clearing House * Advertising teaches children to put pressure on their parents—the so- called “pester power” phenomenon—to buy products, effectively turning children into salespeople. * Advertising presents false imagery that serves to create associations that are not rational (e.g., popularity and a particular brand of car or shoe), and that address our subconscious minds or evade our critical capacity, e.g., product placement * Advertising takes up mental space that could be used for more valuable things; “The objection in the case of these and other jingles and slogans is that they take up permanent residence in one’s mind in the place of more important and significant thoughts” (Martin, p. 180) In Canada, legislation relating to advertising takes the form of the Competition Act and, within the advertising industry itself, the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards. That code, by which Canadian advertisers regulate themselves, is published in the Rogue’s Gallery: Martin describes what he terms the “dependency effect,” a concept originating with Canadian-born economist and American icon John Kenneth Galbraith. The dependency effect is the phenomenon whereby advertisers stimulate new wants among consumers, thereby creating new markets where none previously existed. How many require SUVs when a fuel-efficient car will do? Where does the preference for Cheese Whiz, Swiffers or Coca-Cola come from? What physi