Ethical Issues

Dr. Bhumija Chouhan


The importance of advertising is steadily on the increase
in modern society.
Advertising is using media as its vehicle, it is a
pervasive ,powerful force shaping attitudes and
behaviour in today's world.
Society has a right to information based on truth,
freedom, justice and solidarity.
In todays society advertising has a profound impact on
how people understand life, the world and themselves
especially in regard to their values and their ways to
choose and behave.
 Advertising has two basic purpose:
(1) To inform
(2) To persuade
Advertising can be very simple a local , even neighborhood
phenomenon or it can very complex , involving sophisticated
research and multimedia campaigns that span the globe.
Advertising like the media of social communication in
general, does act as a mirror. But like media in general in
general it is a mirror that helps shape the reality it reflects
and sometimes it presents a distorted image of reality
 Advertisers are selective about the values and attitudes to be
fostered and encouraged, promoting some while ignoring others.
There is nothing intrinsically good or intrinsically evil about
advertising. It is a tool, an instrument which can be used well and
can be used badly, it also can have a negative, harmful impact on
individuals and society.
Sometimes harmful or utterly useless goods are routed to the public,
false assertions are made about goods for sale, less than admirable
human tendencies are exploited resulting into harm to the society
and spoiling the name of advertisers and their credibility.
Unremitting pressure to buy articles of luxury can arouse false
wants that hurt both individuals and families by making them ignore
what they really need.
 Some of the harm done by Advertising are:

(1) Economic Harm:

(a) advertising can betray its role as a source of

information by misrepresentation and by withholding
relevant facts.
(b) More often advertising is used not simply to inform
but to persuade and motivate, to convince people to act I
certain ways like to buy certain products or services,
patronize certain institutions and the like which generate
abuses.
 (c) The practice of brand related advertising can raise
serious problems. Thou there are only negligible
differences among similar products of different brand and
advertising may attempt to move people to act on the
basis of irrational motives instead of presenting the
differences in product quality and prices as basis for
rational choice.
(d) Advertising is a tool of phenomena of consumerism.
Sometimes advertisers speak of it as part of their task to
create needs for products and services that is to cause
people to feel and act upon cravings for items and
services they do not need.
 The economic harm can also be done to developing
nations by advertising that fosters consumerism and
destructive patterns of corruption making rich the richer
and poor the poorer
(2) Harm of Political Advertising:
(a) It can support and assist the working of the
democratic process, but can also obstruct it.
(b) It happens when cost of advertising limits the political
competition to wealthy candidates .
 (c) Obstruction of democratic process also takes place
when instead of being a vehicle for honest expositions of
candidates , views and records political advertising
seeks to distort the views and records of opponents and
unjustly attack their reputation.

(3) Cultural Harm:

(a) Advertising can also have a corrupting influence upon
culture and cultural values.

(b)In competition to attract even larger audience
and deliver them to advertisers, communicators
can find themselves tempted, in fact
pressurized, to set aside high artistic and moral
standards and laps into superficiality and moral
unpleasantness.
Communications also can find themselves
tempted to ignore the educational and social
needs of certain segments to ignore the
educational and social needs of certain
segments of the audience.
 In this the tone and indeed the level of moral
responsibility of the communication media in general are
lowered.
Advertising contributes to the stereotyping of particular
groups that place them at a disadvantages in relation to
others.
(4) Moral and religious harms of advertising:
Advertising can be tasteful and in conformity with high
moral standards and occasionally even morally uplifting
but it also can be vulgar and morally degrading
Regularly it deliberately appeals to such motives as
envy, status seeking and lust.
 Some ethical and Moral Principles:
Truthfulness in Advertising
Dignity of Human Person
Advertising and social Responsibility
Advertising is widely critcised on several fronts:
(1) Exaggerated claims and out-right false hood
(2) Lack of taste and offensive character of the ads
3. Morality of the specific kinds of advertising for eg.
Advertising for alcohols and tobacco products.
4. Excessive use of sex and violence or for presenting
a negative stereotype for a certain group.
5. Advertisements that create a culture of consumerism
encouraging desires far beyond needs.
Four Ethical issues of paramount importance
Use of unacceptable means of persuasion
Problem of defining and preventing deceptive
advertising
Irresponsible advertising that encourages undesirable
behaviour
Comparative advertising steeping on each others toes.
 Ethical Issues In Finance
Finance refers to a broad range of activities. It includes
the financial markets, such as stock exchanges and the
financial service industry, which includes commercial
banks, investment banks, mutual fund companies,
pension funds, both private and public as well as
insurance.
The issues involved in Financial services are:
1. Deception (dishonesty) by the brokers sales pitch
2. Concealment (disguise/suppression) of information or
its misrepresentation to the investor.
3. Churning client accounts in order to generate higher fees.
4. Selecting unsuitable investments for clients (due to
insufficient information or ability of the financial consultant
or some ulterior (hidden) motive).
5. Twisting under which an insurance agent persuades a
policy holder to replace an older policy with a newer one
that provides little if any additional benefit but generates
commission for the agent.
6. Flipping- a concept used for an instance when a loan
officer persuades a borrower to repay an old loan with a
new one , incurring more fees.
 Financial Markets and Ethical Issues:
1. Financial transactions takes place in organised
markets, such as stock markets, commodities market,
futures or options markets, currency markets etc.
2. These markets presuppose certain moral rules and
expectations of moral behaviour.
3. The most basic rule is a prohibition against fraud and
manipulation, but mostly the rules and expectations
for market are concerned with fairness, which is often
expressed as a level playing field.
 The arena of financial markets can become titled by
many factors including information, bargaining power
and resources.
SEBI constitutes the main regulatory framework for
markets in securities and particular financial investment
institutions such as banks, mutual funds while pension
and insurance companies are governed by industry
specific legislation.
The main aim for financial regulation are efficiency and
fairness/ equity.
4. Efficiency is of ethical value because achieving the
maximum output with the minimum input not only
provides ample goods and services but also promotes
the general welfare.
5. Fairness is the means to an end as it is important
because sometimes we have to choose between
efficiency and fairness.
 Ethical Perspective of IT Industry
Besides other industries IT industry has something very
unique In the ethical realm due to its three factors i.e. the
medium of work, the workers who use it and the output
they create.
Categories where there are chances of unethical
practices: Information Handling, dealing with intellectual
property rights and working culture and environment in
the organisation.
 The categories mentioned above can be practiced
against:
(a) By IT organisations towards their clients/customers.
(b) Towards Employees
(c ) By employees towards their own organisation.
(d) By employees of organisation towards their clients.
(e) Organisation/employees together with their
clients/customers harming the other stakeholders.
 Information security is the major ethical issue under the
head of technology
(a) Employees scant respect towards information
security processes
(b) Force customers to part with confidential information
(c ) Sharing confidential information about clients and
customers with unauthorized people.
(d) Hacking
(e) Practice of unethical transactions.
 Under intellectual property rights software piracy is one
of the major issues causing huge losses to IT industry.
Illegal use of intellectual properties like algorithms,
source codes, trade secrets and business logic.
Ethics of technology is a subfield of ethics addressing
the ethical question specific to the technology age.
 Secular Vs Spiritual values in management
A way of living that emphasizes a constant awareness of the
spiritual dimension of nature , without any acknowledgement of a
contractual relationship between the material world and the
spiritual.
Spirituality in real sense is the sacred relationship that unites
oneself with the divine.
It is a journey to the search for eternal truth or the path of
enlightenment.
If we visualize our life almost our entire day is spent in search of
satisfaction, happiness or pleasure and many a times it is even
spent coping with problems or difficulty.
 The spiritual knowledge lays emphasis on the unreality
of these worldly bonds.
Spirituality helps in knowing your inner self, merging our
real self with the greater self i.e. almighty God, it is
basically dissolving ones ego and being absolutely
truthful in all affairs of life.
Spirituality is a sense of a higher power, having a feeling
of peace and something greater tan oneself and outside
oneself in fact it is the true inner self primary goals of
spirituality which can be as follows:
a) Self-confidence
b) Self improvement
c) Inner Peace
d) Balanced Life
e) Positivism
f) Concentration Power
g) Wisdom
h) Moksha: It is liberation from the cycle of life and rebirth
i) Nirvana: It is freedom from the cycle of rebirth and
sufferings of life.
 It is a common belief that spirituality and business are
two different side of the same coin.
Business is viewed as a place to just earn the bread and
butter, and always aiming towards profit maximization.
But in present scenario employees are conscious of
betterment in their life then just having huge salary.
Spirituality at workplace is about employees who
understand themselves as spiritual entitles and whose
soul needs nourishment at work.
It is basically having values like loyalty, tolerance,
commitment , belongingness, and passion at workplace.
 Benefits of Spirituality:
It create an environment of trust, loyalty, openness,
honesty, clear communication and commitment among
all the members of the organizations.
It helps the employees to appreciate the subordinates
opinion and beliefs, it cultivates inclusiveness and value
diversity.
It increase ethical behavior which results in increased
productivity.
 In today's world where there is cut throat competition
prevailing everywhere spirited companies can retain the
best talent within the company.
It enhances the job satisfaction levels which results in
personal satisfaction of the employees to a very great
extent.
 SECULARISM

The dictionary meaning of secular is of worldly matter i.e.

not religious or spiritual.

Secular values refer to the materialistic, worldly and non-

spiritual values.

Secular Vs Spiritual Values

 Secular Values
Profits are the primary
values of the organisation
Focus on creating high
productivity and
performance org.
Characterized by respect
for achievement and
power.
Spiritual Values
Purpose is important and
profit is not the primary
value for org.
Focus on creating a
culture in which people
are valued and where
they learn and grow.
Characterised by mutual
trust, honesty and
openness.
 Work practices which Humanistic work
raise productivity, practices are adopted
efficiency and economy which take the
are encouraged and requirements of individual
practiced. into consideration.
There is a fair of Toleration of employee
challenging authority or expression of their
expressing negative feelings and emotions
feelings about a process, without fear of reprimand
technology or decision of or guilt.
those in higher positions
of power
 Work Ethics:
Work ethics is how one applies value to work in actual
decision making, a power of right and wrong actions
that directly affect the workplace.
Factors Effecting Ethical behavior at Workplace:
1. Individual standards and values
a. Relationship with employees
b. Relationship with suppliers and Business partners
c. Relationship with customers
d. Management of resources
2. Boss and co-workers Influence
3. Different Codes and Compliance
4. Corporate culture and mythology
Benefits of Managing Ethics at Workplace:
1. Attention to business ethics has substantially improved
society.
2. It helps to maintain a moral course in turbulent times
3. It helps to cultivate strong teamwork and productivity
4. It support employee growth and meaning
5. Act as insurance policy by ensuring that policies are legal
6. They help to avoid criminal act and can lower fines
7. They help to manage value associated with quality
management, strategic planning and diversity
management
8. They promote a strong public image
 Concept of Swadharma
Dharma is the law of right living, the observance of which
secures the double object of happiness in our own life
and also the happiness in others life.
It stands for all those ideals, purposes, influences,
institutions, and the ways of life and conduct that shape
the character and evolution of man both as an individual
and as a member of the society.
The openly spirit, righteousness (godliness), and
fearlessness are the three divine elements of Dharma
 Dharma is spirit (or evolves from spirit) in Indian ethos.
The inclusion of dharma is like rediscovering a vacant
upstairs room in ones heat chamber.
The traits of dharma or integrity, e.g. Courage, self
discipline, goodness, righteousness and all other
essential and ethical values constitute the character of
management / organization just as they are of the
individual character
 Gita emphasizes that Swadharma (ones duty based on
ones swabhava inclination and aptitude on the work
that falls to ones lot by virtue of ones placement in
society) should be carried on for the general welfare of
society and as worship of Divine, as our offering to god.
The concept of Swadharma in the Bhagavad-Gita, in the
present context, talks about the situation of job stress and
its management. Strictly speaking swadharma is work
according to ones nature (wrongly interpreted by some in
the past as the work related to ones birth in the Varna
system of society).
 The real meaning of Swadharma is to work with
dedication. If it is found that the work allotted is not to
ones liking, one could try and change it into a new one,
called paradharma.
If one agrees to do a particular job, he has to do it with
the feeling that he is not doing it just for the
remuneration, but doing it as an offering to God with
detachment. The latter gives satisfaction and also peace
of mind needed to avoid day-to-day stresses.