Today's lecture was prefaced with:
"Warning.
Some of the following material may offend some viewers."
Intrigue? Yes.
The answer? Ethics.
How far is too far to go when advertising a product? It's interesting to see which advertisements revived complaints compared to those that don't.
This advertisement received none. But I think quite rightly so. To be honest, I find this ad just simply a clever play on a well known saying, nothing super offensive.
This advertisement received none either (thank goodness!). I remember when this ad was by the Brisbane airport and I used to laugh relentlessly whenever we drove by. I don't find anything offensive about this ad either - it's just an incredibly clever ploy used by Air Asia. How witty.
This 'Voodoo' advertisement apparently received many complaints, apparently due to its 'gender stereotyping'. I actually quite like the ad - it's saying 'if you wear these tights, you will become strong and empowered and have the ability to walk all over men.' The rest of the public obviously didn't interpret it that way.
This advertisement is just odd. It doesn't even showcase the supposed 'shoes' that it's advertising. Saying that however, it did attract a lot of media attention. Subtle and reasonably cheap campaign by Windsor Smith? Very well played. This one was the recipient of MANY complaints, so many that it earned itself a prime position as a story on A Current Affair. This campaign received over $43 MILLION in FREE advertising, and Windsor Smith still refused to take down the ad. Maybe not the most accepted advertising campaign, but it was undeniably a successful one!
The iconic 'Where the Bloody Hell Are You' video advertisement was banned in the United Kingdom. I don't find it horribly offensive/necessary/enlightening. I'm so half hearted about this it's not even funny. I think banning the ad all together may have been going a little far..
This Australia Day Ad, however, I find disgusting. It generalises Australian population, doesn't at all concede with Australian's 'multicultural and diverse' stigma. It also makes Australian's seem uneducated and condescending. Fortunately, many people seemed to agree with me, and this campaign received numerous complaints. I wouldn't normally have anything against advertising campaigns, I try to find the humour in everything. I found nothing funny about this, though. I just thought it was a very poor and counteractive advertisement.
The MEAA CODE is the journalism code of ethics. It maintains principles of honesty, fairness, integrity and respect for the rights of others. Pretty standard, human-righty-esque principles in my opinion.
I do think, in some instances, these principles may need to bend a little. Saying that, though, they should never be completely breached. That's not with journalism, however, that's just with life.
Ethics should be taken seriously but people should also learn to appreciate the humour in every day life. And if you're someone in the public eye, you should expect to read about yourself in public media.
If people learn to see a little joy in every situation they're faced with, their lives soon become a much happier forum.
Take it from me, I'm not only happy from the obscene amounts of caffeine I consume.
It's ranging outside, it's midnight and I worked a ten hour shift today.
I'm in a jumper, happy that winter's finally here(ish) and going to make a hot chocolate (ho-cho!) before crawling into bed. Happy days!
goodnight and sweetdreams,
xoxo
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