To me, this post seems to be the chicken-egg discussion of this blog and our industry as a whole. As professionals and soon-to-be-professionals, what should our goal be? To 1) advertise for virtuous and helpful things and leave products or services that are not beneficial to the consumer on the side of the road or 2) advertise for all products in a strictly honest and non-deceitful, or virtuous, way?

To put these into example, I am studying Proctor & Gamble’s “Tide Loads of Hope” social media campaign for my final project. The campaign used social media to promote the sales of t-shirts, the profits of which went to a good cause. That, in my mind, is advertising for a virtuous cause. However, lets compare that to a more typical Proctor & Gamble/Tide ad. Lets say that Tide was advertising a new product that used an innovative way or tool to remove stains. Maybe it had a new niche in the market but honestly said in the commercial that it could damage fabric, or that it only removed the majority or the stain. That, in my mind, would be a virtuous way of promoting a product because it would point out the benefits but also the reality of the purchase of the product.

The nature of advertising will always be to persuade or convince which is not the most honorable trait but what, as advertisers should be our more prevalent goal? To a) advertise for virtuous things or b) virtuously and honestly advertise products and/or services?

I really enjoy the “truth” campaign as I think they are both effective and for a great cause. They did a great job reaching our generation with their blunt and straightforward messages. I think that we often turn off receptors when ads come on and these definitely are attention grabbers. I hope to see more high-quality campaigns with good messages like this one.

I just saw this commercial on TV made by the “Foundation for a Better Life.”  I think this foundation is doing a wonderful job bringing awareness to many different current happenings in our country.  Unlike other campaigns such as “Truth,” these are more varied and cover a wider spectrum of subjects.  Attached the the YouTube video is this description of the Homecoming Queen’s story:

“The story of Shellie Eyre is of a life lived with courage, determination and unrestricted love for everyone she meets. She was born in 1979 with Down syndrome and is the second child of a family of four children. At three years of age she experienced a major setback in the form of a stroke that left her paralyzed on her left side. 

Her school years were a wonderful time of learning a gaining many friends. This culminated in her senior year at Murray High School in Utah when she was selected as the 1997 Homecoming Queen. She had been one of the most popular girls in school because of her easy smile and loving heart.  When asked why everyone liked Shellie so much, one of the students said, Its hard not to love Shellie when you know how much she loves you.”