“The truth is that marketing raises enormous ethical questions every day—at least it does if you’re doing it right…”
- Rory Sutherland, former President of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA)
Advertising is everywhere. It pervades the media, the internet, and our public spaces. But despite its invasiveness, strikingly few question its effects on our consumption, our freedom of choice, or our cultural values.
Building on earlier work prepared for Common Cause, PIRC and WWF-UK have produced a report that begins to ask these questions. Think Of Me As Evil? Opening the Ethical Debates in Advertising argues that modern advertising’s impact on British culture is likely to be detrimental to our wellbeing, and may well exacerbate the social and environmental problems that we collectively confront.
The report presents evidence that advertising increases overall consumption; that it promotes and normalises a whole host of behaviours, attitudes and values, many of which are socially and environmentally damaging; that it manipulates individuals on a subconscious level, both children and adults; and that it is so pervasive in modern society as to make the choice of opting-out from exposure virtually impossible.
Download Think Of Me As Evil here.
What others are saying about this report
“This is a fascinating, clear-headed and critically important report. Reading it, I’m struck by the fact that nothing quite like it has been written before. Why not, I wonder, when this issue looms so large in our lives, and the ethical questions involved so obviously require investigation? I’m delighted that it’s been done at last, and that an urgently-needed debate can now begin.”
- George Monbiot, journalist, author and campaigner
“This report shines a light onto a seldom scrutinised sector—the advertising industry. Advertising, it suggests, harms society and the planet by increasing consumerism, manipulating cultural values, and intruding into all aspects of our lives. Yet where are the civil society campaigns against it? This report, it’s to be hoped, will inspire campaigners to take up the cause as their own.”
- Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion and leader of the Green Party of England and Wales
Read more
- George Monbiot’s column in the Guardian, 24th October 2011
- Tom Crompton on advertising and bigger-than-self problems (Case study originally presented in Common Cause)
Get involved
To join the debate about the impacts of advertising and what to do about them, please email info@pirc.info