Council members and guests alike were honored this April to participate in a conversation with Ron Miller and Sharon Brock on the subject of advertising ethics. Ron Miller, representing the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Central Ohio, opened his presentation with slides explaining the birth and purpose of the BBB concept.
Participants learned that the first BBB organized in 1916 to promote truth and accuracy in advertising. Over the years, the BBB system has grown to over 185 bureaus, all members of a national organization, the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB), based in Northern Virginia. Members of BBBs most often are businesses with leaders interested in setting and honoring high standards of business ethics. Their collective mission: to promote and foster the highest ethical relationship between businesses and the public through voluntary self-regulation, consumer and business education, and service excellence.
Miller explained that 48 government agencies currently regulate advertising in the United States. Among these agencies an advertiser may find varied, sometimes conflicting, standards. In contrast, BBBs pursue self-regulation and serve the public and the business community via two paths: setting advertising standards and operating a process for resolving difficult cases. An example of the first path, the BBB Code of Advertising, was distributed by Miller to members of the audience. The Code incorporates the most common breaches of advertising ethics as it defines workable standards.
The second path, explained Brock, ranges from local BBB advertising review committees to the National Advertising Review Board (NARB), of which Brock is a member. Local committees respond to allegations of deceptive advertising that originate from consumers, competitors, or are identified by a BBB monitoring service. If a dispute arises, the committee forwards the case to a regional review system, the National Advertising Review Network. This body applies the Code of Advertising's standards to derive a decision. If resolution does not occur, the case moves to the CBBB's National Advertising Division (NAD), where ads are scrutinized and investigated on the basis of truth and accuracy [when ads are directed toward persons age 12 or younger, cases are sent to the Childrens's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) instead of the NAD]. If the NAD or CARU concurs that a particular ad is misleading, it tries to work voluntarily with the advertiser to fix the ad. If this approach again fails, the advertiser can seek a final level of appeal in the NARB. This body of experts analyzes the issue both on its merits and for the lessons that may be learned for improving the Code. If the advertiser is finally unresponsive, the NARB forwards the case to the appropriate government agency (FTC, FDA, Justice Department, etc.)
To demonstrate the role of ethics in this process, Brock led the group through the steps followed by the NAD or CARU to reach consensus before an issue is taken to the NARB. She noted that most complaints (46 percent) rise from competitors, though more-active local bureaus are increasing their vigilance every year. Brock is one of 10 NARB members who represent the public; the remaining 60 members are split amoung advertisers (40) and ad agencies (20). When an issue rises to the level of the NARB, a special panel is assembled to review the case.
As an example of how a panel operates, Brock discussed a case involving Wal-Mart and its slogan "Always The Low Price, Always." The process began when competitors complained the slogan deceived consumers. They argued that "the low price" implied the lowest price available, which was untrue. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, explained that consumers were capable of distinguishing between the words "low' and "lowest." The company went so far as to contact nationally recognized grammarians to support the slogan's integrity.
Brock's panel faced the challenge of resolving the ethical conflict between Wal-Mart's grammatical argument and the sense that consumers were being deceived by the slogan's clever wording. Personally, she was surprised that neither Wal-Mart nor the competitors had completed any research to determine the level of consumer confusion. One day in class she conducted an informal survey. She asked her students, "What do you interpret the phrase 'Always The Low Price, Always' to mean?" Nine students of 10 affirmed the competitors' complaint that the slogan meant the lowest price. With this exercise fresh in mind, Brock discussed the case with her fellow panel members. In the end, the panel asked Wal-Mart to change its slogan. The company agreed and began the expensive process of amending its advertising, from replacing tens of thousands of employee nametags to repainting trucks to creating new billboards.
Brock explained that the Wal-Mart example is only one of numerous issues of advertising ethics that reach the BBB. If a toilet paper ad claims its paper to be the softest, how is "softness" measured? When a cough syrup ad declares its childrens's syrup is #1 doctor recommended, does it matter if the recommending doctors are pediatricians? What does it mean for U-Haul to "guarantee" reservations? Add to the difficulty of these questions that courts are beginning to hold advertising agencies legally liable for the deceptive content of their customers' ads, Brock continued, and one can appreciate the value of setting and honoring standards of advertising ethics.
As hard as the BBBs work on these standards, new challenges periodically appear. The NARB is curently considering whether it should include among its relevant media the internet. The NARB's three criteria for determining jurisdiction require that an ad be: 1) a sales message, 2) part of mass communication, and 3) controlled by the advertiser. With these parameters in mind, the NARB will soon determine whether its scope should include cyberspace.
As the conversation opened to those attending, Miller was asked at what point does a local issue qualify for regional involvement. He responded that local review officials are the preferred first-stop when an issue arises, given their sense of community standards. When an advertiser's message affects an audience beyond a single BBB, though, or when the advertiser is unresponsive to the local officials' suggestions, the matter proceeds to the regional National Advertising Review Network.
When asked about the trend in the frequence of complaints, Miller noted that they often come in cycles. When the economy is strong, businesses usually refrain from pushing the advertising envelope When the economy turns down, though BBBs see more business persons whose aggressive advertising crosses lines of ethical conduct.
CINErgy Media Communication