Remember when you first started driving? Your mom in the passenger seat, making you nervous because every time you hit the brakes or popped the clutch she would yell at you. Driving in an empty parking lot is easy, but once you got on the road with real human beings it was another story. Did you drive on your “best behavior”? When you came to a stoplight that was in the processing of turning from green to yellow to red, did you stop or did you haul it through the light? Did you take the time to evaluate all of your options? What if I get a red light ticket? What if I hit someone else? What if my mom makes me pull over and won’t let me drive?
Ethics in media is a lot like learning how to drive and how to drive legally. There are so many decisions that need to be evaluated before a decision is made. Does this ad promise false hopes and dreams? Is? Is my boss going to throw me under the bus if this turns up bad press?
You may have to work on an account that is in the tobacco industry. When you’re working on this ad, you know that smoking is legal, but is your ad ethically suspect? Knowing the rules and how to use the rules will always give you the upper hand. Would you know what is needed to substantiate a claim from an ad you create? If your mom read your article, would you be ok with that? Do you have a code of ethics that you follow (and actually understand)?
The study of ethics is needed because as strategic communication professionals, we need to be able to stand by and have a strong working knowledge of both business and our own moral principals. I know where I stand on certain issues, but am I strong enough in my own convictions to be able to say no or walk away from an account?
How do ethics drive your decisions?
No comments:
Post a Comment