Term Paper on "Advertising or PSA"
Term Paper 4 pages (1047 words) Sources: 1+
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Advertising or PSA?Are these true PSAs or advertisements?
The advertisers of distilled spirits are certainly claiming that this is a public service announcement. They argue that because beer and wine are currently advertised on television more frequently than distilled spirits, viewers infer the wrong message that one form of alcohol is intrinsically more subject to abuse or ill affects than another. Therefore, they are merely letting the public know that alcohol is alcohol. And, that's precisely the problem, alcohol is alcohol and its potential for abuse is tremendous.
The messages should be construed by objective third parties as advertisements. In fact, the message itself doesn't even pass the test for truth in public relations and advertising as outlined by Bivins (2004). Although the message appears to be accurate and it may be in the public's best interest to know that beer and wine have just as much alcohol content as distilled spirits, the completeness of the message is in question. Most notably, the negative potential affects of all alcoholic beverages such as drinking while driving, alcoholism and links to criminal behavior are not discussed. Further, it's useful for the consumer to understand that beer, wine and liquor have the same effect only if a person drinks them in a standard size serving and at the same rate (Distillers spirits advertising in perspective). Because beer, wine and liquor are also usually served in different sizes (12 ounces for beer; 5 ounces for wine; and 1 1/2 ounces of 80 proof liquor), the potential to over consume distilled spirits may be far greater than for beer and wine for certain individuals.
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The supposed public service announcement doesn't discuss this issue. And, in this instance, the advertisement listed the name of the company as the sponsoring organization to gain brand recognition.
Are these messages in the public interest?
While it may be useful to know that beer and wine are just as dangerous as distilled spirits, the benefits of this message are overshadowed by the negative impact of the entire line of products containing alcohol. In 1997, the Berkeley Wellness Center estimated that alcohol caused 100,000 deaths a year and cost U.S. society $86 billion annually (Beaver, 1997).
Alcohol is not just a personal problem; it's a social problem (Beaver, 1997) as indicated by the following disturbing statistics. In the late 1990s, about 20,000 people a year died in alcohol-related crashes and forty percent of all Americans were involved in a car accident in which drinking is involved. Links to crime are also a serious problem. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, half of all those imprisoned for murder were under the influence of alcohol when arrested; seventy percent of all fatal adolescent shootings involved drinking and alcohol was involved in about thirty-seven percent of rapes and the majority of aggravated assaults. Spousal violence is twice as likely to occur if one of the partners has been drinking and one third of all property crimes are linked to drinking. Alcohol related offenses are the largest arrest category in the U.S.
3. What ethical theories justify either running or not running the spots on television?… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Advertising or PSA" Assignment:
“Advertising or PSA?
A large manufacturer of distilled liquor has recently developed a series of television and print advertisements it has called public service announcements. These PSAs demonstrate graphically that the alcohol content of a single beer, a glass of wine, and a mixed drink containing 1.5 ounces of distilled liquor is essentially the same. Their purpose, stated within the PSAs, is to make the public aware that a person consumes the same amount of alcohol in each of these drinks and thus is just as likely to become intoxicated from one as from the others. The name of the company is given in the PSAs as the sponsoring organization.
It is also widely known among marketing experts and others that sales of distilled liquor have suffered at the same time that sales of wine and beer have risen. This may be due in part to the fact that advertisement of distilled spirits was not being done at this time (although it is widely used in print media). This is not an actual law, but an informal and longstanding agreement among advertisers, manufacturers, and broadcasters. The president of the liquor company ahs denied any relationship between declining sales and the PSAs; however, the word within the company is that the two are, in fact, related. In addition, the three major television networks refused to run the PSAs calling them an advertisement for distilled spirits; however, the PSAs subsequently ran in TV Guide under the headline "Why are ABC, CBS and NBC afraid to run this message?"
ASSIGNMENT: ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
1. Are these true PSAs or advertisements?
2. Are these messages in the public interest?
3. What ethical theories justify either running or not running the spots on television?
4. What ethical justification, if any, can you cite for running beer and wine ads but not ads for hard liquor? If there is no ethical justification for this, what (ethically) is wrong with this differentiation?
SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS:
1) PLEASE REFER TO THE CONCEPTS/THEORIES DISCUSSED IN THE CHAPTER PAGES (PAGES WILL BE FAXED)
2) ANSWER EACH QUESTION SEPERATELY
EXAMPLE:
QUESTION 1. Are these true PSAs or advertisements?
ANSWER:
QUESTION 2. Are these messages in the public interest?
ANSWER:
ETC....
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How to Reference "Advertising or PSA" Term Paper in a Bibliography
“Advertising or PSA.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2005, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/advertising-psa/195370. Accessed 4 Oct 2024.
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