Article on advertisement should be informative and educational but most of them are misleading and incorrect
Answers
The media advertisements do have certain influence on public interest ; so they have to follow correct ethics in the interests of the general public. But in reality, this is not so. Also the range of audience is wide and that needs to be taken into consideration too, for advertisements.
Lifestyles of people have changed and they rely far more on ready to make stuff or ready to eat food for sustenance on a daily basis. Ready food items declaring the nutritional value and preservatives content should be correct. The companies should take full ethical responsibility for declaring the right information on the labels.
Customers should also be conscious of their own responsibility and ensure that the declared information is correct. If the informational turns out to be false or has an adverse effect on health, they should immediately bring that to the attention of the relevant authorities. There is an authorised body called Advertisements Standard Council for complaints against misleading information and for corrective action.
One more example is the fairness cream. They are based on the premise that dark is not beautiful when black is also beautiful. It touches only one aspect of our body, that is our skin. When we take the whole face or whole appearance, there are people who are not fair but very beautiful. And the maxim, ‘Beauty is skin deep’ applies here. Advertisements for such products have moved onto the opposite sex (men/boys) too where earlier they were admired for being dark and handsome!
These days, young children demand things they see on advertisements and parents also give in easily due to lack of time. So, it is the responsibilities of companies to ensure correct information is provided through advertisements and also on labels wherever relevant. Hope, advertisements are made keeping the welfare of people in mind and give right information and are more educational too, wherever the need for the same is there. Eg. Healthcare, promoting education (for rural areas) where awareness is low.