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This chapter examines a number of paradoxes inherent in the relationship between the expectations of a democratic political system and the realities of a profit-motivated advertising-supported media system operating within a capitalist framework.

Key questions for the chapter

1. How does advertising as the primary source of funding for the media affect media content and the media landscape?
2. What is the normative role of the press in a democracy? How is that role influenced by the profit-motivated, advertising- supported character of our commercial media system?

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Case 33

Discussion Questions

1. What are the philosophical underpinnings of the normative role of the press in a democratic political system?
2. Define the concept of “audience as commodity?”
   • How does that concept factor into decisions about who is given voice in our media system and who is not?
   • How does that concept influence the successful functioning of the democratic process?
3. Is it hypocritical for activist organizations operating in the context of democratic principles to leverage advertising in their attempts to silence a voice which they view to be counter to those principles? Isn’t this essentially viewpoint discrimination?
4. Is it ethical for advertisers professionally bound to advocate for client brands to support media rife with racist, sexist, homophobic remarks injurious to others, the social community, and perhaps the brand itself? (to whom is duty owed?)

Weblinks

1. Media “watchdog”/activist groups websites
   • Media Matters for America, https://www.mediamatters.org
   • Color of Change, https://colorofchange.org/about/
   • Media Research Center, https://www.mrc.org/about.
   • Free Press Unlimited, https://www.freepressunlimited.org/en/what-we-do
2. Article resource: “Can the First Amendment save us?” Colombia Journalism Review, Fall 2017, www.cjr.org/special_report/can-the-first-amendment-save-us.php
3. Video Resource (transcript also available): Michael Sandel: The lost art of democratic debate,” TED Talk, June 7, 2010. https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_sandel_the_lost_art_of_democratic_debate?language=en
4. Article resource: Afdhel Aziz, “Facebook Ad Boycott Campaign ‘Stop Hate for Profit’ Gathers Momentum and Scale: Inside the Movement for Change,’ Forbes, June 24, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/afdhelaziz/2020/06/24/facebook-ad-boycott-campaign-stop-hate-for-profit-gathers-momentum-and-scale-inside-the-movement-for-change/?sh=9cbdc7616687

Advertiser Boycott of X—December 2023

5. Audio resource: “Ad boycott at the platform formerly known as Twitter grows by the day,” NPR¸December  6, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2023/12/06/1217513348/advertising-boycott-at-the-platform-formerly-known-as-twitter-grows-by-the-day
6. Video resource: “’It ought to be illegal’ for companies to mass boycott advertising on X: South Carolina Treasurer,” CNBC, December 7, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mj5P_mHQ60
7. Video resource: “Elon Musk: Advertiser Boycott May Kill X” Bloomberg Television. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1tQba4p5V0

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Case 34

Discussion Questions

Individual businesses have the right to make decisions about whom to do business with and who is allowed to advertise on their sites.

1. Is it ethical for a medium to refuse an advertisement simply for being inconsistent with a media decision maker’s personal belief? Why or why not?
2. Is identifying an advertising message as “too controversial” a legitimate reason for rejecting an advertisement? If so, who should determine what constitutes “controversial”?

Weblinks

1. https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2019-04-30/ty-article/.premium/christian-films-like-unplanned-have-a-deeper-agenda-than-box-office-success/0000017f-f7bc-d47e-a37f-ffbc04d40000
2. Article resource [the basics of media clearance]: “I Have a Great Commercial, So Why Won’t the Networks Air It?” Find Law. https://corporate.findlaw.com/law-library/i-have-a-great-commercial-so-why-won-t-the-networks-air-it.html
3. Article resource: Herbert J. Rotfeld. “Power and Limitations of Media Clearance Practices and Advertising Self-Regulation,” Journal of Public Policy and Marketing 11(1). Spring 1992, 87-95. https://doi.org/10.1177/074391569201100110
4. Video resource [+transcripts available] (03:13:22): “Stifling Free Speech: Technological Censorship and the Public Discourse. Senate Judiciary Committee. Subcommittee on the Constitution, April 10, 2019. https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/stifling-free-speech-technological-censorship-and-the-public-discourse [Mr. Konzelman’s testimony if available here]
5. Article resource: “CBS refuses to air Ads For Dan Rather Movie ‘Truth’” Variety, October 16, 2015, https://variety.com/2015/film/news/cbs-truth-dan-rather-ads-refuses-1201620016/
6. Article resource [a more typical reason for clearance rejection]: “NBC’s Sexually-Explicit Super Bowl Ad Rejection Makes Us Blush” PETA, October 14, 2013. https://www.peta.org/blog/nbcs-sexuallyexplicit-super-bowl-ad-rejection-makes-us-blush/?PageIndex=4#comments
7. Video resource: (:31) “Veggie Love,” explicit PETA commercial discussed in previous article. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wDE9XpmDHE
8. Article resource [the basics of media clearance]: “I Have a Great Commercial, So Why Won’t the Networks Air It?” Find Law. https://corporate.findlaw.com/law-library/i-have-a-great-commercial-so-why-won-t-the-networks-air-it.html

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Case 35

Discussion Questions

Programmatic internet advertising buying allows marketers to deliver personalized ads to specific individuals based upon their online behavior (aka digital footprint). It is estimated that 72 percent of all internet display advertising is placed programmatically.

1. How does the programmatic advertising buying process monetize fake news/disinformation?
2. Programmatic advertising buying involves the collection and use of vast amounts of data. This introduces additional ethical considerations in the targeting process. What are those considerations?
3. Research shows that advertisers using programmatic buying frequently are unaware of where their ads are appearing. That is, they are unaware of the websites their ads support. This results in concerns over pragmatic issues such as brand safety (ads appearing next to content that doesn’t align with company values), fraud (response by bots v. people), etc. How does this influence the professional mandate to operate in the best interests of the client?
4. Advertising has enormous control over news consumption in the United States. How so? What are the implications for social welfare?

Weblinks

1. (website resource): “Tracking AI-enabled Misinformation: 614 ‘Unreliable AI-Generated News’ Websites (and Counting), Plus the Top False Narratives Generated by Artificial Intelligence Tools,” https://www.newsguardtech.com/special-reports/ai-tracking-center/
2. Report: “Special Report: Top brands are sending $2.6 billion to misinformation websites each year.An analysis of programmatic advertising data conducted by NewsGuard and Comscore finds that misinformation publishers are reaping billions in annual advertising revenue from top brands,” https://www.newsguardtech.com/special-reports/brands-send-billions-to-misinformation-websites-newsguard-comscore-report/
3. Article resource (academic, conference proceedings)  “Who Funds Misinformation: A Systematic Analysis of the Ad-related Profit Routines of Fake News Sites,” Association of Computing Machinery Digital Library, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3543507.3583443
4. Article resource: “Research Briefing: MFA uproar puts spotlight on programmatic advertising, as majority of marketers use programmatic site display ads,” Digiday, August 31,2023. https://digiday.com/marketing/research-briefing-mfa-uproar-puts-spotlight-on-programmatic-advertising-as-majority-of-marketers-use-programmatic-site-display-ads/
5. Article resource: “Programmatic ads pose new brand risks amid the generative AI boom,” Digiday, June 29, 2023. https://digiday.com/media-buying/programmatic-ads-pose-new-brand-risks-amid-the-generative-ai-boom/
6. Article resource: “WTF are Made-for-Advertising Sites—MFAs?” Digiday, September 18, 2023. https://digiday.com/marketing/wtf-are-made-for-advertising-sites-mfas/
7. Article resource: “Made for Advertising Websites are Toxic to your  Ad  Spend … and the Planet,” adloox, January 24, 2023, https://www.adloox.com/blog/advertisers-made-for-advertising-websites-are-toxic-to-your-ad-spend-and-the-planet
8. Article resource: “What is ‘Made for Advertising’ and Why Should you Avoid it?” Peer39, https://www.peer39.com/blog/what-is-made-for-advertising
9. Article resource: “The Danger of Fake News in Inflaming or Suppressing Social Conflict,” CITS (Center for Information Technology and Society , University of California—Santa Barbara) https://www.cits.ucsb.edu/fake-news/danger-social

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Case 36

Discussion Questions

Virtual product placement made possible by artificial intelligence frameworks is the ability to insert a product into movies, programs, ads, or any digital content during the post-production process, that is, after filming.

1. The core ethical question surrounding virtual product placement remains unchanged from that of traditional product placement: Is product placement deceptive and therefore unethical given that viewers are often unaware that they are watching a promotional message?
2. As outlined in the case, the use of product placement is often substantiated and celebrated on utilitarian grounds based in usefulness: (1) the deceptive nature of product placement been tempered by increased audience familiarity of the use of the strategy, (2) advertisers have an effective way to get their product before increasingly hard-to-reach consumers; and (3)  media benefit from a new revenue stream in economically challenging times.

While regulatory rulings have consistently rested on the fact that there has been no demonstration of the strategy’s harm to the public, Is “no demonstration of harm” sufficient indication of acting in tandem with social welfare? That is, have needs/benefits of the public been factored into decision making or have they largely been disregarded in this analysis? How might the analysis change if viewed from a deontological rather than a utilitarian perspective?

Virtual product placement made possible by advances in artificial intelligence provides advertisers/media with the opportunity to “put something where there currently isn’t something or replace what is there with something else making it look like it was there all the time.”

3. Is it ethical to insert a product (or other commercial element) into an established (and perhaps previously viewed) cultural narrative where there was none before? Does virtual product placement amplify the level of deception?
4. How should the integrity and authenticity of the original narrative, the creators’ imagination and story-telling prowess, and actors’ performance factor into the decision-making regarding the ethical use of this strategy?
5. Does the public benefit from yet another commercial incursion into the non-commercial world ? As the case asks “Are we better off, morally enriched, by a circumscribing cultural imagination in an increasingly supersaturated logic of commodity culture?”

Weblinks

1. Article resource: “On the Ethics of Product Placement in Media Entertainment,” Lawrence A. Wenner, Journal of  Promotions Management vol 10 (1,2), 2004. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1300/J057v10n01_08?needAccess=true
2. Article resource: “Streaming Video Sites Are Opening a Whole New World of Virtual Product Placement.” Fast Company, 7-26-22. https://www.fastcompany.com/90772200/virtual-product-placement-streaming-video-amazon
3. Article resource: “An ethical evaluation of product placement: a deceptive practice? Business Ethics, 17(2), 2008, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8608.2008.00525.x
4. Article resource: “How Computer Vision and AI Make New Revenue From Old Media” Forbes, February 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/charliefink/2021/02/01/how-computer-vision-and-ai-make-new-revenue-from-old-media/?sh=63f6b4d01981
5. Article resource; [Amazon introduction]: “The future of streaming video is scary virtual product placement ads incoming,” Ghacks.net. https://www.ghacks.net/2022/10/17/the-future-of-streaming-video-is-scary-virtual-product-placement-ads-incoming/