Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning

Twelfth Edition

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Chapter 9: The Commercialization of Everyday Life

This chapter focuses on the relationship between media advertising, with its attention to microtargeting recipients, tracking the behavior of digital media users, and the public concern about invasions of privacy resulting from standard practices. Users have become creators in the digital world, complicating advertisers’ effort to gain purchase with audiences. The rise of influencers, too, has made this task more difficult. Advertisers understand that people trust other people more than brands or messages themselves, thus requiring new forms of advertising such as the deployment of flash mobs to gain attention. Critics complain about ad creep and, more insidiously, the commercialization of everyday life, which seemingly makes advertising ever harder to identify. Advertisers are increasingly forced to employ unconventional tactics to cut through the clutter of the digital environment, leading to ethical concerns when platforms are seemingly hijacked or people find themselves subjected to blandishments they never anticipated.

Chapter 9 – Video Introduction

Transcript

Mark Bartholomew writes about ad creep: “new technologies and marketing strategies now inject advertising into almost every physical and virtual space.” This chapter explores another dimension of our commercialized landscape—the commodification of everyday life. Again, using Bartholomew’s words: “Advertising never stops.”

Key questions for the chapter

  1. What is commodification?
  2. We live in a marketing economy. What does it mean to live in a marketing society ?
  3. How does the commodification of institutions, ideas, and processes change our perceptions of and relationship to those institutions, ideas, and processes?

Case 37

Discussion Questions

This effort might be viewed as something of a hybrid of a virtual product placement and guerilla marketing and shares many of the ethical concerns surrounding those strategies (see e.g., Case 36).

  1. Product placement is inherently deceptive given that the audience is often unaware that they are viewing promotional content
  2. The ethical concerns surrounding this effort are perhaps amplified by the “guerilla” aspects of the photo insertion. How so?
  3. Does the fact that Wikipedia operates on a foundation of communal editing enter into your assessment of the ethicality of the “hack” in this case
  4. Some might view this scenario as relatively benign, not rising to the level of deception. The North Face photos went unnoticed until the video celebrating the effort emerged, suggesting that were relatively innocuous. Wikipedia viewed many of the inserted photos as “lovely,” and chose to retain some of them after removing the North Face logo. Do you agree? Why or why not?
  5. Wikipedia is not an entertainment platform but an informational resource. How might reader expectations be diminished by the North Face effort? What possible long-term consequences for all involved may emerge?
  6. Who benefits from the Leo Burnett/North Face effort?

Weblinks

  1. Video resource: North Face “Top of the Images https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMLTsCWGqlw&t=4s
    • (video is also available on many of the sites below)
  2. Academic article resource: “The Model of The Principles Advocate and The Pathological Partisan: A Virtue Ethics Construct of Opposing Archetypes of Public Relations and Advertising Practitioners, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 2008.
  3. Article resource: “North Face edited Wikipedia’s photos. Wikipedia wasn’t happy. The New York Times, May 20, 2019.   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/business/north-face-wikipedia-leo-burnett.html
  4. Article resource: “Egg on North Face: Wikipedia furious after glamp-wear giant swaps article pics for sneaky ad shots – and even brags about it in a video.” The Register, May 29, 2019.  https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/05/29/wikipedia_north_face/
  5. Article resource: “The North Face used Wikipedia to climb to top of google search results,” Advertising Age, May 28, 2019.  https://adage.com/creativity/work/north-face-top-imagens/2174261
  6. Article resource: “The North Face apologizes for its Wikipedia hack.” Ad Age, May 30, 2019. https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/north-face-apologizes-its-wikipedia-hack/2174591?utm_source=ad-age-news-alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20190530&utm_content=hero-headline
  7. Jennings Brown, “North Face  Apologizes for Showing Us the Future of Marketing,” Gizmodo, 5-30-19 https://gizmodo.com/north-face-apologizes-for-showing-us-the-future-of-mark-1835134494
  8. Wikimedia Foundation, “Let’s talk about the north face defacing Wikipedia,” https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2019/05/29/lets-talk-about-the-north-face-defacing-wikipedia/
  9. Article resource: “North Face tried to scam Wikipedia to get its products to the top of Google search,” https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/29/18644158/north-face-wikipedia-hack-leo-burnett-top-imagens

Case 38

Discussion Questions

  1. What is commodification?
  2. Michael Sandel notes “We have drifted from have a marketing economy to being a market society.” What is a market society?
  3. In a kidfluencer scenario, the parent-child relationship is transformed into a business relationship in which parents are the employer. Are you comfortable with this introduction of the logic of the marketplace into the parent-child relationship? How might the ethical dimensions change of the relationship change?
  4. Are parents who engage their children before cameras in this way exploiting them for personal gain? Are advertisers complicit in the parents’ decisions for their own economic gain?
  5. Do either parents or advertisers have ethical obligations to their children that influencer practices deny? 
  6. How might the contours of kidfluencing change if the process were viewed through a Kantian philosophical lens?

Weblinks

  1. Article resource: “How Parents of Child Influencers Package Their Kids’ Lives for Instagram. The Platform’s youngest stars owe their fame to their parents’ intense work behind the scenes,” The Atlantic, February 28, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/02/inside-lives-child-instagram-influencers/583675/
  2. Website resource: Ryan’s World Channel, You Tube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EbL4yiuhvQ
  3. Article resource: “Influencer Parents and The Kids Who Had Their Childhood Made Into Content,” Teen Vogue, March 2023. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/influencer-parents-children-social-media-impact
  4. Article resource: “Kidfluencers and Social Media: the Evolution of Child Exploitation in the Digital Age,” Humanium, February 23, 2021 https://www.humanium.org/en/kidfluencers-and-social-media-the-evolution-of-child-exploitation-in-the-digital-age/
  5. Article resource: “Explained: Child Influencers’ Lives are Glitzy, but Gloomy! Some are fighting back,” WION, April 25, 2023. https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/lifestyle/news-child-influencers-lives-are-glitzy-but-gloomy-now-some-are-fighting-back-585953
  6. Article resource: “A New Campaign Wants to Protect Child Influencers from Being Exploited by Their Parents, NPR, March 19, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/19/1164585514/a-new-campaign-wants-to-protect-child-influencers-from-being-exploited-by-their-  
  7. Article resource: “Featuring Kids is Good Business for Influencer Parents, But at the Cost of Their Future,” NPR, July 8, 2023. thttps://www.npr.org/2023/07/09/1186674958/featuring-kids-is-good-business-for-influencer-parents-but-at-the-cost-of-their
  8. Article resource: “Online and Making Thousands, at Age 4: Meet the Kidfluencers,” The New York Times,ARti March 1, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/01/business/media/social-media-influencers-kids.html?module=inline
  9. Article resource: “How one teen is urging legislators in Washington state to help protect kids from being exploited on vlogs,” NBC News,  February 14, 2023. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/child-influencers-exploitation-bill-hearing-washington-state-hb1627-rcna70479

Case 39

Discussion Questions

  1. Purpose advertising remains a contentious issue in advertising today, particularly in our highly politicized social climate. Patagonia is often recognized as a “purpose native.” What distinguishes the company from those who have been less successful in taking on a social cause?
  2. Patagonia’s efforts are frequently celebrated, but the company often confront’s profound ethical dilemmas. Can you identify at least two instances of such ethical dilemmas?
  3. What appears to be Chouinard’s/Patagonia’s ethical philosophy? Is it grounded in deontological ethics? Kantian ethics? Utilitarianism? Explain
  4. Are you personally comfortable with the insertion of a commercial imperative into the political social realm? That is,  with corporate decision-makers, who by professional necessity are motivated primarily by the needs and objectives of the corporation rather than by social welfare, making decisions about the relative importance of social needs in achieving/maintaining public welfare?
    • Patagonia is a privately held company. Does that in part explain Patagonia’s tendency to take risks others might not take?
  5. What role do you think corporations play in politics? What role should they play?
  6. Patagonia’s CEO says: “I don’t think corporations influencing elections and policy is anything new I think the difference is our activism—we put our logo on it.” Certainly transparency is welcome, but are corporations publicly endorsing particular candidates for national office a step too far?   Is there a danger that corporate brands will assume an outsize influence in the election of political candidates?

Weblinks

  1. Book resource: Yvon Chouinard, Let My People Go Surfin: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman (New York: Penguin, 2005)
  2. Website resource: “Company History,” https://www.patagonia.com/company-history/
  3. Article resource: “Patagonia’s Philosopher King,” The New Yorker, September19, 2016. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/19/patagonias-philosopher-king
  4. Article resource: “Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia’s founder,” Lifegate. July 22, 2015. https://www.lifegate.com/people/news/yvon-chouinard
  5. Article resource: Catherine Morin, “Patagonia’s Customer Base and the Rise of an Environmental Ethos,” CRM.org, February 1, 2019. https://crm.org/articles/patagonias-customer-base-and-the-rise-of-an-environmental-ethos
  6. Article resource: Lorenzo Brenna, “Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia’s founder,” Lifegate. July 22, 2015. https://www.lifegate.com/people/news/yvon-chouinard
  7. Article resource: “Why Patagonia changed its mission statement,” Digital Commerce 360, January 16, 2019. https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2019/01/16/why-patagonia-changed-its-mission-statement/
  8. Article resource: “The Patagonia Adventure: Yvon Chouinard’s Stubborn Desire to Redefine Business’” Medium: B the Change, September 6, 2016. https://bthechange.com/the-patagonia-adventure-yvon-chouinards-stubborn-desire-to-redefine-business-f60f7ab8dd60
  9. Article resource: “Exclusive: ‘Patagonia is in the business to save our home planet,’” Fast Company, December 13, 2018. https://www.fastcompany.com/90280950/exclusive-patagonia-is-in-business-to-save-our-home-planet
  10. Article resource: “Patagonia Endorses Senate Candidates for First Time in Its History,” Gentlemen’s Quarterly, October 19, 2018. https://www.gq.com/story/patagonia-senate-endorsements-2018
  11. Article resource: “#BrandsGetReal: Championing Change in the Age of Social Media” Sprout Social.com, (nd) https://sproutsocial.com/insights/data/championing-change-in-the-age-of-social-media/
  12. “We’re still in” declaration. “Spanning red and blue regions across 50 states, its signatories demonstrate America’s enduring commitment to delivering on the promise of the Paris Agreement and America’s contribution to it. To date, ‘We Are Still In’ is the largest cross section of the American economy yet assembled in pursuit of climate action.” https://www.wearestillin.com/we-are-still-declaration
  13. Article resource: “Trump Shrinks Utah Monument in Historic Move,” CNN, December 4, 2017. https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/04/politics/utah-monuments-trump-weir/index.html
  14. Article resource: “’The President Stole Your Land’ Patagonia Homepage Says,”USA Today, December 5, 2017. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/12/04/anti-trump-patagonia-message/921542001/
  15. Article resource: “Patagonia’s founder transfers ownership into two entities to help fight the climate crisis,” CNN, September 14, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/14/business/patagonia-ownership/index.html
  16. Article resource: “Patagonia’s Founder Has Given His Company a Way to Fight Climate Change and Advance Conservation: 5 Questions Answered,” The Chronicle of Philanthropy, September 26, 2022.  https://www.philanthropy.com/article/patagonias-founder-has-given-his-company-away-to-fight-climate-change-and-advance-conservation-5-questions-answered

Case 40

Discussion Questions

  1. According to the American Medical Association, the encounter between a patient and a physician is a fundamentally moral activity. What are the obligations of the participants in this encounter?
  2. The insertion of marketing and advertising has transformed that relationship into a business relationship; health care is viewed as a commodity. What are the practical and ethical consequences of this transformation?
  3. Do you believe the commodification of health care delivery has undermined the public trust in physicians?

Weblinks

  1. Website resource: Pharmed out https://sites.google.com/georgetown.edu/pharmedout/home
  2. Video Resource (12:55): “Inside the Opioid Industry’s Marketing Machine,” The Washington Post,  December 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIlpd40CpT0&t=2s
  3. Article and website resource: “How Pharmaceutical Marketing Affect Patient Care,” Kaiser Permanente, Institute for Health Policy https://www.kpihp.org/blog/how-pharmaceutical-marketing
  4. Article resource: “Spending on Consumer Advertising for Top-Selling Prescription Drugs in U.S. Favors Those with Low Added Benefit,” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public health, February 7, 2023. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/spending-on-consumer-advertising-for-top-selling-prescription-drugs-in-us-favors-those-with-low-added-benefit
  5. Article resource (academic): “Advertising Medicine: Selling the Cure,” Stanford Technological Law Review, 26(1), Fall 2022.
  6. Article resource: “Ethical Challenges to Marketing Drugs,´Trivent Publishing, Creative Commons Open Access, 2019. Available online at http://trivent-publishing.eu/
  7. Article resource: “Drug Policy 101: Pharmaceutical Marketing Tactics,” Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy, January 2020. https://www.kpihp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/drug_policy_pharmaceutical_marketing_101_FINAL.pdf