Whose standards? An examination of community attitudes towards Australian advertising

Authors

Sandra C. Jones, University of WollongongFollow
Katherine Eagleton, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

29816

Publication Details

Jones, S. C. & van Putten , K. (2009). Whose standards? An examination of community attitudes towards Australian advertising. Proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference (pp. 1-8). Melbourne, Australia: Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy.

Abstract

There is considerable ongoing debate in Australia, as in other countries, about the ethicality of current advertising practices. In recent years there has been an increase in the public focus on offensive or unacceptable advertising – such as overt sex appeals, racial vilification, and promotion of unsafe use of consumer products – arguing that many of these advertisements (ads) are contrary to community standards. The industry, on the other hand, argues that it produces ads that are designed to meet and appeal to community standards. There is no comprehensive data on the nature of community standards in relation to advertising, and the purpose of the current study was to assess community attitudes towards current standards of advertising.