Marketing communication: principles and practice

partly by concerns for our physical environment and, in turn, these will affect
what we think we need in our daily lives.
Economic growth does not necessarily translate into better quality of 
life and self-interest may be incompatible with broader social objectives
because it largely ignores long-term interests. Economic efficiency, con-
sumer sovereignty, and business freedom of enterprise are implicitly 
assumed to be more important than public welfare and are based on material
affluence goals. The future environmental goals will (have to) transcend
economic goals and severely constrain them as resource allocation by 
the market mechanism continues to decline relative to the total of finite
resources used.
P R O F E S S I O N A L I S M
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WHAT CAN GO WRONG?
Sometimes marketing strategies can violate public trust. In particular,
deceptive advertising and irresponsible advertising have social implications.
Advertising that is in bad taste or is otherwise offensive can simply be seen
as a bad thing.
Deceptive advertising
This gives false information or intentionally misleads buyers and consumers
about product benefits. Attenders are deceived when they acquire false beliefs
because of their exposure to the advertising. Regulators have codes of practice
for advertising that they can apply to stop advertising from being run, to
require amendment, or to require corrective advertising to counter deceptive
claims. The common rule is that advertising should be legal, decent, honest,
and truthful. Complaints are welcomed by the regulators on any advertising
that is misleading, in bad taste, irresponsible, or encourages law-breaking or
unsafe practices.
In the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), with recourse to
the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations (1988), deals with
complaints about press, hoarding and cinema advertising, as well as computer
and video games, software, and the Internet. There is a voluntary watchdog
organization for UK press advertising – the Committee on Advertising
Practice, but this has no statutory powers. The Independent Television
Commission (ITC) regulates (through approval) TV, cable, satellite, and
teletext broadcasts. Radio advertising is monitored by the Radio Authority,
but the first line of complaint is always with the radio station manager. The
Broadcasting Standards Council also receives complaints about radio and
TV advertising. In the case of mail order, the local Trading Standards Office
will deal with complaints about goods supplied that do not conform to their
description or accepted standards.