Post 12: Unethical Ads

Reebok’s “Cheat on your girlfriend, not on your workout” is advertising a fitness wear line that should be more important than a romantic relationship. This is an ethically questionable ad because Reebok is expecting its consumers to morph his/her values towards a relationship with a workout (while wearing all Reebok apparel) instead of having a relationship with a human. The tagline on Reebok’s ad also endorses heterosexual-only relationships due to the man’s fit body in the photo and the word “girlfriend” is used to signify a heterosexual relationship. This advertisement also has a minor shock value due to the words instead of the images. Shock advertising is considered marketers who use “nudity, sexual suggestiveness, or other startling images” to get the consumer’s attention (736). Reebok uses shock advertising through its language and message. Reebok’s message is that men can now have a “reason” to place more value on their workout vs. their significant other. Although they do not necessarily use vulgar language or expletives, they are offering a message that not all public would view eye-to-eye with. 

Burger Kind’s ad for the Super Seven Incher sandwich advertises a white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman with her mouth gaping open, ready for a sandwich to enter it. This advertisement refers to a sexual suggestiveness which points towards shock advertising functioning well to get the attention of the consumer. Although a retailer store like Abercrombie & Fitch banned its advertisements from being racy and sexualized, Burger King does not normally market towards a sexualized target market (736). With this ad, though, it perpetuates a young woman who is receiving sexual acts from a piece of food.

Seven-Up soda features an advertisement of a newborn baby happily drinking out of a 7-Up bottle. “Why we have the youngest customers in the business..Nothing does it like Seven-Up!” The consumer socialization process describes the process of minors being exposed to advertisements but still have TV networks control what can be shown to children and teens (738). This advertisement may be placed in an adult magazine or marketed towards older people but the usage of a baby adds shock value to the ad.