ABSTRACT
How and when (if ever) should people and organisations advertise? That is the overarching question of advertising ethics. In what follows, I clarify the scope and meaning of this question (whose complexity is masked by its simple formulation above), present an overview of the kinds of issues and debates that fall within it, and comment on the methods by which it might be answered. I then consider in greater detail four issues whose implications for advertising are far-reaching and merit attention. The first of these concerns how requirements of honesty apply to advertising methods that persuade and motivate their audiences by mechanisms other than conscious information processing. The others concern the persuasive deployment of credibility, the use of emotion-arousal in advertising, and the ethical significance of stereotyping and the representation of groups.
