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Honesty in the Media. By Caitie Richards Robin Praszker Laura Parme. Six Rules Honesty in the Media . Rule #1: Greater Good > Profit Rule #2: Forget Photo-Shopping Rule #3: Honest Representation in Advertising Rule #4: Acceptance and Inclusiveness Rule #5: No Green-washing
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Honesty in the Media By Caitie Richards Robin Praszker Laura Parme
Six Rules Honesty in the Media • Rule #1: Greater Good > Profit • Rule #2: Forget Photo-Shopping • Rule #3: Honest Representation in Advertising • Rule #4: Acceptance and Inclusiveness • Rule #5: No Green-washing • Rule #6: Transparency
RULE #1: Greater Good > Profit • “Due to a responsibility to leave a habitable world and society for our children and theirs, any production and release of a product/good will be for the good of the consumer not the producer” While every person deserves to make a profit to live, this should not be the sole purpose of business. When it is, often greed is hidden under the facade of survival of the fittest. But the truth is honesty is important in all aspects of life, even in business. If the product is only meant to benefit the producer, it will be as cheap as possible to create a larger profit margin and easier production. In a world where it is about pleasing the consumer, products would be quality and the consumer would never be lied to. The number one goal of a business should be what they are providing. If it is food, then you take pride in the food, it will speak for itself. There would be no need to embellish the product in commercials, it cannot be embellished because it is so good.
An Example of Good Newman’s Own is a good example of quality food with the good of people before profits. Newman’s Own makes quality dog food, juice, pasta sauce and more. Personally when I am at the store I know if Newman’s is on the shelf it is quality as compared to Kraft or Nabisco who load crap into their food. Newman’s Own also donates all proceeds to charity. With over $300 million donated so far to various charities, causes and churches, Newman’s own is proving you can provide quality product while not lying and adding unnecessary ingredients. All of their juices use sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. If Newman can do it and give away all of its profits, why couldn’t another company?
Rule #2: Forget Photo-shopping • This semester we learned about magazines, photo-shopping, and porn industry. We watched a video called The Perfect Lie it claims that, “The real goal is to make us feel a little insecure so we buy that product to feel better about our self’s” (The Perfect Lie). We believe that all people have the right to be who they want to be. Unfortunately many magazine companies are providing people with false images. In the media technology continues to advance day to day. Magazine companies have the power to turn a “bad” image into the “perfect” image. We call this photo-shopping. Photo-shopping can leave a negative impact on young adults that look up to celebrities on magazines. People are changing their self image, because of photo-shopped pictures. It is sad, because some people do not realize that these photos are being photo-shopped. Our goal is to be as honest with the media as possible, because honesty is a better lifestyle than being in a lie.
Rule #3: Honest Representation in Advertising • We have explored two different facets of advertising; one, its omnipresence in our “pop culture” on a daily basis but also two, the direct efforts of advertising. Everyone has been duped in one way or another by false advertising. We propose a rule that would provide austere deterrence for companies to advertise (both implicitly and explicitly) anything about their product or service that is, in actuality, untruthful. • We believe that if a product has side effects, they should be clearly explained and NOT at the end of a commercial, at warp speed, by an auctioneer-like voice, in a whisper. Claims like “studies show…” and “4 out of 5 agree…” should be verified by third party research with truly no invested interest in the product. Advertisers should be cognizant of their audiences’ construal of the message and should take every precaution to not present misleading information. • The following pictures are all companies that have recently suffered monetary and legal discipline for misleading advertising claims.
An Example of Good Humor can be just as effective – and doesn’t require lying!
Rule #4: Acceptance and Inclusiveness • People are different. We come in different sizes. Different shapes. Different colors. Different bodies. We come from different backgrounds. Different beliefs. This is not a bad thing; rather, it’s a beautiful thing. We need to embrace these difference and cater to the various needs of the many different individuals existing around us. • Catering to only a select, exclusive group of people – for example, only size 00-size 4s in a clothing store, or the recent Abercrombie and Fitch confession that they blatantly and solely target the “cool kids” – is wrong, immature, and cruel.
Rule #5: No “Green-Washing” • Recent years have brought on a new, “green” trend. Consumers have increasingly been interested in environmentally-friendly products. In lieu of this growing market, companies with products that don’t offer significant environmental impact will still claim a “green” or “environmentally-friendly” tagline. • This can’t happen. Products that do help the environment are good news! But dishonesty about which products do and don’t ultimately detracts credibility from positive players in the game. There are no free rides – make some green improvements and then stick that “Green!” label on there!
Rule #6: Full Disclosure • A recurring theme can be found among our 6 rules: transparency. The most related rule is our last, in that full disclosure creates transparency. An open dialogue about business practices, ingredients, processes, employees, work conditions, and so on would facilitate a better understanding and better relationship between consumer and manufacturer. • More importantly, perhaps, it eliminates the arena for dishonesty. Rules requiring full disclosure – with negative impact resulting if ignored – would mean honesty and information would go hand in hand.
