PHIL 1273 1st Edition Lecture 18 Outline of Last Lecture I. Unit 3II. AdvertisingA. Relationships between the firm and the consumerB. What are ethical flashpoints of advertising?C. Savan ReadingOutline of Current Lecture I. AdvertisingA. Savan Reading1. Utilitarian Ideas2. Deontological Ideas3. Virtue Theory IdeasB. SummaryCurrent LectureI. AdvertisingA. “Ethical Flashpoints”1. located through the use of moral theoriesa. Utilitarianism: looks at consequencesB. Savan Reading1. Criticala. Moral theories used to analyze her critique to determine agreement or disagreement2. She doesn’t make the simple case that ads make people worse of3. She makes the subtler case that ads turn viewers into worse people – an idea of virtue theory4. Utilitarian ideas in Savana. More subtle point: “utilitarian soul”i. What utilitarianism assumes about the way people are: people see their good in terms of satisfying desiresii. Ads reinforce this psychology, in service to the market- Direct message: buy the product- Underlying message: people attain their good by buying productsThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.b. “It’s less important that we purchase any particular product than that we come to expect resolution in the form of something buyable” (Savan 343)i. The way to the good is through the market as opposed to pursuing satisfaction5. Deontological ideas on Savana. Deontology: ethics of dutyi. Duties: rules about how to treat peopleb. Simple argument: ads liei. People have a moral duty not to lie- “Universalizability” test: if everyone lied, that would defeat the purpose of lyingo “Irony” worry: ads corrode respect for truth- “Treat people as ends” test: lying treats people asa meansii. In general- “All advertising tells lies, but there are little lies and there are big lies… Don’t be shocked that ads lie—that’s their job.” (Savan 343)iii. Fundamental “big lie”- “We don’t but products, we buy the world that present them. Over the long run, whether you actually buy a particular product is less importantthan that you buy the world that makes the products seem desirable.” (Savan 345)iv. More subtle point: the “deontological soul”- Capacity for autonomy is what makes people human and entitled to moral respect- Ethical duty to respect autonomy- Ads compromise autonomyo In general, take over behavior “Inside each “consumer,” advertising’s all-you-can-eat, all-the-time, all-dessert bufer produces a build up of mass-produced stimuli, all hissing and sputtering to get out…” (Savan 342-343)o Specifically, ads operate on desire “Most ad makers understand that in order to sell to you they have toknow your desires and dreams better than you may know them yourself, and they’ve tried to reduce that understanding to a science.” (Savan 342) Recall Kant on desire Acting on desire is like being pushed Ads make us act “heteronomously,” not autonomously Pervasive ads lessen people’s ability to distance themselves from their desires “The chief expectation of the sponsored life is that there will and always should be regular blips of excitement and resolution, the frequency of which is determined by money. We begin to pulse to the beat…that move most ads: problem/solution, old/new,Brand X/hero brand, desire/gratification.” (Savan343) In sum, at a very deep level, ads compromise freedom6. Virtue Theory ideas in Savana. Basic ideasi. People’s culture trains their characterii. Attitude toward desire- Neither full acceptance (utilitarianism) nor rejection (Kantian deontology) but moral training (learning what desires are proper to act upon)iii. What moral training does culture give?- “Obey your thirst” campaign- Makes us the kind of people who obey out thirsts and do not reflect on desiresiv. More subtle points- “Advertising’s most basic paradox is to say: Join us and become unique. Advertisers learned long ago that individuality sells… The urge toward individualism is constant in America… Commercial nonconformity always operates in the service of conformity. Our system of laws and out one-man-one-vote politics may be based on individualism, but successful marketing depends on the exact opposite: By identifying (through research) the ways we are alike, it hopes to convince the largest number of people that they need the exact same product” (Savan 345)- “A lot of ads have learned that to break through to the all-important boomer and Xer markets they have to be as cool, hip, and ironic as the target audience likes to think of itself as being… The cool commercials…flatter us by saying we’re too cool to fall for commercial values, and therefore cool enough to want their product” (Savan 343)- Savan questions character traits cultivated by ad cultureo Conformism People buy the same stuf People act in the same way to pursue happiness: buy stufo Self-deception Conformism concealed under images of individualism Buy products under the belief that they are for people too cool or marketingC. Summary1. Savan ofers a moral critique of advertising2. Analysis shows how it draws on ideas from moral theories3. Reader may agree or disagree with her4. Point of analysis is to locate points of agreement and