PHI 445 Week 2 Discussion

Week 2 Discussion 1 A critical point of distinction between deceptive advertising and mere puffery is whether a claim is a measurable statement of fact. Think of some contemporary examples of each and explain why they are or are not measurable statements of fact. When you notice deceptive advertising or puffery, how does your sense of personal ethical perspectives and values affect the way you make decisions about those advertised goods and services? How does the ethical program of a particular group to which you currently belong, or previously belonged, treat the topic of misrepresentation or exaggeration of company goods and service? When viewing the meaning of both, deceptive advertising is also known as false or misleading advertising – this is intentionally misleading and causes consumer confusion. When deceiving consumers the corporations provide less information on the product as if someone knew the truth about the product they would not purchase it. Puffery would be defined as exaggerated claims of the products that is not factual. A company that comes to mind which has several commercials and celebrity support is hydroxycut, it was once backed by the Kardashians and they provided the visual of what you could look like when using the product. But realistically they probably never even used the product as it should be used, the company initially choose a very influential well known celebrity to draw in a crowd to increase sales. Ethically I would ask myself if the product is a need in my life, if it is not a necessity then I don’t believe the hype from the commercials and ad’s. If viewed from a Utilitarian perspective you would seek the greater good in an advertising, so if purchasing hydroxycut what would be the greater good for this product. Some may believe the good is the ability to lose weight. But there is a consequence to every action and this would be the time that your moral and ethical beliefs come into play if the product does more harm than good then the deceptive advertising is not beneficial. Fieser, J. & Moseley, A. (2012). Introduction to business ethics. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc