The advertising industry has been undergoing a restructuring process, owing in large part to the growing potentials of the web, social media, and mobile communication technology. The rate at which these changes are occurring does not appear to be slowing, but rather increasing over the next few decades. 

Advertising is becoming one of the most essential instruments of existing and potential customers' and visitors' information, awareness, and interest in a wide variety of goods and services. The majority of a company's marketing relies on various sorts of advertisements to persuade customers that their products are superior.

Consumers face a number of challenges, including deceptive advertisement descriptions.

Deceptive Claims
The FTC defines a deceptive claim as a statement that is likely to mislead a consumer. Advertising claims can be either "expressed" or "implied". An expressed claim is a literal statement made in the advertisement such as "XYZ lotion prevents dry skin".

Misrepresentations
For example, an advertisement that makes a safety claim such as "doctor guaranteed" or "guaranteed safe and effective" is a misrepresentation unless the advertiser has sufficient evidence to support the claim such as expert insight or studies that support the statement

Unfair

Unfair statements are another element of false advertising. For example, a radio advertisement that makes a claim which can only be objectively evaluated if the consumer could see the results is unfair.

By Sahana Krishnamurthy

FabIndia released an ad for their Diwali collection, their ad promoted their collection as ‘Jashn-e-Riwaaz’ which in Urdu means festival of traditions. This ad attracted a lot of controversy on social media. With many groups claiming that the ad Islamized Diwali. Few years ago, there was the Tanishq ad which featured interfaith marriages. Even this ad was heavily trolled. But ads were withdrawn.

These incidents can create endless social debate and shouting matches. Yet I would like to focus on the incidents from an advertiser’s perspective. To understand the issue let us look at what the basic job of an advertiser is. If we trim all the extras, the most basic duty of the advertiser is to create awareness/goodwill in the consumer for the product/service/brand. I think the word consumer is the key. It is important to remember that the consumer (a person) is also a product of a society - made, moulded and tempered by it. His choices are often channeled by the social constructs of those around him. Understanding his choices involves studying his environment. Hence in advertising it is important to understand the cultural codes that frame the society. culture is the most dynamic concept of a society. It changes continuously. Understanding this change is a great challenge.

Let’s look at the FabIndia ad case study, 

·        India is a syncretic society. Many Indians do not learn Hindi in school, coming to Urdu most Indians would perhaps not be aware of the inner import of the language. Thus if I want an ad that targets Diwali to speak to even 20% of Indian population, why use a language perhaps most Hindus may not be aware of? There is the added danger of Jashn being misunderstood as Jaish (a terror outfit). in this ad, there is serious lack of appreciation of the linguistic diversity of our society. This understanding a diverse society is a very great challenge.

·        Another unfortunate aspect of the ad was that actually the collection was called Jashn-e-Riwaaz, but the ad never clarified that sufficiently making the viewer feel that they have named Diwali as Jashn-e-Riwaaz. I feel advertisers need to be very succinct about every aspect of the ad they make. This clarity comes from understanding the consumer implicitly.

·        Elicit societal change only if your brand requires it. Needless rebellion are usually headless. I wonder what motivation the campaign managers at FabIndia (or for that matter Tanishq) could have had? Could they not sell their brand without these rebellions? 

That being said, many ads have questioned the societal taboos and targeted behavior change and have lived to tell the tale. Whisper ad looking to promote sending a young girl to school even during her periods with the use of a sanitary pad is one such example. It questioned the norm of separating girls from the household during her periods. This ad was at a time when sanitary pad usage was less in India. There was the need to create a market. Still how did they do it? I believe they spoke to the base. As credulous as it seems speaking in the language of the most common denominator always makes good selling strategy. Keep it simple, corner the behavior you want to change speak to it directly! No mishmash no false directions.

Just look at the following three ideas,

1)     Ad portraying state hegemony in China

2)     Ad questioning the extreme cancel culture in USA

3)     Ad suggesting western cultural mores in Iran

What would be the price brands would have to pay to put out such ads? I feel there is a need to analyze if it’s worth it! For some products it is worth it for some not. To get this estimate of the price each such ad seek from its brand is a challenge.

While the main objective of art is questioning societal trends and beliefs, advertising does not necessarily have that luxury. Understanding the fine line between them is the challenge. Every ad is answerable to the brand it services and to the society it earns from. It has to save the brand from ill repute and un-necessary litigation. It has to be responsible for itself. For that to happen it has to specifically learn the cultural ways of each society or be so generic that the entire humanity can connect with it. 

A study conducted by ppcproject suggests that though there are no official figures, an average person is bombarded with around 6000-10000 ads every single day. 

That's an exceptionally huge number. Don’t you agree ?

From ads in our morning newspaper to the ads in our gadgets and from ads on the vehicles of our transport to ads on the routes of our daily commute, advertisements are literally EVERYWHERE!

Well, this may sound like it makes our lives easier by providing us with the information about a service or a product that we need and it does to a large extent but having too many choices can halt one’s decision making. Barry Schwartz, a renowned psychologist in his book “The paradox of choices: Why more is less”  explains why too much of a good thing has proven detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. The availability of constantly evolving options, which in our discussion is the number of ads, can also foster profound dissatisfaction and self-blame in individuals, which can lead to a paralysis in decision making and, in some cases, depression.

The 24x7 nature of ads lead to people buying more, even if they don't need it. Consumers buy on the basis of “want” and not “need” be it because their peers have it (the FOMO culture) or them being bombarded with the CTA ads all the time. This leads to consumers being exploited emotionally. 

And finally, since we spent almost the last couple of years virtually, the issue of digital ads or the online ads comes to limelight. In India, there are no specific rules or regulations governing advertising on the internet, in terms of the IT Act. The Advertising Standards Council of India prescribes the code for self-regulation in advertising (the ASCI Code), which may be adopted by persons publishing advertisements on the internet. However it should be noted that Compliance with such code is voluntary with respect to online advertising and not mandated by law.

The WFA (World Federation for Advertisers) predicts ad fraud will become the biggest market for organized crime by 2025, worth $50 billion (take a look at some shocking statistics on online ads here ). The lack of regulation on the internet makes people prone to misleading and misinformative advertising. Consumers are sometimes pursued to purchase illegal and banned products, they are sometimes pushed into online frauds too. 

Well, to conclude, consumers indeed do face challenges when it comes to advertising.  

Americans—in particular, white Americans—spend hours in tanning salons going to great efforts (and sometimes even incurring great pain and health risks) to make their skin darker. In other parts of the world, such as the Caribbean, Africa, East Asia, and the Indian sub-continent, people go to much expense to lighten their skin. They do so through the purchase and application of skin-whitening or skin-lightening creams that purport to make dark skin lighter. (Whether or not they actually work is controversial.) In many of these regions, lighter skin is more highly regarded socially. Arguably, this phenomenon is a sad by-product of colonialism, in that it is based on a positive association with the skin color of Caucasians. The flip-side is that, in the United States and Europe, darker skin is often considered attractive and exotic.

Fair and Lovely is an Indian brand of skin-whitening products manufactured and marketed by Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL). Fair and Lovely is the top-selling skin-whitening brand in India, followed closely by Fairever which is made by CavinKare. HLL advertising touts Fair and Lovely as a “miracle worker” and claims that it is “proven to deliver one to three shades of change.” As a result of competition from Fairever, HLL stepped up its marketing efforts in recent years, which led to a great deal of controversy. One of the controversial HLL ad campaigns was based on the theme “The fairer girl gets the boy.”

In one of the typical television commercials used in this campaign, a poor father is lamenting the fact that he does not have a son who can work and help support the family. His daughter, who has dark skin, looks on and clearly feels a sense of guilt. When she seeks employment, she is rebuffed because of her dark skin. Her unhappy lot is magically transformed with the use of Fair and Lovely skin-whitening cream. Suddenly, she not only appears to have much lighter skin, but the other characters in the commercial perceive her as much more beautiful. She dons a miniskirt and finds employment as a flight attendant, receiving the romantic attention of a fair-skinned Westerner. Among the many improbable benefits associated with use of Fair and Lovely, it seems, are a wardrobe change, secure employment, and a foreign boyfriend. The newly confident young woman is now a success and can take her proud father out for a lavish dinner.
The popularity of Fair and Lovely, as well as other skin-whitening creams, is tied to Indian cultural traditions. Lighter skin has been associated with a higher caste and therefore greater social status. Most of the famous female stars in India’s popular Bollywood movie industry are light-skinned. Do the Fair and Lovely products—or those of competitors—really make someone’s skin lighter? Or is this idea just an illusion perpetuated by effective advertising? In its official documentation regarding Fair and Lovely, HLL only states that the cream contains vitamins essential to skin care and UV blocking agents (as in sunscreens). In other words, rather than actually turning the skin lighter, Fair and Lovely may only work by keeping skin from getting darker, something likely to happen in sun-drenched areas of India. Critics claim that at best such products temporarily bleach skin lighter.

Not everyone in India is comfortable with the promotion of skin-whitening creams. A number of groups have come out against HLL and Fair and Lovely, charging the company with deceptive advertising and the promotion of discrimination and sexism. Many critics point out that the celebration of lighter skin is implicitly a rejection of darker skin. Thus, the Women of Worth Foundation launched a campaign called “Dark is Beautiful” to protest skin-whitening products.

Indian fashion writer Rumnique Nannar observed the following:

Nannar points out that to be identified or even judged according to one’s skin color is demeaning and diminishes a woman’s self-esteem and creates a sense of insecurity.

 “Whiter-Skin Ad Campaign Spurs Debate Among Thais”

Chomchuen, Warangkana. “Whiter-Skin Ad Campaign Spurs Debate Among Thais.” Wall Street Journal. October 25, 2013. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304799404579157422770231930.

 “Skin Whitener Advertisements Labeled Racist”

Sidner, Sara. “Skin Whitener Advertisements Labeled Racist.” CNN. September 9, 2009. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/09/india.skin/#cnnSTCText

 The Dark Side of Skin-Whitening Cream

Hundal, Sunny. “The Dark Side of Skin-Whitening Cream: The Dangerous Fashion for Skin-Whitening across Asia Perpetuates Racism and Should be Stigmatized as Such.” The Guardian. April 1, 2010. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/01/skin-whitening-death-thailand/print.

Online advertising doesn't exactly feel like an option at this point. However, a huge challenge in the advertising industry is to rely on one marketing channel.

Goldstein comments, "With the recent outage that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp experienced, it's never been more clear that relying on one marketing channel - even if you've mastered it - is an unwise move. Keep in mind you're playing in their sandbox and have to play by their rules."

How to overcome this challenge: The best way to overcome this challenge is to strategically consider what channels you advertise on. Goldstein says, "This is why it's smart to diversify the channels you use so you'll be prepared for all seasons."

Downplaying the power of emotions.

In recent years, we've seen a wave of nostalgic and emotional content playing a large role in the advertising industry. While you might think this is just a trend that's going away, think again.

"Appealing to customers by using solely logic and forgetting the essential role emotion plays leaves a lot of money on the table. Ultimately people buy products and services because they feel like it's the right thing to do," Goldstein reminds us. "Emotion has been scientifically proven to drive decision-making behavior. Bottom line, when properly executed, this leads to more and more conversions, sales, and revenue."

How to overcome this challenge: To overcome this challenge, rely on the science that proves that emotions drive purchasing decisions. Use this data to inform your advertising campaigns so you can connect with your audience in the most effective way.

The world of advertising is always changing, and new challenges crop up as technology evolves. But, it's important to think about these challenges, review ways to overcome them, and be adaptable with your advertising strategies.