The Vatican has published an extraordinary document accusing the advertising industry of appealing to such motives as envy, status-seeking and lust. Belinda Archer reports
ADVERTISING folk have always been partial to the odd bit of sinful behaviour – overeating, say, or even being a tad jealous of a colleague with a posher car. But, according to the Roman Catholic Church, the actual business of what they do is almost tantamount to the Eighth Deadly Sin.
A new 35-page booklet, Ethics in Advertising, has just been issued by the Vatican. Prepared by no less a body than the Pontifical Council for Social Communications – a grouping of 24 bishops from around the globe – it took three years to compile, in collaboration with 30 external media consultants, and went through numerous drafts before the final version emerged.
While acknowledging that advertising can be a force for good, it inevitably contains numerous pages on the supposedly negative effects of the industry, under such alarming chapter headings as “The Harm Done by Advertising” and “Advertising and Social Responsibility”.
The “harm” is broken down into just about everything, from the specific environmental damage caused by car commercials to the general moral and economic harm of promoting a lifestyle beyond people’s means.
It also accuses advertisers of making “deliberate appeals to such motives as envy, status-seeking and lust”, and urges them to avoid “manipulative, titillating and shocking ads”. The conclusion involves a rather dark exhortation to agencies to be ethically responsible – as they and only they bear the moral burden of what they do.
The document was mailed out to Britain’s Catholic parishioners and is en route to leading advertising bodies everywhere.
Jim McDonnell, lay director of the Catholic Communications Centre, who was consulted during the preparation of the document, explains why it came about. “The booklet was produced in response to the growing influence of advertising around the world,” he says. “It is simply a cry for agencies and advertisers to have a conscience and to be sensitive, not just to the people who employ them but to the impact on the public and society in general.”
But are its messages the rantings of an out-of-touch group of clerics, or do the Pope and his team have a point? Should advertising have a moral and social responsibility? Do Nineties adfolk feel badly about what they do – and, if not, should they?
Robert Campbell, creative partner at Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe, dismisses such thoughts. “The question is more whether we live in a moral world. We in advertising are just a cog in the machine, and of course we resort to irrational motives and appeal to people’s sense of status or lust or envy. That’s what we are about.”
Martin Smith, managing director of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, agrees. “This is a rather myopic view from His Holiness. We have too much to do selling a client’s brand rather than trying to change society. That is not our role or our job. In any case, advertising is in fact very moral – more so than many other communication methods. It’s very regulated and judged. We have to substantiate everything we say.”
Indeed, the British ad industry chooses to abide by a fairly stringent self-regulatory code of conduct which stipulates that all they do should be “legal, decent, honest and truthful”.
It also requires them to prepare all ads “with a responsibility to the consumer and society and in line with the principles of fair competition”. All over-claiming is weeded out by various regulators, which, on balance, provide a relatively watertight control of advertising standards.
There are, of course, some rather wayward examples that slip through the net – such as Benetton’s notorious press and poster work, which hijacks social issues for commercial gain.
Chas Bayfield, a copywriter at Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury and a member of Christians in Media, a voluntary body that promotes the Christian cause through a variety of media channels, backs the Papal document and believes UK adfolk should go further than their code requires.
He says: “There are some ad people who believe it doesn’t matter if you are immoral, as long as the ad sells. But that is not good enough. There are many ways of getting consumers on your side without resorting to appealing to people’s lust or greed.”
Nick Drummond, a copywriter at M&C Saatchi, and also a Christian, similarly believes there is room for improvement. “Advertising should take more of a moral stand,” he says. “Great advertising improves the quality of life, creates awareness of choice, and encourages lower prices through competition, but too often it resorts to lust and greed as people are driven by money.”
The issue of morality can, of course, be a complicated one. Both Bayfield and Drummond have faced their own moral dilemmas recently: Bayfield over the use of sexual imagery – a thorny issue he debated hard with the client, also a committed Christian; and Drummond over the fact that he worked on the arguably un-Christian and unethical Demon Eyes anti-Blair poster for the Conservatives.
`Sometimes ads take on a life of their own,” says Drummond. “It was the press that coined the phrase Demon Eyes – I was trying to denote that the Labour party are dangerous, not evil.”
Several agencies stake a claim for moral squeaky-cleanness by making a corporate stand over the handling of certain advertisers. Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, for example, is one of many that will not handle tobacco clients, but it also turns away toy advertisers, political parties or alco-pops.
Howell Henry eschews working for any religious organisations. Others pride themselves on adopting transparent business practices, while just about every agency in town has a charity account, invariably run at a loss.
A rather illuminating backdrop to the whole debate is the fact that the Vatican itself condones advertising; indeed, it has used Saatchi and Saatchi Rome to create a series of rather lavish fund-raising campaigns.
Campbell is not happy. “This whole thing smacks of rather outdated paranoia and hypocrisy about advertising and the advertising industry,” he says. “Perhaps the Catholic Church ought to look to itself before accusing others of encouraging and supporting avarice.” And perhaps Campbell should be saying a few Hail Marys in penance for that remark