Think Of Me As Evil? Opening the ethical debates in advertising

An interesting report distributed by Guy Shrubsole @ PIRC, about advertising and consumerism as leading drivers behind unsustainable living . Please find the communication from him quoted below, follow the links for related resources.

Luci Randsome

Think Of Me As Evil? Opening the ethical debates in advertising

The report is available for download here (PDF) >> http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/think_of_me_as_evil.pdf

This report examines the evidence that commercial advertising could exacerbate the social and environmental problems that we collectively confront. Think Of Me As Evil? presents evidence that advertising increases overall consumption; that it promotes and normalises a whole host of behaviours, attitudes and values, many of which are socially and environmentally damaging; that it manipulates individuals on a subconscious level, both children and adults; and that it is so pervasive in modern society as to make the choice of opting-out from exposure virtually impossible.

It calls on the advertising industry and its clients to take responsibility for ensuring the impacts of advertising are benign – but also for civil society organisations to pay much greater attention to advertising and hold the industry to account.

George Monbiot’s column in today’s Guardian is devoted to discussing the report – read it here >> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/24/advertising-poison-h...

Please do circulate the report and article to friends and colleagues – and if you can promote it on social media and blog about it, we’d be hugely grateful. It’s time to start a proper public conversation about the place advertising has in our society.

With best wishes,

Guy

Guy Shrubsole

Director

Public Interest Research Centre
t: 01654 70 22 77
m: 07792 932 225
@guyshrubsole