Lecture Eight

Tacky or tasteful?

Ethical or unethical?

This week, we were required to provide answers to these questions regarding several advertisements from different mediums. The most interactive lecture as of yet, we were instructed to independently plot on a scale what we believed the ethics of a certain advertisement to be. I quite quickly became aware that it is difficult to determine good and bad, ethical or unethical and right from wrong. And then, how do we work out what the difference is between the bad, the wrong and the simply tacky? What is the distinguishing feature?

For example, I considered this ad for voodoo designer hosiery to be in good taste and, while not being outstandingly ethical, I didn't consider it to be unethical either. Maybe it's my innate feminist tendencies drummed into me from an early age which shapes this view, however as we were told following the evaluation, this ad received multiple complaints from the public.


On the other hand the second ad for Air Asia, which insinuates profanities, received no complaints at all. While I have no complaints about this advertisement either - in fact I consider it quite a clever play on words - in comparison with the above ad for hosiery, I can't see how it can be considered less offensive in nature. It is evident, therefore, that one person's perception may vary wildly from another's and ethics is a rather ambiguous field.

Over time, there have been ethical theories developed so as to aid this determinative process. The first of these is known as 'deontology'. This paradigm can be defined as "the normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on the action's adherence to a rule or rules." (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy) Quite a black and white perspective of ethics, the word deontology comes from the Greek roots 'deon', which means duty, and 'logos', which means science. Thus, deontology is the 'science of duty'. Rules, principles and duties-driven, this theory provides the basis for all 'codes' of ethics. It essentially says that by adopting, employing and adhering to the rules embedded within our society, you will be doing the 'right' thing.

The second theory is that of 'consequentialism' (teleology). Consequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgement about the rightness of that conduct. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right act is one that will produce a good outcome, or consequence. People and processes are deemed unimportant and there is an undeniable emphasis on the 'greatest good for the greatest number'.

The third framework is known as 'virtue ethics'. Virtue ethics describes the character of a moral agent as a driving force for ethical behaviour rather than rules, outcomes or social context. It sees one's actions as very telling of their character, and 'goodness' comes from good character. Virtue ethics champions attributes such as courage, justice, temperance and prudence as habits. It also introduces what is called the 'golden mean' of behaviour - courage is the mean between rashness and cowardice; justice is the mean between the injustice of overzealous and excessive law and the injustice of lawlessness. It is the desirable midpoint between two extremes - one of balance and harmony.

Towards the end of the lecture, we went over certain 'codes' of ethics which exist in professions such as the MEAA code of ethics for the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance. Journalism the practice and professional communication is deontological in structure. It is governed by codes and rules. Our lecturer deemed deontology and consequentialism as extrinsic paradigms. He went on to say that he much prefers the intrinsic theory of virtue ethics as providing a foundation for the practice. I have to completely agree with him here. I strongly believe that character prevails over codes.

What most struck a cord with me was his closing remark:
"We are drowing in ethics codes. What we are not drowning in, however, is good character."