Chapter 3: Strategic Communication: Does Client Advocate Mean Consumer Adversary?

The relationship between clients and consumers has always been a bit of a give and take. It’s kind of like a “Help me help you” situation in which clients promise a better outcome for the consumer if the consumer invests in their product or service. The amount of dependence on this relationship from both sides is unbelievable. This chapter really reminded me of how we live in such a society of instant gratification – we are always searching, pushing, and fighting for the next best thing – something or someone that will improve us in some way, shape, or form.  But what accompanies this kind of society is a world of ethical dilemmas in which areas get grayer and questions become harder to answer.

I want to focus on the concept of the TARES test, which in essence is a list of questions that makers of persuasive messages should ask themselves to determine the ethical nature of the message. I found it rather interesting that the ethics of a particular message can be determined by a simple test with so much room for opinion and bias. For example, one person might think that the ad treats the receiver with respect while another does not – and that is just on the client side. On the other hand, a consumer could feel respected by the ad while another feels disrespected by it. There are so many ethical factors that go into ethical decision-making beyond those included in the TARES test: truthfulness, authenticity, respect, equity, and social responsibility. There are a couple values that I think are crucial to add to this list: community and diversity. Although profitability is often times the major goal, I think it’s important for media outlets and corporations to remember that they are more than just a business – they have a responsibility to acknowledge and promote the social good as well as the ideals that our country prides itself on – this is done primarily through the ideals of communities. Diversity is also very important. For example, the chapter mentioned that many African-Americans don’t often see themselves in advertisements. This is a big problem considering that more than 45 million Americans are black. The same goes for other races and ethnicities; if businesses and corporations want to market to Americans, then they must target ALL Americans in an equally diverse and strategic manner. Like the chapter said, “The ethical goal of advertising should be the empowerment of multiple stakeholders”.  I enjoyed this chapter and I feel like every student in schools of communication should read a chapter such as this one: it really emphasizes important issues in today’s society concerning all fields of communications.