Ethics in publicity and advertising: the vision of an advertising agency executive in Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

Marketing, as a field of Administration, includes advertising, a tool that has been subject to constant ethical questions in society. Although there are a large number of studies worldwide and nationally that focus on the effects of advertising on the consumer, the same cannot be said when it comes to analyzing the relationship between ethics and communications agencies with society in general. Inserted into this gap, this study aims to elucidate which values are considered by executives when working at advertising agencies located in the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre/RS. We conducted interviews with executives, and data were analyzed through maps of association of ideas. Based on this systematic, a certain “ethical emptiness” was found. Thus, while recognizing the inseparability between life ethics at work and in personal life, some contradictions were found. Nevertheless, we identified professionals who, despite the tensions arising from this scenario, decide boldly to assert positions that ratify, even in extreme situations, not to give up and to bring to themselves a basic criterion for ethics: respect, especially to people, i.e., otherness.