Regulating Advertisement

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Phillip Nelson argues that regulating advertising is not efficient because it creates deception. Some object to this agreement by saying that government regulations should not be limited because advertising and exaggeration mislead customer and without regulations advertising would become useless. My aim in this paper is to defend Nelson’s view on limiting government regulation by showing this objection can be met.

Nelson’s view on regulations of advertising is that the government would not do an efficient job of reducing deception to customers. Nelson explains that “deception requires not only misleading information but also someone to be mislead” (156). Deception can be found often in advertising yet it is mostly used to exaggerate and not taken for fact. By allowing more government regulations it would only cause more confusion. Nelson claims, “Short of eliminating all advertising, such government roles would be self-defeating” (156). Customers would see that the creditability of the advertiser rises with the increase of regulation causing more readiness to believe what is being advertised causing customers to in turn believe all advertisements were not deceptive. To put it simply, “the more the law protects against fraud, the more people think the law protects against fraud” (156). People will assume that everything is true and will no longer question any advertisement that may possibly not follow under the direct term of deceptive advertising. This would also create much confusion to customers since most would not be aware of the actual rules of regulation. Without knowing what is properly regulated customers may believe that deceptive advertisements are true thus defeating the purpose of regulating deception. Also, by re...

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...er groups by choice (159). Regularly advertisers choose to center messages to certain demographics or select target markets. Additionally, Nelson claims that if advertisers choose not to work with a certain product because they believe it is morally wrong, someone else in the market will do it (159). Nelson concludes that complete release of regulations would not be efficient but instead suggests less regulation towards advertising.

Inefficient advertising regulations and creating more deception than relieving it can be described as Nelsons main view. It is said that advertising deceives customer, the government should have stricter regulations on exaggerations, and that without regulations advertising would be useless by critics opposing Nelson’s view. It is clear that Nelson’s view on limiting government regulation can be perceived as a plausible solution.

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