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Right Livelihood and the Advertising Industry
Bunks
Australia Veteran
Hi all
There is a really interesting TV show in Australia called The Gruen Transfer.
It's hosted by a comedian and involves four panelists who work in the advertising industry. They disect the industry and discuss (normally in a lighthearted, humorous way) how advertising companies try and "sell" a product for a client to Joe Public.
It got me thinking whether I considered working in advertising would constitute "Right / Wise Livelihood" (for the record, I work in the IT / Finance Industry).
As a general conclusion (obviously excluding certain ethical causes), I decided that I couldn't do it. The thought of trying to manipulate people into buying something doesn't sit right with me.
No disrespect to anyone who does work in the industry btw, all personal choice and I don't judge you for it. Good luck! Some might say the Finance Industry is "Wrong Livelihood".
Interested to hear other people's thought.
There is a really interesting TV show in Australia called The Gruen Transfer.
It's hosted by a comedian and involves four panelists who work in the advertising industry. They disect the industry and discuss (normally in a lighthearted, humorous way) how advertising companies try and "sell" a product for a client to Joe Public.
It got me thinking whether I considered working in advertising would constitute "Right / Wise Livelihood" (for the record, I work in the IT / Finance Industry).
As a general conclusion (obviously excluding certain ethical causes), I decided that I couldn't do it. The thought of trying to manipulate people into buying something doesn't sit right with me.
No disrespect to anyone who does work in the industry btw, all personal choice and I don't judge you for it. Good luck! Some might say the Finance Industry is "Wrong Livelihood".
Interested to hear other people's thought.
0
Comments
Everything else is fair game - providing you make it fair game.
It's not the profession which is Wrong - People make it 'Wrong'.
:wtf:
Maybe your question needs to be refined, to further define what is being asked. I mean, are you asking whether to be in the advertising industry as it is at present run by others is right or wrong, or asking whether it would be wrong in principle if you were to start your own business in advertising? If you were considering taking employment in that industry as others run it, you need to consider that, if you are an honest person, probably you would not last two minutes in that environment, anyway. However, if you were thinking of starting an agency of your own, you could dictate the terms of what the company allows, and, though you might not make as much money as the 'smart' folks, your firm might be successful, and you would make a living at it.
Advertising means: making others aware of something. That is its definition. So, if you filtered out dishonest offers, and promoted only those that seemed OK to you, you might even be doing the public a service by advertising, as well as making a living. (If people are unaware of a good deal, they are unable to benefit from it.)
I don't want to pontificate, but it does not seem ethical to create a desire in people for something that they might have difficulty in buying (whether the deal is good or bad, as regards value for money). So, a practising Buddhist would need to be informative rather than persuasive. However, it seems to me that not every advertising agency is necessarily informative, but rather persuasive, without regard to how people can manage to buy what they are plugging. It's an interesting question, but time presses, and I shall have to leave my comments as they are, without thinking more about it.
You know the industry has an important role to play. But ultimately it does come down to being able to lend for long terms and borrowing for short terms, only keeping a fraction of cash on hand for the odd disgruntled depositor. It is a confidence trick, which all comes crashing down in a bank run.
Don't get me started though ...
(btw couldn't view that vid as I am at work).
The problem isn't that advertising exists or that it is inherently bad. We all need things to live comfortably. There are people who provide them and advertising is the way they tell us what they have to offer. The real evil is in making you think you need something to make you feel better about yourself, that people will think better of you, that you will fit in or that you will be happier, even if you have to max credit cards to get it. This is the dark art of the advertising agency, pardon the melodrama.
Our consumerist society throws away perfectly good things for no other reason than that there is something newer available and that is a criminal waste of the world's resources. What is going to happen when the huge numbers of potential consumers in developing nations decide they want what we've have? Were is all the stuff going to come from? Where does it all go when no-one wants it anymore? What is the true cost of this perceived rise in standard of living?
It's a fine line between offering goods and services and hoodwinking you into thinking you need it when you don't. I couldn't ignore that latter aspect so threw in my well paying job. Never lost a wink of sleep over that decision either!
This issue seems to me to be irreconsilable in our global economy - broadly because money changes its attributes as it works its way through the financial system - it is the financial system that underpins employment - so whatever your means of raising finance, in the main you are perpetuating the financial system in participating.
It sounds like a bit of an urban myth to me but quite funny all the same.