Here is a collection of a wide range of codes of ethics from the communication industry:
Back in 2008, there was a a big debate going on over at SportsShooter.com as to whether it was proper for a college newspaper adviser to tell a photographer that he needed to make the sky bluer in a photo of an MLK Day march. (The winter sky in the photo looks pretty pale.) Actually, it’s not really fair to call it a debate. Most of the folks on the board are outraged. I wonder, however, how many photographers would simply boost up the blue in the sky without a moment’s thought. How many people in the film era used Kodachrome instead of Ektachrome to get more vibrant colors, especially the “Kodachrome blue” skies. Don’t get me wrong…. I’m not defending the advisor who promoted “fixing” the sky color. I’m just thinking that maybe folks are more outraged about the adviser interfering with a photo than the actual changes being advocated. (Thanks to Elliott Parker of the JOURNET listserv for the main link.)
Space photographer Jerry Lodriguss talks about the ethics of digitally manipulating their images. It’s not just press photography where this is an issue.
In the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the emotionless Spock performs a rational yet selfless act. He saves the crew of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise by entering a reactor room to prevent an explosion that would have killed everyone on board the ship. But in doing so he absorbs a lethal dose of radiation. As he dies, he justifies his actions to his friends with the maxim, “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one.” In this moment, Spock sums up the central tenet of the nineteenth-century ethical philosopher John Stuart Mill’s principle of utility: the greatest good for the greatest number.
Here’s a clip from Wrath of Khan where Spock explains this principle:
In this second clip from YouTube, a fan has edited down all of the film’s discussion of the principle of utility down to 9 1/2 minutes. A great way to see this philosophical principle applied in popular culture. (This clip comes and goes in terms of availability. As of October 2014, it was available.)
So I made a bit of a joke about punk polka as long-tail content in my book Mass Communication: Living in a Media World. But it’s only partially a joke. Punk polka actually (well, sorta) exists.
Here’s a story from the Washington Post about the polka scene in Chicago that mentions punk polka. And here are a couple of videos featuring the genre:
Punk Polka by The Toons
And as long as we are being off-beat, here’s a polka version of techno band Kraftwerk’s Das Model
You can read the entire e report issued by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, entitled, “Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity?” in a variety of formats:
And here’s an opinion piece from the New York Times on regulating marketing of food to kids:
Despite absolutely no credible evidence that subliminal advertising is effective or exists, it’s a popular belief that it does exist and is effective. (Please note – This doesn’t mean that sex doesn’t sell. It’s just not subliminal.) Here’s link with examples of claims of subliminal advertising:
The most famous claim of subliminal messaging was the James Vicary popcorn message study that was a complete fabrication.
And finally, Saturday Night Live’s Mr. Subliminal:
Many people consider this commercial that introduced the Apple Macintosh during the 1984 Super Bowl to be the greatest commercial ever made. Maybe. But it’s certainly the ad that created that the Super Bowl was as much about great ads as it was about great football.
The Coke jingle “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” actually became a hit song back in the 1970s.
Bonus Video
Coke attracted both praise and controversy when they ran a Super Bowl ad in 2014 featuring the song “America the Beautiful” sung in multiple languages.
McDonald’s had a lot of luck reaching out to the African American community back in 2008 with it’s McNugget Love ad, even though some consumers found it offensive or annoying. (Hey, it’s a McDonald’s commercial!) Are ads like this the right way to reach the urban market?
Here’s a more recent urban marketing ad featuring Teyonah Paris from AMC’s Mad Men. (And how meta is that? An actress from a show about advertising in a McDonald’s ad…)
(Sorry about the poor quality on the video for this one.)
UPDATE: And here’s a link to a McDonald’s urban ad from 1976!
