angus.todd

In North America, nearly 70% of adults are overweight, and that number is constantly on the rise. Consequently there is an ever increasing number of products and services that promise to deliver quick, easy, and effective weight-loss to those who need it. There is certainly nothing ethically wrong with trying to help people improve their heath and lifestyle… and if you are able to make a profit while doing so, more power to ya! Having said that, in effort to turn a profit on their product or service, companies walk the very thin line that is ethical marketing.

Take for example this advertisement for the ‘Bowflex Treadclimber’.

Sure this workout machine might be able to help people lose weight, but by putting models on the Treadclimber who are clearly doing more physical exercise than just using this machine, is Bowflex unethically and falsely bolstering its claims about the the potential results that come from using the Treadclimber?

Granted, it might not be wrong for Bowflex to put a fit man or women on one of their products to help convince people that the best thing for them is the Treadclimber, but making blatantly false claims about the results of a product is undoubtedly unethical. In the documentary “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” director Chris Bell helps bring to light techniques sometimes used to help sell weight-loss supplements. This clip about before and after pictures shows just how unethical some marketing can be.

 

While there probably always be some unethical marketing in our society, hopefully this will prompt you to question the motives and realities behind the many forms of marketing that you consume on a daily basis.