Lecture 8 - Ethics

During this week's JOUR1111 Lecture, we had the privilege of having Dr John Harrison talk to us about Ethics and in particular Ethics in advertising. He asked us to fill out a sheet based on our reactions to certain advertisements that were either banned, intensely sexually orientated or just funny. We had to decide whether in our opinion the Ad was 'Tacky or Untacky' or 'Ethical or Unethical'. After that we then looked at how to determine and categorize ads and the codes and regulations in place to ensure community values and expectations are met. These are the notes I took from the lecture.

How do we know what is…

•        Good and bad
•        Ethical and unethical
•       Tacky and untacky
•       And, the difference between the bad, the wrong and the simply tacky

Ethical theories

•        Deontology
•        Consequentialism (aka teleology)
•        Virtue

Deontology

•        Rules
•        Principles
•        Duties
•        You will do the right thing by following these rules
•        All ethics codes are deontological (ethical decisions are usually the lesser of 2 bad outcomes)

      Consequentialism

•        Its getting a ‘good’ or ‘right’ outcome that matters
•        Never mind how we get there
•        The end may justify the means
•        The greatest good for the greatest number (utilitarian view)

   

      Virtue Ethics

•        “Goodness” (aka happiness) comes from good habits (or dispositions) of character
•         These habits are ‘virtues’ such as courage, justice, temperance and prudence
•        These habits of character are the “golden mean” of behaviour 

      The Mean

•        COURAGE is the mean between rashness and cowardice
•        Justice is the mean between the injustice of overzealous and excessive law and the injustice of lawlessness

  

      What codes are there?

•        MEAA code
•        PRIA code
•       AFA code
•        AANA code