Analyzing Pester Power and False Advertising in Marketing Strategies

This assignment examines the concepts of pester power and false advertising within the context of marketing. It defines pester power as the influence children have on family purchasing decisions and highlights the impact of misleading advertisements on consumer behavior. The assignment discusses legal recourse for consumers affected by false advertising, referencing laws like the Federal Trade Commission Act and state unfair competition laws. It also explores voluntary codes set by organizations like ACCC and AANA, which aim to regulate advertising practices and ensure ethical standards, particularly concerning advertising to children. Finally, the assignment touches upon marketing ethics, emphasizing the importance of ethical considerations in advertising strategies and the potential harm of manipulating consumer mindsets, especially in advertising directed at children. The document includes references to relevant sources such as AANA and ACCC codes and academic research on marketing ethics.

Running head: PESTER POWER AND FALSE ADVERTISING
PESTER POWER AND FALSE ADVERTISING
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1PESTER POWER AND FALSE ADVERTISING
Table of Contents
Answer 1....................................................................................................................................2
Answer 2....................................................................................................................................2
Answer 3....................................................................................................................................3
Answer 4....................................................................................................................................4

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Answer 1
Pester power can be defined as the influence of children on the purchasing and
consumption behavior of the family. The children of the family can play the role of both
being a consumer as well as being an influencer. Pester power has now been a concept of
destruction to the customers. The role played by children in the decision making of the family
has now become huge. Pester power can also be termed as the ‘nagging ability.’ This is when
a child forces his parents to buy them the products they like. The future market is constituted
by the children of today, and the pattern of consumption and the preferences of the brand may
spill into the adulthood they enter in the coming days.
Advertising has a significant impact on the buying behavior of the consumers, and the
effect of misleading advertisement is even more. This kind of advertising is not very helpful
as it deprives most of the consumers of getting the actual fact and information related to it
that they might need at the time of making decisions. In the end, the customers make
decisions that are uninformed, and a lot of information contradicts the truth associated with
the product. When the advertisements are harmful, it creates a wrecking-havoc for the
customers buying the products, and they might not be happy in the long run and would
neither turn up as loyal customers for the business. This would probably be the worst aspect
of this type of advertising as it is an unethical practice for the consumers of the products.
Answer 2
If a company misleads a consumer by false advertising, the consumer has the full
right to take legal action against the company. There are specific laws in relation to
misleading advertising. Some of them include Federal False Advertising Law, State Unfair
Competition, and False Advertising Laws (False or misleading claims, 2020). The FTC Act
that is ‘The Federal Trade Commission Act,’ says that the acts that are unfair or deceptive

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acts in affecting commerce. There are specific regulations that are used for governing
different types of business as well as advertisements. The state unfair competition law is
responsible for providing remedies to the competitors and the consumers those who are
victimized of the false advertisement. An example of a misleading claim can be a transport
company using a picture of an airplane claiming that it takes freight by air, but actually it
does through road. Yes, the example used in the article is quite misleading for a consumer the
consumer may trust the company based on the advertisement giving on air and the consumer
may even book an order as well, but then he came to know about the reality (False or
misleading claims, 2020). This situation might be very disheartening for the consumer, and
his trust will come at stake this way, which is not very ethical and should be avoided. Any
business cannot make any false claim against the quality ad style of the service they provide
to the customers.
Answer 3
The voluntary codes of ACCC set a specific standard for the industry that includes
how to deal with the members and the customers. The voluntary codes of ACCC provide a
general guidance (Voluntary codes, 2020). The ACCC codes deliver effective compliance
with the Competition and Consumer Act, 2010.
Similarly, the AANA code for advertising and marketing communication helps the
Australian advertisers to maintain the sense of social responsibility high. The code of conduct
says that the advertisement made must not be ambiguous, and it does not have a misleading
effect on the children watching the advertisement (AANA, 2020). An advertisement should
be presented in such a manner that it is well understood by the children, or in other words, it
should not be vulgar or offensive.

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Under these voluntary codes, it gives all the customers the benefits of being treated
equally and treated with honesty in the business they are doing (AANA, 2020). This act is
new, and it mainly focuses on the customers being treated correctly or not. All the companies
must adhere to these voluntary codes as this will help them to conduct ways beneficial for
both the company and the people in the community (Voluntary codes, 2020). It helps in
meeting the standards set, and the codes exist for a company that has a wide variety of
products and services to address the aspect of behavior in the market place. These codes are
beneficial equally and have many benefits and help in stimulating public participation in
order to develop and implement the codes.
Answer 4
The marketing ethics are the dimensions that help in portraying the morality of the
market and also the attitudes in the market. When it comes to advertising to children, it is
about manipulating the mindset of the consumers and apparently customers present (Hunt and
Vitell, 1986). Therefore, in order to have an advertisement that is good and will produce
better results, some unethical strategies can be assisted in reaching out to the objectives at any
cost. There has been a number of problems related to the issues of advertising with children.
The utilitarian perspective of ethics is consequential, and it is based on the morality
and immorality of the actions and also the overall measures of the welfare or loss to humans
(Shaw, 1999). The organizations or the marketers that are producing the advertisement have
an obligation for the customer’s well-being. These ethics are based on the self-interest and
the potential effect that the advertisement has on the target audience. It is essential that the
claim made must be telling the truth, and the business identifies the needs and wants of the
customers (Shaw, 1999). However, here it is observed that the advertisement related to the

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children is not in conformation to the ethics that an advertisement or business needs to
follow.

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Reference
Aana.com.au. 2020. [online] Available at:
<https://aana.com.au/content/uploads/2014/05/AANA-Code-For-Marketing-Advertising-
Communications-To-Children.pdf> [Accessed 1 April 2020].
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. 2020. False Or Misleading Claims.
[online] Available at: <https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/advertising-promotions/false-or-
misleading-claims#false-or-misleading-advertising> [Accessed 1 April 2020].
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. 2020. Voluntary Codes. [online]
Available at: <https://www.accc.gov.au/business/industry-codes/voluntary-codes> [Accessed
1 April 2020].
Hunt, S.D. and Vitell, S., 1986. A general theory of marketing ethics. Journal of
macromarketing, 6(1), pp.5-16.
Shaw, W., 1999. Contemporary ethics: Taking account of utilitarianism.