Advertising: The Whole or Only Some of the Truth?
What would be your main and supporting claims on this?
Marketers are under no obligation to tell the whole truth about a product, so long as they do not mislead or deceive their customers. "[T]he truth about an item or service being traded should be told. But this does not ... [mean] that the whole truth should be told, including various matters associated with the buying and selling of the item or service in question-such as, its price elsewhere, its ultimate suitability to the needs of the buyer, its full value and so on."
The view that a marketer must divulge all the information a client would find useful presupposes the ethical theory of altruism, i.e. the view that one's primary duty is to advance the interests of others.
Other ethical theories, e.g. utilitarianism, Kantianism, classical ethical egoism, do not support the view that one has an obligation to tell the whole truth about a product.
There is good reason to reject altruism as an ethical theory.
Therefore there is good reason to reject the claim that marketers are under an obligation to tell the whole truth about a product.
Objection Considered
This position would allow a marketer not to inform a customer about a serious product defect, so long as the customer made no inquiries.
Reply to Objection
Machan introduces the notions of essential features and rational expectations. If a product's defect prevents it from fulfilling it's essential function the marketer is deceiving a customer not to inform her of the defect, since she has a legitimate expectation that a product will be able to fulfill its essential function.
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