What is unethical advertising?

Question

What is unethical advertising and an example of this in the fitness industry

Answer 1

One widely used example is the testimonials on fitness aid infomercials. They take a fit person who has been immobilized perhaps by a broken leg, give them large amounts of food while they're healing, then pay them to exercise with their machine. Afterwards they take a picture of the before and after. This leads people to believe that the machine works extremely well where in reality they just have a healthy active lifestyle

Answer 2

Something that is deceptive.  Ex:  "I lost 50 lbs without having to exercise or change my diet.  All I had to do was take this pill once a day for 2 weeks.  You can lose weight fast too for just $39.99 a month!"

Answer 3

Unethical advertising is when you promise something you cannot deliver.  For instance in the fitness industry, you advertise that you guarantee a weight loss of 50 pounds per month with your program.  You cannot possible deliver that to every person who comes into your gym.

In addition to this is the guarantee of a certain number of years service when you know you are closing down that location in the next few months.

In other words, guaranteeing a certain weight loss, level of fitness, or other intrinsic values is unethical advertising since you cannot possibly reach this level with all persons who enter your door.