Trying to get to the bottom (sorry) of what constitutes an illegal ebay ad. Online auction site eBay is removing hundreds of illegal Botox (Oh? Botox) adverts selling discount vouchers and "introduce-a-friend" schemes. The ads included celebrity photos (naughty, naughty) while some claimed to "restore the look of youth and vitality" (Yeah, right have you seen Leslie Ash?) Which? health campaigner Jenny Driscoll said: "Some of the adverts may lead people to think that having Botox is as easy as getting your nails done, but it's a powerful natural poison (makes you wonder dosen't it) which can have serious side effects.
As professionals working in the communications industry, we have a choice to ensure that what we do is ethical. Perhaps it is easier to say, "No" when you are a senior member of staff in an agency. I worked on beer and fags when is was a teenage copywriter - it was that or hand over my job to any number of writers waiting in the wings. I wish I had taken a stand (I am asthmatic, after all) but family and mortgage commitments make you vulnerable, don't they? No that's just an excuse and it gets you deeper into the mud each time you are the one who says yes to selling crap products and services. We are responsible for our own actions. By not saying, "No" straight off the blocks I started to get all the 'tough' sells dumped on my desk. When I did, eventually say "I'm not working on that!" The powers that be simply moved it on to the next writer. Just. Like. That. Bloody hell.
All I ask is that if you ever see anything that you know needs challenging in the press, on-line, on the radio, on TV: complain, complain complain. That misleading, hyperbolic ad you let pass you by last week is making all our jobs that bit harder to do.
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