Responsibility Corporations Should Bear for Term Paper

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document

Total Length: 822 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 0

Page 1 of 3



Such ads are seen as a way of "glamoriz (ing) addiction" in an effort to sell clothes. As a secondary effect, young people such as the twenty-year-old Sorrenti face a greater risk of addiction (Sullum 441-442). However, as Sullum has pointed out, young people are hardly rushing out to buy heroin. Neither are college dormitories the site of regular heroin overdoses.

Finally, Sullum voices another strong criticism against the advertising ban when he states that "blurring the distinction between persuasion and coercion is often the first step towards censorship" (Sullum 442).

Advertising, Sullum points out, is not coercion. Viewers are not forced into buying a product, whether it is a cigarette, a bottle of Scotch or a tube of toothpaste. Ads simply present products, often in funny situations and set to catchy jingles.

This essay agrees that television and advertising can have powerful effects on individual behavior. However, as Sullum points out, arguments regarding the causal relationship between ads and bad behavior "portrays people not as independent moral agents but as mindless automatons" (442).

Indeed, it is much easier to blame television and advertising for alcoholism and cigarette smoking.

This scapegoating deflects attention from the growing lack of personal responsibility.

Stuck Writing Your "Responsibility Corporations Should Bear For" Term Paper?

View All Our Example Responsibility Corporations Should Bear for Term Paper

Have A Custom Example Essay Written



This lack of responsibility and a trend towards victimhood can also be discerned in many other aspects of our culture. For example, the link between cigarette smoking and cancer has been widely-publicized since the late 1980s. However, many cancer sufferers who chose to continue smoking are now labeling themselves as "victims" and filing lawsuits against cigarette companies. Similarly, class action lawsuits are now being filed against companies like McDonald's by people who are now suffering from obesity and heart disease.

The argument that advertising causes alcoholism and smoking is another instance of scapegoating.

American society is premised on free choice. We believe that the government should not have a role in regulating what we read or how we communicate. We believe that individuals should have the right to freely express their claims and opinions. We believe that corporations should have the opportunity to pursue sales. We also believe that corporations should be responsible for manufacturing and distributing a safe product.

Any defense of free choice, however, is incomplete without recognizing the onus

What individuals decide to do with the information and material they view on television is no longer the responsibility of corporations. Rather,….....

Show More ⇣

     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Responsibility Corporations Should Bear For" (2004, November 09) Retrieved June 4, 2026, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/responsibility-corporations-bear-58220

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Responsibility Corporations Should Bear For" 09 November 2004. Web.4 June. 2026. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/responsibility-corporations-bear-58220>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Responsibility Corporations Should Bear For", 09 November 2004, Accessed.4 June. 2026,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/responsibility-corporations-bear-58220
   

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document
order custom essay example