Following up my blogs on ‘post nominal letters’ and ‘profits before animal welfare’ there is something I want to say about ethics in advertising. It is a sad fact of life these days that people and groups will say things about themselves that infer they are something more than the hard truth would describe. In politics it is known as putting on a positive ‘spin’ and in slang terms it is known as ‘bigging up’. Either way, it is dishonest.

Sadly this practice has found its way into the word of animal welfare, in particular those advertising their services in the dog behaviour and training sector. I am sure that many do not understand what they are doing wrong or even that they believe it is perfectly acceptable but I am also sure that there are those who are well aware that they are bending the truth or not telling the whole truth in order to create an impression of superiority. You don’t have to look very far to find examples of unethical advertising though and here are some:

1. The person has studied at a university and puts that university logo on their website. This infers that the university has endorsed their business which is highly unlikely and permission to use the logo has more than likely not been granted.
2. An organisation that sends an email or letter to a government department offering advice then claims they are government advisors. Taken literally this might, at a stretch, be the case but the inference of the status claimed will be far from the reality.
3. Using images of government funded services such as Police Dog Handlers or Home Office Dog Handlers in conjunction with courses or services implying that there is some form of formal relationship with such establishments when no such relationship exists.
4. Claiming to abide by certain standards then ignoring them.
5. Organisations that are at best, run by a few people (sometimes only one), who call themselves The British….or The National…..They are clearly not in the same league as British Aerospace or the National Trust but aim to deceive customers into thinking they are far bigger than they actually are.
6. Making unsubstantiated claims about what they achieve.

Part of the problem is that the practice is so widespread it is seen as ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable advertising practise’ but I assure you it is not. It has reached a stage that being perfectly honest can give the image of being inferior when compared with the elaborate propaganda that the innocent investigator can be faced with. Let’s be clear about this, the practises I am describing are fraudulent, the definition of fraud being: ‘someone who deceives people by saying that they are someone or something that they are not’ (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fraud).

To go one step further, Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 states that making false representations as to fact or the law either impliedly or expressly, being well aware that such representation is false for the purpose of deriving personal gain constitutes a criminal offence of fraud.

So, what is to be done? A start has been made by ABTC by publishing Ethical Advertising Guidelines which can be seen at: http://abtcouncil.org.uk/images/Ethicalmarketingguidelines.pdf

These guidelines are actively being enforced, all organisations that are members of ABTC and their individual registered trainers and behaviourists have to comply. There have already been several cases of people having to amend their websites in order to come into line with requirements giving the public some chance of being able to make informed choices. This is regulation of trainers and behaviourists in action but sadly ABTC has no jurisdiction over non members yet, but I predict that the day will come when they do and the whole sector will be made to clean up their act.

To behave ethically is to know the difference between what you have a right to do, what is right to do and doing the right thing even when nobody is watching.