Skaparens dilemma: En deskriptiv studie om moralproduktionen på svenska reklambyråer

Sammanfattning: AbstractLarsson, Y. (2006). Skaparens dilemma. En deskriptiv studie om moralproduktionen på svenska reklambyråer. Karlstad University, Sweden.Key words: Business ethics, advertising, morality, symbolic interactionism, discourse ethics.Advertising, as an industry, reflects contemporary values whilst creating new symbols and changing both behaviour and public opinion. In the last hundred years, advertising has pervaded most areas of life, and spaces that are commercial free are becoming rare. The aim of this dissertation is to explore and map various social objects that create the perception of morality that exists within an advertising agency. The approach can be described as qualitative, descriptive, analytical and constructionist. The study belongs within a research field that borders on business economics/business ethics and philosophy/descriptive ethics.Fundamental to my study is the exploration of stories told by different key advertising practitioners. Using a symbolic interactionist approach I identify important meaning carriers that together create and identify the social object “morality”. The empirical material is based on a total of 36 interviews conducted 1998-2000 with advertising practitioners from 15 Swedish advertising agencies. In addition to the interviews, an observational study was conducted for eight months in 1998 along with a literature study. In my analysis two related areas for morality emerged; one area focusing morality related to clients/consumers, and one area focusing morality within the agency/branch. Two models illustrating the results were constructed. Ethics, economics and aesthetics often find themselves on opposing sides in various situations and at different levels in the work process at the agency. The need for profit gives precedence to the economic aspect making it superior to the other two aspects, ethics and aesthetics. However, advertising practitioners that prioritise the aesthetic aspects may find themselves be awarded a golden egg at some yearly gala. Hence, to stretch a little on morality and sin with refinement may be quite rewarding.The dissertation was preceded by and builds on a licentiate dissertation in business economics by Larsson-Eklund (2002) - “Med skaparkraft som etiskt argument. En explorativ studie om moral och yrkesetik inom reklambranschen ur ett internt relationsperspektiv” (enclosed in appendix 6).