Misleading Use of Advertising

Advertising can betray its role as a source of information by misrepresentation and by withholding relevant facts. Sometimes, too, the information function of media can be subverted by advertisers' pressure upon publications or programs not to treat of questions that might prove embarrassing or inconvenient. So what can we believe when it comes to what a company advertises. Obviously the company is bias towards their products and they only share what is great about it. But does the company also have a responsibility in sharing what is harmful. There are many cases such as childrens toys that fit in this advertising problem. When a new toy comes to market you only see how fun and cool it is. The advertisement is directed towards the children. So after the child convinces their parent to purchase it they find that the toy is harmful and in some instances promoting violence or other harmful things. So when a company advertises they use their marketing scheme to sell. But in an over bearing way of forcing a sale they leave out the risks and other problems with their products. I think that a company should be required to disclose this information and have penalties for misleading advertising. Advertising