The Relationship Between Advertisements and Judaism

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Advertisements are not simply information about what products are available but also a medium that creates artificial needs and emotions for people. Very often, company’s spend a lot more time working on selling their products than they do making the products. In this specific ad, the high class car company Audi is trying to persuade the viewers of this ad to buy this product. When relating advertisements to Judaism, one would argue that if an action is correct but the perception is not, the action should not be done. Judaism is focused on how the product that is being advisement is perceived and portrayed and recognized by the public.

Geneivat Daat is a term that determines and defines whether or not an advertisement is legitimate or not, and also is known as “stealing a persons thoughts”(Amsel 138). Judaism outlines that this term determines that if a person is misinterpreting the truth from the ad, whether he/she is a jew or a non jew this is explicit violation of Jewish practices. The talmud provides many examples of where genivat daat is violated in every day practices. One example from the talmud is if a person invited a friend over for a meal knowing that the friend cannot or will not accept the invitation. This is an example of genivat daat because in truth “the inviter had no real intention of hosting him at all”(Amsel 138). As a result, the inviter misleads the friend and will receive undeserved good will by the guest who was invited for the meal. This may lead the invited person to do something good in return in the future and that it self is a violation in Judaism.

When relating this example in the talmud of geneivat daat to the Audi add, it is evident that this add is not misleading the truth and it does not rel...

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... new sense of bravery the company is not at fault however it is the consumers fault for taking the add to literally.

An example of maximizing the desirability of a product is shown when Jacob decided to put his brothers present in the best light in order to make it look as big as possible. When a product is put in the best light possible there is not violation associated with this as long as a person does not misinterpret it wrong. In the Audi add the companies goal was to try and put the car in the best light possible. The way they did this was showing different angles of the car and how fast the car can really go. In addition the bravery slogan at the end leaves the viewers with a lasting impression of the car, which is legitimate and encouraged by Jewish ethics as it is a “memorable catch, causing the product to be better remembered by the public”(Amsel 139).

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