One of the most memorable, unethical advertisements I have seen was from Hyundai. In a time where depression and anxiety are so high, Hyundai produced an advertisement where a man attempted suicide, but failed because the emissions were so clean. This ad was created by a European company, Innocean Europe, and was not removed by Hyundai until they began receiving complaints (Herper).
The main issue with this advertisement was not the imitation of attempted suicide, but the fact that even the implication of attempted suicide can cause more suicides to take place. An example of this would be the release of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why. Following the debut, there was an increase in teen suicides by 28.9% within the first month. Over the next 11 months, there were 195 more teen suicides than anticipated by previous trends (Schwartz).
With Hyundai’s commercial, there is zero indication that there is a suicide hotline and other resources if someone is in need of help, long-term or immediate. There is also no evidence of how the attempted suicide would affect the person’s family members, and especially how they would have reacted if it had been successful. Additionally, this advertisement had highlighted a near perfect plan for someone to copy if they had any intention of following through with such an act (Herper).
Following the disbursement of this commercial, Hyundai Motor America issued a statement noting they had no involvement with the European sister-company. They went on to mention that suicidal thoughts merit serious discussion, and should not have been given such thoughtless behavior (Herper).
In many cases, unethical SEO/SEM tactics can boost search results in favor of the company utilizing such practices. However, as soon as the search engine is made aware of that company’s actions, they are immediately banned from that index for any period of time ranging from a couple of months to a few years. Hidden text, cloaking and doorway passage are all common unethical SEO/SEM techniques to boost a company’s awareness while bringing down the competition. In the case of Hyundai’s commercial, there may not have been hidden text per se, but there was a definite hidden message regarding suicide. Innocean Europe disregarded all of their morals simply to produce an advertisement for a new car. Ethics are a simple case of black and white, if it feels wrong then it probably is. Ethical search engine practices use industry-accepted measures to boost a company’s image, but they follow the moral guidelines set by our everyday beliefs interactions. Ethical SEO/SEM techniques allow for cost-effective campaigns, provide a high level of company transparency, and greatly improves ROI in the target markets Ethical SEO).
There are more benefits to being ethical than there are unethical. It is human nature to crave a clean conscience, and Innocean Europe’s actions warranted anything but. Their actions tarnished Hyundai’s reputation, and all but destroyed their own. Had they acted with respectable intentions, they would have boosted both their image along with Hyundai’s, and would have made both of their sales goals that much more attainable. The idea of producing a car with clean emissions is revolutionary and exciting, but the poor marketing and execution immediately tainted it.
Works Cited
Ethical SEO: ethical SEO vs unethical SEO. (2019, September 12). In Great Learning. Retrieved from https://medium.com/my-great-learning/ethical-seo-vs-unethical-seo-44087306e2f0
Goldacre, B. (2013, April 25). Suicide advert from Hyundai is almost surreally misguided. In Bad Science. Retrieved from https://www.badscience.net/2013/04/suicide-advert-from-hyundai-is-almost-surreally-misguided/
Herper, M. (2013, April 25). Update: Hyundai apologizes for car ad depicting attempted suicide. In Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2013/04/25/a-hyundai-car-ad-depicts-suicide-it-is-so-wrong-i-cant-embed-it-in-this-post/?sh=1dc5db12554d
Schwartz, M. (2019, April 30). Teen suicide spiked after debut of Netflix’s ’13 Reasons Why,’ study says. In NPR Lakeshore Public Radio. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2019/04/30/718529255/teen-suicide-spiked-after-debut-of-netflixs-13-reasons-why-report-says
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