The government expenditure on advertisements has been an issue of much interest, discussion and debate in India in the recent past.

Following are some of the ethical issues involved in government’s spending of public money on advertisements:

• Fulfilling personal or political interests: Advertisements funded by public money are often used to project personalities and political parties.
• Misleading information: Propaganda, misinformation, fake news etc. through advertisements have the potential to polarise public opinion, to promote violent extremism and hate speech and, ultimately, to undermine democracies and reduce public trust in the democratic processes.
• Distortion of level playing field: Allowing government advertisements to be published during the run up to elections is undemocratic and creates a highly unequal playing field for other parties contesting the election.
• Impact of digital advertising: Digital advertising allows political candidates to bypass the regulations governing traditional advertising. Online advertising offers political campaigns far more tools to narrowly target their audiences, and this allows them to use their campaign funds to polarise the electorate more easily.

It is necessary to curtail these ethical issues while spending public money on advertisements and in this regard, following measures can be taken:

• Fulfill genuine public interests: It is necessary to ensure that Government advertising must satisfy the test of reasonableness and public interest while dealing with public funds and needs to be effectively managed in the best democratic way.
• Transparency and accountability: There is a need for enhanced transparency and accountability to help citizens understand how public funds are being managed and spent on advertisements. For example, the government can lay down a fair procedure for selecting media for advertisements.
• Avoiding misleading information: The advertising materials should be presented in an objective, fair and accessible manner and designed to meet objectives of the campaign. The information provided in the government advertisement can be published along with its source.
• Efficiency and cost-effectiveness: Given the varying costs associated with disseminating campaign messages via different media, an evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of online and other formats is needed to provide insights into maximum utilisation of limited public funds.
• Formulating clear guidelines and standards: Governments should develop clear guidelines along with a code of ethics for advertising especially digital advertising.
• Projecting the government: Government can deploy National symbols in advertisements rather than publishing the photographs of personalities.

In light of these measures, governments can ensure that their advertisements serve the larger public interests, foster transparency and accountability, and maintain trust with the public.