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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
INTRODUCTION
Advertising is a way to communicate in order to influence a particular group of individuals and people regarding a specific product. It is a multifaceted phenomenon because promoters try to reach different consumers while holding three targets to inform, convince and remind them about certain products (Islam & Alam, 2013; Shafiq, Haque, & Abdullah, 2016). Bovee et al, (1995) define advertising as a nonperson way of communicating information to targeted persons. It is very influential regarding products and services through identified sponsors while using several forms of media".
The behaviour of consumers has become the subject of matter now, which has received much space in the study in order to analyse the impact of advertising and its effectiveness on consumer buying behaviour (Ajzen, 2002). Because the advertising of any product influences consumer behaviour by creating different perceptions, resulting in the form of liking or disliking of towards product, it is an emotional response of a consumer developed by advertising (Rehman, Nawaz, Khan & Hider, 2014). While presenting a collection of information about products, advertising brings awareness that influences the mindset of a potential buyer to take an ultimate decision for purchasing a product and change their attitude and buying behaviour (Ayanwale, Alimi & Ayanbimipe, 2005; Adelaar, et al., 2003). The most prompting theory of advertisement is an attitude towards commercial which inspires an attitude of consumer toward the brand (Goldsmith & Lofferty, 2002; Shafiq, Haque, & Abdullah, 2016).
Religious beliefs and norms have a significant impact on consumer behaviours. Even religiosity shows an inherent human value of certain religions, which can also be considered while making advertisements of goods that can affect consumer behaviour in the light of religious and social norms. The traditional economic system promotes all economic activity in order to make or earn profit without considering any difference between ethical or unethical or in the concept of Haram/ Halal (Rice, 1998). In Muslim countries, the significance of ethics or unethical is more observable due to religious obligations and constraints to cultural preferences (Chachuła et al., 2010). However, it has been evident that while making an advertisement, Islamic perspective and cultural norms in being not considered in Muslim countries, including Pakistan. Most of the advertisement practices demonstrate modern and western culture which conflicts with the Islamic perspective. The only objective is to make more profit through overstating and using sex appealing and emotional aspects in ads. Muslims do not differentiate religious aspects and the contemporary world and consider Islam a comprehensive way of living with certain obligations (Kavoossi, 2000; Lawrence 1998).
Islam has put the guidelines that designers, sponsors, advertising agencies, and media should follow for implementing the role and their responsibilities accordingly (Jamalzadeh, Behravan, & Masoudi, 2012). The concept and idea of an advertisement are not diverse from contemporary advertising, however, the main difference lies in the implication of the principles of Islamic laws in terms of form and content. The primary thrust of Islam is to ensure that all business operations are to be away from all those factors that may cause damage to the consumers in any conditions, whether in terms of use or terms of their money. Allah asks people to realise regarding all things related to their facilities in the world affairs that will be considered in the hereafter. As Allah S.W.T: “Say (unto them, O Muhammad): The comfort of this world is scant; the hereafter will be better for him who fears Allah and keep his duty towards Him, and you will not be wronged even down to a date-stone. Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even though you may be in lofty towers.” (Al-Quran, 4:77- 78). It gives the idea that advertisement will trigger human thinking in terms of fulfilling the command of Allah (Islam and Aslam, 2013). According to Behravan et al., (2012) and Al- Aidaros & Kadir, (2015), advertisement in Islam is based on the concept of “Al-Bayan” which stress on describing all details and characteristics of the products and service will complete discloser to the costumer. Thus, a consumer has the right to get all possible information related to goods or services while making choices based on their obtained information. In this regard, the following verse of Al-Quran also provides a direction on how an advertisement must work. As Allah S.W.T says, "And do not consume your wealth among yourselves in falsehood and (do not) you take the (business) property to the judge so that you can take part of someone else's property with the (way of) sin, while you know” (Al-Quran, 2:188). Muslims spend their whole life according to roles and regulations, which is obtained from the Qur'an and Sunnah (the recorded words and performance of Prophet Muhammad) (Al- Aidaros & Kadir, 2015). It has also been pointed out by Razzaque (2016) that, despite many limitations, several fundamentalist Muslim countries have conceded with numerous of the Islamic beliefs. For instance, there is a strict prohibition on drawing, painting, taking pictures of human beings however it seems that several Muslim countries have ignored this prohibition. On the other hand, dancing, acting or playing musical instruments are not allowed in Islam however, it has been used in many Muslim countries. In reality, Islamic rules are either compromised or borne with exemption in many countries.
.Al- Aidaros and Kadir (2015) stated that Muslim countries should follow Islamic laws and principles that prohibit the application of harmful, immoral, and un-Islamic motivation in order to sell products. Rice and Al-Mossawisay (2014) have also condemned “erotic appeal, sentimental appeal, terror appeal, fake testimony and pseudo-science appeal,” that is the primary reason behind facilitating extravagance" (Rice, & Al-Mossawi, 2014). Most advertisements are designed to manipulate human inadequacy and vitiate the customer by stressing their incapability to select or choose (Shafiq, Haque &mAbdullah, 2016). Nevertheless, numerous Islamic ethics are critical to implicate for making commercials and ads. Jamil and Qayyum, (2019), stressed it, it is the responsibility of advertisers and marketers to discourage the un-Islamic practices of showing offensive, unpleasant and questionable ads which irritate individuals due to unlikable content, demonstration and excessive repetition.
The objective of the study
The main objective of this study is to explore the concept of the advertisement from the perspective of Islam and ascertain fundamental Islamic principles that must be followed during advertising practices in Muslim countries. Although the concept of Islamic advertising is gaining adhesion, however; there is still a lack of thoughtful academic efforts. In order to persuade practitioners and policymakers to embrace Islamic advertising, they need to discern its principles. This study is an attempt to explore the concept of advertisement in Islam and its fundamentals.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Divine Command Theory
The “Divine Command Theory” stresses the importance of moral and ethical values for adherents or consumers in understanding faith, beliefs, and religion. It influences the concepts of product users' right and wrong deeds or conduct based on their religion (Maan & Rizvi, 2021). It suggests that males and females must make the right choices based on their culture and religion. Although, choices can be varied from one culture to another culture however; the morality of a demeanour in a specific society does not make it. Furthermore, Nooh (2016) explained that advertisements should follow all laws and principles of religion while considering the limitations of the country's culture. He further added that advertisements should encourage Islamic culture and values in Muslim majority countries. It has also been noted by Bari and Abbas (2011), advertisement agencies use “materialistic pleasure” and “social presence of models" as the main factors for earning the profit in an un-Islamic and unethical manner. Even the reality of the products or service is hidden behindoverstatement, wrong incidences, or misleading evidence. Women are shown in un-Islamic or revealing clothes (Usman et al., 2010). In addition, male models commonly participate in the advertisement and female attraction while advertising particular male products (Shafiq, Haque, & Abdullah, 2016).
Furthermore, these advertisements also emphasis that females get fascinated only by the explicit products, perhaps inferring that the male intelligence, behaviour, and characters have no particular meaning for females. Besides this, exaggeration also conflicts with the Islamic traditions of diffidence and is not accepted in the perspective of Islamic conducts of business or comportment for both males and females (Rizwan, et al., 2019). The slant is misleading as no female runs after males in real life under the spell of using certain male products. This theory has implied that contemporary world advertisement depends on misleading and false stories, however, Islam strictly bans the act of falseness, asserting such as it has been stated in Al-Quran that “Give just measures and cause no loss. And weigh with scales true and upright and withhold not things justly due to men” (Al-Quran, 26:181).
Concept of Advertising
In this era, advertising is considered the primary tool for companies in order to bring competition to the market (Razzaque, 2016). Generally, paid publicity brings exposure to various products through sponsors and by using various media sources such as television, radio advertisement, billboards, newspaper, and magazines and through modern ways of advertising such as blogs, websites, and text messages. Singh (1998) highlights that advertisement is used to increase the profitability of the business. However, many companies overlook social, cultural and religious characteristics while making any commercial or advertisement. In current marketing practices, advertisement is used as a tool to create demand for goods and services, which influences consumers' mindset to feel a strong desire for unnecessary products. However, he emphasises the social aspect of advertisement due to the absence of an appropriate code of ethics. He argues that while investing a huge amount in commercials, massivee is a need to incorporate an ethical aspect in advertising practices. In addition, technological advancement, innovation and development have turned advertising towards a more persistent and influential impact on consumers (Leiss, Kline & Jhally, 1986). The concept of advertising had been introduced by Egyptians who used Papyrus (a solid type of paper made by pith of the papyrus plant) for spreading messages and it was the most ancient way of advertising. Moreover, posters on walls, billboards, and signboards have also been used. The use of wall painting and wall chocking has also been evident in the primitive culture of Greece, Roman and India which further spread all over the world (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008). The era of the late nineties and early twenties is considered a time of mass production and industrialisation, and during this time the modern way of advertising has been developed. After getting acceptance of print advertisement by people, the next level of advertisement was radio and television, which could influence a larger group of buyers. The Du Mont Television Network started to present advertisements on TV in the 1950s. In this 21stcentury, online advertisement through the internet and social media has succeeded worldwide, which targets a more significant number of potential buyers, particularly young people. Now the advertising has been proved as one of the leading promotional sources for marking, which affects consumers' behaviour for buying goods and services worldwide. It is being used not only for the guidance of buying products but also for shifting social behaviour, evolution in dressing style, and changing pattern foods (Bell, 1976; Marchand, 1985). In this competitive period, the success and failure of any organisation depend on the effectiveness of its advertising policies and strategies. For this purpose, a considerable amount of money is invested in an advertisement to grab audiences' attention and capture market share. However, in contemporary ads, some controversial tactics are applied while exaggerating the product's features, which motivates consumers to spend extra money on a product which they do not require (Akhtar, Sattar & Umar, 2011; Singh, 1998).
Preliminary Studies on Advertisement and Islamic Perspective
In recent times, advertising and promotion of prohibited goods by unethical and non-Islamic ways raise new discussion on the Islamic perspective of advertisement. By focusing on this aspect, Akhter et al. (2011) discuss an ethical aspect in modern advertising of notorious products in Pakistan from the perspective of Shari'ah. The unpleasant behaviour of these advertisements always controverts from religious aspects, gender dissimilarity and demands for current elements in advertising. The study's findings show that the level of impoliteness in commercials of controversial products has found a significant link with religious opinion. They also found that immodesty images for advertising appeals were significantly associated with the level of rudeness. This study gives administrative implications and discovers the main ethical factors in advertising opposing the restriction of Islamic laws. Weiss (2003) discusses that several companies use advertisement for the promotion and expansion of their business, which helps increase profitability; however, there is a dire need to realise the moral aspects.
For incorporating ethics and moral values, laws are not sufficient to face the difficulties. For instance, telling a lie is an unethical action that may cause many social problems, however, it is not considered a crime or an illegal act in law. Darwish, (2000) explains that in many Muslim countries, the advertisement practices are not publicised according to Islamic business practices. The source of business ethics in Islamic is the Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). Bari and Abbas (2011), have focused on modern practices in an advertisement which has created several social and ethical issues due to their worldly objective. This issue has been observed in several Muslim countries, including Pakistan, due to cultural deviation, social diversification, and religious beliefs. They incorporate the Islamic values in business with modern advertising practices and find the answer to this dilemma resulting from these modern advertising tactics. According to the Islamic perspective, the concept of "Falah" is a central spirit in businesses that always promotes all businesses to make a profit and serve the human. They evaluate all advertisement practices in the light of the Quran and Hadiths and argue unethical features of the contemporary advertisement. The education system should be re-evaluated with the Islamic code of ethics, whereas advertisements against the culture or religion should be restricted.
Islam and Alam (2013) explain the role of advertising as a promotional tool of a company. They clarified that most companies use substantial amounts of advertising, around 25% of the total budget because as a result, Advertising increases the profits of a business. However, few advertisements have made the false promise to draw the attention of new consumers for buying a product that was forbidden in Islam. They tried to provide some advertisement aspects according to Islam. Everything is permissible and allowed in Islam by maintaining the principle given by Quran and Shariah. They emphasised that there should not be any misleading practices, dishonesty, misrepresentation, compulsion and unfairness in advertisements according to Islamic point of view that could make advertising in the way it is supposed to. Furthermore; Mandan et al., (2013) investigated the effectiveness of evaluative elements of advertising, including relevant news, brand strengthening, entertainment aspect, understanding, awareness, and confusion on the satisfaction of the consumer and examined the impact of satisfaction level of the consumer on professed value and behavioural plans in Agriculture bank. The outcomes demonstrate that among these evaluative elements of advertising, relevant news and awareness regarding the product have more impact on satisfaction.
Naseri and Tamam (2012) reviewed some selected literature based on religious influences on an advertisement on three aspects: advertisement of controversial products, religious values in advertisements practices, and the reaction of consumers towards advertisement by utilising religious values and perspectives. Zain-Ul-Abideen and Saleem (2011) examine the impact of environmental and emotional reactions on the behavioural aspect of consumers. While selecting the sample of 200 respondents from three cities of Pakistan, such as Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Lahore, through telecommunication services, the study's finding proves significant relation between environmental response and emotional response and behavioural aspect of consumer behaviour. Moreover, the emotional aspect of buyers has a strong influence on their behaviours because people prefer to purchase those goods and brands to which they have emotional attachments. Al-Aidaros and Kadir (2015) explained that promoting the product through advertising is a way to introduce new products and remind society of the existence of a product in the market. From an Islamic perspective, advertising cannot be used as a tool to increase the organisation's revenue in unfair and unethical ways. However, these contemporary advertising practices make false and wrong promises to attract new customers to buy the product, strictly banned in Islam.
Nooh (2016) argued that the role of advertisement could be changed according to geographical and cultural boundaries and religious points of view. Being an essential marketing tool, it is more effective to capture new customers and create brand images. In this modern era, advertising has raised numerous issues among Islamic religious scholars especially in the unethical way of advertising. He conducted numerous qualitative interviews with Islamic religious scholars of Malaysia in order to realise their viewpoint. He focuses on the Malaysian advertising industry in general and tries to determine its impact on children, adults, and other members of society. He mentioned that being a Muslim country, the government also has some responsibility for society the impact of advertisement because Islamic ethics and its role in advertising conflict between contemporary advertising practices and Islamic values.
Furthermore, Akber and Karim (2011), and Purnama, and Safira, (2017), have stressed that the ethical aspect should be focused under Islamic laws and strictly observed. To earn money is not the only objective of an advertiser, but he will have to be careful in order not to destroy their lives hereafter for materialistic benefits. Islam gives a comprehensive way of advertisement practices. They argued that to overcome the moral cries, all business organisations, marketers, advertisers and consumers will have to make a proper code of ethics for advertisement and ensure their enforcement. Shafiq (2018), and Farooq, et al., (2018) have also identified that Islamic advertising gives a potential solution to unethical advertising practices in the light of Islamic principles. Furthermore; these principles reasonably provide an answer to the disparagement on publicity and promotion and applying these principles can also curtail the issues related to contemporary advertisements.
The study of Razzaque (2020), has also presented a holistic view of advertising from the Islamic perspective. Using relevant materials from the Holy Qur'an and Hadith and literature, he concluded that there is some fundamental difference in the market mechanism, which added to the involvedness of creating strategies for advertisement for Muslim consumers. Maan and Rizvi (2021) have also explored the ethical issues regarding promoting foreign culture through the advertising industry from the Islamic perspective in Pakistan. It has also been found that advertisers depend on a western business model which disrespects Islamic values. However, the non-existence of advertising ordinance and state control facilities this manipulation process. Authors found that advertisements negatively influence Muslim culture due to a lack of regulations related to producing an advertisement for an Islamic perspective. Government officials should regulate any demonstration and practice that may lead to distraction, confusion, and misinterpretation.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Qualitative research is defined as "a study which is conducted in a natural setting". It allows researchers to investigate a particular phenomenon using's individual's experience and perception (Saunders et al., 2012).Qualitative research studies allow gathering data in the textual form such as words, images and texts. Qualitative research is characterised mainly by detailed findings, and therefore qualitative research was used, enabling dealing with and giving way to a greater emphasis on quality rather than quantity (Silverman, 2020). The epistemology of this study is based on "Constructionism"; thus, arguments have been constructed in the light of "Quran" and "Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (PBUM)". "Constructionism” has been inspired by a constructivist approach which argues that individuals can learn through involving their objective visual experiences along with their cognitive interpretation (Piaget, 1967). Furthermore, constructionism also rejects objective information and knowledge without human interpretation. As it has been explained by Crotty (1998) that there is no possible meaning and justification of anything without mind. Saeed et al., (2001) have also used the same epistemology and stated that there is a need to integrate with Islamic laws and principles while designing an advertisement for Muslim majority countries better to realise the attitudes and behaviours of Muslim consumers. Furthermore; qualitative studies use inductive reasoning since it moves from specific observation related to individual occurrence to broader generalisation and theories, which leads to general conclusions or theories (Creswell et al., 2007). This study is based on a qualitative research method using inductive reasoning. For data collection, the secondary source has been used from published sources and research articles related to the subject study. Based on qualitative research, this study has employed content analysis for analysing the qualitative data. According to Holsti (1969, p.14), content analysis is defined as "any technique for making inferences by objectively and systematically identifying specified characteristics of messages." The main objective of content analysis is to analyse the qualitative information from different secondary sources. This study analyses the advertisement principles in the light of the "Quran” and “Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUM)”. It has also been pointed by Roger et al., (1995), ignoring the Islamic perspective while making advertisements can create conflict with Islamic principles and increase disaffection with a significant share of their target customers. Thus, considering “Quran” and “Hadith" as the main foundation of information and knowledge, advertisement principles have been discussed and arguments have been constructed based on this analysis.
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
The Qur'an does not prohibit advertising because posters, billboards, print media displays and electronic media have also been used to promote the Islamic faith. Even in Post-revolutionary Iran and other Middle East countries, print and electronic media have promoted a specific aspect of faith. In the Muslim world, Five times per day for prayers on mosques by using Loudspeakers are also a form of advertising to call the faithful to the payer (Haque, Ahmed & Jahan, 2010). Hence, Islam has no objection regarding the use of media for spreading messages. However, advertisement from an Islamic perspective has different approaches, which are somehow different from general advertisement. Most scholars agreed that advertising is used to disseminate information to the public, which should portray Islamic values to get oneself closer to Allah. In the Islamic view, there should be some element present in ad including spiritual value, ethical aspects, avoid to nudity, could not harm and destroy the social and moral values of the Muslim society and ensure all short of human welfare (Khairyah) while considering benefit in the life of the earth and life hereafter (Khan, 2020). From an Islamic perspective, advertisement practices are not prohibited. However, there should be some rules and obligations under Islamic law that should be followed by advertising. Islam has defined some set of guidelines as Halal (lawful) and Haram (prohibited) behaviours. Shariah (Islamic Law) has allowed a specific range of behaviour and provides a system of values to evaluate wrong and right. Consumption of pork, carrion, carnivorous animals, gambling, alcohol is prohibited not only to consume (Chachuła, et al., 2010). According to the Islamic perspective, the advertisement could promote Halal and appropriate moderate life so, the advertised products should be good, clean, and of high quality. Moreover, all advertisement activities should avoid fraudulent strategies and misrepresenting images that influence consumers' preferences towards brand loyalty, which is not permissible under Islamic law. In the Islamic view, the advertising of gender-related products, social/political groups, and health care products is considered most unpleasant and offensive compared to other religions such as Christianity. (Fam, Waller & Erdogan, 2004; Mokhtar, & Samsudin, 2015). Nevertheless, in Pakistan, every product is advertised without considering any religious aspect and impacts consumer behaviour.
Honesty and Truth in Advertisement
While making an advertisement, there should be some criteria such as truth, sincerity, politeness, social and combined responsibilities. Muslims should avoid dishonesty and fraud not only in daily life but especially in trade and financial dealings. Telling a lie and exaggeration is strictly prohibited under Islamic laws. (Rice & Al-Mossawi, 2002).
The Holy Prophet of Allah (PBUH) has explained the sign of hypocrite.
- "Whenever he speaks, he tells a lie".
- “Whenever he promises, He always breaks it”.
- “If you trust him, he proves to be dishonest” (Al-Bukhari, 1.32)
The first and foremost rule of any advertisement is that it should be very much transparent and honest. It is mentioned in Quran that
"And we only must proclaim the clear message" (Yassin: 17)
“Allah sees well all that they do.” (Al-Baqarah: 96)
One aspect highlight that whatever is being communicated through advertisements it must be exact according to product quality.
Exaggeration in advertisement Impact Direct Consumer Buying Behavior
The prominent Critics of Scholar are that advertising may exploit consumers' buying behaviour and influence them to purchase goods they do not need. There is a warning in Qur'an,
“Eat and drink but waste not by excess” (Qur’an- 7:31)
Regarding spending or buying behaviour, The Qur'an provides a Balance rule of spending.
"when they spend, they are neither extravagant nor niggardly, but hold a just balance between these (extremes)" (25:67);
Advertising should only provide complete information regarding price, performance) which are desirable; however, persuasive advertisement play with the emotions, anxieties and psychology of the consumers, which is unethical and unacceptable according to the Islamic perspective because persuasive advertisement affects the mind of consumers and encourages them to purchase products and services which are luxuries goods.
“Make not your hand-tied like a niggard to your neck, nor stretch it forth to its utmost reach, so that you become blameworthy and destitute" (17:29);
Through advertisement, people are emotionally forced to spend different branded goods, mainly aiming to show off and swagger.
Qur’an advises,
"Do not deceive yourself by taking this world display, pastime, show off, boasting and piling up riches in rivalry with each other." (57:20)
While making an advertisement, this warning should be kept in mind and to ensure that advertisement could not contain those things which is unhealthy, unethical and un-Islamic, which could impact consumer behaviour towards extravagance. Islam discourages expensive lifestyles and promotes moderation. However, current advertisement persuades a large portion of consumer's income for extravagant expenditures on unnecessary products such as fashionable clothes, cigarettes and soft drinks and expensive accessories and branded shoes, especially women and children. Advertising should not support consumers to waste their money on these materialistic things. Advertising companies should not provoke consumers for ambiguous products which effects are not observable.
The Holy Quran explains:
"Those who will provoke for virtual get their shares and these will provoke for evil will get their share".
Moreover, advertising of gambling, interest, alcoholics, music and family planning virtually negate the Holy Verses. The media should avoid these kinds of products and unethical and un-Islamic practices in making commercials.
Disclose all Aspect of the Product
By making many claims to convince the customers, many contemporary advertisement practices hide the product's default and the adverse effects of consuming some goods. The holy prophet (PBUH) has said to disclose the defects of the goods.
“The seller, who sells his products without disclosing the defects of goods, earns the hatred of Allah and
Angels curse him all the time."
“He, who deceives people, is not my follower”.
Or
"He, who cheats, is not one of us."
The advertisement practices completely ignore these aspects while making a false statement regarding the product. It is another rule in an advertisement, according to the Islamic perspective, is that the seller must disclose all the defects in the product and make the buyer aware of it. The advertisement should provide detailed and correct information by advertising. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) said:
"Before selling goods, the seller must make the buyer aware of the defects (if any) in the product. Without doing so, the sale becomes "Na-Jayez' (unlawful).
Islam has provided the guiding principles for pursing by advertising agencies and media in order to realise their responsibilities and role. The concept of advertising is also similar in Islam, which gives information about products; however, the differences prevail in terms of content and presentation of this information. The Islamic perspective of advertisement ensures that all activities avoid all sorts of damaged contents, particularly among consumers. Therefore, all advertisement practices should contain all materials and matters according to Islam to fulfil Allah's command. Islamic. In Islam, advertising is based on "Al-Bayan” which describes all information and details of the product to consumers (Nagata,1994). Even some obligations have been entitled to the consumer to obtain detailed information about the products and then make choices according to information.
Ethical Aspect against Islam in Advertisement Practice
There is some unethical aspect of advertisement which are commonly used in contemporary advertising practices; however, Islam strictly banned the use of all these prohibited things, which has been briefly discussed below:
Use of Music and Dance
In advertisement practice, photography or music are not allowed. Because music provokes emotional needs and rouses sensual craze, which is prohibited in Islam. However, even in Pakistan, most products are being made with loud music and dance practices.
The Qur’an has dismissed music:
“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing, etc.) to mislead (men) from the Path of Allah without knowledge, and takes it (the Path of Allah, the Verses of the Qur'an) by way of mockery for such there will be a humiliating torment”.
Involvement of Female in Advertisements
Another crucial aspect of contemporary advertisement is women's involvement, which is very common in Pakistan. Women are used in advertisements to enhance glamour and attraction while exposing their beauty. Hence, Quran says
"Say to the believing men that they restrain their looks and guard their private parts. That is purer for them, And to say the believing women to restrain their looks and to guard their private parts" (Quran, 24:31,32).
Islam does not restrict females from contributing to economic activity to better their livelihood; however, they are restricted in showing body parts except face, hands and feet (Kiran & Karande, 2000). In many Arab and Middle East countries, advertisement practices are restricted in terms of female roles because showing any part of the body except the mentioned Quran. Because it is considered as against Islamic rules and inappropriate for the public appearance of females (Chachuła, et al., 2010).In Islam, the role of women in advertisements o as a symbol of "Sexiest object" to appeal to customers' attention is not acceptable. Therefore, the Qur'an has ordered to women:
“And tell the believing women to lower their gazes and guard their privates’ parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appear (Al-Quran 24:31)."
Controversial Product
According to the Islamic perspective of advertisement, there are two types of products. One is Haram (all items declared by Qur'an). Not only consumption but also advertisements or promotion of these products will be strictly banned. Advertisement of adulterated, impure, and harmful products cannot allow advertising in Islamic culture. Second is a controversial product, which uses are allowed, but publicity through advertisement is not permissible due to cultural and religious points of view. Controversial products are those products that create a sense of offence in the mind of consumers. These products are considered as "un-mentionable" and "socially sensitive products" (Fam & Waller2000; Mokhtar & Samsudin, 2015). Thus, people dislike open and accessible advertisements of that product due to social and religious restrictions. Islam does not permit the advertisement of such controversial products at any cost. Because openly advertisement of these products may harm the social norms and religious beliefs of the Muslim society. Everyone is accountable to Allah for his/her action and deeds. Because we are not allowed to do everything on our wishes and thoughts, instead, we are bound our action in the limits of Sharia'h (Rice, 1998).
Advertising Practices in the context of Pakistan
In Pakistan, there are proper codes of conduct for regulating all advertisement practices irrespective of Islamic countries; there are many issues in these advertisements, such as using music or women false or misleading statements. For instance, some cellular companies claim the world's cheapest call rate; however, the accuracy itself a questionable, it is less clear that in which term, whether being local, national or international etc. (Shahzad, & Kausar, 2016). Similarly, many banks and financial institutions encourage consumers to savings accounts but avoid disclosing specific crucial facts such as interest rates will be compound or straightforward or interest rates will vary with the payment period. Advertising beauty and health products are based on false or misleading information, wrong claims and exaggerations, which encourage potential customers to buy these products unnecessarily (Abdullah et al., 2019). Under the Competition Ordinance, 2010. Section 10, the misleading practices of marketing and advertisement are strictly proscribed under the Competition Ordinance, 2009. Section 10 of the Competition Ordinance, 2010 has already declared that such actions shall come into misleading marketing and deceptive practices (The Gazette of Pakistan, 2010).
Provision of such false or misleading information damages the business interest and profit of other organisations or enterprises.
- “Wrong or ambiguous information to consumers related to prices, character, technique, quality of goods and suitability for using the products".
- “In adverting of product, and false or misleading comparison of products”.
- “Deceptive and misusing of trademarks of other business, firm name, product labelling, or packaging”.
Indecent Advertisements Prohibition Act 1963 (XII of 1963), The Pemra Act 2007, Section 20 (b), (c) and (f), the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Article 37 (g), and Electronic Media Code of Conduct-2015 clauses 14(1)(3)(d) have already banned any advertisement that contains any material against the customarily accepted values of decency and ethics and creates any improper inducement to sensuality and excitement of adulterated feelings or thoughts in the mind of an ordinary man. However; it can be noticed that these advertisements acts and laws are made for regulating all ethical aspects of contemporary advertising practices, whereas being an Islamic country, no such rule and regulations have been made to provide a guideline for the advertiser in order to consider all Islamic aspects such as false statement, use of music, dance and women in unethical or un-Islamic gestures.
DISCUSSION
Advertisement is considered a unidirectional and paid form of communication used to disseminate information related to products or services (Islam & Aslam, 2013). The main focus of the advertisement is to enhance profitability and sales; therefore, contemporary advertisement practices ignore Islamic principles. Islam has provided the guiding principles for advertising agencies and media to realize their responsibilities and roles. The concept of advertising is also similar in Islam, which gives information about products; however, the differences prevail in terms of content and presentation of this information. There is a need for standard guidelines and principles for advertising in order to determine that whether advertisements are designed in the light of followed "Qur'ān" and "Sunnah" (Fam et al., 2004). From the Islamic perspective, advertising should encourage the practices of directing goods and forbidding evil, represents females in an honorable manner, and promote "Halal" goods or service, endorsing Islamic values and circulating ingenuous messages. Furthermore; Advertising should be valuable by swelling the information and knowledge of the audiences of targeted audience members. Irrespective of being commercial, an advertisement should remind the audience to recommend Islamic values while increasing positive attitude and strong emotions (Mokhtar, & Samsudin, 2015).
The practices of contemporary advertisements have become a mixture of deception and manipulation, which aims to deceive customers (Saeed et al., 2011). Islam strictly prohibits overstatements and misstatements related to product performance and features through catchy words, dramatic demonstrations, assembled contents, hiding certain information (Abdullah & Ismail, 2011), manipulating vagueness, or obscuring realities unappealing to products and services (Saeed et al., 2011; Shaiq 2018). Islam does not restrict females to participate in economic activities. However, females' involvement in advertising has been strictly banned (Saeed et al., 2001; Rice & Al-Mossawi 2014). In Islam, females are not allowed to show their body parts except face, hands and feet (Karande & Kiran, 2000), however; contemporary advertisements use females, which is considered as a "sexual stimulant"; hence, it is not appropriate for the public appearance (Chachula, G. et al., 2010). Islamic advertising has imposed certain restrictions on Controversial advertising products, which are socially sensitive. In Muslim majority countries, customers do not like the promotion of such kinds of products due to social and Islamic norms (Bari & Abbas, 2011).
Moreover, advertisement practice, photography or music are not allowed. Because music provokes emotional needs and rouses sensual craze, which is prohibited in Islam. Islam has allowed the things which are beneficial for society and forbade the harmful thing. Hence, based on positive aspects, it will be termed as permitted for those who use them correctly. However, if anyone uses advertisements for an anti-social immoral and wrong way, it will be considered "sinful" and "forbidden". It can be seen that advertising involves certain things which are not liked in Islam, such as music, dance, and the use of females. False information, an overstatement. Hence, advertisings that are based on forbidden aspects will fall in a similar group that is prohibited.
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS
The main objective of this study is to explore the advertisement practices from an Islamic perspective and highlight significant aspects that are ignored or compromised by designers, developers and advertisers. Islamic principles are fundamental to implicate for advertising. So it is the responsibility of advertisers and marketers to discourage the un-Islamic practices of showing offensive, unpleasant and questionable ads which irritate individuals due to unlikable content, demonstration and excessive repetition. In the modern advertisement, the focus of advertisement activities is to exploit the consumers and persuade them to buy the product by attacking their mindset. They ignore several Islamic principles that are related to advertisement practices. While exaggerating the product's features, companies use emotional, exciting, sensual and sexual elements for advertising their products. Islam allows advertising as it has been used to promote the Islamic faith. This study identifies some fundamental points in advertising practices that conflict with Islamic laws and have an unfavorable impact on consumer behaviour against Islamic moral values. Nevertheless, there is some limitation on advertisement practices such as honesty and truth, avoiding exaggeration and a false statement which may directly impact consumer buying behaviour, and to disclose all defaults of the products and negative impact of consuming it and considering all ethical aspects in advertisement (use of music and women in ads and advertisement of controversial products). This study has significant implications for advertisers, marketers, and concerned authorities, particularly in Muslim majority countries, because advertisements based on such principles have had the impending to control ill-practices of contemporary advertising. Furthermore, the universality of such principles and laws free all practices of advertising from ethical relativism too. Thus, if advisers or marketers are convinced of its potential, Islamic advertising could grasp the imminent of advertising, however, it can be an uphill task. Future research can explore the customer attitude towards Islamic advertising and its impact on consumer behaviour. In this context, an exploratory study has been done by Shafiq et al., (2016) that considered Muslims’ beliefs related to Islamic advertising possibly, it can also be done from the perspective of non-Muslims. In short, there is a broader ground for further researcher and a possible opportunity for scholars.
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