ow advertising could be improved, both in the United States and worldwide. He examined three specific topics. One deals with a survey of major corporations, a second pertained to company ethics statements and the third provided a rationale for the low level of ethics regarding advertising from the general public. He conducted a survey in September 1997 of large U.S. based companies. It was drawn from Forbes 500 companies, which were reported in the April issue of that magazine. A two-page survey was sent to 785 companies appearing on that list. One of the questions asked whether the companies written code of ethics contained specific guidance in 14 areas including advertising. Of the 14 categories listed, advertising ranked the lowest, with just more than 25% of the firm indicating that their code incorporated guidance on ethics in advertising. A possible reason for the lack of attention to ethics in advertising is what might be called, "unholy trinity" in advertising. Advertising, agencies, and the media represent the three major parties in any advertising campaign. Among the three it seems as if no one
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