Saint-Jacques, Madeleine
(2000).
Ethics, spirituality and advertising: a feasible "menage à
trois", in T.C. Pauchant and Associates, Ethics and spirituality
at work. Under revision in the U.S.
In this chapter, Madeleine St-Jacques, president of an important advertising
agency in Montreal, proclaims her pride to be a publicist.
She reminds us that despite the bad press and its perception as being
manipulative, mercantile, advertising is primarily a means of communication
conveying a message. To her, the ethics and spirituality of advertising
is possible and should be evaluated according to the nature of the message,
whether it is facile or course, whether it is meant to inform the public
weal or to reach the depth of the human soul. Mrs Saint-Jacques believes
that advertising must respect essential values, considering it is a very
powerful instrument in our society using the omnipresent power of image-making
- a person, in our modern world, is exposed on average to more than 2
500 advertisements a day! Having reminded us that the industry is controlled
by a strict ethical code, she relates her own experience: In her agency,
every message conveyed is in harmony with the personal and profound values
of its president.
As Mr. Beland did in the previous chapter, in the context of the financial
and banking sector, Mrs. Saint-Jacques explains how an advertising agency
can function differently in spite of market's pressure. She suggests that
advertising can if it wishes convey the message of the breath of life
and to illustrate that, she shows us solid examples. She also suggests
that our values have origins beyond our social environment, trends or
institutions. As I suggested with the notion of levels of consciousness
development in the introductory chapter, Mrs. Saint-Jacques talks about
values originating from profound desires within. To be proud of her accomplishments,
she feels she must give special attention to those desires, as Simone
Weil liked to say (see chapter 12)
