ABSTRACT
To estimate the social consequences of advertising is an even more hazardous undertaking than to analyse its economic effects. There is no general agreement as to how the social worth of an institution may be judged, as moral considerations are involved, and the conclusions reached are dependent on personal opinion rather than on the application of definite tests. The problems with which the social moralist deals are highly controversial in character and he must inevitably "rely to a very large degree on his own intuitions, common sense, and sense of life."l It is of interest, however, to examine certain aspects of the subject in the light of the expressed opinions of some social philosophers, and hence to attempt to gauge the importance of some of the less tangible reactions of advertising.
