Keywords

11.1 Introduction

Contemporary advertising has become the art of deception, it targets the emotions rather than reason, exaggerates claims, makes people spend unnecessarily, promotes materialism, fans sexism and vulgarity, makes promises that are often undelivered, insults certain groups, and many more on social and economic front. This is found by researchers over a period spanning almost a century. The same findings are equivalently shared by scholars of West and the East, non-Muslims and Muslims.

The non-Muslim scholars have tried to find solution to such practices in the form of ethics in advertising. Several famous theories were developed and applied in advertising context too. But ethics, which by nature lack enforcement, just could not prove enough and consequently, ethical advertising remains an oxymoron.

The recent wake of events has given a new dimension to explore. Scholars are actively looking for answers to life’s typical problems in the pages of Islamic religion. Islamic banking, Islamic finance, Islamic economics, are just a few. Islamic management, Islamic tourism, Islamic hospitality, are the newcomers.

Islamic advertising is also surfacing lately and it is within this concept that this effort will focus on. Islam claims to have solutions for all problems of life. It is only a matter of time when such answers are revealed. Perhaps it is a high time to reveal the solutions in Islam regarding contemporary advertising.

It sounds an exciting idea if an attempt is made to extract any guidance related to advertising and promotion from the Islamic Holy scriptures, and moulded into a theory. Such a theory would stand tall against the contemporary ill-practices of advertising and would completely revolutionize the advertising industry.

From the past literature on advertising ethics, some issues have been of concern due to the irrational effect of it on human and social norms, and purchase behavior from the economic and psychological perspectives. Deception from hiding harmful things, misleading for wrong information, hiking price, exaggerating offer, and erotic appeal, all are commonly observable in commercials as the part of advertising functions in recent days clearly indicate unethical advertising practiced from a productive system. It is surprising that there was no ethical development research of this industry in the previous scholarly work, and for this reason, society being affected by unethical advertising seems to be hopeless. Islamic advertising, a perfect concept that derives from Shariah codes, can be researched and practiced to ensure highest ethical value in advertising activities, while contemporary advertising moves with increasingly contradictory, unethical issues, not with minimizing contradiction like what Islamic advertising can do. Furthermore, Shariah codes are clearer for human activity than any other principles or codes in human history, and exception will not be made in search of Islamic advertising and its highest value.

  • Can Islamic advertising theory, derived from Islamic Holy scriptures, answer the unethical practices prevalent in contemporary advertising?

  • What are the underlying principles of Islamic advertising?

  • Can such a theory be practical enough to work in contemporary world?

11.2 Theoretical Framework

  • Arousal

Though arousal was studied very little, it is explored that it is important as found in the two comprehensive models of consumer behavior and in the area of consumer novelty seeking behavior. Arousal is the degree of tension in the body which is a physiological state which gives rise to attention and search in the consumer decision-making process. In the context of Islamic stimuli, arousal caused by such stimuli can be thought to relate directly to attention toward the particular advertisement and may be mediated by the consumers’ innate motivational state. Psychological and perhaps physiological tension produced by the disequilibrium may then cause increased cognitive activity directed towards the ad and/or the advertised product. This enhanced level of information processing then will interact with the consumer’s stable value system to produce an affective evaluation of the ad and, consequently, the product being advertised. The overall product image can thus be affected by the interaction of the type of stimulus object (and the context in which the stimulus is presented) with the structure of values and beliefs held by the receiver of the advertising message.

  • Selective Perception

Selective perception may be used to understand the effects of advertising stimuli. It is a complex process by which consumers select, organize, and interpret sensory stimulation (Berelson and Steiner 1967, p. 141). Selective perception can be used as the theoretical basis for studying Islamic ads. Research results in the area of absolute thresholds, differential thresholds, and sensory projection of ambiguous stimuli may provide important clues as to how consumers ultimately interpret and evaluate advertisements using Islamic themes. The absolute threshold marks the lower limit of sensory stimulation. In the Islamic advertising, product message should fall above the absolute perceptual threshold before the Islamic theme are understood by audience. The differential threshold is the minimum difference between two or more stimuli. It can cause a change in discrimination between conventional ads and Islamic ads to produce a “just noticeable difference” (or j.n.d.).

  • Self-Concept

Self-concept (or self-image) theory may also make a contribution. There are some theoretical and empirical work in self-concept. According to the theory, Islamic ads with both actual and ideal self-concept can influence audience. An Islamic male’s self-concept impacts male audience and an Islamic female’s self-concept impacts female audience.

  • Emotion Theory

The emotion plays a role in the faith aspects. Emotion theories commonly suggest that emotions enforce coherence across multiple response systems and the empirical support for this coherence among emotion experience, behavior, and physiology is surprisingly limited (Mauss et al. 2005). The belief in God depends on how far the teachings in these beliefs are able to fulfill his emotional needs. Effect of religious belief consists of three aspects: the effect on the psychology or affective, the effect on man’s cognitive, and the effect on man’s psychomotor. Two important factors: “tranquillity” and “balanced soul” are found in the religious belief and the effect on the psychology or affective. Religion and the tranquility of the soul share a very close relationship. The belief in religion provides the tranquility of the soul to human being. Muslim audience can strengthen their beliefs from Islamic product message, and raise increased emotion to purchase the products promoted based on Islamic advertising theory.

  • Relational Theory of Personality

Relational theory is likely to be most important recent development in psychoanalysis (Aron 1995; Mitchell 1988, 1995, 2014), which was derived of both object relations theory within psychoanalysis and interpersonal theory of Harry Stack Sullivan (1953). The theory downplays the importance of wishes and plays important role in social interaction, which helps develop a person’s personality. In Islamic perspective, the theory help develops a standard personality of audience through the learning of product messages because children learn how to respond to our environment from social interaction which is also made based on the product message broadcasted through mass media.

  • Transformation Theory

Physiological, psychological, and sociological growth or maturation arise throughout an adult’s lifetime. Learning by reflecting critically on one’s own experiences, assumptions, beliefs, feelings, and mental perspectives in order to construe new or revised interpretations often associated with adult learning. In an advertising with Islamic value, audience perhaps learn Islamic teaching and change their cognitive structure to satisfy god.

  • Ethical Theories

The field of ethics (or moral philosophy) involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior. Philosophers today usually divide ethical theories into three general subject areas: metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Hoy (2005) described the following three aspects of ethical theories:

  1. 1.

    Metaethics, concerning the theoretical meaning and reference of moral propositions, and how their truth values (if any) can be determined.

  2. 2.

    Normative ethics, concerning the practical means of determining a moral course of action.

  3. 3.

    Applied ethics, concerning what a person is obligated (or permitted) to do in a specific situation or a particular domain of action.

In Islamic advertising, product or service companies have responsibility to find out the ethical value according to Quran, Sunnah, Izma, and Qiyas.

  • Legal Theories

Legal Theory draws contributions not only from academic law, but from a wide range of related disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, including philosophy, political science, economics, history, and sociology. Legal theory is how a jurist can find a suitable and well-accepted verdict by following different theories such as sociology, economics, and political science. Islamic legal theory involves different aspects of human life: humanity, sociology, politics, freedom, and economics and so on, which help product and advertising companies to develop an Islamic message that will not clash with any holy scriptures. The concept of maslaha is contemporary Islamic legal theory. An analyzed writings on maslaha by leading jurists from the late thirteenth to nineteenth century to the 1380s/1960s, namely al-Qāsimī, Rashīd Ridā, Mahmasānī, ‘Allāl al-Fāsī, Khallāf, and al-Būtī, which was the early reforming towards al-Tūfī’s expansive understanding of the principle of maslaha in the law-finding process (Opwis 2005).

11.3 Literature Review

11.3.1 Conventional Ethical Advertising

Cunningham (1999) clarified advertising ethics as “what is right or good in the conduct of the advertising function”, which means what ought to be done, not what must be done legally. Ethics is an important topic in the advertising literature (Hyman et al. 1994), but it appeared that very little academic exploration on it has been consistent with what it should be. In the past studies, advertising was completely on the philosophical argument (Drumwright 1993), especially on “macro” and social effect perspective rather than “micro” and firm perspective (Hunt and Chonko 1987). Drumwright (1993) described a legal discourse among lawyers and regulators about the rights of advertisers and issues about deception and fraud (e.g., Preston 1994; Prosser 1984; Stern and Eovaldi 1984); and a moral discourse primarily among philosophers, social critics, and ethicists about advertising’s societal effects (e.g., Bishop 1949; Galbraith 1958; Leiser 1979; Pollay 1986; Pontifical Council for Social Communication 1997; Santilli 1983; Waide 1987). Recently, much ethical advertising endeavor has been on consumers’ perceptions of potentially objectionable advertising (e.g., for persuasive appeals, for idealized imagery, for politicians, for dangerous products, and for targeting children) with empirical studies (e.g., Gulas and McKeage 2000; Latour and Henthorne 1994; Tinkham and Waver-Larisay 1994). Most work is on descriptive compared to normative.

The scholars revealed the unethical behavior among marketing practitioners, and explained it as “Predicting Unethical Behavior among Marketing Practitioners”. As a follow-up research, they explored comparisons of ethical and unethical behavior among corporate and agency advertising managers (Ferrell et al. 1983). In-depth interviews taken at all levels in 29 agencies in eight cities, it was explored that advertising practitioners played the roles of moral muteness and moral myopia (Drumwright and Murphy 2004). A substantial burden of blame as a result of “unethical” advertising must go to the infant food industry (Jelliffe and Jelliffe 1977). The ethical perceptions and the perceived likelihood to engage in 20 unethical activities were examined from both the advertising professional and student perspectives; and the longer stay of males as agency personnel linked to less likely to engage in unethical activities (Keith et al. 2008). Many new drugs enter the Indian market that are mostly “metoo” products, not genuine innovations (Gopalkrishnan and Murali 2002). While positive news, the persuasiveness of negative news was present; and when the negative news is content-specific, consumers were able to separate the negative news effect (Wang 2008). The use of a strong overt sexual appeal was not expected by Chinese consumers and resulted in negative attitude toward the ad and the purchase intention; however, the degree of sexual content used in advertising has no direct influence on brand attitudes (Tai 1999). The study shows that consumers think advertising often overlook broad ethical norms according to a function of their relativism and idealism (Treise et al. 1994). Unethical advertising triggers unsafe products, and poverty problems of minority groups (Hay and Gray 1974). Unethical advertising should be criticized; only with a concerted effort will improve ethics in advertising in the future (Murphy 1998a, b).

11.3.1.1 Islamic Advertising

Perhaps most noticeably, Islamic marketing is very different from the conventional approach to promotion (Abuznaid 2012). Irrespective of which element in promotional mix is in question, it has to follow the Islamic ethical principles (Anwar and Saeed 1996; Rice 1999; Al-Buraey 2004; Abdullah 2008; Akhter et al. 2011; Bari and Abbas 2011). These ethical principles ask for truthfulness, justice, trust, sincerity, brotherhood, and knowledge to be placed ahead of any action related to promotion. It is for this reason that the underlying basis for all promotional activities are honesty and truthfulness. If there are any faults or weaknesses in the product, they must be told outright (Anwar and Saeed 1996; Rice and Al-Mossawi 2002; Al-Buraey 2004; Arham 2010; Bari and Abbas 2011; Haque et al. 2011; Abuznaid 2012). This comes directly from the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad SAW, an avid trader he was, who had this self-imposed obligation to tell the faults or defects in the product he would sell (Arham 2010).

Then, several other commonly observed unethical practices in contemporary advertising are also strictly prohibited in Islamic means of promotion; for example exaggeration, deceit, promoting wasteful practices, indecent behaviors, etc. (Anwar and Saeed 1996; Saeed et al. 2001; Rice and Al-Mossawi 2002; Al-Buraey 2004; Abdullah and Ahmad 2010; Arham 2010; Haque et al. 2010; Bari and Abbas 2011; Haque et al. 2011; Abuznaid 2012). This implies Islamic manner of promotion to be honest, trustworthy, portraying good character and family orientation, not exaggerating, containing halal and wholesome products, etc. Similarly, the Prophet Muhamad SAW had warned, “Whoever bears arms against us is not one of us, and whoever cheats us is not one of us.”

  • Methodology

This research will be based on qualitative study mostly. Content analysis has been done to extract any inscriptions related to advertising and Islamic advertising. For this, the Holy Quran, the Ahadeeth of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and the writings of Muslim/non-Muslim scholars has been studied. The study of the first two was not confined to the available translation, but also extended to tafaasir. The material extracted from these Holy Scriptures then was compared against that given by scholars. The same material was compared against the contemporary theories on ethical advertising. This study suitable under critical theory paradigm in qualitative research approach influences change of structures, policies, and procedures of contemporary advertising of organizations.

11.4 Analysis

11.4.1 Scriptures

The Quranic scriptures support a rather radical libertarian approach, where man-made approach is more complex for human being, which is said in many Suras (Quranic verses). One of the best hadith is a saying of the Prophet that

… to seek knowledge is a sacred duty on every Muslim, male and female.

Surah Al-Mujadila 58:11 actually states that

Allah will raise up to high ranks and degrees, those of you who have acquired and been granted knowledge.

To a religious Muslim, the creation of supportive environments is the essence of Quran and Sunnah. As Haidar (1984) points out: the arrogant and reckless use of knowledge and technology is a betrayal of Allah’s trust in humankind, and turns humankind into a sadistic exploiter of God’s creation. Quran and Sunnah are full of references to the obligation of people to protect the environment and natural resources and to make the land beautiful. Sura Al Araf describes some forbidden human conducts as

Do not withhold from people the things that are their due, and do not mischief (corrupt or pollute) on the earth after it has been set in order; that will be best for you, if you have faith (7: 85).

According to these Quranic verses and Hadith, Islamic clearly shows a better way of advertising for a strong sense of people and community in deciding on purchasing halal products and services. Quran and Sunnah stress the importance of social organization through community life and mosque meetings. Individual development and acquisition of appropriate knowledge are essential components of such community life. In the modern technological age, Islamic advertising can create Islamic or Shariah-compliant messages regarding products or services.

Sura Al Baqarah suggested human to do right things in all aspects in of life. It was found that conventional ethical advertising failed to promote real message religiously, mentally, socially, and economically, where right deeds that are little claimed from ethical point of view are absent for human being.

Honesty has been emphatically stressed upon Muslims many a times: “And spend in the way of Allah and do not throw [yourselves] with your [own] hands into destruction [by refraining]. And do good; indeed, Allah loves the doers of good” (2:195). “But among them is he who says, “Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.” (2:201). “And of the people is he whose speech pleases you in worldly life, and he calls Allah to witness as to what is in his heart, yet he is the fiercest of opponents.” (2:204). “O you who have believed, enter into Islam completely [and perfectly] and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.” (2:208). “But if you deviate after clear proofs have come to you, then know that Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.” (2:209) “And do not make [your oath by] Allah an excuse against being righteous and fearing Allah and making peace among people. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing.” (2:224).

From the above verses it is a learning for human that they should be honest, nondestructive, good deeds, good speeches from heart, avoiding human-made guideline leading to Satan’s way that a human might follow, and following a path that Allah has prescribed throughout the Quran.

Hisba is an Islamic system of accountability, usually toward an overseer of the market and public morals, which indicates a system of accountability through which the community designates a person or group that would monitor and guide proper procedure and decision-making. Sura Al-Imran tells us to be with good things.

Let there arise out of from among you a party inviting to all that is good. (3: 103)

Sura Nisa makes us understood about good things that come from Allah and bad things come from bad practices of human inspired by Iblis.

What comes to you of good is from Allah, but what comes to you of evil, [O man], is from yourself. And We have sent you, [O Muhammad], to the people as a messenger, and sufficient is Allah as Witness. (4:79)

In addition, as against the prevalent practice, women should not be depicted as mere tools of promotion and used unnecessarily (Rice and Al-Mossawi 2002; Alserhan and Alserhan 2012; Bari and Abbas 2011; Haque et al. 2011; Abuznaid 2012). Neither should any gender or race be ridiculed or stereotyped. These are the values explicitly mentioned in Sura al-Ḥujrāt of the Holy Quran, which are as

O believers, let not some men among you laugh at others; it might be that the (latter) are better than the (former); nor let some women laugh at others; it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former); nor defame not be sarcastic to each other; nor call each other by offensive nicknames; ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, and those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong. (49: 11)

In advertising, woman model must be according to Quran and Sunnah; otherwise women’s role in advertising will be far deviant from Shariah-compliance or Islam. Muslim community expect Shariah-compliant advertising for every products that are mentioned halal in the Holy Quran.

Audience and people of company can do their work as found in Sura Al-Kahf of the Holy Quran

Verily as for those who believed and did righteous deeds, certainly we shall not make the reward of anyone who does his (righteous) deeds in the most perfect manner to be lost. (18:30)

Sura Al-Mulk clarifys us that people are able to manage everything including advertising activity according to Quran as it tells

It is He who has made the earth manageable for you, so traverse ye through tracts and enjoy of the sustenance which he furnishes: but unto him is the resurrection. (67:15)

Human character will be some traits developed based on Quran and Sunnah. The following Hadiths are expressing an ideal behavior of a person who are able to do every work as both type of books suggests.

Hadith #21.

Do not imitate those people who says, if people be good to us, we will be good to them in return; and if they are bad to us, we will take revenge for it; rather strengthen your heart in such way that you be your best when people are good, and if they are bad to you, you will still remain with your goodness towards them.

Hadith #25.

Every Path (Deen) has its virtuous characteristic. For Islam this is Haya (characteristics of self-respecting shyness/politeness).

Hadith# 29.

Truly enlightened is that person who is enlightened about his nafs (self, psyche) and one who keep preparing for the eternal next life; and in reality that person is ignorantly fool who follow only the desire of his lower-self and at the same time keep hope of reward from Allah.

Hadith #35.

Three habits bring liberation and three habits bring destruction. The liberating habits are: (1) To be mindful and fear Allah both openly and in private (2) To speak the truth and just in every state, be it in elation and in frustration. (3) To be modest in spending both in time of prosperity and in time of adversity. The destructive habits are: (1) To meet demands of the impulses of the lower self (nafs). (2) Miserliness (3) Self-boasting arrogance which is the worst.

If one engages in decent Ibadah (worship), but has terrible Akhlaq (manners), then the Ibadah will not make up for the deficiency in character. However, if one has excellent Akhlaq and decent Ibadah, the excellent Akhlaq may make up for the deficiency in Ibadah. We extract this teaching from the Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) in which he was informed about two women

One woman prayed, fasted and performed all of her extra acts of worship, but she was extremely rude to her neighbors. The Prophet (pbuh) said that if she continues in this lifestyle, then her final abode would be the hellfire. The Hadith then mentions another woman who did not pray or fast much but only fulfilled her obligations in regards to people, like being kind to her neighbors. The Prophet (pbuh) said that if she continues in this lifestyle, then her final abode in the hereafter would be Paradise.

It was revealed that Akhlaq, Iman, and Ibadah are related. Akhlaq has greatest magnitude in developing Iman and Ibdah because if Akhlaq is weak then both Iman and Ibadah will be weak. So, Akhlaq leads to human to do Ibadah.

“The best blessing a man has been given is good Akhlaq.” “I advise you to be upon good Akhlaq and to be silent for long period of time for by the One in whose Hand my soul is mankind cannot do anything better than this.” “The best of those who have Iman are those who have best Akhlaq”

Islamic advertising require Muslim people to excellent Akhlaq, Iman, and Ibadah; otherwise people involved in Islamic advertising with weak Akhlaq, Iman, and Ibadah would lead to misdeed and sinful work that goes against Quran and Sunnah. Product or service message in Islamic advertising would be well-designed, well-led and well-controlled if advertisers character is excellent.

Tauhid is a workshop for Morality or Akhlaq. To conceive the oneness of God into the deep heart leads to human to Akhlaq, Iman, and Ibadah. Quran and Sunnah require Muslims to develop tough Iman and Akhlaq. However, Quran and Sunnah leads someone to develop Akhlak, Iman, and Ibadah, but perfection of the three is quite impossible without Tauhid because if a person does not feel God from deep heart he can never truly believe in His creatures and their service.

To conclude, the Islamic means of promotion are to assist in real time the consumers for better decision-making regarding the products by providing true and accurate information, without exaggeration or other unethical means.

11.4.2 Coding and Interpretation

  • Quran and Sunnah

Quran and Sunnah is a saying attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad (a hadith), namely I have left among you two matters by holding fast to which, you shall never be misguided: the Book of God and my Sunna. It is an often quoted saying regarding the sources of Islam. The authenticity of this hadith is rejected by many Shi’a. The concept itself is not rejected, as most Muslims hold that Islam is derived from two sources: one being infallible and containing compressed information—the Qur’an—and another being a detailed explanation of the everyday application of the principles established in the Qur’an: The Sunnah, or the living example of Muhammad.

  • Tauhid

Tawhid is the godly concept in the Qur’an. It is the basis to faith and conviction of man regarding the existence and oneness of Allah SWT (al-Ikhlas, 112:1–3). According to Islamic theology, human beings are born with an innate inclination of Tawhid (Oneness), which is encapsulated in the fitra along with compassion, intelligence, ihsan and all other attributes that embody what it is to be human (Cowan 1994). It is for this reason that some Muslims prefer to refer to those who embrace Islam as reverts rather than converts, as it is believed they are returning to a perceived pure state. The perfect embodiments of fitra were Abraham and Muhammad.

Allah’s fitrah here refers to Allah’s creations. Human is created by Allah to have the religiosity instinct that is the Tawhidic concept. If a man does not adhere to the Tawhidic concept, then that is not proper. The non-adherence to the tauhidic concept is directly attributable to the external influences that they receive when they were born in this world. “Every child is born in a state of purity”, narrated by Abi al-Husayn Muslim b. al-Hajjaj al-Qusyairi al-Naisaburi Muslim (1983). The innate characteristic of man that has a need for religious belief is accepted and discussed by scholars in the West. Immanuel Kant (1724–1804 AD) and Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961 AD) are amongst those early scholars that have discussed at length about this concept.

In the religious belief concept, there actually exist the psychological elements. This is because the beliefs and conviction on something takes place in our mind which is characteristically internal in nature or is something that cannot be seen and cannot be shaped. A man’s belief on something is a consequential result of his belief to that particular something. The man’s conviction arose based on the understanding and knowledge on that thing. Knowledge, on the other hand, is a result of observation and proving of the existence of that particular thing. It is based on this that man uses his mind to make choices. A person makes a choice to believe a thing based on his understanding and knowledge on the reality and existence of that thing. It can thus be surmised that the acceptance of the mind is the deciding factor to what is believed (apart from the hidayah factor from Allah from the perspective of Islam). In addition, we can also understand that this faith concept is related to man’s internal aspects.

  • Akhlaq, Iman, and Ibadah

Practice of virtue, morality, and manners in Islamic theology and falsafah (philosophy). It is most commonly translated in English dictionaries as; disposition, nature, temper, ethics, morals, or manners (of a person). A soul that is balanced is a result of a soul that is serene. A balanced and controlled soul gives to rise to a good personality with admirable behavior. Religious belief also gives rise to a strong personality. From a serene and balanced soul, an individual’s steadfast personality is formed and not easily swayed by external elements that are contradictory to the teachings of his faith. This provides the consequence to the man’s behaviorism. Meanwhile, a strong soul can also cause a person to be able to withstand any challenges faced in his life and he will not easily surrender or give up.

The view on a particular knowledge as secular and is not from Islam is a corollary thinking process that is not accurate. All good knowledge must be learned. All positive knowledge shares the benefit in this world and in the hereafter. There should not be a division between the religious knowledge and the secular knowledge as long as the knowledge is good and provides benefit to man’s life.

Faith can be the motivating factor that moves and advance man. There will be elements that are driving force of a person to perform whatever that is categorized as goodness according to his faith. This enables him to improve the life’s activities. Contemporary societies weakened forces that come from deep-rooted religious values. The Islamic empire was the result of genuine strive by God conscious Muslim (New Straits Times 8/1/1994). Motivation is continuous because the faith enables a person not to give up easily. If a person depends on his god, he feels that that his self is owned. It becomes his responsibility to constantly serve devotedly and serve his owner. Faith is a relationship between the mind and body. The behaviorism of man is very much dependent upon faith. A person’s behavior is firmly grounded to the teachings of his faith.

Belief influences human Social Effect. “Justice” and “Peace” are strongly correlated. Belief in any religion advocates justice. The religious belief can bring forth justice. Justice should occur among the devotees of the same faith. However, justice cannot perhaps be guaranteed to people of different faiths in some teachings. In this context, the effect of religious belief that should bring forth justice is to bring justice to all mankind. It is not that the teachings of the faith are wrong instead is caused by the misunderstanding or wrong doings of the devotees of the faith. Religious Belief and Humans’ Relationship are significantly related. The teachings in all belief of religion affect the interaction or relationship among men.

  • Islamic ethics

Islamic ethics defined as “good character,” historically took shape gradually from the seventh century and was finally established by the eleventh century. It was eventually shaped as a successful amalgamation of the Qur’anic teachings, the teachings of the Sunnah of Muhammad, the precedents of Islamic jurists, the pre-Islamic Arabian tradition, and non-Arabic elements (including Persian and Greekideas) embedded in or integrated with a generally Islamic structure. Although Muhammad’s preaching produced a “radical change in moral values based on the sanctions of the new religion and the present religion, and fear of God and of the Last Judgment”, the tribal practice of Arabs did not completely die out. Later Muslim scholars expanded the religious ethic of the Qur’an and Hadith in immense detail.

  • Shariah-law

Sharia (shari’a), Islamic sharia, Islamic law is the religious legal system governing the members of the Islamic faith. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran and the Hadith. The term sharia comes from the Arabic language term sharīʿah, which means a body of moral and religious law derived from religious prophecy, as opposed to human legislation (Rehman 2007).

  • Message

The list below summarizes the stages in the design of communication strategies to support the realization of promotional objectives. In the launch of a new or redesigned or rebranded product these stages would form the steps in the planning of a promotional campaign. However, many organizations are concerned not only with specific promotional campaigns, but also with maintaining a continued awareness and positive attitude to their products. In such circumstances, while each of these stages remains important, they will not necessarily always be visited in the sequence identified below: The stages of designing conventional marketing communication strategies are identify target audience; determine communication objectives; design the message; select communication channels; establish promotional budget; decide on promotional mix; measure results.

  • Channels and Audience

Communication channels refer to the way this information flows within the organization. In this web known as communication, a manager becomes a link. Instructions or decisions flow upwards, downwards, or sideways depending on the position of the manager in the communication web. In telecommunications, the term channel noise level has the following meanings: The ratio of the channel noise at any point in a transmission system to an arbitrary level chosen as a reference. The noise power spectral density in the frequency range of interest. An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called “readers”), theater, music (in which they are called “listeners”), video games (in which they are called “players”), or academics in any medium.

  • Individual and Social effect

Audience is a group of people to whom advertising messages are presented. Every individual sees advertising in a channel with some other known or relatives and discuss about the contents of advertising. Among them, innovator group or first group was formed to buy products and influence other social members in buying this product which expresses the personality and others symbols of human behavior. In Islamic advertising, audience can choose to buy advertised products individually and influence other people of society to buy, which is guided by Quran and Sunnah. Individual and social effect would be positive as opposed to contemporary ethical advertising.

11.5 Discussion

Quran and Sunnah enlightens people from every aspect of their life because Islam is the complete code of life. When a person reads Quran and Sunnah, he feels Allah is the only creator of the universe and can do whatever he wants and gives anything pleasant or pain for people. When one believes it from one’s deep heart he is inspired to follow what is said in the holy Quran and Sunnah. After discovering the biggest truth in human life he would be eager to change what is habituated with. This Tauhid influences one to build Akhlaq and Iman for a decent Ibadah for satisfying God, which means that developing and broadcasting message as an Ibadah will be excellent according to Quran and Sunnah. From the Quran, some codes can be legitimated by Parliament for ruling advertising activities, and as ethics and legal aspects, some codes that are not legitimate can be followed by advertisers for excellent product messages.

The proposed theory of Islamic advertising requires not only an excellent-character person to develop message but also an excellent investigator to justify the message based on Islamic ethics and Shariah-law aspects originated from Quran, Sunnah, Izma, and Qiyas. Emotion theory and transformation theory link Quran-Sunnah to Tauhid. Tauhid linking to Akhlaq and Iman is well grounded on relational theory of personality. Different ethical theories support Islamic ethics as contemporary ethics are supported for a linkage between religion and ethics or good words and ethics. Legal theories depend on different disciplined theories such as social, political, economic and so on. Advertisers should find social, political, economic, physiological, and psychological aspects that can support Islamic advertising messages; so there is a link between Quran-Sunnah and Shariah-law and company’s Islamic advertising message about products or services. Overall, Quran and Sunnah help human to develop advertising message for products or services congruent with Quranic verses and Hadiths.