Michigan Republican senator James Couzens' exhortatory speech to the real estate men, Couzens Speech: . . . Before the Birmingham, Michigan Real Estate Board, October 7, 1925 sketches out a vision of "good" businessmen, who are ethical, and "bad" businessmen, who are unscrupulous in their dealings with the public, the ultimate consumer. The assumption in the 1920s was that industries could be led to ethical behavior by the example and standard-setting of their own business leaders.
The Coolidge Papers case file on Advertisement Exploitation, for example, shows many businesses beginning to transgress the line of good business ethics in advertising, and President Coolidge for the most part warning them off. Under the pressure of public protest, the advertising industry during this period attempted to monitor itself through the Truth-in-Advertising Movement. (INTRO NOTE Advertising)
The movement arose out of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World's attempts to lead the industry in the direction of reforming itself. The Associated Advertising Clubs' activities gave rise to the National Better Business Bureau, replacing the National Vigilance Committee. The June 1925 issue of Associated Advertising carries an article on the Truth-in-Advertising Movement and a speech by Commerce Secretary Hoover, "Truth-in-Advertising Work is Achieving a Notable Success," which reminds the industry of the need to monitor itself by erecting ethical standards and ideals, "exercising censorship over extravagant, distasteful and misleading copy."
Many of the selections from the Edward L. Bernays Papers also bear on the question of ethics in advertising and public relations work.