Image via Wikipedia//Page of TalmudGeneivat da'at is referring to abusing or stealing confidence, applicable in interpersonal situations, especially in business, being considered “the worst type of theft”. It is attributed to the Talmudic sage Samuel of Nehardea in Talmud Chullin (94a): "It is forbidden to mislead people, even a non-Jew."
A simple example of geneivat da'at would be to invite someone to dinner, merely to appear hospitable, knowing full well that the recipient would decline due to a prior commitment (a case discussed in the Talmud, Chullin 94a).
The concept is incorporated in three provisions of Meir Tamari's proposed "Halakhic Corporate Code of Ethics" -- insider trading (even where permitted by secular law), product information and advertising, and fraudulent financial accounting reports.
In Jewish business ethics, the prohibition against leaving a false impression is commonly applied to advertising and sales techniques. Furthermore, the principle has been used to caution against overdone packaging, which leaves the impression of a larger product. Similarly, advertising a luxury item as if it were a necessity, and any claims or even wrapping paper that leaves a false impression could cross the line set by geneivat da'at rules.
Cheating can also be forbidden under the geneivat da'at principle, as for example giving fake data or avoiding to pay taxes.
Proper citations are also at stake. An author or speaker who fails to attribute secondary sources may also violate geneivat da'at. Granted, if the audience does not expect explicit attributions, while it realizes that the speaker relies on secondary sources, then there would be no false impression. Nonetheless, the speaker should not rely on their own intuition about audience expectations, but rather consider only "a small, yet significant statistical probability" (mi'ut ha-matzui).
2 comments:
could you please elaborate on how it applies to advertising? Would it apply to an advertisement that does not seek monetary benefit such as a political campaign ad?
For the commercial advertising the application is relatively easy: don't praise qualities that don't exist. The complications appear in the case of political ads; but it is a matter of honesty of all those involved. For example, if a politician plays the observant card which he or she is not in his or her daily life, somebody should deter using such a message in order to gain support.
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