Category: + Decency

The Best an Ad Can Get?

1/26/2019

by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

When I was growing up, our family had a small, easily-provoked dog. He was responsible for holes in many pairs of my socks from times I tried to slip past him while he was in an especially protective mood. The person he guarded was my mother because she made sure he had food. Our dog knew better than to ‘bite the hand that fed him.’ I wonder, was our pet smarter than one of the world’s leading consumer products companies?

If you haven’t seen it, Gillette, the global purveyor of men’s personal care products, recently released a video ad titled “We Believe: The Best a Man Can Be.” The 1:49 minute commercial doesn’t push razors, rather it’s an image-building ad that renounces two contemptable behaviors that some men commit: sexual harassment and bullying.

The ad showcases an array of mainly scripted clips in which males, some old, some young, enact a variety of despicable acts like groping women and punching their peers. Meanwhile, a chorus of other men chants a unison refrain of rationalization, “Boys will be boys.”

The ad’s narration and text overlays provide corrective commentary:
“We believe in the best in men.”
“It’s only by challenging ourselves to do more that we can get closer to our best.”
“We are taking action at thebestmencanbe.org”

In many ways, Gillette’s messaging makes sense. The company has taken a stand against two terribly wrong and destructive behaviors and called out the men who commit them. Using a powerful quote from actor-turned-sexual-harassment-activist Terry Crews, the ad also encourages every man not to stand idly by when they see such reprehensible actions but to intervene: “Men need to hold other men accountable.”

Despite all the apparent good, the commercial has quickly become a lightning rod for controversy. Dozens of media, from Advertising Age, to Glamour, to USA Today, have run articles about the ad. As one might imagine, some commentary from the authors as well as from the general public has been positive, while other responses have been quite negative.

For instance, @pstdavid_ tweeted, “Finally got a chance to see this #GilletteAd. Quite honestly, I don’t get what all the fuss is about. In my opinion, they’re not “taking a stand on toxic masculinity” or ‘stealing your manhood.’ All they’re suggesting is that you be a decent human being. It’s not that difficult.”

Another Gillette consumer, however, tweeted a picture of his hand poised above a trash can, about to discard the Gillette razor he received on his 18th birthday and used for the past 15 years, including through basic training and four deployments. (1) The soon-to-be-former customer lamented, “since @Gillette thinks I’m a bad person, I’m throwing it away.”

Another user, @davidliedtka, took an even more extreme approach, placing his Gillette shaving creme and razor in an oven and setting the temperature to 505 degrees.

Wow. Those are strong reactions. Does Gillette or any organization that’s trying to right serious social wrongs deserve such reprisals?

The first time I saw the commercial, my reaction was generally positive: A strong brand that has built a solid reputation among millions of men was using that influence to ask them to be better. Such a plea from a huge corporate player might stand a chance of making a difference in our world. Still, there were things about the spot that didn’t seem right.

A second time through the ad, I noticed more of the agency’s specific creative decisions. For instance, while the spot’s small amount of real video footage worked, the many acted segments looked overly artificial and contrived, even though they depicted terrible events that unfortunately occur. The use of both real and scripted video seemed like a mismatch.

I hadn’t thought much more about the ad, until one of my marketing students emailed me a link to another company’s commercial that was purportedly a response to Gillette’s ad. The next day he asked if I had watched the ad. I had been very busy, so I replied I hadn’t but I was looking forward to seeing it soon.

That night I opened his email and clicked the YouTube link, which took me to an ad posted by Egard Watch Company. Viewing the 1:57 minute commercial just once, changed my perspective of Gillette’s ad.

Egard’s commercial opens with several male firefighters battling an inferno, then quickly cuts to one of them carrying a young girl safely away from the flames. Meanwhile, a narrator asks, “What is a man?” The ad continues with a wide variety of real video clips, many showing men doing very difficult or even dangerous physical labor, while the narrator poses additional questions like “Is a man brave?”, “Is a man a protector?”, and “Is a man disposable?”

The spot also shares some very sobering statistics, such as:

Men account for 93% of workplace fatalities.
Men comprise over 97% of war fatalities.
79% of all homicide victims are male.
Men account for 80% of all suicide victims.

The commercial concludes on a positive note, asking “Is a man trying?” and offering the company’s view of masculinity: “We see the good in men.”

As marketer, I realize that the right music with moving images can tug at one’s emotions; however, Egard’s ad resonated with me, and perhaps the 324,000 people who have liked, it for another reason. Egard reminded us of the many men in our lives that we have known and loved.

The ad caused me to remember my grandfathers: one a coalminer, the other a farmer. To support their families, both did very hard, physical work that must have greatly tested both their bodies and their minds. Having experienced the ravages of WW II, my father-in-law, emigrated from Ukraine, to Brazil, to the United States, where he worked for over 30 years in a bearing factory as a tool and die maker—labor that likely explains his great loss of hearing today. My own father was not able to finish high school, yet he started his own business at age 25 and worked tirelessly with my mother to earn enough to put four children through college.

None of these men were/is perfect. Neither is their grandson/son—I’ve made plenty of mistakes; although, I don’t think I’ve done anything that someone could call bullying or sexual harassment. Most men probably can say the same. Most of the mistakes we make are not because we’re men; they’re because we’re human.

The problem with Gillette’s ad is that it stereotypes men. Not all males act like Harvey Weinstein or ‘Scott Farkus,’ the bully from A Christmas Story. In fact, the vast majority do not. Of course, Gillette’s ad doesn’t directly say that all men are sexual predators or bullies, but it does put all men in the same stereotypical boxes through some subtle visual and verbal suggestions.

One such insinuation in Gillette’s spot is the seemingly infinite lineup of men, all standing behind their BBQ grills with arms folded, chanting in unison, “Boys will be boys.” The ad’s narration also makes a stereotypical suggestion by tagging onto Crew’s “Men need to hold other men accountable” quote, adding: “ . . . accountable to act the right way; some already are, in ways big and small. But some is not enough.” I’d like to reiterate the belief that it’s most men who are acting the right way, not some.

Another Twitter user, Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen), who self-identifies as Asian, supports the suggestion that Gillette’s ad stereotypes men. She says:
“I can get behind the message that we all can be better. But the #GilletteAd ended up painting an entire demographic with a negative stereotype perpetuated by a few. Imagine the uproar if it was an ad about a racial group with higher crime rates saying, “‘you can be better.’”

Of course, on top of all this analysis is the fact that men are Gillette’s main target market.* Its iconic tagline is “The Best a Man Can Get.” Given that our family’s dog knew better than to bite the hand that fed him, it’s hard to imagine why one of the world’s biggest brands would want to risk ‘cutting the faces it shaves,’ especially when already on the ropes in a fight against Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club.

One instance of bullying or one case of sexual harassment is one too many. As such, Gillette can be commended for taking a stand against those injustices and for suggesting that others do the same. However, the company should have known much better than to unfairly throw its entire target market under the bus with broadly generalized talk of “toxic masculinity.” It’s wrong to degrade others in any way, including by negatively stereotyping, which makes Gillette guilty of “Mindless Marketing.”

*An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Gillette does not make products for women.

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Killer TV

11/2/2018

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

"In the future everybody will be world-famous for fifteen minutes." Social media has made Andy Warhol’s words at a 1968 Stockholm art exhibit more prophetic than ever. Notoriety for all seems nice, until we remember that despicable acts like mass murder also gain fame for those who do them. Avoiding identification of killers may be impossible, but should television shows capitalize on their criminality?

A week ago, America suffered yet another incident of mass murder. This time the tragedy took place in Pittsburgh, where a gunman entered the Tree of Life Synagogue and took the lives of 11 people, while also wounding several others.

Just a day after the shooting, the killer’s name, which I won’t mention here, was already approaching 30 million hits in a Google search, and detailed background information about him filled articles including ones in the New York Times, CNN, and the Washington Post. That’s already much media exposure for a murderer, but his ‘15 minutes of fame’ is just beginning.

In the days and weeks to come, many more details of the massacre will surface, and analysts will paint a clearer picture of who the gunman was and what caused him to act. However, even those news accounts probably won’t end the perpetrator’s publicity. It’s very likely that the killer will eventually become the focus of at least one made-for-television documentary.

Why does such programming seem so certain? At least three networks now have television series dedicated to detailing the actions and lives of well-known murderers:

Netflix’s I am a Killer features death row inmates giving firsthand accounts of their crimes.

CNN’s How it Really Happened describes “some of the most notorious crimes, mysteries, trials, and celebrity tragedies of our time.”
Oxygen’s It Takes a Killer examines “the world's most notorious murders and takes you inside the minds of the killers.”

In fact, Oxygen has much more than one TV show focused on killers. Oxygen Media, which is part of NBC-Universal, describes itself as “a multiplatform crime destination brand for women” that is in over 77 million homes. The network also airs a show called Method of a Serial Killer, and it has a webpage titled “Martinis and Murder. In other words, whether on TV or online, Oxygen is all crime, all the time.

You may be thinking, “Television based on crime, even murder, isn’t anything new.” That’s true; however, the newer genre of crime TV is different than past TV series. For instance, writers scripted the crime in classic shows like Columbo, Matlock, and Murder She Wrote, i.e., the programs weren’t based on real murders. Furthermore, the focus was on solving the crime not on the gruesome act itself or on the life-story of the person who did it.

On the other hand, shows like America’s Most Wanted and The Hunt with John Walsh did feature the crimes of real killers, but the reason was to gain the public’s help in finding the fugitives so they could be brought to justice. These shows gave enough information about the murderers to facilitate their capture; they certainly didn’t glamorize the killers.

Of course, it’s unlikely that the creators of I am a Killer or any of the other new shows have an agenda to idolize murderers. The producers probably just want to satisfy viewer desires, and unfortunately many people have an appetite for information about killers.

For instance, just two days after the recent tragedy in Pittsburgh, a Google search of “synagogue shooting” produced 19.9 million hits, while a similar search of “synagogue shooter” yielded 82.7 million—over four times more.

So, why not give people what they want? If TV viewers are fascinated by murderers’ methods and bios, what’s wrong with letting them watch those things? Actually, when it comes to murder, there are several reasons why it's best not to give consumers what they want, but rather to give society what it needs.

First, it’s important to recognize that unlike America’s Most Wanted, TV series like I am a Killer do little to improve anyone’s safety. The serial killers the latter show highlights are already behind bars and no longer a threat, whereas those in the former were still on the lam and needed to be caught.

One might argue that I am a Killer could help others identify unbalanced individuals and perhaps prevent future slayings, but the program seems just as likely to motivate people on the cusp of violence to act out their hostilities, partly because of the recognition they will get. Fame could very well be an extra incentive for them to kill.

Consistent with that thought, it’s notable that networks have long-since stopped broadcasting people who trespass on the field or court during sporting events. Even though many TV viewers are probably curious and would like to see the spectacles, the live shows’ producers quickly select other camera shots, as announcers divert attention from the unseen disruption. The reason: Networks don’t want to give the interlopers the undeserved fame they seek or encourage others to follow suit.

Second and closely related to the first point, unstable individuals might see a show like I am a Killer as a kind of ‘how-to guide’ for committing murder. True-crime programs often recount killers’ tactics in considerable detail. Most people watch these exposés with unsettled interest—like a roadside car accident from which we cannot avert our gaze. Potential killers, however, might pick up tips and envision how they could use them on specific people. Needless to say, educating for mass murder is not a desirable thing.

Third, and perhaps most important, shows like I am a Killer demonstrate a lack of sensitivity to murder victims’ loved ones. A few years ago, I was scrolling through TV channels, when a documentary about the Unabomber caught my attention. I watched for 30 minutes or so with uneasy interest. Now I ask myself, “How would I feel about that show if the terrorist's bombs had killed one of my family members or friends?”

I probably wouldn’t want to see his image anywhere, let alone watch him receive hours of network television exposure. For many people, the Unabomber is an unseemly fascination, but for those impacted by his violent acts, his likeness is likely a painful reminder of how their loved ones were lost.

It’s bitter irony that the perpetrators of mass murder tend to receive inordinate media attention while their victims are often barely acknowledged as individuals; rather, their identities are lumped together in the massacre’s death toll, e.g. “11 Killed.” TV series that focus on real killers perpetuate that injustice, perhaps even incentivizing and encouraging more murder. Such true-crime shows are guilty of “Single-Minded Marketing.”

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Could Cannabis and Coca-Cola be the Real Thing?

10/5/2018

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

Over its 130+ year history, Coca-Cola has created some of the most memorable product taglines: Enjoy Thirst (1923), Ice Cold Sunshine (1932), It’s the Real Thing (1969), I’d like to Buy the World a Coke (1971), Coke Adds Life (1976), Have a Coke and a Smile (1979), Can’t Beat the Feeling (1988), and Open Happiness (2009). Now that the world’s largest beverage maker is considering drinks infused with marijuana, maybe a new tagline is coming: Have a Coke and Some Cannabis.

A few weeks ago, news sources including Reuters and BNN Bloomberg reported that the Coca-Cola Company was in talks to develop beverages infused with cannabis. The alleged partner is Vancouver-based Aurora Cannabis Inc., Canada’s third biggest producer of weed, which has a market cap of $9.365 billion.

How can Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most respected companies, the parent of several family-friendly beverage brands, and the creator of those loveable polar bears, enter the market for a drug that is illegal in the vast majority of U.S. states and most countries in the world? Perhaps desperate times call for desperate measures.

Coca-Cola is feeling the heat from increased beverage industry competition coupled with fizzling consumer demand for sugary sodas, which represent several of the company’s hallmark brands. Such pressures have led the firm to diversify into healthier drinks over the last decade or two, and most recently the company announced the purchase of UK-based Costa Coffee for $5.1 billion.

True, there is such a thing as a caffeine high, but there’s a big difference between a cup of joe and a bag of weed—so I’m told; I’m not a coffee-drinker and I have no experience with marijuana, just to be clear. However, that lack of firsthand knowledge didn’t stop me from writing a Mindful Matters blog post a couple of years ago that poo-pooed a gym combining workouts with weed. I’ve since done more reading about cannabis, as well as Coca-Cola’s potential use of it, and what I’ve learned has been surprising.

Most of us have heard of the psychoactive, or mind-altering, effects that marijuana can have on users, which include a relaxed sense of well-being and an altered sense of time, as well as anxiety, fear, and hallucinations. Those potentially dangerous consequences stem from a specific component of the drug called tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

However, cannabis has another component, a medicinal one called cannabidiol, or CBD, that is not intoxicating and doesn’t make people high. Also, the National Institute on Drug Abuse says that CBD, which can be safely extracted from cannabis, does not appear to be addictive. Instead, there is evidence that CBD lessens muscle inflammation, decreases pain, and reduces cramping.

What’s the point of this science-speak? The difference between THC and CBD matters to Coca-Cola because its potential new product uses the latter. The company is not contemplating some kind of liquid reefer or ecstasy juice. If the firm does partner to produce a cannabis-infused beverage, it will likely be in the ‘recovery drink’ category, offering the muscle-mending benefits mentioned above. Think Powerade with a medicinal punch.

Still, isn’t it crazy for a renowned company like Coca-Cola to risk its reputation by connecting itself to cannabis? It’s not foolish for a few reasons. First, there is increasing recognition and acceptance of the medicinal form of the drug. U.S. states and other countries continue to amend their laws to make medical marijuana legal. Also, there are people now taking prescription drugs to manage the muscle symptoms mentioned above, with little effect. The CBD form of cannabis might help them find relief without making them high or risking addiction.

Second, if Coca-Cola moves forward with a cannabis-infused drink, it can safeguard the company’s reputation by individually branding the product. The firm has taken this approach with most of its other products like Minute Maid, Vitaminwater, Fairlife milk, and Sprite. These products have branding that stands on its own and basically just links to the parent company through the fine print on the back of the packages.

Third, Coca-Cola’s consideration of cannabis deserves credence because it’s not the only prominent company exploring such possibilities. At least two other big beverage firms, Molson Coors and Constellation Brands (brewer of Corona beer), are taking serious steps toward cannabis-infused drinks. Furthermore, the market for CBD-based products is expected to reach $2.1 billion by 2020.

When I first heard of Coca-Cola’s meeting with Aurora, my thought was the pairing would produce either Single-Minded or Mindless Marketing. What a difference some focused reading and a few letters (CBD vs. THC) can make. While writing this blog post, my perspective has changed, and it still could evolve. Right now, though, I believe the potential partnership could yield a respectable wellness product that might be “Mindful Marketing.”

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Advertising Attacks Domestic Violence

8/24/2018

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

An Ohio State assistant football coach repeatedly beat his wife.

A Colorado man allegedly murdered his pregnant wife and their two daughters.

A week rarely goes by without another disturbing story of domestic violence. In the United States, 20 people are abused by an intimate partner every minute. It’s reasonable to think that such a mass problem requires a mass media solution, but is advertising the answer to decreasing domestic violence?

The United Kingdom’s National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV) thought so. The organization that provides “free, fast and effective legal support to survivors of domestic violence and abuse” enlisted the services of world-renown marketing firm J. Walter Thompson (JWT) to produce an anti-abuse ad campaign that ran in Europe during the recent FIFA World Cup.

The “Not-So-Beautiful Game” campaign’s target marketing and timing were insightful: Unbeknown to most of us, there is an unfortunate “correlation between domestic abuse and [soccer].” In England, for instance, domestic violence increases by 26% when its national team plays, and if it loses, incidents rise by 38%.

Such alarming statistics encouraged the NCDV and JWT to unleash a jarring counterattack. The ad campaign featured very graphic images of the results of physical abuse, each with a specific soccer team tie-in. For instance, two bandages resembling a Swiss cross barely covered the large gash on a young woman’s bruised right cheek, while the caption read “If Switzerland gets beaten, so will she.”

Another gruesome image was a straight-on shot of the lower third of a young woman’s face, stained and still dripping bright red blood from her nose and lips. The caption read, “If England gets beaten, so will she." Among other media, the ads appeared on Instagram and billboards.

A few years ago, I did a study of shock advertising and found, among other things, that marketers have long used startling words and images to gain attention for everything from clothing to fast food.

Nonprofit organizations seem especially open to employing shock, probably because they find it easier to rationalize it for what are arguably more noble ends, like alleviating hunger and decreasing smoking. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the NCDV campaign was not the first to use shock in the fight against physical abuse. For instance, a few years ago, the Salvation Army of South Africa invoked social media’s famous “black and blue” dress in an ad that showed a woman covered in bruises, with the caption “Why is it so hard to see black and blue?”

Such ads certainly grab attention, but are they effective in accomplishing the creators’ objectives, e.g., decreasing domestic violence? The results I found were mixed: In some instances the target market responded as intended, but in other cases the shock was ineffective or even counterproductive; for instance, it pushed people further from the purpose of the ad because graphic images and language repulsed viewers or overshadowed the ads’ unique selling proposition.

Regular readers of this blog know that effectiveness is only one of the assessments that Mindful Marketers make. The other involves ethics. In terms of shock, even if it works, should advertisers use it to combat domestic violence? Is shocking people the right thing to do?

I don’t know the results of NCDV’s “Not-So-Beautiful Game” campaign, so I’d like to consider the ads’ efficacy and ethicality by posing four specific questions:

1. Were the ads actually a deterrent? A key assumption of the NCDV ads seemed to be that potential abusers would see close-ups of the blood and gore and resolve not to do that to someone. Maybe that motivation works; I honestly don’t know, but it’s easy to imagine that the gruesome visuals could have the opposite effect, i.e., they set off in people predisposed to such violence a visceral reaction similar to sharks sensing blood in the water.

Whenever marketers develop ads, it’s critical that they understand the target market’s underlying reasons for acting. In the case of domestic violence, maybe it would be more effective to appeal to perpetrators’ fear of arrest, like many drunk driving ads do. Or, perhaps these abusers would be motivated by concern over lower self-esteem (“Don’t be a coward”) or by lost love (“She will leave you”).

2. Did the campaign increase desensitization? Studies have found that the more people are exposed to violence, the more desensitized they become to it. The principle of marginal utility supports these findings: The more we have of something, the less satisfaction we gain from getting one more of that thing.

We should wonder what the impact is of increased shock advertising on all of us. Sixty years ago, a huge bloody billboard would have left most people aghast. Today it takes much more to move us. The scariest part is if shock like that of the NCDV’s ads desensitizes the general public to violence, it’s also desensitizing those who are likely to commit violence against others.

3. Do people deserve to be ambushed? Yes, life is full of surprises, but should someone walking down a city street have to come across a large billboard with a blood-soaked face? Or, should a person innocently surfing the web have to see a close-up of a severely bruised and gashed cheek?

For most people, such graphic images are outside the realm of ordinary life. They should have a say in whether they want to see them or not. It doesn’t seem right for advertisers to confront people with such visuals without fair warning or giving them the ability to opt out.

4. Who else saw the ads? The previous question leads naturally to this final point. Advertising is by definition mass communication, which is inherently hard to control, at least when it uses traditional media. A company can choose a billboard based on a location that the target market frequents, but there’s nothing to stop others outside the target market from being exposed to the same message.

That lack of audience selectivity is inefficient, but the bigger problem pertains to those who could be traumatized by shocking images, namely children. Advertisers also should consider the increasingly large number of people who have been victims of domestic violence. They don’t deserve to be vividly reminded of their experience when walking down a street or browsing online.

Advertising that employs shock, like the “Not-So-Beautiful Game” campaign, often rationalizes that ‘the ends justify the means.’ That line of thinking is highly questionable. It’s also unclear whether such advertising actually produces net benefits. The NCDV’s ads may have been well-intended, but they were most likely “Mindless Marketing.”

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Muppets for Mature Audiences

5/30/2018

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

“Sunny Day, sweepin’ the clouds away.
On my way to where the air is sweet.
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?”

Those famous lyrics remind us of the iconic kids' TV show tune, bringing back images of Big Bird, Elmo, and their furry friends. Such happy childhood memories are about to change, however, as a new Melissa McCarthy movie makes associations we don't expect from Muppets: sex, drugs, and violence.

Coming to theaters August 17, Happytime Murders looks like a cross between The Muppets Take Manhattan and Pulp Fiction. The premise of the movie, which features both humans and puppets, is that the cuddly creatures we adore on TV, lead “depraved, brutal lives” when off-camera. More specifically, McCarthy plays a detective who partners with a puppet to investigate gruesome puppet murders.

Homicide, however, is only one of the evils. The Happytime puppets are adept at a variety of vile acts. In the movie trailer alone, the puppets use extreme profanity, do hardcore drugs, and commit explicit sexual acts that might give an adult porn star pause. For instance, “A puppet in a spiked collar, vaguely resembling an emaciated Fozzie Bear, offers to perform oral sex for 50 cents on the movie’s star, Melissa McCarthy.”

Given the level of vulgarity, could there really be a connection between sweet Sesame Street and hard-boiled Happytime Murders? Yes and no. The Jim Henson Company, firm of Muppet fame, coproduced the movie with STX Entertainment, and Brian Henson, son of the legendary Muppet creator Jim Henson, directed the film.

However, in 2001, the Jim Henson Company sold the Sesame Street character rights to the Sesame Workshop (formerly the Children’s Television Workshop). The organization’s website explains: “Today, The Jim Henson Company provides the characters used on Sesame Street but the characters themselves are owned and run by Sesame Workshop.”

So, Sesame Street has no ownership of the movie, but it shares a unique puppet heritage that leads many people to conflate anything involving Henson puppets with Sesame Street. Happytime Murders further muddles matters by using the tagline “No Sesame. All Street.” For these reasons, Sesame Workshop believes the purity and innocence of the Sesame Street brand is at risk, which has led the organization to take legal action.

On May 24, Sesame Workshop sued STX Entertainment in federal court for unspecified damages, claiming the movie dilutes and defiles its Muppets’ reputations, causing Sesame Street “irreparable harm.” Sesame Workshop president Jeffrey Dunn also wrote a letter to the Jim Henson Co. asking why his organization was not consulted about the project, calling the movie trailer “practically pornographic.”

Lisa Henson, daughter of Jim, apologized to Dunn, claiming that she and brother Brian prevented STX from making the movie’s characters resemble other Muppets, but they couldn’t stop the firm from promoting the film as it wanted.

STX, was more resolute in its own defense, arguing that no one could reasonably confuse its adult-oriented characters with those of Sesame Street. Furthermore, STX lawyer David Halberstadter “reminded the humans behind Sesame Street that they have a long history of parodying other people’s intellectual property, including ‘Twin Beaks,’ ‘A’s Anatomy,’ and ‘Orange is the New Snack.’”

Happytime Murders is rated ‘R,’ which means only those 18 and older can see the film, unless they are accompanied by a parent or adult guardian. Unfortunately, however, some adults have no qualms about taking kids to R-rated movies. Given the film’s promotional reference to Sesame Street and the fact that most of the movie’s actors are puppets, such adult indiscretion is likely to increase.

Children are naturally drawn to colorful and creative characters, which is a main reason for the great success of kids' shows ranging from Barney to Teletubbies. Meanwhile, marketers of products intended for adults have at times been told to stop using cartoonish characters, such as R.J. Reynold’s Joe Camel, because they make harmful things like cigarettes more appealing to children.

Kid-appeal is certainly a key concern for Happytime Murders, but it’s only one of the picture’s problems. Should any adult see a film, let alone a comedy, full of so much gratuitous violence, sex, and profanity? Historical accuracy and artistic integrity make compelling cases for strong language in Saving Private Ryan and graphic violence in Schindler’s List, but what’s the redeeming value of seeing puppets snort drugs through licorice straws, witnessing their heads blown off by shotgun blasts, or watching one Muppet ejaculate all over a conference room?

Maybe it’s ‘entertainment,’ but at what social cost? At a time when our nation faces serious problems related to school shootings, opioid overdoses, and the hookup culture, Happytime Murders makes light of gun violence, illegal drug use, and casual sex. According to the film’s producers, they’re all a joke.

The Jim Henson Company has a rich history of educating and entertaining children. Melissa McCarthy is a talented actress and comedian. It’s sad to see those brands besmirched. Unfortunately, Happytime Murders scrapes the bottom of the barrel of moral decency. The movie may become a box office hit, but its only award will be for “Single-Minded Marketing.”

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Women: No Longer Auto Accessories

3/4/2018

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

People love auto shows: the stylish bodies, the sleek lines, the alluring curves. While those descriptions fit the latest concept cars, they also work for the scantily dressed women seen standing next to them. Almost as long as there have been automobiles, companies have used attractive young women to help sell their vehicles. Some organizations, however, have taken a bold step to separate sex appeal from automotive appeal.

A variety of media, from calendars to TV commercials, couple women wearing suggestive attire with cars. The rationale for these pairings is that sex sells; i.e., certain companies believe that they can gain interest in their autos’ bodies by leveraging the natural allure of the human body.

Over the years, auto shows have been notorious for their use of highly-sexualized female models: Poised next to a manufacturer’s hot new car are one or more attractive young women, often sporting stilettos and wearing tight-fitting dresses with low necklines and high hemlines.

However, use of women as commercial eye-candy isn’t unique to automobiles. A variety of other industries like video gaming and consumer electronics employ ladies at tradeshows in the same sultry capacity. In fact, there’s even a belittling name for the women: “booth babes.” TMS Agency, a modeling firm with locations in virtually every state, specializes in such talent, describing the women’s function as follows:

“A booth babe is a female model hired to staff a booth at a trade show. The term implies a girl who is focusing more on her physical attributes to entice customers rather than her intellect to represent a company. Booth babe is also slang for a booth girl. Booth babes serve two purposes: 1. Attract attention to your exhibit due to their looks; 2. Assist with activities and demonstrate products”

It’s not hard to find women serving this primeval purpose at some of the world’s largest and most renown auto exhibitions like the Paris Motor Show and the North American International Auto Show. However, visitors to another major auto exhibition will no longer be exposed to the practice.

In its 88th year, the Geneva International Motor Show has hosted more than its fair share of booth babes. Just last year, for instance, Lexus, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo used attractive young women, outfitted in evocative attire, to help draw attention to their respective automotive entries. It appears, however, that this March in Geneva will be different.

Fortune reports that many of the exhibitors at this year’s show will not be bringing both babes. Some companies, like Lexus, won’t have any people accompany their cars. Other manufacturers, such as Fiat Chrysler, will use both men and women, outfitted in more conservative attire.

What’s caused the sudden change of heart for so many automobile manufacturers? Some cite the recent rise in cases of sexual harassment and a desire not to get caught on the wrong side of the #MeToo movement. Switzerland-based Nissan spokeswoman Sara Jenkins frames her firm’s decision in a straightforward, positive light: “It makes more sense to use product specialists because we’re selling cars.”

Anyone in marketing should appreciate Jenkins’ rationale—If your company is selling a product, particularly a complex and expensive one like a car, you want people who can talk intelligently about the vehicle’s features and benefits. That’s one of the top requirements for effective personal selling.

But, why not have both? Certainly, there are individuals who are very attractive and very smart. Why don’t automobile manufacturers hire them to wear skimpy clothes and work their tradeshows? One reason is that smart, hard-working people aren’t as easily enticed, and they know they have options other than putting their bodies on display.

Hopefully these car companies also realize what they’ve been doing to the women they’ve had on exhibit for so many years. The manufacturers have relegated these young women to human hood ornaments—items to ogle and awe at, like the masses of metal they’re posed to adorn. Just as the car companies have minimized the models’ attire, they’ve stripped away each woman’s personhood.

Unfortunately, that sexual objectification doesn’t only impact the models who participate in the tradeshows. It affects all people indirectly. The more we see women, or men, treated as objects, the more likely we are to think that such representations are normative, i.e., to believe that they’re okay.

Ironically, while reading the aforementioned Fortune article, an ad appeared on the side of my screen titled “Dream Big, Princess.” The link connects to Disney’s website where a 90- second video highlights many of the company’s animated heroines, interspersed with clips of young women today engaged in adventurous activities. The promotional piece encourages girls to become things like teachers, politicians, preachers, astronauts, and leaders. Of course, there’s no charge to grow up to be a booth babe.

Automobile manufacturers might not be banishing booth babes because of social conscience, but at least they're banishing them. Our world’s women and men will be better off as a result. The car companies also should be more successful in the long run, especially when targeting market segments that are increasingly and rightly appalled by the primitive practice. Showing people genuine respect will always be a foundation for “Mindful Marketing.”

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No Dignity for the Living or the Dead

1/12/2018

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

If you weren’t aware of Logan Paul before, you may have heard of him over the past week or so, after the extremely popular vlogger committed a major, international indiscretion. Public outrage led the 22-year-old YouTube star to apologize for his one-time disrespect of the dead, but shouldn’t we also be conflicted about his ongoing treatment of the living?

Paul started posting videos to YouTube at age ten and became famous through the internet video sharing service Vine. By 2014, he had more than 3.1 million social media followers, which led him to leave Ohio State University and pursue an entertainment career in Los Angeles. His ‘edgy’ YouTube channel now has over 15 million subscribers, including many teens, who Paul refers to as his “Logang.”

Paul is more than just a hugely popular YouTube star, however. He has appeared in TV shows including Law & Order and Weird Loners, starred in The Thinning, a YouTube Red movie, and written a screenplay for an adult comedy called Airplane Mode. He also has a clothing line called “Maverick,” the name of which closely captures Paul’s brand of irreverent humor and moral indifference.

A few weeks ago, Paul was in Japan, trying to stir up some interesting content for his vlog. One day he and his companions hiked into Aokigahara, a 12-square mile tract of woods near Mt. Fuji that is commonly known as “Japan’s suicide forest,” as it unfortunately has become one of the most popular places in the world for people to go to take their own life. Signs in the forest even urge those contemplating suicide to consider their families and to seek professional counsel.

Given that Paul’s vlogs typically involve human interaction with unsuspecting participants, it’s odd that the group would film in an uninhabited forest, but the encounter that ensued probably explains the choice: Paul and his companions came across the body of a man who had hanged himself from a tree.

It’s difficult for most of us to know how we would respond to such a discovery; however, Paul’s reaction was not one that most people found acceptable. With little appreciation for the situation’s gravity, the crew filmed the victim close-up, only blurring his face. What’s more, “Paul is even seen laughing and cracking jokes about the deceased man." For instance, when one of the crew members acted squeamish, Paul quipped: “You never stand next to a dead guy?"

On December 31, he posted the video to YouTube and titled it “We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest.” Public criticism was swift and severe. Paul’s initial response to the backlash was to claim he was trying to help: “I intended to raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention.”

Most people, however, didn’t buy his defense. So, less than 24 hours after posting the “suicide” video, Paul took it down. He has since offered a 1:45 minute apology titled “So Sorry” in which he appears much more contrite. After expressing special remorse for the victim and his family, he offers:

“I’ve made a huge mistake. I don’t expect to be forgiven. I’m just here to apologize. I’m ashamed of myself. I’m disappointed in myself, and I promise to be better. I will be better.”

Despite the ‘mea culpa,’ Paul has continued to experience backlash for his actions, including severe media criticism and a threatened lawsuit from Maverick Apparel, which claims mistaken consumer associations with Paul’s ‘Maverick’ brand have already cost the company $4 million. Even more devastating, YouTube has dropped Paul from its Google Preferred Program, meaning that while he can still post to the platform, his videos will no longer be marked for advertisers as high-quality content.

Popular opinion is that Paul has gotten what he deserves for making light of a problem as serious as suicide, for disrespecting an individual who took his own life, and for adding to the hurt of the victim’s family. While that public censure is good, it begs the question: Why aren’t people equally offended by Paul’s continual abuse of the living?

If you’re familiar with the vlogger’s work, you probably already know what I mean. If not, just peruse his YouTube channel. Or, the rest of Paul’s visit in Japan provides many specific examples. For instance, when he first arrived in Tokyo, he stuck his head out the window of a black limousine and shouted to anyone who might hear, “Hello, everybody. I’m just a blond white boy from Ohio here to cause trouble in your country.”

Paul then proceeded to buy a dead fish and a squid tentacle at a fish market, which he waived in the faces of by-passers and plastered against the outside of a restaurant window. He eventual abandoned the foul items atop the trunk of a taxi as it drove away.

Or, to see a broader sample of Paul’s irreverent acts, checkout his 2017 year-in-review video. In this retrospective, Paul cites many of his most notable ‘accomplishments’ of the past year, for instance:

Shipped roommate Evan to Paris in a bag
Officiated a wedding (Does he have credentials for doing so?)
Faked his own death
Had the Secret Service arrest his brother Jake
Filled his brother’s pool with slime
Got arrested by Italian police
Use a crane to take a ride down his new street
Surfed down the street on a Christmas tree

In addition, Paul is no stranger to sexually explicit content. One of his video posts titled “Stole My Brother’s Girlfriend” begins with him getting kicked out of a retail store because he “got naked” in one of the aisles and ends with a young female companion sporting a scarf made of condom packs. Paul also produced and starred in a music video called “No Handlebars” that featured the lyrics “I’ve been cyclin’ on your chick” and the refrain “I can ride your girl with no handlebars."

Logan Paul has said his goal is to become “the biggest entertainer on the planet.” It’s unfortunate that he’s chosen to pursue that goal at the expense of others’ dignity. Yes, deriding a suicide victim was abhorrent, but so are many of the other things he does like objectifying women and crudely treating people as means to more YouTube views. Paul is a talented young man with considerable potential, but unless he completely recreates his ‘product’ and treats both the dead and the living with respect, he will always be guilty of “Single-Minded Marketing.”

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Beer Belly Briefcase

12/1/2017

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

Wondering what to get for that guy on your holiday shopping list who doesn’t need anything? How about buying him some belly fat? I’m not talking about a giant box of chocolates or gift cards for his favorite fast food—they would take too long. There’s a much quicker way to give him the perfect paunch.

As the newest edition to the series ‘I can’t believe somebody would make that,’ British art designer Albert Pukies has created a fanny pack called the “Dadbag” that looks exactly like a middle-aged man’s beer belly. It even has hair.

What’s the point of these paunches? In terms of functionality, Pukies says they’re a great place to store “typical dad items, like beer, medicine, a sandwich, wallet, sunglasses, keys.” That’s right, a beer belly that can hold a couple cans of Budweiser, literally.

While the Dadbag is outwardly a practical product, Pukies purpose in creating it was apparently more about image. He claims he was “desperate to have a dad bod” but didn’t want to assume the associated health risks. What’s a “dad bod?” The designer says it’s a term a college student coined a few years ago in describing coeds going crazy over guys with “a nice balance between a beer gut and working out.”

Pukies admits that the Dadbag is “a pretty silly product,” which he originally had no intent to mass produce; however, given the interest the fanny pack has found, he’s decided to explore production partnerships with the idea of retailing the Dadbag for about $30.

If offered, there would be different versions of the bag, as Pukies has prototyped six separate styles featuring a range of skin tones and quantities of belly hair--qualities that caused one potential user to praise the product’s inclusivity. The designer has also demonstrated his marketing savvy by giving each style a distinct name: the Allen, the Derek, the Magnus, the Bobby, the Sherman, and even the sunburned Wolfgang.

So, what should we make of the Dadbag? Obviously, it’s an item to be taken with a grain of salt, not with complete seriousness—Some products are meant to be fun. However, at $30 a pop, it’s not like buying a whoopee cushion, dribble glass, or some other cheap gag gift. Besides the significant cash outlay, there are other factors that just make the Dadbag wrong :

1. Looks Disgusting: Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I bet most initial reactions to the Dadbag are a similar “Gross!” Such repulsiveness wouldn’t matter as much were it not for the facts that fanny packs are typically used in public and the hairy belly looks extremely real. So, wearing a Dadbag is like actual inappropriate exposure (e.g., a visible but crack) that no one should have to see.

2. Impractical: I suppose there are still some individuals who buy fanny packs, but it seems that most people prefer other means of carrying their valuables, e.g., pockets, purses, backpacks, etc. Plus, putting a couple of beer cans inside the Dadbag would make for a pretty heavy paunch. All that to say that producing Dadbags is probably not the best use of materials and time, i.e., it’s bad stewardship.

3. Denigrating Dads: As described above, the pack is objectionable for other reasons, but the fact that it’s called the Dadbag makes the offense even worse. Dads have taken exceptional abuse over recent years, including in advertising. They don’t need any more unflattering stereotypes. Yes, I’m a dad, so maybe I’m overly critical, but can you imagine a firm offering a similar product called a “Mombag”? The backlash would be brutal, and rightly so. Dads’ bodies deserve the same respect.

4. In Poor Taste: The Dadbag not only unfairly ridicules fathers, it also makes fun of something else that should be taken very seriously: fat. Many nations, like the United States, battle obesity epidemics that add billions of dollars to healthcare and cost millions of individuals their lives. What makes matters worse is that some other countries can’t get enough food, as many of their citizens live and die undernourished. In sum, belly fat is no laughing matter.

If there’s one potential virtue of the Dadbag, it’s that probably no one will try to steal anything from it. Beyond that benefit, the novelty fanny pack is interesting to talk about but unlikely to achieve significant demand. With that prediction and the pack’s associated social issues, the Dadbag is an unfortunate example of “Mindless Marketing.”

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Barfarian Sneakers

10/7/2017

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

People once wore one sneaker to do everything. Thanks to Nike and other apparel manufacturers, there are now specialized sneakers for almost any activity, from basketball, to lacrosse, to volleyball. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised, then, that one well-known company has created a special shoe just for this favorite pastime: drinking.

Yes, German footwear giant Adidas is marketing a shoe called the München (or, Munich) that has a “durable puke and beer repellent (DPBR) coating” that allows users to dabble in drunkenness without ruining their footwear.

Why would one of the world’s leading apparel manufacturers, which equips superstar athletes like Novak Djokovic, Lionel Messi, and James Harden, want to outfit the town drunk? The reason is more compelling than you might think.

Early fall is the time of year when many cities, towns, and other associations, host their own version of Oktoberfest, the lively celebration best known for one thing—beer. The granddaddy of all these well-oiled gatherings is the one in Munich, Germany, which claims to be “the largest festival in the world.” It just completed its 184th iteration.

Munich is located in the heart of Bavaria, world-renowned for its hops and boasting some of the most prolific beer-drinkers anywhere—the average Bavarian consumes 150 liters, or 40 gallons, of beer a year. Adidas is also in Bavaria, headquartered in Herzogenaurach, less than 200 km north of Munich and the original Oktoberfest.

Interestingly, Oktoberfest didn’t start as a keg party. It began as a wedding celebration for Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese that included horse races and a “festival for the whole of Bavaria.” The following year, the horse races returned, and over the years, additional activities were added to the annual festival, including more places to buy beer.

The latest iteration of Munich’s Oktoberfest featured about 143 food and drink businesses, which started serving suds at 10:00 am on weekdays and 9:00 am on weekends. Those early hours helped vendors sell over 6 million liters of beer during the festival.

As you might imagine, with so much “liquid gold” flowing freely among 6.3 million visitors, there are likely to be incidents, such as the 7,900 people who needed to visit medical tens and the 600+ individuals who got alcohol poisoning. One Munich native describes the often unpleasant scene:

“During Oktoberfest, the city gets packed and there are drunk people everywhere, and all the time. The drunken debauchery often leads to fights, aggressive behavior, and bierleichen — so-called "beer corpses," which is what locals call the many passed out drunks lying on the hill behind the tents.”

This past year, an American tourist from Texas didn’t let his one-year old baby strapped to his chest stop him from getting plastered. As the man slumped over, police took the baby away and took him to the hospital.

Given its geographic and cultural closeness to the debauchery, it appears that Adidas has picked the perfect target market for its ‘drinking sneaker.’ In addition to the barf and beer-resistant coating, other details artfully reinforce the shoe’s positioning, e.g., a red and white check lining that matches the beer tents’ tablecloths, a brown and gold upper that coordinates with lederhosen, and the word “Prost” (German for “cheers”) embroidered on the side. Even at €199.95 (about $240), the sneakers sold out on one popular website, suggesting that Adidas has a marketing hit.

However, just because Adidas can sell a shoe for drinking doesn’t necessarily mean that it should. While many people drink responsibly, and some studies even suggest benefits from moderate alcohol consumption, there’s a difference between having a beer with dinner and drinking oneself into a stupor, which is when a sneaker’s protection against suds and vomit becomes most important. Consequently, it’s fair to ask, ‘Does the sneaker’s unusual positioning encourage drunkenness?’

Of course, no sneaker by itself will make people drink. Personal and social factors hold much more influence. Still, there’s something unseemly about products that promise to help us avoid the negative consequences of bad behavior. For instance, I’d bet that people who own radar detectors are more likely to speed. Do the detectors make them speed? No, but having a device in their vehicle that significantly reduces the probability of getting caught probably encourages them to take their chances.

Is the possibility of ruining one’s shoes a deterrent to drunkenness? It’s probably not a major factor, but it must have some influence; otherwise, Adidas wouldn’t have developed the special coating and consumers wouldn’t be buying up the sneaker's supply. The more important point is that by marketing the shoe, the company is essentially saying, ‘Go ahead and drink ‘til you hurl; we’ve got you covered.’

But, maybe it’s not just people who get drunk who can benefit from the sneakers. There also are individuals who drink moderately, or not at all, who risk having their shoes ruined by others’ indiscretions.

That’s a reasonable argument, except for the fact that it’s pretty unusual to get vomited on unless you’re keeping close company with buds who are bashed. Likewise, how many people are willing to shell-out $240 for sneakers when there's only a remote possibility that they’ll be walking in other people’s puke. It seems like the sneakers’ primary appeal, therefore, is to people who plan to get plastered. That bad intent is reinforced by Adidas offering a free beer mug with every purchase of the sneakers.

Aside from some people’s wild intemperance, Oktoberfest is a great cultural event that brings families and communities together to celebrate Bavaria’s rich history. Similarly, Adidas is a fine company that is smart to support its German heritage. However, any product that makes it easier to overindulge on alcoholic must be called “Single-Minded Marketing.”

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Tinder-garten

9/9/2017

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

It’s great to watch kids grow and mature, for instance, as they take their first steps, attend their first day of school . . . have their first hook up?! Most parents don’t want to imagine that last experience, especially if their children are still young; yet, some companies are making meeting apps that many are calling “Tinder for Teens.”

If you’re not familiar with Tinder, that’s not a bad thing. It’s one of the seemingly hundreds of dating apps that have hit the market over the past few years, helping people find significant others. However, there are big differences between Tinder and some of the more traditional dating sites.

For instance, eHarmony users answer a lengthy set of probing questions, aimed at finding one’s true soulmate, which takes over an hour. The cost for one month is $49.95. A Tinder profile, on the other hand, is free at the basic level and takes only a few minutes to setup: “You simply download the app to your smart phone, link to your Facebook account, choose up to six photos of yourself, and write a brief bio. That’s it!”

The use of Tinder is equally easy, and as many would say, pretty superficial. Even though bios are available “it’s all about the photos.” Users review others’ pics, and if they see someone they like, they swipe right, while everyone unattractive gets swept left. If two people swipe right on each other, the app invites them to start chatting.

This quick and easy vetting reflects the way many users regard the people they meet through the platform, i.e., users turn to Tinder to find candidates for casual sex, i.e., one-night stands, i.e., “hook ups.”

Sexual intimacy without commitment tends to end badly for people of any age. It’s especially abhorrent to encourage lascivious behavior among adolescents, who are even less cognizant of the consequences of their actions. Some teen-targeting apps are doing just that, however. What’s more, there can be other consequences for these young people that are even worse than those of casual sex with their peers.

Probably the most popular friend/dating app for teens is Spotafriend, which describes itself as “the hottest teen swiping app for meeting new friends.” The company’s website goes on to claim that it is “not a teen dating app, it’s a new way to make friends.” However, that self-assessment is quickly questioned as Spotafriend’s own LinkedIn site says: “Meet teens near you with Spotafriend, the Tinder alternative for people ages 13-19.”

But, maybe Spotafriend’s comparison to Tinder is just puffery; or perhaps it’s only referencing the more demure uses of the adult app. It’s hard to make those interpretations, however, after reading one of the featured posts on Spotafriend’s blogsite titled “5 Major Hook-Up Ground Rules.” Here are a few excerpts from the article:

“Hookups in high school and college are exciting, and can be your first real meeting with the issues of love and sex, issues that most of us don’t really understand in our teenage years.”

“If you’re just kissing, or going all the way, make sure both participants are comfortable and willing to continue with the interaction.”

“Do Whatever Makes You Comfortable”

“Many acts that people consider “hooking up” carry the risk of infectious diseases being spread from person to person.”

Unfortunately, the possibility of reckless sex with someone the same age is not the only serious risk to teens using Spotafriend. Given that the app’s parameters are “for people age 13 to 19,” there’s built-in potential for 18 or 19-year-old men, legally adults, to interact with 13-year-old girls. What’s even worse is the ease with which even older adults can access the app and join the mix.

Lisa Schmidt, a 42-year-old dating coach and matchmaker, was curiously concerned about the rise of dating apps for teens, so she decided to check-out Spotafriend. In her guest blog post on Global Dating Insights, she recounts how easy it was for her to access the app and pose as a 15-year-old girl. It was even easier for her to change her birthday once inside.

As Schmidt’s experience suggests and leading child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg confirms, apps like Spotafriend are “‘on-line playgrounds’ for paedophiles.” Carr-Gregg adds, “All it would take is a smooth-talking paedophile to send some silky little messages to these kids and away we go.” The fact that such apps are location-based and work seamlessly with messaging apps like Snapchat makes teens all-the-more vulnerable to predators.

It’s great when people use social media to build friendships. Spotafriend’s name and promotion, however, are misleading. The app’s real aim appears to be more about helping teens “hook up,” while providing few safeguards against sexual predators. Unfortunately, many innocent young people fall victim to the appeal, making Spotafriend an example of “Single-Minded Marketing.”