Category: Single Minded2c3169a786

Should Alexa Be a Kid's Best Friend?

5/4/2018

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

When you were a kid, who did you go to for questions? You probably asked mom or dad, or if you were really desperate, you looked something up in an encyclopedia. In an age of artificial intelligence and voice assistants, such queries seem antiquated, but should Amazon be encouraging kids to ‘ask Alexa’?

Children are incredible imitators and adopters of the technology they see adults using. A few weeks ago, I was amazed at the savvy of a one-and-a-half-year-old I know. She isn’t old enough to talk, yet she knows how to swipe through photos on her grandpa’s smartphone.

Amazon introduced its Echo smart speaker with Alexa in November of 2014 to target adults. Since then, Alexa, Siri, and other voice assistants have begun making their way into more homes than Amway and Avon. According to TechCrunch, 16% of Americans, or about 39 million people own a smart speaker.

Voicebot breaks down those statistics further, reporting that nearly one out of every five adults has a smart speaker. It’s hard to believe that the market for such devices is already approaching saturation, which explains why a company like Amazon is looking at a new segment with less contested growth—children.

The ecommerce icon recently announced the addition of a smart speaker specifically made for kids: Echo Dot, Kids Edition. The newest addition to the Echo line will be available for sale May 9, 2018, for $79.99, or about $30 more than a regular Echo.

So, what makes the Echo Dot for tots kid-friendly and worth 37% more than the original? The device’s red, green, and blue color options certainly appeal to kids, but to penetrate the wallets of picky parents, this Echo definitely needs to do some different things, which it does. Here are several of the most notable tasks Alexa accomplishes for kids, all with flexible parental controls:

Answers questions, reads stories, and tells age-appropriate jokes
Plays music, including ad-free radio stations and Amazon music
Plays Audible books
Plays games from Disney, National Geographic, and Nickelodeon
Calls kids for dinner or tells them it’s bedtime via other Amazon Echo devices

It’s worth noting that much of this content comes courtesy of a subscription to FreeTime Unlimited which is included for the first year, then costs $2.99 a month thereafter.

Those are some impressive offerings from a product that’s about the size of a hockey puck. Kids will likely love having their own Echo Dot, partly because they appreciate having ‘their own’ anything, but also because of all that this one does just for them. Meanwhile, parents who buy these Dots will come out looking like heroes, mainly because of the product’s vast capacity to entertain.

So, it seems like a win-win for kids and parents. At the same time, there’s something unsettling about a device doing so much for children. Maybe you’re asking yourself these same kinds of questions about the kids’ Echo Dot:

1. Will it make kids rude? One of the concerns people have had about voice assistants is that by catering so quickly to our demands, they’re turning us into a society of ingrates. Amazon has taken into account that potential by programming politeness recognition into the kids’ Dot. For instance, if children say “please,” the device will thank them for asking nicely.

Such positive reinforcement sounds good, but one has to wonder how long it will take kids to realize that by skipping the pleasantries, they’ll get the same information, more quickly.

2. Will it undermine interpersonal skills? Being polite is important, but even more critical communication skills could be at stake. What happens over time when talking to machines replaces talking to people?

Individuals have had similar concerns about teens texting. Under the age of 12, children are really refining their language, conversation, and social skills, which makes it all the more important that they are learning helpful interpersonal communication habits.

3. Will it present a privacy risk? In the wake of high-profile data breaches and the case of Facebook/Cambridge Analytica, privacy should be a priority for every adult. Keeping our kids safe is an even bigger concern.

BuzzFeed reports that Amazon “does not use data harvested from user actions to compile a back-end profile (often called a ‘shadow profile’) for marketing or other purposes.” Rather, Amazon claims that any such data use is simply to customize and enhance the user’s experience. It has to be getting harder for Amazon to resist the temptation to leverage information gleaned from Alexa to promote its retail sales, but at this point, we probably need to take the company at its word.

However, there are other potential privacy concerns, one of which is hacking. A few years ago, a couple of hackers succeeded in breaking into a Jeep Cherokee’s computer system and controlled a variety of the vehicle’s features from afar. In the Internet of Things, it’s scary to think of a similar breach happening in a five-year-old’s bedroom, with a mic that’s always on and listening.

Another privacy concern might come from a much closer yet less obvious source: the children’s own parents. According to Amazon’s website, parents can “monitor activity from the Amazon parent dashboard,” as well as hear what’s happening in their kids’ rooms via Echo Dots’ mics and speakers. That kind of monitoring may be important for babies or very young children, but as kids get older, they deserve to have some privacy in their personal space.

4. Will it become a parenting substitute? Each of the preceding points are worrying, but in many ways, this last one is the most concerning. Given everything that the kids’ Echo Dot does, will it put parents out of a job?

Of course, that question is an exaggeration, but it’s sad to think that children will soon be asking Alexa, not their parents, to read them stories, play games, and answer questions that often spur important conversations.

On one hand, this isn’t the first time technology has threatened to disrupt parent-child relationships (e.g., television, VCRs, DVD players); however, those earlier examples aren’t quite the same. The artificial intelligence and ‘human-like-ness’ of voice assistants put them on a different plane than any other consumer technology.

Amazon’s latest Echo Dot is in many ways an exciting new product that promises considerable utility in terms of education and convenience. These benefits, however, probably don’t outweigh the risks related to things such as reduced privacy and weakened relationships. For these reasons, we need to tell Alexa that the kids' Echo Dot is “Single-Minded Marketing.”

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Mindless to Mindful: Super Bowl LII Ads

2/9/2018

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

The latest NFL championship was one for the ages. The football was exciting, and the ads were pretty good too. How did the spots stack up in terms of Mindfulness? There was at least one commercial for every category of the Mindful Matrix.

Given the weighty issues facing our nation and our world, it’s not surprising that a variety of spots took on important social concerns like diversity, overcoming physical limitations, and the role of families. These ads gave us a warm hug and put a smile on our face.

However, a few days later, do we even remember the companies that paid $5 million for a 30-second spot. For instance, which firm showcased a variety of people serving others while an audio clip of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. played in the background? The answer--Dodge Ram.

Dodge did attempt to make a reasonable connection between its trucks and the ad’s theme (“Built to Serve”), but most of the video footage had nothing to do with pickups (e.g., a pregnant woman having an ultrasound). Meanwhile a few very short clips of Dodge trucks were overshadowed by all of the ad’s other visual and audio activity. I doubt I would have remembered that the spot was for Dodge had I not been keeping track of every ad.

It was kind for Dodge to spend millions of dollars to extol service, but will one 60-second spot make people any more inclined to serve, and will they associate Dodge with that call to action? Two likely “No’s” make this ad and most of the game’s other social cause spots “Simple-Minded Marketing.”

Speaking of ambiguous advertising, there was also an ad that featured actor Keanu Reeves motorcycle surfing. Even as I wrote this paragraph, I remembered the ad, but couldn’t recall to whom it belonged until I checked my list and saw it was for the online website creation software Squarespace.

However, the fact that the commercial had no discernable connection to web design was not the ad's only problem. One can imagine that the stunt, which Reeves preformed himself, was extremely dangerous for him and other drivers, like the one in the pickup truck that flashes through the scene going the opposite direction about seven seconds into the ad.

The Los Angeles Times reports that 103.4 million people watched the latest Super Bowl, which represents every age demographic from toddlers to senior citizens and unfortunately includes any number of daredevils who need little encouragement to attempt Reeve’s stunt. The Tide Pod Challenge, which has killed at least eight people, is a tragic reminder of the power media has to spur irrational imitation. It’s irresponsible for Squarespace to glamorize another dangerous act, which makes its Super Bowl ad “Mindless Marketing.”

Thankfully there were also commercials for which it was very easy to identify the advertiser. Diet Coke’s Twisted Mango spot was one of those ads. The commercial is pretty simple in terms of its creative execution. A girl with short bangs and long legs mentions the name of the beverage and starts dancing. Could anything be wrong with that ad? Well . . . yes.

The dance gets a little “sexier” near the end, but that’s not the main concern. The potential issue is that the actress in the ad is extremely thin. Skinny people deserve to feel good about their bodies like everyone else, but this young woman looks emaciated, skeletal. In other product/ad contexts, such a body image might not be as problematic, but this commercial is for Diet Coke.

When people talk about dieting, it almost always means they’re trying to lose weight. About 30 million people in the U.S., or a little less than 10% of the population, suffer from eating disorders, which “have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.” It’s reckless for the Coca-Cola Company to use an actress whose body type can easily become a dangerous aspiration for people already thinking about dieting. Diet Coke’s ad will likely help sell soda, but it’s “Single-Minded Marketing.”

There were many ads from the latest Super Bowl that both created stakeholder value and upheld societal values. One of the best of the lot was for Pringles snack chips. The Kellogg Company’s iconic chips-in-a-can have been around for over 50 years, during which time there have been some new flavors, but little else has changed. How, then, could the company get enough bang for the buck from a Super Bowl spot?

Kellogg’s rose to the occasion by using its ad to suggest a very simple yet intriguing concept: stacking different types of Pringles to create unique flavor combinations, for instance, jalapeño-barbeque-pizza. Such palette-pleasing options are probably especially appealing to Gen Z and Millennials, who likely are the biggest consumers of these types of snacks.

Two other things going for the ad were its use of comedian/actor Bill Hader, well known for his work on Saturday Night Live and recognizable to many young people. Also, TV viewers consume a significant number of snacks, especially while watching the Super Bowl. That relevant context makes remembering snack food ads easier, and all of the above make Pringle’s commercial “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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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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Employee Upgrade

9/22/2017

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

Many employees have to take work home with them: It’s reality for a great many jobs. One company, however, is eroding the personal/professional boundary even more. Wisconsin-based Three Square Market, also called 32M, is asking its employees to take work home “in” them.

32M is the first U.S. company to “chip” its employees. Workers who agree to the anatomical upgrade, have a grain-sized microchip implanted under the skin on the back on their hand, between the index finger and thumb. A CNBC video gives a great visual of the chip and how it’s injected.

Not long after the company had made the chip available, 50 of 80 employees had volunteered for the insertion. Software engineer Sam Bengtson explained his reason for accepting the chip:

“It was pretty much 100 percent yes right from the get-go for me. In the next five to 10 years, this is going to be something that isn’t scoffed at so much, or is more normal. So I like to jump on the bandwagon with these kind of things early, just to say that I have it.”

For employees, the value of the implant is mainly convenience. The RFID-enabled chip allows workers to swipe into buildings, pay for food in cafeterias, and log onto computers, all with the wave of a hand—no need to pull-out ID cards or type in passcodes.

So, what are the benefits of this technology to 32M? The main advantage would seem to be that the technology relates directly to the company’s product. The B2B firm sells self-service micro-markets to other organizations: miniature convenience stores where employees can purchase food and drink without anyone helping them. Although there are other ways for shoppers to “check-out,” an implanted chip may be the way people buy potato chips in the future.

Another reason for 32M chipping its own employees could be that it’s trying to better meet their wants and needs, which is sometimes called “internal marketing.” The basic premise is that a firm needs satisfied employees in order to have satisfied customers because the former serve the latter.

Perhaps there are also some cost savings that will accrue to 32M, either because the technology will prove cheaper over time than existing security systems or because employees will save time, which means money. Beyond these possible reasons, 32M’s motivation becomes even more speculative. CEO Todd Westby claims that the RFID technology will become the standard for using all manner of security-driven devices, but those are the same employee convenience reasons mentioned above.

It’s interesting that of the many news articles written about this story, none that I’ve read talk about specific benefits for 32M. That curious omission makes it even more tempting to imagine unscrupulous reasons why a company might want to chip its employees.

Along those lines, one of the most compelling concerns the chips present is privacy. For instance, will companies be able to track their chip-toting workers wherever they go? The simple answer is “no” because the chips do not have GPS technology.

That fact, however, doesn’t preclude firms from installing RFID readers throughout their own facilities to see how much time people are spending in the breakroom or how often they’re using the bathroom. Dr. Alessandro Acquisti, a professor of information technology and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University echoes this concern: “Once [the chips] are implanted, it’s very hard to predict or stop a future widening of their usage.” Just like marijuana can be a gateway drug to heroin, companies’ use of embedded RFID chips to track employees’ snack purchases could easily lead to all kinds of other monitoring.

Related to privacy is the issue of security. 32M claims that the chip’s data is "encrypted," but that term has a wide range of meaning, similar to “biodegradable.” Dr. Acquisti explains that encrypted is "a pretty vague term . . . which could include anything from a truly secure product to something that is easily hackable." No information is safe if hackers can crack the encryption key, and shorter encryption keys are easier to decipher than longer ones.

Another concern surrounding the chips is safety. Fortunately, implantation is relatively painless—“Just a little prick” and a “brief sting.” Also, the FDA approved the technology about 13 years ago, which is somewhat reassuring. It’s hard, however, to know the long-term impact of a foreign object placed in the body. Thirteen years is not that long a track-record, especially given limited trials.

Furthermore, what happens when a chip goes bad or becomes obsolete and needs to be replaced? Or, what if an employee leaves to work somewhere else that uses its own RFID chip? There’s also the possibility of other organizations, like airlines and athletic clubs, asking us to insert their own chips into us so they too can track our consumption. Pretty soon people become human pin cushions.

For those and other reasons, it’s good that 32M has made the chips optional: “For employees not prepared to implant a chip in their bodies, the company is offering two other options – the same technology, placed in a wristband or a ring.” One has to wonder, though, how much freedom of choice 32M employees actually have.

How would you feel to be one of only a few people in your office wearing a special wristband or ring? What do those very visible accessories say about you in terms of how much you embrace technology, support your company’s new initiatives, and trust your employer? A strong argument can be made that 32M employees don’t truly have informed consent. In other words, although they may have a fairly good idea of how the chips will be used, their desire to stay gainfully employed can compel them to choose something they don’t really want.

Organizations have to be especially careful when marketing to their own employees. Unlike external customers who can freely tell companies what they like and don’t like, employees usually can’t afford to be so frank. Although the RFID chips may produce some benefits for 32M and its people, asking them to put the tracking devices under their skin is not a fair request; rather, it’s “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.”

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Virtue or Vice?

8/25/2017

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

When you hear “ice cream,” you probably don’t think of diet, healthy, or nutritious; rather, words like creamy, rich, and luscious come to mind. After all, most people don’t eat ice cream to be healthy or to get fit; they just want to indulge in something they really enjoy. That’s the motivation one upstart ice cream maker is tapping into, in a way like no other.

Brands like Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s have made decadent ice cream for decades, but even they have not capitalized on the concept of uninhibited indulgence as much as Boston-based Vice Cream. As the company name implies, its ice cream isn’t just good; it’s sinful. Other elements of the company’s brand support the unusual positioning.

Most notably, the product itself is very ‘full-bodied.’ Pictures and descriptions on Vice Cream’s website illustrate various flavors overflowing with add-ins such as “stacks on stacks of mint-chocolate coins,” “rich peanut butter ice cream mixed with chopped toffee bars,” and “chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough, salted caramel truffles, and thick swirls of chocolate fudge and caramel.”

As you might imagine, those kinds of ample, rich ingredients add up to some sizeable, undesirable numbers on the ice cream’s nutritional labels. For instance, one particular flavor boasts the following stats per half cup serving: 270 calories, 15g of fat, 10g of saturated fat, 50 mg of cholesterol, and 30g carbohydrates. By the way, I wonder how many people can eat just a half cup of ice cream; I can’t.

While those “nutrition” numbers are certainly high, they aren’t unusual for indulgent desserts. For instance, a small Brownie Batter Blizzard at Dairy Queen has 440 calories, 14g of fat, and 9g of saturated fat. Those stats are puny, however, compared to desserts at the Cheesecake Factory, where a piece of Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake has 1,490 calories, 53g of saturated fat, and 162 carbs.

If Vice Cream isn’t setting any records for nutritional negligence, what makes it so sinful? Well, beyond its product composition, the company has decided to play upon the idea of immorality with other aspects of its branding, such as its product names and promotion. More specifically, Vice Cream has opted for the classic low-brow strategy—serving up sex, with a side of profanity.

The company’s 'sex-sells' approach starts with the names of its ice creams, which may seem innocuous, until you start to unpack and compare them. For instance, there’s “Toffee Wife,” a play on the sexist term “trophy wife,” and “Afternoon Delight,” homage to the Starland Vocal Band’s 1976 hit by the same name, which was all about making love. There’s also “Breakfast in Bed,” a flavor name that seems benign until you interpret it in context with the other monikers and you see some of the company’s additional branding.

Vice Cream’s most blatant sex appeal is through a promotional video, which is the first thing you see on the firm’s homepage and which is easily found on YouTube. The slightly less than two-minute spot features an attractive young woman, wearing a short black dress and high heels. The actress’s words and actions exude sensuality, while an enticing instrumental arrangement plays in the background.

Granted, the ad doesn’t rely exclusively on sex appeal. There’s also a heavy dose of humor that seems like an attempt to offset some of the strong sexual innuendo. For instance, the main premise of the spot is that although consumers can’t get a free sample of Vice Cream, they can call the company’s “vice-line” and listen to “virtual tasters” describe in “sumptuous detail what it’s like to eat any of our delicious flavors.”

Of course, the unambiguous reference is to phone-sex, but the silliness of listening to others sensually describe ice cream downplays that allusion. Vice Cream also tries to take the edge off the sexual imagery by showcasing one rather unappealing virtual taster, “Gary,” who gets dropped by a caller who’s not aroused by his less-than-sexy product description.

Meanwhile, there’s also a smattering of profanity throughout the promotion, as the main actress lets slide “son of a [bleep] that’s good” and “F[bleep]’n Gary.” The spot censors the specific expletives, but it’s easy to understand what she’s saying.

What should we make of Vice Cream’s unabashed approach to confectionery marketing? On one hand, the company can be commended for not putting on pretenses. Yes, there are a handful of companies striving to make 'healthy' ice cream, like Halo, but ice cream is an indulgence, and Vice Cream calls it what it is. People tend to appreciate candid communication—even if it’s a little negative, at least it’s honest.

On the other hand, Vice Cream makes gratuitous use of sex to sell its products. Unlike a honeymoon vacation or Viagra, there’s no natural connection between ice cream and sex. As many other unscrupulous companies have done, Vice Cream tries to take the feelings people have for sex and, by way of classical conditioning, transfer them to its product.

Appetites for food and desires for sex are two separate things that can be disturbing, if not dangerous, to combine. Such an artificial pairing could be especially hazardous for adolescents, who, amid surging hormones and ravenous hunger, have enough to handle separately for each biological and physiological drive.

The addition of profanity only makes matters worse, particularly when one considers that anyone with an internet connection, from nine to ninety, can see Vice Cream’s ad. Users don’t need to verify that they’re 18 or older, for instance, to enter the company’s website or to watch the ad on YouTube.

Some may argue, “But the ad is supposed to be funny.” That may be true, but couching an ad or anything else in humor doesn’t cover-up the unseemly content. The sexualization and profanity are still easily seen and heard. To think that the humor makes them okay is like believing you can call someone a nasty name, then quickly disclaim, “I was just joking.”

Vice Cream looks delicious and probably tastes great too. Those positives likely explain most of the company’s rapid growth and early success. It’s okay for people to indulge in a decadent dessert every once in a while, but it’s never okay for companies to use sex gratuitously to sell products. For this reason, Vice Cream’s ingredient list also includes “Single-Minded Marketing.”

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Anything for Income?

8/4/2017

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

One of the traits of successful entrepreneurs is their ability to sell themselves: They need to persuade potential stakeholders not only to embrace their product but also to believe that they personally have the skill and passion to make it succeed. Summers VonHesse is one such successful entrepreneur, who has given “selling yourself” a whole new meaning.

A 30-year-old mother of two living in Nevada, VonHesse hasn’t worked outside the home since she and her military-career husband married eight years ago. However, she has been quite active around her house, earning about $5,000 a month, thanks to some creative and compelling photography that she puts online for a price.

The pictures aren’t the things you might expect a mother of a five-year-old daughter and two-year-old son to post on Pinterest or upload to Instagram. They’re photos and videos of VonHesse, posing seductively in all sorts of settings, wearing little or no clothing. VonHesse takes some of the photos herself, while her husband, who supports his wife’s unusual business venture, often helps. Patrons pay $5 to $50 a month to access the pics on a special website.

Besides the extra income she provides for her family, VonHesse says her entrepreneurship helps her feel good about her body, which many describe as full-figured or curvy. Her self-esteem has risen. When asked about her work and the example she’s setting for her children, she says:
“I think that the human body is a beautiful thing, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. I want them to love their bodies, and if they wanna profit from sharing images, then I would be fine with that.”

Seems like a nice marketing success story: An busy mom finds time to do something she enjoys and turn it into a business that provides significant income for her young family. Meanwhile, she and her husband develop important skills for the digital age. What’s not to like?

Well, the problem begins with a fairly obvious fact: This type of photography is pornography. The SUN, a UK News Company, describes the photos and videos as “racy,” while Yahoo Beauty reports that “strangers pay different sums of money to get glimpses of VonHesse in lingerie and sometimes even nude.”

Webster’s Dictionary defines pornography as “the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement” and as “material (such as books or a photograph) that depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement.” Meanwhile, Dictionary.com describes pornography as “sexually explicit videos, photographs, writings, or the like, whose purpose is to elicit sexual arousal.”

The pics and videos VonHesse and her husband post online for free are at least soft porn. One can speculate that the shots people pay $5 to $50 a month to see are even more graphic. It’s also likely that the explicitness has and will increase over time, as happens with most shocking communication: Consumers become desensitized, so to elicit the same reaction, images must become more and more graphic.

“But, wait,” some might argue. “This is about loving your body. In an age of rail-thin supermodels and fat-shaming on social media, VonHesse is setting a good example.” While it’s true that her work might be a positive influence for some, the highly sexualized content undoubtedly carries very negative repercussions for others. The issue isn’t body type.

If VonHesse’s goal were to inspire others with body-positive messages, she could do so while fully clothed, like many other “curvy” bloggers do, most of them tastefully-clothed and showing a fine sense of decorum. Instead, VonHesse’s pornographic images, appeal to one of the lowest common and most dangerous denominators: sexual infatuation.

Here are some of the troubling pornography-related statistics that Webroot.com shares:

40 million American people regularly visit porn sites.
35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography.
Every 39 minutes a new pornography video is being created in the United States.
About 200,000 Americans are “porn addicts.”

On a macro level, pornography is a major economic drain, responsible for $16.9 billion in lost business productivity each year. However, that financial cost pales compared to the devastating impact pornography has on individuals and their relationships.

One study that looked at brain scans of men who self-identified as “porn addicts” found that consumption of pornography can affect dopamine secretion in the brain and “alter the reward centre,” resulting in a variety of undesirable outcomes such as obsessive cravings and less satisfaction with real sexual partners.

It’s not surprising, therefore, that pornography has a very negative impact on marriages. Those who regularly consume pornography find it increasingly difficult to be aroused by their spouses, as their natural desire for sex “has been transferred somewhere else.” Author Sheila Gregoire continues to explain: “When you spend a ton of time teaching your brain to associate arousal and release with pornography, your brain can’t associate arousal and release with a person anymore.”

The Family Research Council presents a variety of other troubling consequences of pornography use, including the following:

Married men who are involved in pornography feel less satisfied with their conjugal relations and less emotionally attached to their wives.
Pornography use is a pathway to infidelity and divorce.
Pornography viewing leads to a loss of interest in good family relations.
Men who view pornography regularly have a higher tolerance for abnormal sexuality, including rape, sexual aggression, and sexual promiscuity.
Prolonged consumption of pornography by men produces stronger notions of women as commodities or as "sex objects."

Having positive perceptions of one’s body is important. While it’s great that VonHesse has achieved such self-acceptance, it’s unfortunate that she and her husband have decided to forgo privacy for profiting from indecency, putting themselves and others at risk. Being proud of your body doesn’t mean you have to show it all to everyone. Selling oneself in this way is “Single-Minded Marketing.”

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E*Trade Encourages Envy

7/14/2017

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

People often point to advertising as the main influence on individuals’ buying decisions. Certainly ads can be effective, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many of them; however, another major influence on what we buy is other people, e.g., "keeping up with the Jones." E*Trade’s new ad campaign leverages the persuasive power of peers, but is the firm’s two-pronged promotion effective and ethical?

E*Trade bills itself as “the original place to invest online” and “the first to give Main Street the chance to trade like Wall Street.” The company has become well-known for empowering ordinary people to trade like professional stockbrokers. Instead of paying costly commissions, individuals who open E*Trade accounts put down just $6.95 per trade of stocks, bonds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and that fee drops to just $4.95 after 30 trades in a given quarter.

Do E*Trade and similar on-line trading platforms (e.g., Ameritrade and Scott Trade) work? They can, if you know what you’re doing. Online trading is much like do-it-yourself (DIY) home projects. Getting the tools to renovate your own kitchen is easy; using them properly is the hard part. Some, however, have been very successful using online trading tools, like the New Jersey high school student who turned $10,000 into $300,000 in about a year, by buying and selling on E*Trade.

This information provides an important backdrop for E*Trade’s new advertising campaign, as each spot features an unambiguous attempt to pit poor against wealthy. The commercials entice the “have nots” to long for the lifestyle of the “haves.”

For instance, in one commercial a young cubicle-dweller gets blown-off by his much more affluent boss, which launches the young office worker into imagining the extraordinary lives of the exceptionally well-to-do: lounging around lavish pools, hitting golf balls off yachts, doing donuts in super cars, feeding exotic pets, waterskiing behind helicopters, having food fights with expensive edibles. A music bed of “If I were a rich man” from Fiddler on the Roof plays beneath these and several similar clips, all culminating with an arousing call to action: “Don’t get mad, get E*Trade.”

The campaign’s other spots feature different video footage and music but suggest the same problem/solution: Your life is lacking because you don’t have what the rich have, but you can get it all with E*Trade.

What’s been the reaction to E*Trade’s campaign? Adweek gave it the designation of “Ad of the Day” for June 19, 2017, describing the ads as “remarkable,” while adding that the company “stokes rage at the 1%.”

Fast Company’s take was more critical: “By using opulence to sell its investment services, the online broker patches together a plutocratic vision of the American dream, ignoring how entrenched inequality is–and how much more difficult it is to overcome.”

In addition, CNET succinctly summarized the campaign’s ironic prescription: “The rich are awful, so use ETrade to become one of them. That seems to be the logic behind the company's new ad campaign.”

I tend to agree with these analyses and draw my own conclusion about the campaign’s mindfulness through a combination of these points and several new ones. Here are the five unfortunate outcomes I believe E*Trade’s ads inspire:

1. Unrealistic expectations. Certainly people can go from rags to riches by trading stocks, but how likely is it to happen? Making a fortune in the stock market requires considerable skill and some luck—much more than just opening an online account.

2. Envy: Benchmarking helps businesses get better by showing them how they might improve their products and processes. Personal comparisons, however, are often problematic, especially when they involve wishing for what others have.

3. Terminal Materialism: Money isn’t inherently bad; it depends on what one does with it. Many of its uses in the E*Trade ads, however, suggest owning for the sake of owning, vs. buying practical things (instrumental materialism), or using money to help others, e.g., paying for education, creating jobs.

4. Poor Stewardship: Beyond being impractical, much of the behavior the campaign glamorizes is overindulgent and outright wasteful.

5. Inaccurate Perceptions: While some extremely rich people live lives of ridiculous luxury, most are not so crass and careless with their spending. The way they became wealthy was not by being frivolous but frugal. Also, many use their money in ways that benefit others.

Against these points, some may argue that the ads are puffery, i.e., extreme exaggerations meant to be funny and not taken seriously. While some of the scenes are over-the-top, e.g., the all-out food fight among elites, most of the cuts are realistic and certainly could happen, if they haven’t already. For instance, a Google search of “helicopter water skiing” produces over a million hits, including a variety of real pictures and the story of a father who towed his son on water skis with a copter, to the chagrin of others.

Will the E*Trade ads be effective? Probably. As mentioned at the onset, the desire to emulate others, especially in terms of their possessions, is a very powerful one. Consequently, E*Trade’s appeal to become one of the very rich will strike a nerve with many, and the oversimplification of achieving the dream will help induce people to try online trading. As suggested above, however, the campaign rests on a foundation of deception, disrespect, and excess, among other indiscretions, which results in E*Trade earning this return: “Single-Minded Marketing.”

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Hotdog Heroes?

7/7/2017

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

What did you enjoy eating during your recent 4th of July celebration: a burger, some watermelon, a side of potato salad? How about 72 hotdogs? If you’re competitive eater Joey Chestnut, that’s exactly what you downed on Independence Day, in just ten minutes.

According to Nathan’s Famous, people have been gathering at its first hotdog stand on Coney Island, NY every July 4th since 1916, to see who could devour the most dogs. The first recorded contest came in 1972. Since that time, Nathan’s has built the event into a media spectacle that attracts contestants from around the world, draws over 40,000 spectators to Coney Island, and engages nearly two million viewers on the ESPN broadcast.

Yes, ESPN televised the event live, and SB Nation provided a thorough recap of the action. Does that mean that eating qualifies as athletics? If so, the United States, which ranks as the 12th most obese country in the world, might also be one of the most athletic!

Although we shouldn’t expect eating to become an Olympic event anytime soon, it’s helpful to understand exactly what competitive eating is and why it’s so popular:

“Competitive eating, or speed eating, is an activity in which participants compete against each other to consume large quantities of food in a short time period. Contests are typically eight to ten minutes long, although some competitions can last up to thirty minutes, with the person consuming the most food being declared the winner. Competitive eating is most popular in the United States, Canada, and Japan, where organized professional eating contests often offer prizes, including cash.”

Beyond individual participants, there are actual organizations whose mission is consumption as sport, most notably Major League Eating (MLE), “the world body that oversees all professional eating contests.” Its logo features a hand holding a fork. MLE’s website lists dozens of official eating contests ranging from oysters to ice cream sandwiches, with prize purses between $1,750 and $40,000. Chestnut has won many of these events, including Nathan’s contest 10 times, which gives new meaning to the saying “eat to live.”

Surprisingly, Chestnut, Miki Sudo, who ate 41 hotdogs to take the women’s title, and most other competitive eaters are not big people; they’re average-size, and some are even very fit. So, how do they eat so much? Here’ the basic strategy:

“Many competitive eaters, like those competing in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, practice stretching out their stomachs for the main event by drinking gallons of milk or water very quickly, or by downing lots of filling, fibrous foods like watermelon and oatmeal in a matter of minutes.”

Nathan’s website goes on to explain the exercise and eating regimens of many of its contestants:

“Despite consuming mass quantities of high-calorie foods during competition season, most professional competitive eaters are very fit. Many contestants weight train and exercise vigorously to build muscle and increase their metabolism. Most also eat healthy, low-calorie diets after competitions. Why? Because their stomachs are so stretched out, they can no longer tell when they’re full!”

So, maybe competitive eaters are athletes who deserve more recognition for their accomplishments. Not so fast. It’s also important to consider the ‘damage’ they do to themselves and potentially others through their day-of-event activities.

For instance, Chris Weller of Business Insider wrote an article titled “The terrifying totals of calories, fat, and sodium consumed at Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest,” in which he presented the nutritional numbers for the 72 Nathan’s Famous skinless beef franks (4 kg) and 72 Ball Park hot dog buns (3 kg) that Chestnut quickly consumed this past July 4. Here are some of those statistics, which include the metric weights and their respective percentages of daily nutritional values:

Fat: 1 kg, 1606%
Saturated Fat: 360 g, 1800%
Cholesterol: 2 g, 667%
Sodium: 46 g, 1917%

To help put these numbers into perspective, that’s about 16 days’ worth of fat, 18 days’ worth of saturated fat, and over 19 days’ worth of sodium, all packed into a ten-minute timeframe. Of course, Chestnut and his colleagues aren’t downing those kinds of calories (19,433), every day, but if competitive eating is their job, they’re engaging in similar indulgence more than a few times a year. Even if someone exercises regularly and maintains a trim physique, it’s hard to imagine that kind of extreme consumption doesn’t take its toll over time.

Such overeating reminds me of a now-defunct television show I watched several times, not without misgivings: the Travel Channel’s “Man vs. Food.” In each episode, host Adam Richman visited a different city where he interacted with locals at a couple of their favorite restaurants and eventually took on a mammoth eating challenge, like a 5 lb. sandwich.

After four seasons of such extreme consumption, Richman retired from the popular series without offering a specific reason; although, some suggested there were “concerns over ensuring Adam Richman's health if the show had continued in its previous format.” Richman has since lost about 70 lbs.

Some may argue personal choice: “If people want to tackle food challenges as TV show hosts or as competitive eaters, it’s their prerogative. They’re only affecting themselves.” Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

While an individual’s gluttony does primarily impact him/her, it also affects others by virtue of the fact that we’re social beings who often learn from and emulate the behavior of others. That influence is greatly magnified when mass media share the actions, and it’s even worse when the destructive behavior is presented in a positive light.

The bottom-line is competitive eating glamorizes gluttony. Chestnut and other eating contest winners receive prize money and they’re lauded as champions. There’s nothing praiseworthy, however, about stuffing oneself with 72 hotdogs in ten minutes.

True, few rational people will attempt to consume the quantities of food that competitive eaters do, but they’re still teaching wrong attitudes toward food, e.g., that eating is sport and that it’s okay to continue consuming even after you’re full. Those are likely the kinds of beliefs that have helped place America 12th on the list of the world’s most obese nations.

Competitive eating comes into even poorer taste when one considers the hundreds of millions of people around the world who don’t have enough to eat. “The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about 795 million people of the 7.3 billion people in the world, or one in nine, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2014-2016.”

According to Poverty.com, it’s estimated that “a person dies of hunger or hunger-related causes every ten seconds.” That means about 60 people passed away during the time it took the Nathan’s competitors to each down several dozen calorie-heavy hotdogs.

Competition is generally a good thing that brings out the best in people. Competitive eating, however, showcases an unseemly side of humanity—one that’s harmful to its participants, as well as to hosts of others. Given the great attention it receives each year, Nathan’s Famous Hotdog Eating Contest appears to be effective promotion, but the bad behavior it encourages makes the competition an example of “Single Minded Marketing.”