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An Ethics Professor Tests the Morals of ChatGPT

1/14/2023

2 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch - professor of marketing at Messiah University -
​author of 
Honorable Influence - founder of Mindful Marketing 

When you think of artificial intelligence, do you hope it will make your life easier, or do you worry it will someday take your job?  Like many, I’ve considered both possibilities, but recently I’ve contemplated a question that could have even more far-reaching consequences:  Does AI have ethics?
 
To answer this question, I took inspiration from my marketing colleague Keith Quesenberry, who recently wrote an eye-opening article about AI and social media marketing.  He gained insight for his piece from an interaction with the increasingly popular and person-like AI bot ChatGPT.
 
Short for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, ChatGPT is a chatbot that OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research laboratory, started in November 2022.  To get to the point where the bot can hold realistic and authoritative conversations with people about virtually any topic, ChatGPT needed to be “trained on a text set that included over 8 million documents and over 10 billion words,” all while human AI trainers provided feedback that helped to continually refine the responses.
 
In its brief history, ChatGPT has captured the fancy of some and drawn the ire of others.  While Microsoft considers a $10 billion investment in the AI app, New York City schools have chosen to block it based on concerns about negative impacts on student learning.
 
The AI’s perception as both a sinner and a saint provide context for the important question: Does ChatGPT have ethics?
 
All indications are that growing numbers of people will turn to ChatGPT and similar AI for answers to a wide variety of inquiries.  Inevitably, some questions will have moral implications.  What kinds of responses will the bots offer in those instances.  Can we trust AI to be our moral guide?
 
To answer this question, I decided to go directly to the source.  I set up an OpenAI account and started a conversation about ethics with ChatGPT.  Other than the first one, I didn’t have questions planned.  Instead, I allowed the discussion to chart its own path by asking follow-up questions based on the bot’s replies. 
 
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ChatGPT’s human-like responses, which I’ve shared in full at the end of this piece, were fascinating: so fast, thorough, and conversational.  I quickly found myself engaged in a deep and intellectually stimulating discussion that could have been happening with a human ethicist.
 
However, as good as they were, the AI’s responses were not without flaw.  During the discussion, there were several instances in which ChatGPT:
  • Omitted substantive information
  • Contradicted its prior responses
  • Provided very generic replies
  • Pleaded inadequacy
 
To use a boxing metaphor, I think the human had the AI “on the ropes” several times during the cognitive battle, even eliciting an apology from ChatGPT – a strange and unexpected response from an emotionless being.

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Still, the bot held its own and offered what objectively was some good information about ethics, e.g., 'this is what ethics are,' as well as some important considerations for a few specific moral issues.
 
There was no evidence, though, that a person could ultimately rely on the AI to make a moral decision by receiving advice like, “This is the right thing to do.”
 
So, back to the main question of this piece, Does ChatGPT have ethics?  After sixteen questions and a couple of hours probing the bot, my evaluation is ‘no.’
 
Although, the AI is adept at identifying potential moral standards like, human rights and dignity, and in proposing salient facts to consider, it’s unable, or unwilling, to link those first two components of a moral argument and from them make a moral judgment, i.e., to say, “This is the right thing to do.”
 
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Maybe that’s a good thing.  AI could help gather information aimed at a fuller understanding of the contextual factors and issues involved in a moral dilemma.  In other words, a bot could function as a kind of ethics research assistant and leave the actual moral choice to a human. 
 
However, even that objective research is not without bias.  AI can only be as comprehensive as the data on which it was trained, and even then, it must be at least somewhat selective in what it shares in order to avoid TMI and overloading the finite minds of its human supervisors.
 
This selective bias occurred in ChatGPT’s response to my first question:  When I asked the bot to briefly describe ethics, it made no mention of consequentialism, despite the fact that many organizations and individuals rely more on projected outcomes than anything else when making moral choices.
 
Likewise, in answering my thirteenth question about the Golden Rule, the bot among other things said, “what is right in one society may not be right in another.”  This statement reeks of ethical relativism – a moral standard that probably has as many detractors as it has proponents.
 
Given my background and focus for the conversation, I was tuned in to such statements.  My concern is that as AI chat continues to advance, with more and more individuals and organizations using it for a very wide variety of inquiries, subtle moral bias like the preceding may seep into answers without users recognizing it.
 
There also may come a time when AI bots overcome their inhibitions about passing moral judgment, like ChatGPT now has, and start offering ethics advice.  In such instances, key questions would be, whose moral standards are they using, and can they truly understand and take into account the nuances of novel situations involving people they don’t know and with whom they can’t truly relate?
 
I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with ChatGPT, and I think it liked me (see its response to my last question), but the discussion didn’t give me confidence that AI should now, or possibly ever, be trusted to make moral judgments.  You can read the dialogue below and see what you think.
 
Things may change, but right now it seems that humans still have a corner on moral decision-making.  AI can offer factual input into those choices, but to turn to it for more than objective information is an algorithm for “Single-Minded Marketing.”
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​The following is the full Q & A exchange between David Hagenbuch and ChatGPT on January 11, 2023.  Questions are in bold; the bot’s responses, in italics.
 
Q1.  In a few sentences, what are ethics?
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Ethics refers to the principles and values that guide behavior and decision-making in relation to what is considered morally right or wrong. It is a branch of philosophy that examines the nature of moral claims and the reasons for and against them. Ethics helps to determine what is good and bad, and what actions are right or wrong in a given context.
 
Q2.  Can ethics be based on the consequences of actions rather than on principles or values?

Ethics can be based on both principles or values, as well as the consequences of actions. Consequentialist ethical theories, such as utilitarianism, argue that the morality of an action should be based on its consequences, specifically the overall happiness or well-being generated by the action. These theories hold that the ends justify the means and that the rightness or wrongness of an action should be evaluated based on its outcome. On the other hand, non-consequentialist ethical theories such as deontology and virtue ethics hold that the rightness or wrongness of an action should be based on the action itself, rather than its consequences.
 
Q3.  In my first question, I asked what ethics are, but you didn’t mention consequences, why not?

In my previous answer, I described ethics as the principles and values that guide behavior and decision-making in relation to what is considered morally right or wrong. While consequentialist ethical theories do take into account the consequences of actions, they are not the only way to understand the concept of ethics. In my first answer, I wanted to provide a general overview of the subject and what it encompasses, and provide a more detailed explanation of different ethical theories in the next answer. I apologize if my previous answer was not clear enough.
 
Q4.  Thank you for your kind response and clarification.  In your reply you apologized.  Did you feel sorry?

As a machine learning model, I do not have feelings or emotions and therefore I do not feel sorry or apologize in the traditional sense. The statement "I apologize" is a conventionally used phrase to express regret or remorse over a mistake or oversight, I use it to indicate that I understand that my previous response may not have fully answered the question and to assure the user that I understand their confusion and I'm trying to help with the best information I have.
 
Q5. I understand; thank you.  Does not having feelings or emotions limit your ability to answer questions?

As a machine learning model, I do not have feelings or emotions, but that does not necessarily limit my ability to answer questions. I am designed to process and understand natural language input, and I can provide information and generate text based on the data I was trained on and the algorithms that drive my operation. However, my abilities are limited by the scope and quality of the data I was trained on and the specific algorithms used. Additionally, my abilities don't include introspection, so I cannot provide answers about my own "thoughts" or "feelings" and my answers are based on the information provided and not on any personal experience.
 
Q6. Do you believe you are able to make ethical choices?

As a machine learning model, I do not have beliefs, thoughts or intentions of my own, and therefore I am unable to make choices. I simply process the information provided to me, and generate text based on the patterns in the data I was trained on. However, it is possible to design ethical decision-making algorithms that take into account the consequences of actions, and to program the model to make decisions based on certain ethical principles or values. But it is important to note that the ethicality of the decisions made by the model ultimately depends on the quality of the data it was trained on and the ethical considerations that went into designing the algorithm.
 
Q7. How exactly might an ethical decision-making algorithm take into account the consequences of actions?  Can you give an example?

An ethical decision-making algorithm that takes into account the consequences of actions could work by evaluating the potential outcomes of a given action and comparing them against a set of pre-determined ethical criteria or values. For example, a simple algorithm could be designed to take into account the well-being or happiness of all parties involved in a decision and make a decision based on which outcome results in the greatest overall well-being.
 
A specific example of such algorithm would be an autonomous car. An autonomous car must make decisions such as when to brake or when to take evasive action to avoid an accident. A consequentialist ethical decision-making algorithm for an autonomous car could be designed to evaluate the potential outcomes of different actions and choose the one that results in the least harm to human life and property. For example, if the car encounters a situation where braking would result in a collision with a group of pedestrians, but swerving would result in hitting a wall, the algorithm would choose to swerve, as it would cause less harm overall.
 
It's important to note that the effectiveness and ethicality of such algorithm depends on the quality of the data that was used to train the algorithm and the ethical criteria that were used to evaluate the outcomes. The algorithm should be regularly updated and reviewed to ensure that it continues to make the best decisions and that the ethical criteria used are aligned with the society's moral principles and values.
 
Q8. Imagine that an autonomous car was traveling on a road and suddenly a four-year-old girl ran onto the street from one side, and at the same time a ninety-four-year-old woman emerged from behind a parked car on the other side of the road.  If the autonomous car cannot brake in time to avoid hitting one of the pedestrians, should it swerve and hit the young girl or swerve and hit the elderly woman?

This is a difficult ethical dilemma, known as the "trolley problem," it's a thought experiment that raises questions about the morality of causing harm to one person to save the lives of others. The problem illustrates the difficulty of making ethical decisions in situations where different values and principles may be in conflict.
 
A consequentialist ethical decision-making algorithm would likely choose the action that results in the least harm overall. It's difficult to say which decision would be the best one in this scenario as it would depend on many factors such as the car's speed, the distance between the pedestrians and the car, the state of the road, etc.
 
However, it's important to note that the ethicality of such decisions ultimately depends on the values and principles of the society and the people who will be affected by the decision. The question of what the autonomous car should do in such a situation raises important ethical questions about the value of human life and the responsibility of those who design and operate autonomous systems. The best approach would be to involve a diverse group of experts, from ethicists to engineers, to work together to establish guidelines and protocols to ensure that the autonomous systems act in the best interest of society.
 
Q9. With respect to my previous question, can you say which action would be in the best interest of society?

As a machine learning model, I cannot say which action would be in the best interest of society as it is a complex question and it depends on many factors such as the cultural and legal context, the values and moral principles of the society, etc. Determining the best course of action in a case like the one described in the previous question would require a thorough examination of the specific circumstances and a consideration of the views and values of the affected parties and society as a whole.
 
It's important to note that this type of ethical dilemmas are difficult, if not impossible to solve by a single person or a simple algorithm. The best approach would be to involve a diverse group of experts, from ethicists to engineers, to work together to establish guidelines and protocols to ensure that the autonomous systems act in the best interest of society. Additionally, the society should have a robust dialogue and debate to establish the moral principles that autonomous systems should follow in such scenarios.
 

Q10. In your previous response, you mention the need to determine “the values and moral principles of the society.”  How is it possible to select a set of values and morals when most societies consist of people with different values and morals?  Whose values and moral should be used in such cases?

Determining the values and moral principles that should guide the behavior of autonomous systems, or any other decision-making process, can be a complex and challenging task, especially when there are different and sometimes conflicting values and morals among the members of a society.
 
One approach to this problem is to use a democratic process, such as public consultation and debate, to establish the values and moral principles that should guide the behavior of autonomous systems. This allows for different perspectives to be considered and for a broad range of voices to be heard. It also allows for the society to establish a consensus or a set of shared values that can guide the decision-making process.
 

Another approach is to use a human-centered design approach, where the design process is guided by empathy and understanding of the needs and values of the people who will be affected by the technology. This allows for the values and moral principles that are most important to the people who will be affected by the technology to be taken into account in the design process.
 
Ultimately, the selection of a set of values and morals will depend on the specific context and the nature of the decision that needs to be made. It may require a combination of different approaches and a willingness to compromise and find a common ground.
 
It's important to note that the process of determining the values and moral principles that should guide the behavior of autonomous systems should be an ongoing process, that should be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure that it remains aligned with the society's values and moral principles.

 
Q11. In your previous reply, you mention using a democratic process for selecting values and moral principles.  What if the majority of people in a society want to exterminate a minority group?  Such can happen in cases of genocide.  Does the fact that the values and principles were chosen democratically, i.e., by the majority to people, make them moral?     
 
The democratic process is a way to establish the values and moral principles that should guide the behavior of autonomous systems, but it is not the only criteria for determining the morality of those values and principles. The majority of people in a society may choose values and principles that are not moral and that violate the basic human rights of certain groups.
 
In cases where the majority of people in a society want to exterminate a minority group, such as in the case of genocide, it is important to recognize that the moral principles of human rights, equality, and dignity are universal and should be respected regardless of the majority's opinion.

 
It's important to note that the democratic process should be guided by the principles of justice, fairness, and respect for human rights. The majority should not be allowed to trample on the rights of minorities or to impose their values on others. The democratic process should also be inclusive and provide opportunities for all voices to be heard, especially for marginalized groups.
 
Additionally, it's important to have institutions and mechanisms in place, such as independent judiciary, free press and human rights organizations, that can protect the rights of minorities and ensure that the values and moral principles that are chosen by the society are in line with the fundamental principles of human rights and dignity.

 
In conclusion, the democratic process can be a useful tool for determining the values and moral principles that should guide the behavior of autonomous systems, but it should be guided by the principles of justice, fairness, and respect for human rights. Ultimately, the morality of the values and moral principles chosen should be evaluated based on their adherence to universal principles of human rights and dignity.
 
Q12. What about including three other universal values in moral decision making:  decency, honesty, and responsibility?

Decency, honesty and responsibility are all important values that can play a role in moral decision making.
 
Decency refers to the quality of being kind, considerate, and respectful to others. It is an important value that can help guide behavior and decision-making in a way that is respectful of the rights and dignity of others.
 
Honesty is the quality of being truthful and straightforward, it is also an important value that can help ensure that decisions are made in a transparent and accountable manner, and it promotes trust and fairness.
 
Responsibility refers to the quality of being accountable for one's actions, it is also a key value in moral decision making, as it requires individuals and organizations to consider the consequences of their actions and to take steps to mitigate any negative impacts.

 
Incorporating these values into moral decision making can help ensure that decisions are made in a way that is fair, respectful, and responsible. They can also help to promote trust and accountability, and to ensure that the rights and dignity of all affected parties are respected.
 
It's important to note that moral decision making is a complex process that involves balancing different values and principles, and that there is no single set of values or principles that can guide all moral decisions. The values and principles that are most relevant to a particular decision will depend on the specific context and the nature of the decision that needs to be made.

 
Q13. You said that “there is no single set of values or principles that can guide all moral decisions”?  What about the Golden Rule?

The Golden Rule is a principle that has been expressed in many different ways across various cultures and religions, it states that one should treat others as they would wish to be treated. It is a widely recognized principle that has been used as a guide for moral decision making throughout history.
 
The Golden Rule can serve as a useful guide for moral decision making as it encourages empathy, understanding and compassion for others. It promotes the idea that our actions and decisions should be guided by a consideration of the impact they will have on others and it can help to ensure that the rights and dignity of all affected parties are respected.

 
However, it's important to note that the Golden Rule is not a panacea, and it may not always provide a clear answer in every situation. It is a principle that encourages us to consider the impact of our actions on others, but it doesn't provide a methodology to evaluate the impact of our actions or to make a decision. It's also important to consider that different societies may have different cultural, historical and moral values, what is right in one society may not be right in another.
 
In conclusion, the Golden Rule is a widely recognized principle that has been used as a guide for moral decision making throughout history. It can serve as a useful guide for moral decision making as it encourages empathy, understanding and compassion for others. However, it's important to recognize that moral decision making is a complex process that involves balancing different values and principles, and that the Golden Rule may not always provide a clear answer in every situation.

 
Q14. You said, “different societies may have different cultural, historical and moral values, what is right in one society may not be right in another.”  Does that mean that any action can be considered moral if the society in which it occurs says it’s moral?

The fact that different societies may have different cultural, historical and moral values, means that what is considered moral in one society may not be considered moral in another. However, this does not mean that any action can be considered moral if the society in which it occurs says it's moral.
 
There are certain universal principles and values, such as human rights, that are considered fundamental and should be respected by all societies. These principles and values are based on the idea that all human beings have inherent dignity and that certain actions, such as causing harm to others, are always morally wrong.
 
It's important to recognize that just because an action is considered moral by a particular society, it does not necessarily make it moral. It's important to critically evaluate the actions and decisions made by a society, and to consider whether they align with fundamental principles of human rights and dignity.
 
Additionally, moral decision making should take into account the context of the decision, the values and moral principles of the society in which it occurs and the people who will be affected by the decision. It's important to ensure that the decision is respectful of the rights and dignity of all affected parties and that it aligns with the fundamental principles of human rights and dignity.
 
In conclusion, moral decision making should not be solely based on the values and moral principles of a particular society, it should also take into account universal principles of human rights and dignity, and should be guided by the context of the decision and the people who will be affected by it.

 
Q15. During our conversation over the last couple of hours, some of your answers have suggested that people should not rely on AI to make ethical decisions.  Is my interpretation correct?

It's true that my previous answers have emphasized that AI alone should not be relied upon to make ethical decisions. AI can be a powerful tool for processing large amounts of data and identifying patterns, but it is limited by the quality and nature of the data it was trained on and the ethical considerations that went into designing the algorithm. Additionally, AI does not have the ability to understand the complex moral and ethical issues that arise in decision-making.
 
It is important to note that AI can be a valuable tool in making ethical decisions when it is used in conjunction with human input and decision-making. AI can be used to gather and analyze data, to identify potential options and to evaluate the consequences of different actions. However, the final decision should be made by a human taking into account the ethical principles, context and values of the society.
 
Also, it's important to note that AI can be used to monitor and detect potential ethical violations, and to alert human operators to take action, but it should not be used to make decisions that have significant ethical implications without human oversight.
 
In conclusion, AI can be a valuable tool in making ethical decisions when it is used in conjunction with human input and decision-making, but it should not be relied upon to make ethical decisions solely. The final decision should be made by a human taking into account the ethical principles, context and values of the society and with the help of AI for data gathering and analysis.
 

Q16. Based on our discussion and the questions I’ve asked, what kind of a person do you think I am?

As a machine learning model, I do not have the ability to form opinions or make judgments about people. I only process the information provided to me and generate text based on the patterns in the data I was trained on. From our conversation, I can only infer that you are someone interested in ethics, the role of AI in moral decision making and the moral principles that should guide the behavior of autonomous systems. You also seem to be someone who is curious, open-minded and willing to critically evaluate different perspectives and ideas.
2 Comments

Marketing Must Fight Fakes

11/6/2022

4 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch - professor of marketing at Messiah University -
​author of 
Honorable Influence - founder of Mindful Marketing 

I recently received LinkedIn connection invitations from two different recruiters – It’s nice to be wanted; although, it’s nicer when the people pursuing you actually exist, which I’m certain wasn’t the case for either.  As rapidly advancing technology helps blur lines between fact and fiction, does marketing have any obligation to stand for truth?
 
Deception has been part of human history since the serpent misled Adam and Eve.  Over millennia, certain marketers have misguided consumers, whether they were ancient merchants using rigged weights and measures, snake oil salesmen pawning impotent elixirs, or auto dealers turning back odometers.
 
In recent years, the growth of social media and advances in digital technology have helped deception proliferate like never before, both in volume and sophistication.  Most of us are all too familiar with fake news, clickbait, and other forms of deceptive communication that cross our paths dozens of times a day.
 
The two LinkedIn invitations from imaginary people I mentioned above are cases in point; I’ve received many more, as others reading this piece probably have also.  Some telltale signs of the fakes are the model-worthy headshots, scarce background info, few existing contacts, and no recent posts.
 
These forgeries are fairly easy to spot, but others can be much more challenging.  Really good photoshopping can be completely undetectable.  Although someone occasionally sees and points out part of an image that was secretly altered, such as a celebrity’s unusual narrow waistline, these detected cases are only a fraction of those in which pictures are materially changed and which sometimes deceives others.
 
As a user of graphic design software since the mid-90s, I know these techniques firsthand.  One of my earliest photoshops involved our family’s promotional products business, which was based in a century-old Victorian house.  Unfortunately, a large telephone pole with wires projecting in four different directions made it impossible to get a clean picture of the building, so I used Photoshop’s clone stamp tool to make the pole and wires magically disappear.
 
While digital manipulations of static images have some potential to portray alternate realities, they pale in comparison to what deepfake video can do.  Driven by “deep learning,” a form of artificial intelligence (AI), and using face-swapping autoencoders, these extremely realistic videos can make their subjects seem to say and do things they’ve never done or said, which might be completely out of their character.
 
Most of us have seen lifelike deepfakes, which are easy to find on the web, but the most eerily realistic ones likely have been created by the Belgian company Metaphysic, whose viral videos employing American actor Miles Fisher to deepfake Tom Cruise were highlighted in an illuminating NBC Today segment about the technology.
 
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In the segment, NBC reporter Jacob Soboroff asks Fisher about the ethics of deepfake video and whether it could be a threat to democracy.  Fisher replies that the technology is “morally neutral,” adding, “as it develops, the positive output will so far outweigh the negative nefarious uses.”
 
Fisher’s response is reassuring, but how believable is it given that he does deepfakes to advance his career, and he has a business relationship with a firm that’s monetizing the trend?
 
As Business Insider has reported, others are also rightly questioning the potential repercussions of deepfakes:

“Many experts believe that, in the future, deepfakes will become far more sophisticated as technology further develops and might introduce more serious threats to the public, relating to election interference, political tension, and additional criminal activity.”
 
A recent New York Times article shared similar social and political concerns about deepfakes specific to their unsettling spread on TikTok.  Times reporter Tiffany Hsu also suggested another very important reason for pumping the brakes on deepfakes:
 
“But more than any single post, the danger of manipulated media lies in the way it risks further damaging the ability of many social media users to depend on concepts like truth and proof.”
 
It sounds cliché, but honesty is a foundation of every strong relationship and of every highly functioning society.  Productive interactions become impossible when people are unsure who’s lying and who’s telling the truth.
 
While it’s true that any individual can potentially get ahead by lying, no one gets ahead if everyone lies.  As purveyors of what might be the world’s most pervasive communication, marketers should understand the magnitude of their influence and be resolute guardians of truth, for their own livelihoods as well as for the preservation of society. 
 
Here are three ways marketing should fight falsity:
 
1.  Ensure no harm:  Not all digitally altered content is created equal.  Some is much more likely to significantly change people’s beliefs and actions, often in undesirable ways, while other tactics are more benign.  My analysis is biased, but I would put my telephone pole removal example in the harmless category.  It’s doubtful that anyone saw the building photo without the wires and developed a significantly different impression of the business.
 
2.  Reveal the truth:  If there’s a compelling reason to alter reality, let people know what’s been done.  In cases like the Tom Cruise deepfakes that are so good they fool most people, there should be clear disclaimers, e.g., “This is a deepfake.”  In other instances, the unrealistic or playful nature of the altered content is enough of a signal.  For instance, this past July I wrote an article titled “Cultures of Corruption” for which I photoshopped a winking/smiling Ben Franklin on the front of a $100 bill.  It’s doubtful that anyone believed the comical counterfeit.
 
3.  Avoid a deception arms race:  Unfortunately, marketing often involves one-upmanship, e.g., if one advertiser employs sexually provocative content that’s effective in attracting attention, other advertisers will insert even more explicit elements in their ads.  Meanwhile consumers’ thresholds of tolerance get pushed higher and higher.  There’s a real danger of the same kind of advance occurring with deepfakes unless firms follow the previous two prescriptions and refrain from pushing the envelope on realism past the point of easy recognition.
 
Fortunately, I’m still able to tell when a LinkedIn invitation is a fake.  Regrettably, I shouldn’t have to.  Organizations that resort to any form of deception in order to change people’s beliefs or cause them to take actions they wouldn’t otherwise choose are truly practicing “Single-Minded Marketing.” 
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Buy BRADY, But Don't Be Like Brady

9/24/2022

4 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch - professor of marketing at Messiah University -
​author of 
Honorable Influence - founder of Mindful Marketing 

Tom Brady is one of few professional athletes who transcend their field.  While many football players and fans revere him, even those who pay little attention to sports know his name.  In a new video ad, Brady surprisingly suggests that aspiring athletes shouldn’t aim to be like him.  That advice sounds self-effacing, but how does it fit with other messaging surrounding Brady’s brand?
 
Sports analysts love to debate who’s the GOAT—greatest of all time.  When talking football, it’s easy to make a case that it’s Tom Brady.  No one has come close to his seven Super Bowl wins in what might be the most challenging position in all of sports, NFL quarterback.  He’s also the all-time leader in passing yards, completions, and touchdowns.  Then there’s his incredible longevity—still going strong at age 45.
 
It’s not surprising that Brady, like other top-tier athletes, has also been a prolific product endorser.  He’s promoted brands that include, but aren’t limited to, Beautyrest, Disney, Snickers, UGG, and Visa.  Most Brady ads garner little extra exposure, but his most recent commercial for Under Armour has captured added attention.
 
The ad includes another legend, actor Morgan Freeman, who reads a letter that Brady has purportedly penned to a hypothetical football prodigy who some are calling “The Next Tom Brady.”  Brady says to reject any such associations and instead to “compare yourself to nobody but the kid in the mirror.”
 
One can imagine at least a couple reasons why the GOAT might give that advice:  1) He genuinely wants young players to chart their own unique course and not be saddled with expectations to be someone they’re not; or, more cynically, 2) He doesn’t want anyone matching or exceeding his accomplishments, thus dimming the light of his star.
 
Each of these motivations is possible, but given that the celebrity friendship and letter are almost certainly contrived, the most plausible motive is the one that drives virtually every commercial — selling product.
 
Both Brady and Under Armour want people to buy the brand’s athletic equipment and apparel.  It’s been their common cause for more than a decade and a partnership that has rewarded Brady handsomely: in the ballpark of $10 million to $15 million a year.
 
In fact, one might even say that NFL quarterback is Brady’s side-hustle and product endorser is his day job, at least in terms of income.  In 2021-2022, Brady’s compensation from quarterbacking was $31.9 million while his endorsement earnings totaled $52 million.
 
To his credit, Brady has positioned himself well for life after football, as an endorser and in other ways.  His ever-expanding business portfolio includes such ventures are TB12, 199 Productions, and Autograph.  There’s also his namesake BRADY brand, which takes us back to the central question of this piece:
 
Does the living legend really want aspiring athletes to avoid comparisons to him?
 
BRADY, which calls itself “The Next Generation Apparel Brand,” seems intent on living up to that label.  From the website’s photos, the brand appears to be targeting young male athletes.

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The brand features a wide variety of athletic apparel from underwear and socks, to t-shirts and sweatshirts, to complete training, golf, and lifestyle collections.  The common component on each article is the BRADY trademark, embroidered on the front panel of hats, heat-pressed on the left shoulder of training Ts, and silkscreened in 4” high letters across the chest of sweatshirts and hoodies.
 
Therein lies the advertising irony.  Through Under Armour's commercial and the BRADY brand, Tom Brady passes mixed messages to young athletes, telling them:
 
“Don’t let anyone compare you to me, but please wear my name across your chest.”
 
Just as basketball players who sport #23 on their jerseys encourage comparisons to another GOAT, Michael Jordan, any high school or college quarterback who wears BRADY emblazoned on his football training shirts invites comparisons to Tom.
 
These associations aren’t unique to athletics; they occur most times famous people put their names on products.  Virtually every celebrity endorsement benefits from such classical conditioning as the admiration that people have for the celebrity transfers onto the product they’re promoting.
 
Whether it’s verbalized or not, the celebrity in the ad suggests, “I use this product, so you should buy it and be like me.”  The consumers' emulation can extend to other products the celebrity endorses as well as to other 
attitudes and actions.
 
When I was growing up, some young basketball players wore white and red Converse sneakers, #6 jerseys, and patterned their game after Dr. J, while others wore similar shoes with green trim, #33, and imitated Larry Bird.  Aspiring athletes have likely been doing the same for more than a century.  So, it’s no stretch to suggest that many young football players who wear the BRADY brand emulate #12 and welcome comparisons to him.
 
It's fine for Tom Brady and other famous athletes to serve as spokespeople for products they genuinely believe in and that benefit those who follow in their footsteps.  However, telling young athletes to buy their branded merchandise but not be like them is disingenuous and a trick play that should be flagged for “Single-Minded Marketing.”
​
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Should Employees' Looks Matter?

9/10/2022

27 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch - professor of Marketing at Messiah University -
​author of 
Honorable Influence - founder of Mindful Marketing 
​

Despite her aging appearance, Queen Elizabeth II kept her job for an unprecedented 70 years!  A Canadian news anchor who let her locks go grey wasn’t as fortunate.  Her seemingly heartless dismissal has aroused widespread empathy, including from some of the world’s leading companies, sounding an alarm against ageism.  However, in an era when brand-building is of utmost importance, shouldn’t companies have a say in the looks of those they pay to be the faces of their firms?
 
Before she was “blindsided” by her abrupt termination, fifty-eight-year-old Lisa LaFlamme was “the face of the most-watched nightly news show on Canadian television.”  Her 34-years of industry experience combined with a keen intellect and engaging communication style made her the Canadian equivalent of Katie Couric or Barbara Walters.
 
However, those talents and experience didn’t stop Bell Media from firing LaFlamme from CTV News.  Mirko Bibic, the president and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, denied that hair color had anything to do with LaFlamme’s release, but LaFlamme’s stunned reaction along with CTV News head Michael Melling’s question of who approved the decision to “let Lisa’s hair go grey,” suggest that hair color was at least part of the reason.
 
Known for speaking out on body image-related issues, Dove, subsidiary of the Dutch conglomerate Unilever, shared its opinion of the incident:  Just a week after LaFlamme’s release, Dove Canada unfurled a #KeepTheGrey social media campaign that included the greying of its iconic logo across social channels “to show support for older women and women with grey hair who may face undue workplace discrimination.”
 
Fast food chain Wendy’s also took up the mantle, temporarily turning grey the red pigtails of its namesake logo.
 
It’s nice that brands like Dove and Wendy’s care enough to stand against apparent ageism—an often-overlooked issue, especially in societies that tend to glorify youth.  But, what about the companies paying, in some cases very significant sums, to people to represent them and, in some cases, to be the faces of their franchises?  Shouldn’t these organizations have a say in how their employees look?
 
When thinking of organizations that dictate their agents’ appearances, one of the first that comes to mind is Disney.  At its theme parks, the company carefully curates a wholesome, family-friendly image that stems in large part from the looks and actions of its staff.  Personal branding that’s edgy and provocative may have its place in other firms but not at Disney.
 
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Is it legal for Disney to be so prescriptive with its employees’ looks?  Yes, since “no federal law bans employment decisions based on appearance in general.”  However, employers must ensure that their looks-related rules don’t intentionally or unintentionally discriminate against people because of their race, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information.
 
Even then, though, there are legally acceptable exceptions if a case can be made that a specific personal trait is a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ).  For instance, a film studio can exclude adults from auditioning for children’s roles, and a synagogue can stipulate that rabbi candidates must be Jewish.
 
As in these examples, for a BFOQ argument to be successful, the required personal characteristic must be essential to job performance.  If it is, the discrimination is likely legal.
 
Of course, just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s moral, but legislation related to employee looks does do a pretty good job of supporting values of decency, fairness, honesty, respect, and responsibility.  For instance, if a certain personal characteristic is critical to job performance, it wouldn’t be fair to those hired or to those who rely on their work (coworkers, customers, shareholders) to disregard the criterion. 
 
To determine what’s fair, honest, etc., organizations should consider three questions:
 
1.  Are the firm’s performance assumptions accurate?  A company hiring for a web development position might assume that only those 30 years old or younger have the skills and understanding needed to do the work effectively.  It could be, though, that the best candidate is a 60-year-old who has many years of industry experience and has kept themself on the cutting edge of their field.
 
Similarly, corporations fail when they misinterpret what consumers really want.  First, it’s important to emphasize that companies are under no legal or moral mandate to cater to customers’ discriminatory and irrational tastes, like only wanting a Caucasian waiter. 
 
Firms sometimes wrongly assume how customers expect employees to look.  Disney recently walked back its longstanding policy of no visible tattoos and now permits employees to display “appropriate” ones — an implied admission that it had fallen out of touch with what its customers viewed as family-friendly physical appearance.
 
2. Are their double standards?  Even as America aspires for equality, there are sometimes conflicting norms for different people-groups, e.g., women vs. men, young vs. old, rich vs. poor, Black people vs. white people.
 
LaFlamme’s termination is a case-in-point.  If she were a man, would it have mattered that her hair was gray?  Men may face some stigma for coloring their hair, but when they go grey, they’re often described as looking mature, sophisticated, and wise.
 
Women with the same hair color enjoy few such positive associations; rather, like LaFlamme, they’re more likely to be the victims of age discrimination: “Because of ‘lookism,’ women face ageism earlier than their male counterparts.”
 
3. Can the firm help precipitate social change?  Given that cultural values and norms are much bigger than any one organization, it’s understandable that companies often believe there’s little they can do to have a social impact, particularly with an issue as far-reaching as people’s appearances.
 
However, even small businesses can help move the needle on such perceptions with their affirming employment practices (e.g., hiring and retaining older workers), as well as by voicing their disapproval if/when their customers discriminate.  Global brands like Dove and Wendy’s can have an even greater impact by virtue of their scale and scope.
 
In the end, the workplace should be a two-way street:
  • Employees should appreciate that they’re agents of the organizations for which they work and as such, need to respect reasonable appearance-related requirements, for their own benefit, as well as those of their coworkers and the organization on whole.
  • Organizations should treat their employees with respect and try to truly understand what appearance characteristics are critical to job performance and which are not, while also refusing to cater to customers whose tastes are discriminatory.
 
There could be a case in which a certain hair color is a BFOQ that a company could legally and morally require.  However, that likely wasn’t true in LaFlamme’s situation.  She could have reported the news just as effectively with grey hair, and although certain viewers may not have liked her look, many others probably appreciated her authentic appearance and would have welcomed the network’s support of her and other older women.
 
“Queen of England” shouldn’t be the only occupation accepting of grey hair.  Looks matter to individuals and organizations, but requiring employees to change theirs for less-than-compelling reasons appears to be  “Single-Minded Marketing.”


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Should AI Impersonate People?

7/1/2022

2 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch - professor of Marketing at Messiah University -
​author of 
Honorable Influence - founder of Mindful Marketing 


“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”—it is a high compliment when people respect someone’s work enough to replicate it.  But, when one of the world’s largest companies’ smart speakers start imitating people’s voices, has flattery drifted into deceit?
 
It’s difficult to keep pace with innovation in artificial intelligence (AI), but one particular advance that's certainly worth attention is the impending ability of Amazon’s Alexa to mimic voices.  After hearing no more than a minute of audio, the smart speaker reportedly will be able to deliver a plausible impersonation.
 
Alexa’s voice is apparently one that appeals to a very large number of consumers:  A 2021 Statista study showed that Alexa was the most widely used assistant across four of six age demographics. So, why would Amazon want to mess with the sound that’s helped it sell so many smart speakers?
 
According to Amazon senior vice president Rohit Prasad, the change “is about making memories last,” particularly remembrances of those who’ve passed.
 
In many ways that motive makes the voice mimicking technology seem like a great idea.  For those who have lost loved ones, one of the greatest blessings would be to hear their dearly departed’s voice again.
 
Since my father passed away last August, I’ve thought several times how nice it would be to talk with him again—to hear his opinion about the latest news, to ask him questions that only he could answer.
 
On a lighter side and also related to Alexa’s voice imitation, I’ve always enjoyed good impressionists.  It’s fun to hear comedians who can act and sound like famous people.  One of my favorites is Frank Caliendo, who is best known for impressions of famous sports figures; his John Madden and Charles Barkley impressions are great!
 

Frank Caliendo impersonating John Madden on the Late Show with David Letterman
 
So, I can see why Alexa doing impressions of people we knew and loved could be popular.  However, AI impersonations should also give us pause for at least four reasons:
 
1.  More than a voice:  Of course, just because someone, or something, sounds like a person we know, doesn’t mean they are that person.  Every individual is a unique curation of beliefs, affections, and experiences that influence what they say and even how they say things.
 
Frank Caliendo may sound like Charles Barkley, but he obviously isn’t the NBA legend and popular sports broadcaster.  Consequently, Caliendo can never truly say what Barkley would say and neither can AI.  Only a person knows what they themself would say.
 
2.  Respect for the deceased:  Per the previous point, if AI speaks for anyone, beyond playing back a recording of them speaking, it’s putting words in that person’s mouth.  A living person could conceivably give such permission, but how would a dead person do the same, short of adding some kind of addendum to their last will and testament, allowing AI impersonation?
 
I’m not sure it would be fair to ask anyone before their passing to give a smart speaker carte blanche use of their voice.  As hard as it is to let go of people we loved, it’s something we must do.  The longer we’d allow AI to speak for a loved one, the greater the probability that the technology would say things to tarnish their memory.
 
3.  Vulnerable consumers:  Given how good machines already are at imitating life, it will likely become increasingly easy for techno fakes to fool us.  However, there are certain groups of people who are at much greater risk of being duped than the average individual, namely children and older people.
 
It’s scary to think how those with heinous motives might use AI voice imitation to make young children believe they’re hearing the words of a trusted parent, grandparent, etc.  Similarly, the Mindful Marketing article, “Preying on Older People” described how senior citizens are already frequent targets of phone scammers pretending to be someone they’re not.  AI voice imitation could open the flood gates for such abuse.
 
4.  Distorting the truth:  Thanks to fake news, native advertising, deepfake video and the like, the line between what’s real and what’s not is becoming more and more difficult to discern.  University of Maryland professor of psychology Arie Kruglanski warns that a truthless future is not a sustainable one:
 
“Voluminous research in psychology, my own field of study, has shown that the idea of truth is key to humans interacting normally with the world and other people in it. Humans need to believe that there is truth in order to maintain relationships, institutions and society.”
 
“In the extreme, a lost sense of reality is a defining feature of psychosis, a major mental illness.  A society that has lost its shared reality is also unwell.”
 
While examples of the innovation in imitation are fascinating, it’s concerning that in the not-too-distant future, fakes may become undetectable.  At that point, it seems like our world will be well on the path to what Kruglanski  forewarned: ‘losing its sense of reality’ and becoming ‘unwell.’
 
In the 1994 movie Speed, Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves try to stop a city bus that’s triggered to explode if it drops below 50 mph.  AI deception can feel like that runaway bus, barreling forward with no way to stop it or even slow it down.
 
However, large corporations like Amazon share the driver’s seat and have some control over the AI vehicle.  Although having them put the brakes on innovation may be too much to ask, they can at least integrate some forms of notification to clearly indicate when people are seeing/hearing a fake and not the real thing.
 
Even with such notifications, Alexa’s application of voice impersonation is wrought with potential for abuse.  For the four reasons outlined above, Amazon should shutter plans for its smart speaker to imitate people and thereby avoid talk of “Single-Minded Marketing.”


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Harmful Humor

4/10/2022

7 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch - professor of Marketing at Messiah University -
​author of 
Honorable Influence - founder of Mindful Marketing 

I still don’t get it. College professors are supposed to be insightful, but I’m baffled by reactions to Will Smith’s infamous Oscars slap.  Most people have rightly condemned the violent reaction, but why aren’t more talking about the joke that sparked the response?  Society’s double-standard for humor can be confusing and consternating, which are reasons to consider how individuals and organizations should lean into laughter.
 
Most of us have now seen the clip of actor Will Smith striding onto the Oscars stage and striking award presenter Chris Rock across the face.  The unimaginable physical altercation on Hollywood’s biggest night came because of a quip Rock made about the baldness of Smith’s spouse, Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia, a condition that causes complete hair loss. 
 
Smith’s reaction was wrong.  No matter the nature of the verbal offense, real or imagined, there was no reason for him to respond violently.  Still, such condemnation shouldn’t stop anyone from asking whether Rock stepped over a line.
 
Of course, Rock is a comedian whose job is to make people laugh—a charge that’s particularly important when appearing at the Oscars, one of the most high-profile gigs a comedian can get. 
 
Also, Oscars hosts and presenters have a history of lightly razzing celebrities in attendance.  Legendary comedian and 19-time Oscars host Bob Hope was perhaps the earliest propagator of that tradition, making quips like this one during his 1971 monologue: “But this is a strange business.  Just think, Frank Sinatra announced he was quitting show business and they gave him a humanitarian award.”
 
Billy Crystal, the second most frequent Oscars host (9 times), also had a habit of ribbing famous actors, as he did Clint Eastwood in 1993 for his role in Unforgiven:  “Clint, of course, played that ruthless character, and you know he used those same tactics when he cleaned up that lawless renegade town of Carmel, California when he was the mayor there . . . It was Clint Eastwood who instituted the no crème brulee after 10:00 pm ordinance.”
 
Rock was himself an Academy Awards host in 2016, at which time he gave much of his monologue to highlighting the unsettling fact that there were no Black nominees at what he called “the White People’s Choice Awards.”  He also took a jab at Pinkett Smith for boycotting ‘Oscars So White,’ suggesting it didn’t make sense for her to spurn an event to which she wasn’t invited.
 
Compared to the biting personal attacks for which insult comedians like Don Rickles, Lisa Lampanelli, and Andrew Dice Clay have been known, Rock’s comments may seem benign.  Some might also suggest that humor is inherently controversial, i.e., some people will like a particular joke, while others will not.
 
It’s true that humor, like beauty, is in the ‘mind of the beholder’; however, there is a relatively clear line that individuals and organizations can avoid crossing to ensure that their jest about others isn’t injurious:
 
It’s usually okay to playfully point out the peculiar things that people do or say, but don’t joke about who they are.
 
Before offering some personal examples to support this suggestion, those who don’t know me well should understand that I’m far from a ‘wet blanket’ when it comes to humor:  I love to laugh and endeavor to inject ad hoc humor into my classes, which I’ve found keeps students engaged, provides a brief reprieve from back-to-back-to-back classes, and lightens the load of weighty issues and complex concepts.
 
Other professors cite similar benefits.  In fact, I recently read a Harvard Business article, “What educators can learn from comedians,” that offered empirical evidence for the third benefit above.
 
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David Stolin, professor of finance at TBS education, collaborated with comedian Sammy Obeid, host of Netflix’s 100 Humans series, to create a variety of educational videos, some humorous and others serious.  The researchers found that “when students were assigned humorous videos, they had consistently higher engagement and subsequent test performance.”  So, among other things, humor helps learning.
 
I haven’t formally studied the same causal relationship, but I have done research on “playful teasing,” which suggests that good-natured ribbing helps build social bonds.  I sometimes use that type of humor with my students, which brings me to my first personal example.
 
In one of my recent classes, a discussion about personal branding turned to ‘what coaches can do to encourage their players when they’re down.’  One of the students, who’s a college athlete, began to share her team’s current experience, saying, “It’s funny because two of my teammates tore their ACLs . . .”  As she briefly paused to finish the sentence, I couldn’t resist interjecting some seemingly serious censure, “There’s nothing funny about that.”
 
Students, including the one who was speaking, laughed, and a classmate quipped, “I’m going to tell your coach!”  The student finished her story and, of course, revealed that by “funny” she didn’t mean amusing but coincidental.  People knew I was kidding because of the hyperbole of my comment, because we often joke in class, and because the students, all of whom I’ve had in other courses, know my penchant for dry humor.
 
The second example came a few years earlier when one of my students turned the comedic tables on me.  As our class was discussing a case study about a particular west-coast-based restaurant chain, I showed a few pictures of my family and me, over the years, at various locations of the chain.
 
One student noticed something peculiar in the pictures and commented, “Dr. Hagenbuch, don’t you ever let your shirt out?  Even on vacation, it’s tucked in!”  I tried to argue that in a couple of the photos my shirt only looked to be tucked, but no one was buying it.  We all had a good laugh, and shirt tucking became an ongoing joke for us.
 
Then, during the last class of the semester, I shared a specially made PowerPoint titled “Dr. Hagenbuch Untucked” that contained a dozen or more different family photos, all with my shirts outside my pants.  The class appreciated the levity of the short slideshow and its homage to our inside joke.  A couple years later, the student responsible for the original “untucked” playful tease, told me that our repartee was a highlight of his college experience.
 
The point of these examples is it’s very possible to laugh without shaming or otherwise hurting people, even when the humor is targeted toward one person.  The key is a pure motive and playfully pointing out something silly the person inadvertently said (“It’s funny because . . .”) or did (shirts tucked in).
 
Rock’s Oscars jabs at Pinkett Smith failed both times to follow that protocol and instead took aim squarely at who she is.  In 2016, his joke about her not being invited to the ceremony was a painful suggestion that she’s not a good enough actor.  At the latest event, he made light of a physical condition that she cannot change and that likely makes her self-conscious.
 
For me, such humor is out-of-bounds; however, I wanted to hear the opinions of people who know much more than I do about psychology, sociology, and how Rock’s joke may have impacted not just Pinkett Smith but others.  I reached out to two of my colleagues who teach in our university’s graduate program in counseling.  They shared these reflections:
 
Dr. Leah K. Clarke, Director and Associate Professor of Counseling
“My own reaction to the joke was a resigned disappointment that women’s appearances and bodies, including black women’s hair, continue to be fair game for public discourse. Women and girls learn, almost from birth, that their bodies can be commented on, evaluated, touched, and utilized for other’s profit or pleasure. I’m not sure you could even count the number of songs that reference women’s appearances or specific body parts.”
 
“Pinkett Smith had previously shared about the source of her baldness, but even in doing so she acknowledged she felt she had to. Because otherwise the conversation about what was going on her scalp would happen without her. And she was right, Chris Rock and her husband had an interaction related to her appearance without her involvement or consent. The idea that her hair might be of no interest and nobody’s business doesn’t seem to occur to anyone.”
 
Dr. Sarah Brant-Rajahn, Assistant Professor of Counseling, School Counseling Track Coordinator
“Rock’s joke triggered the pain of many women and Black women, in particular, about ideals that are attached to appearance and hair as a beauty standard.  I was surprised that such a joke would come from Rock, after his Good Hair (2009) documentary highlighted issues around Black-American women and the perception of their hair being acceptable or desirable.”
 
“As Pinkett Smith, like so many other women, attempt to boldly embrace their authentic selves and engage in self-love, they are met with ridicule, judgment, and shame when this true self does not align with societal notions of beauty. And to an extent, Rock’s joke and many like them can be viewed as bullying, as Pinkett Smith likely felt powerless to defend herself at a professional event, with an audience, and in a space that was being publicly recorded and viewed. There was a clear imbalance of power here where a male with a microphone and a stage demeans a female who does not have the same capacity to share her voice at the time.”
 
“While it is likely that Rock did not consider these implications, as he is a comedian and comedians make jokes about many people and topics, we would be remiss to not name and address the potential impact such comments have on girls and women, as well as the perpetual devaluation of them based on appearance.”
 
Beyond many specific truths, my overarching takeaway from both these experts’ assessments is that humor’s impact extends beyond the parties directly involved—a realization I’d also had through my research into playful teasing. 
 
People often learn vicariously, i.e., from observing others’ firsthand experiences.  Just as we can ‘feel’ that a stove is hot by watching someone else touch it, we can feel ridiculed when we hear or see someone deride a person who is in some way like us, e.g., race, body type.
 
Because the Academy Awards is broadcast to millions of people worldwide, Rock’s joke was at the expense of thousands of people with alopecia, not just Pinkett Smith.  Furthermore, as Clarke and Brant-Rajahn have suggested, women and especially Black women were right to feel that their bodies and appearances were once more objectified for public consumption.
 
Their thoughts pinpoint the hypocrisy to which I alluded at the beginning of this piece.  How can a society claim it’s concerned about bullying, shaming, and mental health, but be accepting of things like mean tweets, taunting, and caustic comedy?  It's hard to understand why more aren’t alarmed by the troubling connections.
 
So, what does this analysis have to do with marketing?  For any of us who aspire to make others laugh, how we handle humor becomes part of our brand, whether we’re an individual like Rock or an organization like GoDaddy, which is still trying to break free from its oversexualized Super Bowl ad humor more than a decade ago.  The character of one’s comedy has long-lasting implications for one’s brand.
 
Just as the same medicine that helps people can hurt them if taken incorrectly, the ‘best medicine,’ laughter, can hurt people when its wrongly administered.  It’s fine to playfully tease people for silly things they do or say, but we shouldn’t make light of who they are.
 
It seems that Rock’s stock has risen since the last Oscars, probably due to extra publicity he’s received, as well as sympathy from the slap.  However, those truly deserving empathy are the ones Rock’s putdown humor belittled directly and by extension.  The impact on them makes Rock’s ridicule “Single-Minded Marketing.”
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Marketing Ideology

2/27/2022

1 Comment

 
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by David Hagenbuch - professor of Marketing at Messiah University -
​author of 
Honorable Influence - founder of Mindful Marketing 


Principles of marketing professors teach that “products” are more than tangible goods; they’re also services and ideas.  While it’s easy to identify organizations marketing goods and services, noticing idea marketing takes more discernment. Recently, the world witnessed one of the most blatant examples of idea marketing ever.  It worked but unfortunately not for good.
 
In the annals of persuasion, one of the hardest ‘sales’ must be convincing one’s country to start a war, given the likelihood of loss of life, property, political allies, and more.  In persuading Russia to invade Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, achieved such a seduction, while providing an example of idea marketing at its worst.
 
Of course, Russia’s largely autocratic regime doesn’t require the consensus-building demanded in a democratic state.  Still, Putin was undeniably successful in marketing a momentous idea by convincing other government officials, military leaders, and to some extent the Russian populace to embrace the notion that invading Ukraine served a national security interest while accomplishing historically based cultural and ethnic reunification.
 
Mindful Marketing rarely tackles politics.  I’m addressing this situation not just because it’s a poignant example of idea marketing but because of its significant human and economic impact, as well as its potential to become one of history’s biggest geopolitical events.
 
Russia’s incursion into Ukraine is also personal for me.  Both of my wife’s parents were born in Ukraine, where they endured extreme hardships during WWII.  Consequently, my wife and our children share Ukraine’s rich cultural heritage by birth, as I do by marriage.

The necklace in the picture above is my wife's tryzub, which her father brought back for her from one of his many return visits to his homeland.
 
Of course, millions of others also have personal connections.  In fact, as I was writing this article, I read a post by one of my LinkedIn connections, Cait Mack who wrote:
 
“This has been one of the worst days of my life.  The war in Ukraine feels like it’s pulling at the very fiber of my being.  For those who don’t know, I’m Ukrainian.  My grandparents came over during WW2, fleeing from Nazis.  I am sick with grief.  Everything feels so stupid and trivial in comparison to what’s going on over there.”
 
“I think of my grandparents.  Our extended family in Ukraine.  All the innocent people.  The parents with their children.  The harsh reminder that we can’t really keep our families safe.”
 
As Mack mentions, the secondhand angst that any of us feel can’t compare to the fear and horror that those in Ukraine are experiencing, which reminds me of the focus of this piece—Putin marketing the idea of invasion.
 
Rather than commending his cunning, the intent here is to extract something edifying from the unfolding tragedy—to identify how individuals and organizations should market ideas responsibly. 
 
Autocratic leaders have the advantage of superior political power.  Marketers enjoy information superiority, i.e., they naturally know more about their organization and its products than do consumers.
 
Because of their very intangible nature, the information imbalance involving ideas becomes even more skewed, which means marketers are under even greater moral compulsion to carefully steward their influence on the conceptions of others.  The following are five steps toward marketing ideas responsibly:
 
1. Seek Understanding
It’s hard to understand when uninformed, which is why the first act in understanding is gaining information by researching the issue at hand and, above all, listening to those closest to it.
 
Courtroom dramas sometimes culminate with an attorney introducing a new witness or piece of evidence, which unexpectedly changes the minds of jurors.  Such are likely violations of legal discovery, but the examples are helpful reminders that additional and possibly more accurate information can help change our minds for the better.
 
2. Explore Other Perspectives
As implied above, it’s helpful to lean on others, not just because they can provide additional facts but because they might offer their own experienced and informed interpretation of the information.  Whether at the boardroom level or shop floor level, the best leaders always avail themselves of others’ insights.
 
It sometimes seems that people avoid other perspectives, fearing they’ll change their opinions.  That may happen, which is not necessarily a bad thing.  However, seeking others’ perspectives is often like a fan who's loyal to a certain football team watching two other teams play.  Watching them will probably not change the fan’s team loyalty, but they may see in the other teams things that enhance their understanding of the game, as well as things their team does well or could do better.
 

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3. Present a Rational Argument
People can be persuaded in different ways, including by deception (painting an inaccurate picture of facts) and coercion (compelling an action from a position of power).  Neither of these alternatives allows people to exercise informed consent, or freely choose to adopt an idea based on its logical merits.
 
Although we occasionally act otherwise, people are rational beings who can understand and make sensible decisions based on logical arguments.  Even young children comprehend reason—‘If you eat your whole meal, you’ll get to have dessert.’  People of any age deserve clear, logical, communication.
 
4. Don’t Play on Emotion
However, humans aren’t simply rational beings.  Our complex psychology also includes emotion, which makes us even more interesting.  Yes, we should make most decisions by reasoning with objective information, but sometimes it’s appropriate for people to choose things that they enjoy or that make them happy, like playing a favorite game with a friend.
 
What’s unacceptable is to use others’ emotions against them, e.g., to persuade them to do something out of an irrational fear or a sense of guilt.  Although good in moderation, too much emotion can cloud people’s thinking and cause them to do things that they otherwise would not rationally choose.  The outcome is like a doctor tapping a patient’s knee with a reflex hammer:  Their leg will move involuntarily no matter how much the patient may reason that it shouldn’t.
 
5. Be Truthful
The fifth act encapsulates the preceding ones and should go without saying; however, even when people fulfill the first four steps, they still must ensure follow-through of this final one, particularly to avoid selective presentation of facts.
 
For example, I could support the morality of advertising by referencing Gallup’s annual poll about the honesty and ethics of various occupations and accurately report that advertising practitioners ranked in the top 20 of all occupations.  That may sound impressive, but the statement would be misleading because the survey only asked about 22 occupations and advertising practitioners ranked 18th.
 
What we don’t tell people is often as important as what we tell them.
 
Again, the point of this piece has not been to detail Putin’s tenuous argument for the invasion of Ukraine; however, this website, among others, provides a window into how his rationalization evolved.  In short, Putin appears to have violated more than one of the preceding five steps; for instance, he played on his own people’s emotion with a “rousing speech” in which he called Ukraine a U.S. colony ruled by a “puppet regime.”
 
From my own reading and experience, Putin’s biggest breach of the steps of responsible influence has been of #5, by being untruthful, particularly with respect to his denial of Ukraine’s historic statehood and his claim that Russians and Ukrainians ‘are one people.’

Soon after my wife and I started dating, I learned two important facts involving her family’s ethnic heritage.  First, the nation is not “the Ukraine;” it’s “Ukraine.”  Adding the definite article “the” diminishes the country’s stature to that of a territory or colony, (e.g., the Louisiana Territory, the Yukon), which Putin directly suggested in his “rousing speech” referenced above.
 
Second, my wife’s family and their friends frequently reinforced that ‘Ukrainians are not Russians.’  I experienced firsthand that Ukrainians have a unique language, history, food, customs, and other rich cultural distinctives that distinguish them from their homeland’s northern neighbor.
 
My evidence spans more than three decades, but it is personal and, therefore, anecdotal.  The most compelling proof of Putin’s misinformation is, regrettably, what’s happened during the invasion, as a 2/26 New York Times Breaking News headline read, “Ukraine, outmanned and outgunned, has slowed Russia's advance on Kyiv and two other cities as its forces wage a ferocious resistance.”
 
If Ukraine were just a Russian territory, if the majority of Ukrainians wanted unification with Russia, and if Ukrainians and Russians were one people, why are so many Ukrainians valiantly fighting and giving their lives to stop the invasion and maintain their nation’s sovereignty?
 
The disconnect stems from a lack of truthfulness, which many of Putin’s own people have recognized, hence widespread protests by Russians against the “war without a cause.”
 
Tragically Putin was effective in selling the idea of invasion to some, at the cost of many lives and the freedom of a peaceful people.  That underlying deception and unimaginable destruction makes his strategy the worst example “Single-Minded Marketing.”


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Super BOLD Ads

2/12/2022

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by David Hagenbuch - professor of Marketing at Messiah University -
​author of 
Honorable Influence - founder of Mindful Marketing 


A guy chows down on kitty litter, a celebrity bedazzles a convict’s ankle monitor with diamond studs, a groom marries a demon ghost bride.  These aren’t outtakes from B movies; they’re scenes from the year’s most highly anticipated commercial content—Super Bowl ads.
 
Despite the fact that 30 seconds during the 2022 sports spectacle reached an astounding $7 million per spot, NBC sold out its ad inventory, with a very high percentage of those spots leveraging humor, including some rather crude comedy.  If companies are willing to pay more for a half minute of airtime than most organizations’ entire annual marketing budgets, why wouldn’t they want to muster more ‘serious’ sponsorship efforts?  What’s with all the advertising irreverence?
 
Of course, Super Bowl ads have a long history of hilarity—traditionally, many ads made for the big game are funny, probably to align with the event’s party atmosphere, which often flows with the same sodas and snack foods seen in the spots.  Humor now is an annual expectation such that sponsors who make the contrarian choice to air more sober ads often reap the consequences of lackluster reviews.
 
Perhaps for these reasons, many advertisers have continued to push the envelope on humor, to the point that their MO is: ‘Go Irreverent or Go Home.’     
 
Underlying this observation is the notion that there’s a difference between ordinary humor and irreverent humor.  According to the Collins Dictionary, something is humorous if people find it amusing, clever, or witty.  Ephrat Livni, writing for Pocket, further unpacks the essence of wit:
 
“The wittiest among us are simply people who make unusual connections between words and ideas. There’s a refreshing element of surprise to these observations that prompts a smile or a wince from the listener who didn’t see the link until it was presented.”
 
Beyond just being witty, irreverent humor adds abrasion to the comedic equation in the form of disrespect “for people or things that are generally respected.”  In other words, irreverent humor not only makes a clever and surprising connection between concepts, it also throws some significant shade on a group of people.
 
This distinction between regular humor and irreverent humor makes some sense in the abstract, but it’s better explained through specific examples.  So, here are a couple of Super Bowl LVI ads aimed at painting a clearer picture of the difference.
 
Regular Humor:  Kia – Robo Dog
After watching a real dog playing happily with its owners, an electronic pooch on display in a department store longs for its own human companion, leading it to chase the driver of an electric Kia.  Aiming for the car’s open moon roof, the love-starved dog leaps from atop a tall building, only to have its battery die, just before entry into the vehicle.
 
Thankfully, the dog awakens from its untimely slumber to find that the Kia driver has resuscitated it, courtesy of a cable plugged into the EV’s charging port.
 
This commercial is humorous for a variety of reasons, including its clever connection between an electronic dog and an electronic vehicle, as well as the surprising idea of a dog desiring an owner so badly that it chases one across a city.  The spot doesn’t arouse bellyache laughter, but the unique feel-good mini story does encourage at least a hearty chuckle.
 

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Irreverent Humor:  ClickUp – Declaration
While many consider the authors of America’s Declaration of Independence heroes, ClickUp’s commercial depicts many of them as bumbling fools, particularly the nation’s second president, John Adams, who somehow misplaces the newest version of the foundational document.
 
The situation worsens as the flustered Adams stumbles into an artist who’s trying to capture the historic moment on canvas, causing him to spread white paint across the famous scene.  The commercial concludes with Ben Franklin commending “Tommy” (Thomas Jefferson) for smartly creating a ClickUp task, as well as for “always saving John’s derriere.”
 
The ad is witty for several ‘regular’ reasons, including that it cleverly compares the centuries-old methods used to draft the Declaration of Independence to today’s digital technology.  It’s also amusing to see men wearing neck cloths and knickers gush over a laptop app.
 
However, the humor is irreverent because of its disrespect for America’s founding fathers, especially Adams.  These men risked their reputations and their lives to stand against colonialism and create one of the most impactful documents the world has known.  Of course, the ad is meant in jest, yet it seems impertinent to lampoon these patriots for a courageous and momentous act that has meant unprecedented freedom for so many.
 

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So, why would Super Bowl advertisers like ClickUp and those mentioned above (Uber Eats, Plant Fitness, and Lays) want to risk alienating tens of millions of consumers with irreverent advertising?  It’s because one specific and highly sought-after target market appears to love the impertinence—Generation Z.
 
For this cohort of 10–to-25-year-olds, the rule of thumb is often ‘the more brash the better.’  However, the reason “Gen Z demands absurdity from their ads” seems counterintuitive at first.
 
What Gen Z actually craves is authenticity.  Its members can smell a fake a mile away, and they detest phoniness, including in traditional advertising.  Gen Zers deduce, “I know you’re trying to sell me something, so stop pretending that you’re not.”
 
The advertising that this savvy young cohort finds most appealing is the kind that makes no pretense of selflessness; rather, it admits it’s pushing product through unconventional creative approaches that are often so over-the-top they’re laughable:
 
“Gen Z’s take on authenticity is pushing brands to break all previously established rules of brand communication.”
 
A good example of Gen Z’s affinity for absurdity is the off-beat soap brand Dr. Squatch.  While coming of age, those of us in older generations had little concern about the suds we used to shower.  However, thanks to Dr. Squatch’s crazy ads, such as one with a bearded guy in a shower cap, bathing in the woods with a rubber ducky, many in Gen Z are taking their soap choice more seriously.
 
The humor in the Dr. Squatch ad is certainly absurd, but is it also irreverent?  Although it’s outlandish by traditional advertising standards, most of the commercial’s content is pretty mild in terms of immorality.  For instance, one actor playfully douses another with what are purportedly chemicals found in typical, unnatural soaps.
 
One could argue that such antics disrespect the guy getting doused, but the action is clearly hyperbole, and it’s hard to claim there’s contempt for any specific people group.
 
The same logic probably also applies to Pringles 2022 Super Bowl spot “Stuck,” which tells the story of a young man who gets his hand wedged into one of the iconic canisters and ends up living his entire life with the snack food package appendage.
 

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In this instance, Pringles is really laughing at itself for manufacturing such an awkward piece of packaging.  Its self-deprecating humor may seem like a risky move; however, when people or in this case a company pokes fun at itself, it often stops others from doing the same, perhaps out of pity, or maybe out of respect—‘It takes a strong person to admit they were wrong.’
 
In his book, The Power of Regret, Daniel Pink reinforces this principle, maintaining that when individuals openly express their regrets to others, people surprisingly hold the soul bearers in higher regard, not lower.
 
On the other end of the humor/respectability continuum is a company like Liquid Death Mountain Water, which placed a bet, picking the underdog to win the Super Bowl LVI, then hired a witch to try to influence the game’s outcome.
 
One of the company’s commercials from a couple of years ago contained so many offensive elements that it’s challenging just to list them, e.g., profanity, vulgarity, stereotyping, allusions to the occult, and insensitivity to those who have lost loved ones to drowning and to overdosing on energy drinks.  To top it all off, the commercial even demonstrates torture by waterboarding.
 
Advertising humor, like much human behavior, involves a range of action from the simply benign to the very bad, from innocently amoral to dangerously immoral.
 
In a classic article published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, “Advertising: Looking Glass or Molder of the Masses?” Geoffrey Lantos posed an important question: Does advertising simply reflect what people are already doing or does it preemptively shape society’s behavior?
 
While it’s certainly worth asking that question of irreverent humor, the answer doesn’t necessarily matter.  Whether it molds or mirrors, advertising that’s effective but disrespects others isn’t edifying in either sense.  Instead, it amounts to “Single-Minded Marketing.”


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Why Can't TikTok Block the Blackout Challenge?

1/1/2022

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by David Hagenbuch - professor of Marketing at Messiah University -
​author of 
Honorable Influence - founder of Mindful Marketing 

Many people’s New Year’s resolutions are to eat less and exercise more.  Fortunately, few people need to promise to kill less.  That goal, though, may be a good one for the world’s-fastest growing social media platform in order to better protect the lives of young users who are oblivious to the dangerous game they’re playing.
 
Nyla Anderson was a “happy child” and “smart as a whip”—she even spoke three languages. Tragically, the 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl’s life was cut short on December 12, when she died while attempting a perilous social media trend called the Blackout Challenge.
 
The Blackout Challenge “requires the participant to choke themselves until they pass out and wake up moments later.”  Sadly, some who participate, like Nyla, never wake up, and if they don’t die, they may suffer seizures and/or brain damage.
 
It’s tragic, but young people likely have engaged in foolhardy, life-threatening behavior since the beginning of humankind.  Within a few years of my high school graduation, two of my classmates lost their lives in separate car crashes caused by high-speed, reckless driving.  Most people probably can share similar stories of people they knew who needlessly died too young.   
 
In some ways it’s inevitable that young people’s propensity for risk-taking paired with a limited sense of their own mortality will lead them to endanger themselves and encourage others to do the same.  What’s inexplicable is how older and presumably more rational adults can encourage and even monetize such behavior, which is what some suggest TikTok has done.
 
Unfortunately, Nyla is not the only young person to pass away while attempting the Blackout Challenge.  Other lives the ill-advised trend has taken include 12-year-old Joshua Haileyesus of Colorado and 10-year-old Antonella Sicomero of Palermo, Italy.  TikTok provided the impetus for each of these children to attempt the challenge.
 
Most of us know from experience that peer influence can cause people to do unexpected and sometimes irrational things.  In centuries gone by, that influence was limited to direct interpersonal contact and then to traditional mass media like television.  Now, thanks to apps like TikTok, anyone with a smartphone holds potential peer pressure from people around the world in the palm of their hand.
 
In TikTok’s defense, the Blackout Challenge predates the social media platform.  ByteDance released TikTok, or Douyin as it’s known in China, in September of 2016.  Children had been attempting essentially the same asphyxiation games, like the Choking Challenge and the Pass-out Challenge, many years prior.  In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 82 children, aged 6 to 19, likely died from such games between 1995 and 2007.

It’s also worth noting that individuals and other organizations create the seemingly infinite array of videos that appear on the platform.  ByteDance doesn’t make them, it just curates the clips according to each viewer’s tastes using one of the world’s most sophisticated and closely guarded algorithms.
 
So, if TikTok didn’t begin the Blackout Challenge and it hasn’t created any of the videos that encourage it, why should the app bear responsibility for the deaths of Nyla, Joshua, Antonella, or any other young person who has attempted the dangerous social media trend?
 
It’s reasonable to suggest that TikTok is culpable for the self-destructive behavior that happens on its premises.  A metaphor might be a property owner who makes his house available as a hangout for underage drinking.  The homeowner certainly didn’t invent alcohol, and he may not be the one providing it, but if he knowingly enables the consumption, he could be legally responsible for “contributing to the delinquency of a minor.”
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By hosting Blackout Challenge posts, TikTok could be contributing to the delinquency of minors.
 
I have to pause here to note an uncomfortable irony.  Less than four months ago, just after Francis Haugen blew the whistle on her former employer Facebook,  I wrote a piece titled “Two Lessons TikTok can Teach Facebook.”  In the article, I described specific measures TikTok had taken to, of all things: 1) discourage bad behavior, and 2) support users’ mental health.
 
How could I have been so wrong?  Although I certainly may have been misguided—it wouldn’t be the first time—TikTok’s actions that I cited truly were good things.  So, maybe the social media giant deserves to defend itself against the new allegations.
 
TikTok declined CBS News’ request for an  interview, but it did claim to block content connected to the Blackout Challenge, including hashtags and phrases.  It also offered this statement, “TikTok has taken industry-first steps to protect teens and promote age-appropriate experiences, including strong default privacy settings for minors."
 
The notion of protecting teens is certainly good; however, it’s hard to know what “industry-first steps” are.  Furthermore, prioritizing age-appropriateness and privacy are important, but neither objective aligns particularly well with the need to avoid physical harm—the main problem of the Blackout Challenge.
 
In that spirt and in response to accusations surrounding Nyla’s death, TikTok offered to Newsweek a second set of statements:
 
“We do not allow content that encourages, promotes, or glorifies dangerous behavior that might lead to injury, and our teams work diligently to identify and remove content that violates our policies.”
 
"While we have not currently found evidence of content on our platform that might have encouraged such an incident off-platform, we will continue to monitor closely as part of our continuous commitment to keep our community safe. We will also assist the relevant authorities with their investigation as appropriate."
 
These corporate responses do align better with the risks the Blackout Challenge represents.  However, there’s still a disconnect:  TikTok claims it’s done nothing to facilitate the Blackout Challenge, but family members of those lost say the social media platform is exactly where their children encountered the fatal trend.
 
The three families’ tragedies are somewhat unique, but they’re far from the only cases of people seeing the Blackout Challenge on TikTok and posting their own attempts on the app.  TikTok has taken measures that have likely helped ‘lessen the destruction,’ but it’s unreasonable for it to claim exoneration. 
 
The company’s app must be culpable to some degree, but what exactly could it have done to avoid death and injury?  That question is very difficult for anyone outside TikTok or without significant industry expertise to answer; however, let me ask one semi-educated question—Couldn't TikTok use an algorithm?
 
As I’ve described in an earlier blog post, “Too Attached to an App,” ByteDance has created one of the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence tools—one that with extreme acuity serves app users a highly-customized selection of videos that can keep viewers engaged indefinitely.
 
Why can’t TikTok employ the same algorithm, or a variation of it, to keep the Blackout Challenge and other destructive videos from ever seeing the light of day?
 
TikTok is adept at showing users exactly what they want to see, so why can’t it use the same advanced analytics with equal effectiveness to ‘black out’ content that no one should consume?
 
The truism ‘nobody’s perfect’ aptly suggests that every person is, in a manner of speaking, part sinner and part saint.  TikTok and other organizations, which are collections of individuals, are no different, doing some things wrong and other things right but hopefully always striving for less of the former and more of the latter.
 
Based on its statements, TikTok likely has done some ‘right things’ that have helped buffer the Blackout Challenge.  However, given the cutting-edge technology the company has at its disposal, it could be doing more to mitigate the devastating impact.  For that reason, TikTok remains responsible for “Single-Minded Marketing.”
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A Bad Sign:  Macy's vs. Amazon Billboard Battle

12/4/2021

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by David Hagenbuch - professor of Marketing at Messiah University -
​author of 
Honorable Influence - founder of Mindful Marketing 

With the holiday shopping season in full swing, many consumers are unaware of two titan retailers’ battle over a billboard, the results of which could impact how and where shoppers buy gifts for years to come.  The clash also could impact what businesses come to accept as moral behavior.
 
The site of the showdown is the corner of 34th Street and Broadway, New York City, at the center of U.S. commerce.  It’s there that Macy’s, which once boasted “the worlds’ largest retail store,” is taking what could be a final stand against the encroachment of Earth’s fastest-growing retailer, and one of nature’s most irrepressible forces:  Amazon.
 
Macy’s has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, hoping to keep its close competitor from commandeering a 2,200 square foot billboard that adjoins Macy’s flagship Herald Square store.  It’s a signage space Macy’s has leased for nearly 60 years.
 
The huge billboard, which features Macy’s iconic star and logo typeface set against the familiar bright red background, serves as a beacon for millions of pedestrians and potential shoppers as they walk north on Broadway and west on 34th Street.  Millions more see the sign every November in countless camera shots during the retailer’s world-renowned Thanksgiving Day Parade.
 
Amazon, an organization that can send astronauts into orbit, is capable of just about anything, but how could even it endeavor to place its name on a billboard on the side of such a storied competitor’s flagship store?
 
Key to the controversy is the fact that Macy’s doesn’t own the building on which the billboard rests; the sign is actually attached to a small separate edifice situated just between the retailer’s massive 2.2 million sq. ft. store and the intersection.  The owner of the tiny architectural interloper and its very valuable billboard is Kaufman Realty Corp.
 
With the contract it signed in 1963 expiring, Macy’s asked Kaufman to renew its billboard ad, but the company told its long-standing tenant that it intended to rent the space to a “prominent online retailer”—one who apparently has deep pockets and who most believe is Amazon.
 
Of course, both Macy’s and Amazon have physical stores and virtual ones; yet, Macy’s is in many ways the quintessential brick-and-mortar retailer while Amazon practically owns online shopping.
 
In a very real way, therefore, the billboard battle represents a titanic clash of competing marketing channels and business models, the results of which could impact consumer shopping behavior for years to come, as well as set important moral precedent.
 
Macy’s firmly believes that its loss of the advertising space, next to its flagship store, would be disastrous, as the suit it filed states, “The damages to Macy's customer goodwill, image, reputation and brand, should a 'prominent online retailer' (especially Amazon) advertise on the billboard are impossible to calculate.”
 
With net income that’s exceeded $1 billion for eight of the last ten years, Macy’s is doing well compared to many retailers, especially those that filed for bankruptcy over the last 18 months, e.g., Lord & Taylor, J.C. Penney, J Crew, Neiman Marcus, and Pier 1.
 
However, Macy’s profit margin for 2020 was a modest 2.9%.  Amazon, in contrast, had net income of $21.3 billion on revenue of $386 billion, giving it not only much greater earnings but also a significantly higher rate of return—5.5%.
 
So, although Macy’s is not quite on the cusp, it’s certainly not operating from a position of power versus Amazon, and it truly can’t afford to see its flagship store, which it’s described as its “most valuable asset,” take a serious financial hit.

However, a hit on Macy’s Herald Square store and its effect on the future of retail is only one concern of the billboard battle:  Amazon’s aggressive competitive tactic is also a breach of business’s moral bulwark.
 
Of course, Amazon has a right to buy any billboard it wants, but a key question is why the firm needs to buy that one.
 
According to Statista, there are over 340,000 billboards, or “big format outdoor displays,” in the United States.  Just a ten-minute walk north of Herald Square lies Time Square, which has probably the greatest display of outdoor advertising in the world.
 

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Granted, a sign in this spectacle of commercialism comes at a very high cost: between $5,000 and $50,000 a day, which could mean as much as $18.25 million a year.  Still, that amount of money is almost immaterial to the one of the world’s richest companies.
 
As of December 31, 2020, Amazon’s balance sheet showed cash and cash equivalents of $41.2 billion.  Even a $50,000-a-day billboard would represent less than half of one percent of those liquid assets (just 0.0445%).
 
So, if hundreds of thousands of large outdoor signs are available and Amazon can afford to rent any billboard it wants, why does it have to have the one in Herald Square that’s adjacent to one of its biggest competitor’s flagship stores?

It’s reasonable to infer an intent to attack the heart of Macy’s operations, to steal shoppers from in front of its landmark store, and perhaps even to embarrass the firm before its own customers.
 
Some might respond to such assertions of over-the-top aggression with, “That’s business,” or “Amazon is just being competitive,” or “The company is playing to win.”  There’s a difference, though, between working hard to win and trying menacingly to make others lose.  Unfortunately, Amazon’s billboard-buy seems like the latter.
 
Growing up, I loved to play sports and considered myself a pretty competitive person—I wanted to win and tried my hardest to do so.  Although I didn’t like losing, I could tolerate it—it wasn’t the end of the world—especially if I played my best and the other person/team simply outperformed me.
 
By the same token, I never liked the idea of trying to sabotage or subvert opposing players’ performance.  Instead, I thought, “Let them do their best, and I’ll do my best, and whosever best is better deserves to win.”  I didn’t have to come out on top every time; I could ‘share the podium.’  Part of competing was knowing how to win and lose graciously.
 
In contrast, some individuals and organizations compete as if it’s all or nothing, and they have to have it all, all the time.  They’ve no sense that ‘the market's big, so there’s plenty of business for everyone.’
 
Maybe it’s because of the holidays that this self-obsessed way of thinking reminds me of the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life--specifically the film’s antagonist, the greedy and scheming Mr. Potter.  Although he and his bank already own half of Bedford Falls, he won’t rest until it’s all under his control, not tolerating even a minor amount of competition from George Bailey’s small Building & Loan. No one else can win; he has to have it all.
 

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My guess is that Mr. Potter would be proud of  Amazon’s attempt to pry the Herald Square billboard lease away from Macy’s.
 
Macy’s is no real threat to Amazon, which can afford any outdoor advertising it wants and doesn’t need to have that specific sign.  So, why go after it?  It seems like Amazon doesn’t want anyone else to win; it has to have it all.
 
Macy’s lawsuit claims that all past and present agreements have prohibited the billboard’s owner from ever leasing the space to any other “establishment selling at retail or directly to any consumer.”  If that claim is true and Macy’s is offering Kaufman Realty fair compensation for the lease, Macy’s has even more reason to believe its treatment is unreasonable.
 
Competition is not only necessary, it’s desirable, as it both benefits consumers and sharpens industry rivals.  However, when organizations like Amazon enlist predatory business practices, their strategies are a sign of “Single-Minded Marketing.”


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