What You See Isn't Always What You Get

Sissela Bok, an American philosopher and ethicist said “While all deception requires secrecy, all secrecy is not meant to deceive.”  When thinking about product placement and guerilla marketing, strategic communicators need consider what their ultimate goal should be. Are you attempting to deceive the consumer in order to make them believe a product or service is better than it really is? Or are you simply trying to break down the walls that skeptical consumers have risen over the years in order to get them to evaluate a product or service openly and objectively? Varying degrees of deception are used in advertising every day. Placing product throughout a film or television show is simply a covert way to trick your mind into associating that product with that actor or show. If I’m a nineteen year old girl who sees Kim Kardashian drinking a Starbucks® drink then I naively may believe if I drink it too then I will be more like Kim Kardashian.

Lord help us all. Nonetheless, marketers have been using outright product placements to convince the general public that this athlete or this celebrity uses these products. The question is where do we draw the line? 

Consumers are inundated with marketing messages and sales pitches incessantly. Strategic communicators are challenged to find new and creative ways to make their messages stand out. In Michael Serazio’s doctoral thesis “Your Ad Here: The Cool Sell of Guerrilla Marketing”, he discusses how Song Erikson used paid actors to pose as tourist in Times Square in order to expose consumers to a new camera phone. Personally, I think this was a brilliant way to get some honest feedback about what the average consumer thought about the product. Perhaps to make it less deceptive they could have instructed to actors to reveal they were working for the manufacturer if asked, but most people probably wouldn’t ask because they would just continue under the assumption the actor was exactly as they appeared to be- a fellow tourist. Many organizations use semi-professional bloggers and social media gurus to provide hype and feedback on their products or services. In “Recasting Social Media Users as Brand Ambassadors: Opening the Doors to the First ‘Social Suite’”,  Avery Holton and Mark Coddington put together a case study analyzing the Cleveland Indians Social Suite experiment and its impact on the organization and sports organizations as a whole. By using the influence of semi-professional bloggers and social media influencers, they were able to affect the image and ultimately the number of seats sold for Indian baseball games. Now these bloggers were given some great perks. A box suite and all access pass to the Indians organization were just a couple. Granted, if a consumer were to research the Social Suite member, they would find out their affiliation with the organization. But not simply by reading a Tweet generated in the 7th inning. This method proved very successful for the Indians and other organizations went on to implement similar programs.  This was a great example of more covert marketing tactics. By using these popular bloggers and social media gurus, the Cleveland Indians were able to regain the trust and support of their fans. 

Chris Moore wrote an article for the Advertising Educational Foundation in 2006 discussing ethics in advertising.  I think he is right on track when he states “Let's start with Truth in Advertising. Telling the truth seems like a pretty basic ethical standard. But as any Philosophy major can tell you, there's Truth ... and then there's Truth”. He goes on to say

 “Something marketers are beginning to realize is that how a brand actually behaves counts more than what they say. This is good news. Advertising copywriters used to have a monopoly on telling a brand's story. Now, thanks to the Internet, the most influential voices in advertising are yours: You hear about a product, the first thing you do is go online and see what your peers are saying about it. Advertisers know this. Ads for reputable companies almost never lie. The cost of being caught out is simply too high. It can take years to undo the damage. Also, the people inside the company want to be able to look at themselves in the mirror. We often think of business people as belonging to some other, vaguely malevolent species, but remember that most of them are you in a few years. So we tell the truth - but not always the whole truth. We want to put our clients in the best light. McDonalds doesn't advertise the calorie count for Big Macs, but they make it easy to find out. Most people don't want to know. On the other hand, drug makers have to spell out side-effects because the information can mean life or death. How much of the truth we owe to others is an ethical question. In practice, the answer depends on who they are and what's at stake.” 

This is what advertisers must always ask- what is at stake? Where is that invisible ethical line in the sand? 

You can’t conveniently leave out information that a new weight loss drug on the market may cause cancer in order to sell more products.  But you can direct potential patients to a blog on your website loaded with testimonials from patients who have had major success while taking the drug.  You can show Kim Kardashian drinking Starbucks® but you can’t say it’s going to give you a rear end that when exposed naked will break the internet. Again, Lord help us. Where I believe advertisers must take the most responsibility in the degree of deception are with the most vulnerable in society. In a 2014 article, the American Public Health Association estimated that the tobacco industry spends $3.6 billion in advertising and the alcohol industry spends approximately $20 billion. Balancing between promoting free speech and protecting our children is a tricky quagmire. In 1992, the Surgeon General as well as the American Medical Association stepped in and asked RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company to discontinue the use of cartoon characters in its advertising due to the attraction of the ads with children.

As strategic communicators we have a responsibility to society to protect those whose minds are not fully developed enough to know they are being deceived. We must always ask if your secrecy or omissions in promotions for our organizations are there to intentionally deceive for dishonest objectives or for something more honorable.

As Visions of Leadership Danced In Their Heads

Leaders- all of us have been one, been led by one or wanted to be one. Massive amounts of literature have been written about this very topic. Yet, why is finding great leaders so difficult? Why is being a great leader challenging at times as well? I am the typical type A personality which makes me a natural born leader or well at least gives me the desire to lead in almost any situation- needless to say I like to be “large and in charge”. But having the desire to lead and even a few of the conventional characteristics leaders typically display doesn’t necessarily make one a great leader. Paul Johnson, a British historian and author, described a few essential traits of leadership in his 2005 Forbes article “Five Marks of a Great Leader”. In his article he discussed five key elements that I believe are essential in becoming a great leader. Moral courage, judgement, a sense of priority, the disposal and concentration of effort and a sense of humor are all traits Johnson describes as indispensable when in leadership.

Moral courage and judgement seem to be two of those attributes that are becoming a rarity these days. Decisions are made based on profit margins and the attempt to placate everyone you are in bed with in business. And while working to please stockholders and customers are certainly important, when you have to compromise your ethics and morality, it comes with a high price. There are boundless examples of a lapse in moral judgement costing organizations and the leaders who made those lapses in judgement enormous losses. A couple of examples in healthcare are the 2015 Turing Pharmaceuticals scandal in which CEO Martin Shkreli jacked up the price of HIV/AIDS medication Daraprim® over 4,000 percent. Mylan Pharmaceuticals followed suit in 2016 with a 400 percent increase in its product EpiPen®. These leaders chose to put profit over moral courage and sound judgement. Their organizations paid the price through massive public relations scandals. Shkreli eventually resigned amidst legal troubles. Heather Bresch, Mylan CEO, who is no stranger to questionable ethics, is still employed with Mylan and continues to defend her decision. As this scenario continues to play out, I think Mylan will find it will cost them in profit margins as consumers figure out alternative solutions to the EpiPen®. In healthcare, it never looks good to put profit over patient care. While there may be a great deal more involved in why those decisions are made than the public will understand, it’s hard to explain a 671 percent increase in your salary (NBC News, August 2016) while you massively increase drug prices to patients. Bottom line- moral courage and judgement matters. As a leader you want your employees to know you are leading with a sound moral compass. When they know you are willing to do the right thing, even when it’s difficult, it will instill a sense of loyalty that money cannot buy.

Great leaders also have a sense of priority. They know how to categorize their workload and business ventures in order to maximize their efforts.  They also learn not to sweat the small stuff. You have to be able to remain focused on the vision. You can’t get bogged down in every minor issue that comes up. You have to trust your people to do their jobs and go about the business of pushing the organization forward in order to achieve its vision.

The disposal and concentation of effort is a vital leadership skill. I love the example Johnson uses of him asking Winston Churchill what he attributed his success in life to. Churchill answered “Conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down”. It’s a great example of the “work smarter, not harder” mantra. As a busy working mother of four children, even with two of them being grown, I have to stay organized and prioritize all that is required of me. I have a large personalized paper calendar where I track my boys’ activities, work schedule, graduate school requirements, social calendar and church activities for all. I use my iPhone calendar as an alert to when each of these are coming up in my day. But for planning purposes and time allocation, the paper calendar is my lifeline. I have a running To-Do list for work where I prioritize the tasks I need to accomplish. Each week this list is refreshed. These are just a few of the ways I try to maximize my disposal and concentration of efforts.

The last characteristic is one I think we could all use a lot more of- humor. The ability to laugh at oneself is immensely valuable as a leader. Too many leaders take themselves far too seriously.  In Forbes 2013 article “10 Reasons Why Humor is the Key to Success at Work”, the author mentions Michael Kerr’s book “The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses are Laughing All the Way to the Bank” (December, 2013) and how “In workplaces that encourage people to be themselves–that are less hierarchical and more innovative–people tend to be more open with their humor,” he says. “Even people who aren’t always comfortable sharing their humor tend to do so in more relaxed environments where the use of humor becomes second nature with everyone’s style.” This open and relaxed atmosphere can foster an environment where employees feel more comfortable sharing ideas and less fear about making mistakes. As a leader, if I can admit my mess-ups, laugh at them, learn from them then move forward, I am creating an atmosphere ripe for growth. Leaders who take themselves far too seriously seem less approachable. Johnson references the great humor of Presidents Lincoln and Reagan as great leaders who used humor as a part of their leadership style.

In conclusion, the real lesson found in each of these leadership characteristics is employees want their leaders to be strong and competent but they also want them to appear and feel human. It’s hard to muster up motivation to follow someone who seems cold and distant or whose moral compass is called into question. People are looking for leaders to follow.  The question is can you be that leader? Can I be that leader?

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.troy.edu/pov/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=51d54600-b8dc-4e02-aea6-85c2c43c1a3a%40sessionmgr4006&vid=1&hid=4214

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/05/03/10-reasons-why-humor-is-a-key-to-success-at-work/#238951f92403

Can You Hear Me Now?

Effective communication starts and stops with leadership in organizations. I think the Presidential election has shown how failure to listen can cost organizations significant losses and create chaos.  In President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s acceptance speech he mentioned the “forgotten man”.  This “forgotten” man and woman are exactly who the Trump campaign built their foundation on. As described in William Graham Sumner’s “What Social Classes Owe to Each Other”, the forgotten man, “He works, he votes, generally he prays—but he always pays”.  Sumner goes on to say “The State cannot get a cent for any man without taking it from some other man, and this latter must be a man who has produced and saved it. This latter is the Forgotten Man” (108). Even controversial Hollywood director Michael Moore predicted Trump’s success because of his ability to listen and make the masses feel heard. The democratic and even some Republican leadership failed to listen to their once constituents. They became complacent; believing their accomplishments of the past would propel them into office.
The establishment failed to see there was a growing number of discontented members of the American population and a large percentage of those Americans help fund their programs. I believe when average Americans are thriving they are less likely to mind government intervention or reach into their pocketbooks. However, when the working class is being burdened to the point they cannot provide for their family- either through lost jobs or insurance premiums, they get fed up and fight back. Most Americans want to provide for the truly needy- the elderly, children and disabled. What they are sick of is able bodied men and women taking advantage of our social programs in order to live off of the system on the backs of hard working Americans. I think the liberal politicians underestimated just how fed up middle class Americans were.The other mistake made by the liberal politicians was assuming Hillary Clinton would claim the vote among women as President Barak Obama did in 2008 among African Americans, simply because she was a woman. They failed to make the connection that while women support ideas like equality among women in the workplace; they also support qualities like honesty and integrity while competing in a man’s world. Insulting comments launched at conservatives were also a perfect example of how the left failed to listen and understand the American middle class. It was assumed anyone supporting Trump was ignorant, racist, sexists, homophobic, xenophobic and a whole host of other adjectives. They failed to hear the perspective of those who didn’t support every liberal issue that the left proposed. If you disagree then you are “deplorable” and “irredeemable”. Yet somehow I doubt you would see those “deplorable” and “irredeemable” people out rioting today because they were disappointed in the election outcome. By ridiculing and isolating the conservative moderates, they created an environment where moderate conservatives were left with no option but to vote for Trump in order to simply be heard and evoke change.The Trump campaign, led by Kellyanne Conway, listened to the “average Joe” in America. By the way, I don’t hear feminists congratulating her on being the first female to run a successful Presidential campaign. I guess feminism only extends its hand if it supports the liberal agenda? By listening and tapping into the pains and fears of the average American the Trump campaign was able to motivate this base to get out and vote for change. According to Pew Research article “High- Income Americans Pay Most Income Taxes, but Enough to be Fair?” in April 2016, 62.3% of those filing income taxes make less than $50,000 annually. When these individuals lose their jobs to overseas labor or gets hit with high insurance premiums because they are now required to carry insurance by law and cannot afford to provide for their families, a revolution is inevitable unless they feel like their government officials hear them. Therefore, in my opinion, Trump’s victory was, as one friend put it, “giving the finger to current politicians and the current system” for the pain they have caused middle class Americans. It wasn’t so much of a vote for Trump as it was a vote against the current administration. Sort of a mindset “hey you’ve had your 8 years to fix this mess, now let’s see what the other side can do”.  I saw a Facebook meme with a map of the country and the breakdown by county of the election results with the former slogan for Verizon “Can you hear me now?” To me, that summed up why this election had the outcome it did.
So now what? Well I think Republicans and Democrats alike better start improving their listening skills. Perhaps every member of congress should be required to take classes on effective listening. In order for America as a whole to become “great again” we have to start listening to those around us. I mean really listening- listening to understand. Our leadership throughout this country from the local level all the way up needs to start listening to the pains of the majority of the American people. In this day and age, you can’t please everyone. But you can develop policies that have positive impacts on the majority who are the backbone of this country. Social programs do not fund themselves. The “forgotten man” is paying for these initiatives. So perhaps politicians on both sides of the isle better start practicing effective listening and leadership. And even more importantly, fellow Americans need to start listening to each other. We can lead by example. I have never walked the path of an African American or homosexual, but I can listen to the path they have walked with compassion and understanding. I can examine my behavior and correct ways I may be inadvertently contributing to the relations issues in our nation. As I tell my children, you cannot control the actions and attitudes of others but you can control yours. You can be a leader by being the good others see. 

Michael Moore Predicts Trumps Victory

Social Media: Friend or Foe?

Whether we like it or not social media is a part of our everyday life. It impacts presidential campaigns, can be career breakers or even friendship killers. Now don’t get me wrong, I do think there are some admirable attributes to social media. I love being able to see long distance friend’s and family’s lives play out on social media. Cute Halloween pictures, milestones and uplifting comments and educational articles are just a few of the reasons I love social media. But lately I’ve been wondering if social media and people being so connected will be the downfall of society due to what seems to be a lack of restraint and integrity.

Mark Zuckerberg’s 2004 founding of Facebook forever changed the landscape of modern civilization. At the click of a button I can instantaneously get connected with people throughout the world in a personal way. I can read commentary on my “friends” political views, movie and restaurant tastes and a myriad of other information. I can post my own thoughts and feelings on whatever subject I choose for all of my connected Facebook world to read. In many cases this is a delightful experience. I love reading enlightening articles on parenting, how to get my sons to make 30 or higher on the ACT, new recipes and other topics of interest. I can rekindle old friendships and stay in touch with friends and family who live far away. Comedy is one of my favorite genres I see on social media. I love funny videos of kids or popular “memes”.  On a professional note, social media is a great way for corporations to obtain and maintain a “human touch”, if you will, with their customers. They can manage crisis situations such as Southwest Airlines praised handling of the 2011 plane malfunction and subsequent flight cancellations discussed in “Corporate Facebook pages: when “fans” attack” that appeared in The Journal of Business Strategy in 2012. My organization uses social media to convey various messages to patients and caregivers battling cancer. Sometimes the pieces are informative and sometime they serve to inspire or entertain. Companies can also use social media as a platform to promote their products. The BlendTec YouTube videos which made Tom Dickson practically famous are a great example of how social media was able to help an organization develop a human connection on something as mundane as a blender. So social media, if used correctly, can be a friend to an organization. But let’s take a look at examples of when social media is a foe.

Unfortunately, there are multitudes of examples of how poor social media management hurt organizations.  One Bloomingdale's holiday ad in 2015 went viral and caused quite a lot of embarrassment for the company. It seemed to suggest date rape. The ad was pulled. Employees from the Red Cross to KitchenAid have been guilty of accidentally posting to their organization’s social media accounts on what was intended to be for their personal account. Apologies were issued but reputations were damaged. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg and perfect examples of why organizations need to have social media policies and response teams in place. A poorly thought out Tweet can cost an organization money and its reputation.  However, one particular issue I see unfolding on social media is everyone is a critic yet at the same time everyone is easily offended. It’s sort of the mind set “I have a right to express my opinion, however don’t you dare disagree or I will be offended therefore making you a bad person”.  As individuals this sensitive terrain can be hard to navigate but for organizations it is almost impossible. Case in point, Target and their transgender bathroom policy that drew so much attention that once the decision was made they were in a no win situation. They suffered a huge backlash from their decision. 1.2 million people signed a pledge to boycott them. According to CNNMoney.com, ultimately it cost the organization over $20 million dollars to install private bathrooms in many of its stores nationwide on top of lost sales.  Social media was a huge factor in the steam the boycott gained. Twenty years ago had that policy been adopted most people would not have even known about it unless they read a newspaper article or saw an in-store sign. Social media not only gives the general public a voice, it gives them power to take action and create movements. Organizations need to consider that when developing their social media strategies and routinely audit their social media accounts. There’s a fine line to walk in trying to be cutting edge and risking offending a sensitive society. Organizations should consider “how can we create a win for everyone”. When scrolling through social media this morning I saw the CNN.com Live feed where Chicago was dying the rive blue for the Cubs. Only a few minutes in to the live stream people were posting negative comments critiquing the city, questioning the toxicity of the dye and so forth.  Seriously people, it has been 108 years! Let the people celebrate in peace.  

In conclusion, social media can be both friend and foe. Organizations must be diligent in managing its social media strategy and online presence. Slip ups can cost millions and damage reputations. With a fickle opinionated public, organizations must carefully but expeditiously manage criticism and complaints made through social media. Social media can be applied to create human connections with customers and create a sense of community. You can develop strong advocates for your organization through social media. Steven R. Covey said “Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other”.  If organizations can have this mindset relating to social media and understanding how it relates to various parts of the organization and society as a whole, they can effectively use social media to promote its organizational core values. Understanding social media is just that-social. It has a life of its own and needs careful consideration before jumping too far out of the box. Below I am attaching a screenshot of a snipit from my Facebook page this morning as a reference to the vastness of content. I’m also attaching one of my favorite moments I posted on my social media accounts-my 15 year old learning to shave for the first time.