The Other Day #3 - Commercializing Trust

The other day I was reading a piece in the New York Times magazine. It’s a regular column called “The Ethicist” described as “Advice on life’s trickiest situations and moral dilemmas.” This particular piece was about whether parents should tell young children the truth about Santa Clause and the following excerpt caught my attention:

“We use language for all sorts of purposes: to inform, to entertain, to honor, to shame, to argue, to win, to woo, to wow, to take wing... a strong commitment to truthfulness is important. It enables us to act on knowledge provided by others.”

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It got me thinking about the ethics of marketing. In advertising, we use language to persuade and influence. Sometimes we do this by informing, or entertaining or through humor, but the end game is always the same. We want our target audience to do something that benefits the brand. Buy our product, or tell someone else to buy our product. Leave a positive review that we hope will lead to more people buying our product. Contribute money to our cause or volunteer for our cause.

Sometimes it’s cloaked in altruism. Sometimes it actually does encourage people to change their way of thinking and behavior in a way that is good for others, but there is still the marketing goal of creating positive associations with the brand.

So if the purpose of all advertising is directly or at least tangentially self-serving, is there language that we use that violates some code of ethics? Are there some specific strategies and tactics that should be off-limits? Is there a subset of ethics that don’t apply in advertising and is this strictly because it is self-serving?

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The big question for me is, is it ethical to intentionally manipulate someone’s thoughts, sometimes through deception, in an effort to persuade them to buy something and does it matter what that “something” is?

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We shouldn’t lie in advertising, whether or not it’s ethical. It’s just bad business practice. It could set unrealistic expectations, so customers are disappointed when they buy. You’ll get no repeat business and word will get out and you’ll be out of business. Unless you’re a pure grifter just looking to make a one-time deal and high tail it out of town before the pitchfork-and-torch crowd gets you. ‘Nuff said.

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But as long as we don’t peddle untruths, are we comfortable using our understanding of psychology and human emotions to mix and match words and images such that they produce a specific thought, all in the pursuit of creating a belief or desire amongst a segment of the population that increases the likelihood they will buy our stuff? Does it make a difference if we genuinely believe that stuff will benefit our customers? What if we know a subsegment of our buyers might not be able to afford what we’re selling and our successful advertising campaign may result in financial hardships for some? Are we responsible for their lack of willpower?

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Advertising doesn’t just benefit brands by driving commercial success. Advertising done well can also create value for customers. It can make them aware of products or services that can improve their quality of life, by improving their health or financial security or bringing joy. Advertising can provide information they can use to make better decisions or become aware of discounts and promotions. Sometimes an ad can be entertaining enough that the ad, itself, makes someone laugh or cry or feel grateful.

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Does the effect that advertising has on its audience change how we determine whether or not there is any ethical dilemma in intentionally manipulating someone’s thoughts in an effort to make them buy something?

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Maybe what determines the ethicality of advertising is determined by the savviness of the customer.

As The Ethicist says, “Growing up is about learning that you?shouldn’t?always trust what adults say, even when they’re sincere.”