Responsibility, and the Saving of Advertising as a Force for Good
Image: “ BCorps leading Business Roundtable culture shift” Our Good Brands
Reference: “Skin in the Game” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Allen Lane Skin in the Game
For what and whom is advertising responsible?
In the ProfG podcast last week scientist and philosopher Sam Harris identified “clickbait advertising” as “the bottom of most of our digital problems”. Harris hopes the Netflix subscription model will win over the Facebook advertising model. He echoes Slate’s conclusion that “Targeted ads exploded, and the damage has been devastating.”
Nassim Nicholas Taleb is most famous for “The Black Swan. In his recent book “Skin in the Game” he challenges the status quo on many dimensions. He particularly addresses the need for “symmetry in human affairs, that is, fairness, justice, responsibility, and reciprocity”.
Can we accept advertising’s responsibility for the damage? Across the industry of advertisers, agencies, consultants, and tech, we poured in the money and messaging that caused bad and often terrifying outcomes (not to speak here of the fraud).
Can advertising create reciprocity? Only if it answers Pedro Domingos’ “most important question of the 21st century”. If we want consumers to share their data, reciprocity means advertisers take must responsibility for sharing the truth.
Where do fairness and justice fit?
Economist Milton Friedman decreed “the only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits” i.e. for management and shareholders. Business followed. “Neutron” Jack Welch at GE became successful in driving profit and stock during his reign.
GE’s more recent near collapse revealed the limitation of the profit incentive in practice.
In 2019 the Business Roundtable accepted the responsibility of business to stakeholders beyond shareholders, a commitment recently repeated during Covid-19 by Chair Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase. How does Advertising think about its responsibility to communicate to all the multiple stakeholders in a brand?
In “Skin in the Game” Taleb maps the community with whom an individual can identify:
- You
- Family
- Tribe
- Extended Tribe
- Humanity
- Ecosystem
Can advertising similarly redefine its targeting in these expansive and diverse terms?
Advertising must surely continue to contribute to shareholder value and consumer loyalty. But what about employees, partners and affiliates? And how can advertising reflect the concerns of society for fairness and justice, and for public health and the environment?
How advertising develops its methodology and practices to accept responsibiloty and “skin in the game” may determine its survival.
Stewart Pearson May 26, 2020
Stewart Pearson is a partner in Consilient Group working with strategists, academics, and data scientists to research the personalities, loyalties, and social lives of brands. We develop intelligence to enable brands, direct-to-consumer innovators, start-ups, and non-profits to build trust and create positive outcomes for their communities and stakeholders.
Stewart has lived and worked in Europe, Asia, and the U.S., and currently lives in Seattle. Please contact Stewart at [email protected] and LinkedIn