Should Stealth Marketing be practiced more often? The Bizarre Marketing Act that Stunned the World!

Imagine strolling down the streets of your busy city when all of a sudden, a guy appears out of nowhere and asks you to take his picture. You agree and he hands you over his white metallic smartphone. You stare at the device for two seconds in awe, a phone with edges smoother than the iPhone and shinier than the proverbial Samsung.?

You open the camera and you realize it's sharper than your iPhone 12. You take the picture while hiding your enthusiasm and curiosity. He takes back his phone with a smile and thanks while you, unable to control your inquisitively, finally inquire about his smartphone.?The guy effuses about the smartphone and you walk home thinking of it.?

Later you realize while watching the news that it was a sneaky marketing move to promote a new smartphone. You were the targeted person while that humble guy was an actor.??

In 2002, some people in New York City felt the same way when they realized they’ve fallen for a similar scenario.?

The Bizarre Marketing Act that Stunned the World?

In 2002, Sony Ericson launched a market campaign for its T681 phones and the only other thing it stirred drastically besides the skyrocketing sales, was their conduct of such a stunt because it was exactly what’s mentioned above. Their marketing was criticized and admonished as decisive and conning. People started raising more concerns as other bigwigs started hopping into this controversial bandwagon. Soon the term Stealth Marketing became infamous as unethical and now even has been banned in most of Europe.??

The Stealth Marketing: A Global Dilemma

For those who are not aware, stealth marketing is a tactic in the world of marketing where a product or a service is marketed to a particular audience without them being aware of. Stealth Marketing has another version, the people call it a cleaner version, known as Buzz Marketing where the marketers try to integrate the product’s concept or the product itself with anything going viral at that time.?

Why Stealth Marketing is Deemed as Unethical??

The core reason behind the vilifying of such a tactic is the fabrication of identity. Pure Stealth marketers are strictly required to curtaining their real identities and act like actors. This was a rising trend back in the mid-2000s. You could never find out whether the person sitting next to you in the park, flaunting his wristwatch is just a normal citizen or a stealth marketer hired by a luxury watch company. This particular thought of uncertainty and uncomfortableness turned the most trendy tactic of the marketing world into something immoral and notorious.?

The Joneses, a Movie of Sheer Stealth Marketing

In 2009, a Hollywood movie by the name of The Joneses made headlines less because of its talented cast but principally because it was framed around 4 witty stealth marketers disguised as an ideal family living in a niche neighborhood and marketing manifold products by flaunting or consuming them in front of their neighbors, thus creating a desperate need in them. The 4 marketers started implying emotional blackmailing strategies to get their neighbors to purchase their products. A tragic death blows up their disguise as they are condescended in fervor by the neighborhood.??

The movie proved to be the perfect fuel to the fire in debasing stealth marketing as it started gradually getting banned from different parts of the world.?

Surprisingly, Different Forms of Stealth Marketing are Already Being Implemented

Diverse Marketing strategies, inspired by the infamous Stealth Marketing itself, have been spawning the market and unconsciously affecting the buying behavior of potential audiences. They have been curated and therefore are devoid of the toxic element of disguising identity, The Buzz Marketing or viral marketing can be called an improved version of Stealth Marketing.?

Celebrity Endorsing is another successor of Stealth Marketing which was widely accepted as the new norm and has now peaked towards its maturity.?

People are unconsciously marketed to a product in various dramas and movies. This is a cleaner approach as there is no concern about the authenticity of identity though the products hamper the concept of an individual's selective perception which is quite minor and explicitly falls within the marketing ethics.?

These New Strategies are Blooming?

The new strategies have already been mainstreamed and are an important aspect of every marketing campaign. They do not entail the brutal element of Identity deceive and have been proven multiple times a harbinger of sales. These are camouflaged, yet gentle techniques. Pure Stealth Marketing is unlikely to be considered to become legalized,??

Stealth Marketing Can’t Become Legal, Because It Already Is

As mentioned above, these strategies are derived from Stealth Marketing are have become increasingly popular. We can say that as long as the immoral act of hiding identity is out of the way, the implementation of such techniques is to be continued globally and without any harm. Another rising example is influencer marketing which had preceded celebrity marketing and is gradually becoming native.??

Getting Back to The Real Question

So, to answer the controversial question in a word or two, it would be Yes, and it would be No. Stealth Marketing should be practiced more often, but in a safer way and under moral conduct where a person is aware that he is being marketed to or has a chance to become marketed to. And No because of the consequences of the pure and old school Stealth Marketing which can cause severe mental breakdowns as depicted in the film The Joneses.??

To sum up, Stealth Marketing is similar to getting a cheap assignment writing service for attaining your goals, it's risky, does the work, and the professor is going to have to live by thinking that his student has performed the assignment. With a legal version of Stealth Marketing, companies are already reaping the benefits, and it's massive in the mainstream media.??