At the PSFK Conference London we ran a panel called Change The World – there seemed to be some divide about what responsibility marketing should take in terms of issues like over-consumption, sustainability and CSR. Recently, marketing guru Seth Godin added to the debate with this piece on responsibility:
If you think that the world would be a better place if everyone owned a handgun, then yes, market handguns as hard as you can. If you honestly believe that kids are well served by drinking a dozen spoonfuls of sugar every morning before school, then I may believe you’re wrong, but you should go ahead and market your artificially-sweetened juice product. My point is that you have no right to market things you know are harmful or that lead to bad outcomes, regardless of how much you need that job.
Along the way, “just doing my job,” has become a mantra for blind marketers who are making short-term mistakes in order to avoid a conflict with the client or the boss. As marketing becomes every more powerful, this is just untenable. It’s unacceptable.
If you get asked to market something, you’re responsible. You’re responsible for the impacts, the costs, the side effects and the damage. You killed that kid. You poisoned that river. You led to that fight. If you can’t put your name on it, I hope you’ll walk away. If only 10% of us did that, imagine the changes. Imagine how proud you’d be of your work.
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Seems Seth is walking a slippery slope…and enabling people and parents to pass the buck on their own decision making abilities. If a society deems something illegal…like sugar-laced fruit juice, then you shouldn’t market it. But saying that the responsibility resides with Tony the Tiger vs. Mom is outragous. Are we as marketers arrogant to the point of making decisions on what products should be offered in the marketplace? After all, haven’t we spent the last two years talking about how smart consumers are? I am all for marketers standing up against slimmy corporate bloodsuckers…but saying that Crispin Porter is guilty of giving someone a heart attack because their client sells Whoppers is ingorant.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:30 pm