Tag Archives: authenticity

Telling Lies to Idiots? Advertising, ethics and corporate responsibility

7 Jun

This week, I’m curating a session at day two of Mumbrella 360. When I proposed the topic for inclusion in the crowd sourced part of the conference, I expected a couple of votes, but apparently it had a flood of response. So even us jaded industry types seem to feel that it’s an issue we all face – how to behave ethically in an industry generally regarded as having the worst reputation for trustworthiness after used car salesmen.

I’m delighted to have a panel of some of the industry’s finest minds who have, it’s fair to say, very different approaches to ethics.

  • Joe Talcott, Chairman, AANA
  • Peter Biggs, MD, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
  • Max Markson, Markson Sparks
  • Andrew Varasdi, managing partner, Banjo Advertising

I’ll be asking them for their responses to a series of hypothetical scenarios.

We’ll be examining issues that might include: advertising to children, online privacy and transparency, green or pink washing, planting phony stories in the media, the treatment of staff in agencies, what responsibility bosses have to their teams, whether there’s a difference between ethics and the law as far as advertising is concerned…

Is there a single critical ethical issue in marketing you think must be addressed, or a dilemma you’d like to hear a response to?

Is the business of causing people to want things they arguably don’t need fundamentally unethical? Is seeking to manipulate behaviour to increase product sales in effect treating consumers like idiots..?

I hope to see you on Wednesday, where you can ask the question in person, or alternatively, leave your comments here.

my blog post brings all the boys to the yard: on self-promotion and vanity

22 May vanity

It’s a rainy Sydney Saturday and my beloved has just left the warmth of our bed to trudge off to TEDx. As I expressed dissatisfaction with this turn of events, he said to me “well, if you had done a better job on your entry form we’d be there together.”*

On the scale of one to douchebag, going on a date to TEDx has to rate pretty highly, but that aside, he was absolutely right. This seemed of significance because it struck the same chord as a conversation I’d had the previous day with my chief co-conspirator at work who pointed out that while I may be excellent (I said may be) at promoting goods, services, the work we do, bluntly, I suck at self-promotion.

While it’s clear to me that one must, at various times put one’s best foot forward and sell oneself, I can’t rid myself of a slight squeamishness. I’m frankly rotten at job interviews, first dates, public speaking, appearing on camera.

It’s not that I lack confidence in my talents.
I have an ego the size of the planet.  There’s just something about pimping oneself I find a tad gauche.

Amongst some of my friends, one of the most damning indictments of a person is to say of him, archly, “of course, he’s an excellent self-publicist.”  Layers of sneering elitism are contained within this, of course – centuries of entitlement and privilege. One need not be good at self-promotion because one is who one is. It’s essentially bullshit, and I acknowledge that, but I’m still struggling to get past it.  We live in a world where ‘maintaining a personal brand’ is a real consideration, and those who fall behind get left behind.

So how do you sell yourself gracefully?

The people whose self-selling skills I admire are all bound by a common thread. They  communicate their intense passion and love for what they do in a way that leaves ego at the door; creating a separation that suggests it’s almost incidental that it happens to be “me” that did this – the accomplishment itself transcends the personal. Of course, go too far down this path and you’re in all kinds of Messianic trouble; next thing you know god’s writing your next album and whispering secrets in your ear about who might most enjoy a lovely glass of Kool-Aid…

My family instilled in me the notion that boasting is vulgar, and I’ve largely chosen to hang on to this belief. Even the brashest of my friends retain the saving grace of self-doubt and criticism.  But there are situations where that’s simply not appropriate or relevant; your potential employer or new client doesn’t want to hear of your battles with the Muse; dark moments of soul-deep self-loathing; waking in the night wondering if it’s all worth it: successful navigation of these inner crises is what makes us good at what we do.

Silence those inner demons and your talent would suffer, become smug and lumpen, but amplify that turmoil and you begin to sound nuts.

There’s nothing inherently graceless about holding deep-seated self-belief. It’s not necessarily horribly vain to be proud of one’s achievements, but it’s certainly a hard act to balance.  I think it makes a huge difference what those achievements are – bragging about your recent discovery of a cure for cancer is excusable, gloating about your yacht is not.

What do you think? Where do you draw the line? Does it depend who you’re talking to? Is it ever good form to be triumphant about material wealth? Should your achievements speak for themselves?

postscript: I’m off to Cockatoo Island to see the Biennale with one of my dearest friends and her delightful daughter. Art and puddle jumping, gumboots and good times. And the sun’s coming out! I’m pretty pleased about it. Forgive my showing off.

*It amuses me to make him sound like a sod. He’s actually a complete darling.

what’s in a name?

12 Mar

There has been some recent contentiousness (well, ok, a minor discussion between maybe four people, but on Twitter, sometimes that can seem really loud) on the subject of authenticity and whether or not you’re obliged to use your own name /image for your social network identity to be considered truly real.

So it seemed like time to haul this post out of the recesses of my mind….

The reason for choosing a nonsensical user name and avatar for most of the social networking sites I use was clear and defined in the beginning. Now the waters have become a little murkier.

First up, while my username may not represent my full official moniker, it doesn’t signify a lack of authenticity: I’d argue the opposite. My given name might tell you about my gender, race…maybe my age and the aspirations of my parents, but it doesn’t give you any insight into who I really am (we are not all lucky enough to be christened something as beautiful and evocative as  this or this. Creating a persona /avatar/ username that represents something about you, or that you choose to be associated with  is actually more transparent still – you’re wearing your heart on your sleeve, setting an intention for your practice.

Inauthenticity occurs when you seek to obfuscate, deny or distance yourself from your username or content. I have my twitter name on my business cards; I attend tweet ups; I’m transparent about who I work for and what I do there…there is not a moment where I am inconsistent in on vs off line presence.  It’s utterly simplistic to insist on  people using photos in their profiles; as any Gaydar.com user will tell you, a hot pic guarantees nothing.

Online (or at least in text based communities) you are only as good as your word.

I consider it somewhat akin to a branding exercise.  Packaging oneself, what one stands for, one’s values etc. in a way that is attractive to the consumer is natural behaviour in an attention starved world (disclaimer – if that were literally true, you can call me a wanker and punch me in the face when next we meet – it’s really more of an analogy, ok?)

In the noisy world of online communities – or indeed the physical world, isn’t it better to use a name / slash ‘branded avatar’ that speaks of you and your values?  I’m pretty sure last time I drank a Coke, I didn’t think of the Schweppes Pty parent company…You?

I studied cyber utopianism at university and was enthralled by the notion of creating interactions that were not informed or prejudiced by gender, ethnicity, appearance and whatnot but directly through a meeting of minds. I was young, I was naïve, I was enthused by the egalitarianism of online communication…I was probably off my face.

But what freedom, what unfettered potential; to be unencumbered by our limited and immutable physical selves, to be able send one’s intellect soaring to dance among the stars.

The reality was a little different. My first experience using IRC in the late nineties (using a non gendered, non-culturally located handle) was that all conversations were either unutterably banal or sexually predatory.  Often both.

The gap between the potential and the actual was so large and so depressing that I abandoned all interest in online communities and went and lived exclusively in the real world for a while. It’s ok, I’m back now.  But that experience informed my usage of digital communities, causing me to choose a theoretically genderless avatar, avoid using my own name etc.  I simply didn’t anticipate how twitter would work – and neither did you, if you’re honest.

Have I changed my mind about this? Somewhat.  But as it stands, I’m not hearing a huge clamour of people demanding I change my username or picture (hat tip to www.twitter.com/firstdogonmoon) so I’m going with the ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ option. If you disagree, you may implore me to take action via the comments forum, if you’re not Mark Pollard.

For your edification and delight, I thought I’d get down and dirty with a little semiotic analysis of the whole cat /tree thing.  Yeah, I know, always a crowd pleaser.
My idea was that the name and image were quirky/ funny/ surreal at first glance (denotation). In the second layer of meaning, ‘a cat in a tree seems’ like a comfortable juxtaposition but in fact connotes a disconnectedness; an animal outside its usual habitat.

“A fish out of water, a cat in a tree” conveys a sense of alienation. The symbolism of the tree implies a sense of spectatorship, detachment; perhaps even judgement – the cat looks down at you, the onlooker.  The cat’s inscrutability is softened by the absurdity of the suggestion that perhaps the cat is stuck. Fire brigades will be called; an undignified rescue attempt made; fur will fly.

Are you feeling it? Yeah, you love the cat!  Who’s with me? ;)

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.