I spend a lot of time on the phone with people throughout the day. Recently, I had a very honest conversation with a friend who seemed to place the blame for his child’s behavior square in the lap of marketing.
The conversation went like this…
Friend: “Brad, I’ve gotta tell you…I’m a little peeved..”
Me: “Why?”
Friend: “You’re in marketing right?”
Me: “yeah….and advertising”
Friend: “Here’s a little TRUTH for you, Marketers Ruined Christmas!”
Me: “You think so?”
Friend: “YES! My 3 year old is begging me for toys like a
crack addict…and it’s YOUR fault!”
Me: “Maybe it’s a really good toy :)”
Friend: “Not funny”
That was what a friend of my recently ‘confessed’ to me 🙂
We kept talking for a while and it’s my opinion that
marketers simply take advantage of the rampant
consumerism and do as much as they can to turn people
TOWARDS their products and services with hype laden
ads that draw attention AWAY from the content…it’s
annoying people and making marketers look bad!
Are they (we) bad guys for doing that? I’m not sure the
blame REALLY lies with marketers, or advertisers, or
companies…I think it falls squarely on the shoulders
of parents (in the case of children) and individuals.
Personally my wife and I try to focus less and less on “stuff”
and more and more on CHRISTmas…not letting the marketers
beat US as parents and what WE want to instill in our
children…
But what do you think?
Merry Christmas,
Brad
P.S. So what can marketers DO? Clearly consumers are annoyed
with the ‘typical’ marketing, and in many cases they’re blind to it. Now
it’s MY (and several others) opinions that a big shift is coming…
Let’s just say marketing might be going ‘under cover’…I’ll talk more
about it next time!
P.P.S. I’ll be ‘punching out’ the end of this week till after Christmas
(Because family and JESUS is the real reason for the season) so if you
need anything, ask me now 🙂
I have a similar conversation with website owners who sell products – but it’s actually the opposite. They believe their product is so outstanding and unique that no marketing at all will be needed. Surely it will just “sell itself.”
Unfortunately that’s just not the case. Without marketing, no matter how great the product, it will not the attention it needs without a push.
Heck, even Apple which has a cult-like following for it’s products, spends billions on marketing new iPhones before they launch.
Even the best products need to be “sold” with marketing.
LOL…maybe there’s a happy medium between ‘if you build it, they will come’ and “BEST USED CAR DEALS IN TOWN!!”
What a compliment to think that marketers can make people do things they don’t want to do, especially 3 year olds. I have not had a whole lot of luck getting 3 year olds to cooperate unless they want to.
Marketing is like the scene in Fight Club where they are behind the convenient store and Brad Pit threatens the clerk that if he doesn’t do something with his life, Pitt will come back and shoot him. We have to use our superpowers for good and not for evil.
The challenge is that since the first day we walked the earth there has not been a clear line between the two, only ethics and good judgment.
3 year olds…they’re all nuts :). Great stuff man…not enough Fight Club references here!