Are Marketers to Blame for the Sins of the World?

 

Jean McIntyre

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

By Jean McIntyre (Marketing Angels)

Are marketers really responsible for childhood obesity, alcoholism, coffee addiction or even compulsive social networking behaviour.  I think not.  But if a business wants to change people’s behaviour – we are definitely the ones to come to.

Last week I was phoned by a journalist asking for a comment on the marketing of fattening foods to children and the link to childhood obesity. Alas, my phone was switched off so I didn’t get back to him in time but it got me thinking about his issue.

The media loves to label marketers as the bad guys. Why not, aren’t we to blame for all those bad things that people hate – telemarketers, spam, advertising during the favourite shows?

When you think of the issue of fast foods there’s a few things to consider.

There are three things that make food taste really good – no matter what nutritionists say. Those are fat, sugar and salt (well maybe four if you count caffeine). Chocolate, chips, burgers, wine, cakes – full of fat, sugar and salt. If you give a child a choice between a nice apple and a well-made burger – what do you think they would choose.

The companies that sell these products are taking advantage of this preference and hire marketers to help them with that. Are they wrong to do that? Do you think an economy would work if the only products that were sold were things that were good for us? It’s humans’ ability to make choices (even bad ones) that makes us interesting. And marketing is all about those choices.

The other thing to consider is that none of those things are especially bad for us. A little bit of fat each day is necessary. I recently found out that red wine is great for reducing cholesterol. Sugar in small doses is good and salt is absolutely essential. The issue is about how much you eat.

That’s the crux. Is it really marketers who are responsible for children eating too much? The packaging may be attractive and an ad might feature Hannah Montana eating some sweet treat – but is that what makes children overindulge?

In my experience, children (especially smaller children) aren’t that resourceful. They need adults to help them get access to these food items and often to give children permission to eat them. Now it’s not my place to criticise parents and blame THEM for their childrens’ obesity and poor health. I’m saying that it’s not as simple as blaming the marketers for creating the problem.

Let’s look at some other things marketers have been involved in.

Kids Alive Do the Five – the campaign with Laurie Lawrence – encouraging children to get active in the pool and understand safety. A huge success in changing behaviour.

Life Be In It (OK I’m showing my age but..) – Norm got people up off the couch and active for the first time. It caused a revolution in healthy levels of activity and people’s attitudes to it.

Barack Obama’s landslide success in the US Presidential elections – Marketers made incredible use of developing a package to address needs and using social media to get the message out.

Most recently the ACT Government’s ‘Recycling of Electronic Waste’ campaign last weekend. What an awsome success – the biggest in the country – making fantastic use of word of mouth to get it out there (I received it 5 times from friends).

Marketing has been incredibly successful in helping change the mood, motivation and mindset of people all over the world about sustainability and consequently Governments are struggling to catch up with public opinion.

Now just like I’m saying marketing isn’t the bad guy – Marketing isn’t responsible for the success in these cases either. To achieve success there has to be a need (or desire) in the market, a company that has a passion to develop products that will meet that need, a message that connects with that need and the right media to deliver that message to the people with the need. That’s where marketers come in – and we do a great job for our clients in managing that.

As to those bad things: telemarketing and spam aren’t so much about marketing as they are about volume. Marketing is about quality and difference and so these aren’t tools we use that much. Advertising can be fantastic to build recognition, trust and understanding but it only works when it’s targeted at the right market. People love advertising when they connect with it and that’s the part where Marketers shine.

So what’s my message? Well there’s two things:

1. If you see a need in the market – a marketer can help you meet that need
2. If things go awry – get a marketer to help you implement your solution – we’re really good at that.

I’m sure there will be people with different opinions to mine – I’d love to hear them anyway.

 

Jean Mc