So a few weeks ago I wrote about a direct mail letter that proudly stated upon the front of the envelope, that it wasn’t direct mail.
I mumbled that with this sort of approach, it’s little surprise people don’t trust advertising – or a lot of brands – anymore.
Well, that is if they ever trusted them in the first place.
Anyway, I recently came across another example of marketing mentalness. This:
There you go, 100% pure orange juice … that is if you ignore the other ingredients that aren’t pure and aren’t orange juice.
Seriously, what the hell do they think they’re doing?
Sure, they might have been able to get away with this sort of thing before … sure, many people might not ever notice … but that doesn’t mean it’s right. In fact, I’d argue that when people notice the truth, they’re pretty unlikely to believe anything they ever say again.
Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part.
After all, people still buy Subway after they had the fucking audacity to say ‘the foot long sub’ was a brand name, not an indication of length … despite the fact they’ve been pushing the length of their footlong sub for as long as I can remember.
Seriously, what can we believe anymore.
Is there really 1/2 gallon in that orange juice container?
Is there any orange juice at all in that container?
Maybe I should jump on the bandwagon and say my penis is 2 foot long [but that’s only my name for it, it’s not an indication of it’s true length] and that I went to Oxford university, without revealing that I only went to see it with my parents when I was 6 years old and that’s the closest I got to going to any university.
According to some studies, advertising people are only slightly more trusted than a used car salesman.
A USED CAR SALESMAN.
For fucks sake!
I don’t blame society for thinking that – but the truly sad part is there’s lots and lots of genuine, decent, compassionate, smart people in adland – and yet they are letting themselves get tarnished with the ‘untrustworthy’ brush by people who have mistaken the work ‘marketing’ for lying.
Marketing isn’t about lying.
While it is about finding a way to position and promote products so that they will achieve maximum desirability – it should be about cleverness and insight, not bullshit and lies.
I love this industry I work in. It’s given me a wonderful life and lifestyle … but if we continue to allow ourselves to be pushed into making claims that – regardless how you look at it – are about trickery and lies, then we are all contributing to the downfall of our industry and careers. And that would be hugely upsetting, because not only do I think there are lots of wonderful people in it, but – when done right – it has the capacity to make a positive difference beyond the world of commerce, but to society as a whole.
Rant over. I feel better for that.
Thanks for ignoring me. Ha.