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ethicsinmarketing-blog · 6 years ago

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Ethic Initiatives in Marketing

Nowadays, many companies are moving more towards the use of ethics in their marketing tactics. This is not solely for the purpose of gaining brand reputation, but also the fact that they really do care. Many of which have shown several initiatives on their contribution and goodness in their campaign, ads, strategy, as well as the supply chain that led to final product. However, there are both positive and negative reaction towards the movement base on the conversations among different group of communities on the internet.

1) TOMS and Their Ethical Considerations

TOMS was by the founder, Blake Mycoskie, whom initiated the need to achieve a greater movement beyond the business itself through helping the poor countries such as Haiti. TOMS have made a good reputation with its brand associating to their shoes charity, in which customer act of buying corresponds to giving one shoes away to those in need. Mostly importantly is the use of Instagram hashtags, #onedaywithoutshoes campaign, as their marketing channel of distribution, with participants of up to 14,947 posts. A single word or hashtag on Instagram can become immensely viral among the communities.

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A post shared by Victoria Sharp (@tolley_sharp) on May 10, 2018 at 9:35pm PDT

The response derived from the #onedaywithoutshoes campaign on Instagram were (1) positive reactions, and (2) personal anecdotes of what they did for TOMS campaign. For instance, “Our day-long adventure reinforced the point: shoes may be a luxurious indulgence for many Americans, but take them away and not only do you forego any degree of comfort but you also expose yourself to painful repercussions [...]” (Instagram User: hhikesetcetera). Here, the anecdote is another form of conversation used by an Instagram participant in creating a rather empathetic and emotional response base on personal experiences of being barefooted. This automatically puts TOMS campaign into action by the community. Yet, emphasised that it is not just the matter of posting pictures to raise awareness, but to experience and learn the hardship face by those who do not have the luxury or access to shoes. Most of which, were stories of how their day have been in reinforcing the threatening conditions that children have to face without shoes. Clearly, the idea of hashtags is the main participatory affordances that led to conversation among the communities by sharing their stories in their own context.

However, often times, the conversation under the Instagram comment section are insignificant, unlike the post. Most comments are lack of discussion but short reactions of appreciate, “❤️❤️❤️”. Or, lack of attention to the context in raising awareness, but rather on the aesthetic of the picture itself, “your picture is so stylish.” (Instagram User: ogzhancglyn). Therefore, there were no immense effect but rather a quick or thoughtless reacts. Despite that, the accumulation of posts corresponding to the hashtag are the main contribution to TOMS successful marketing.

Other than Instagram, there were various reaction on other social media platform including Twitter and Facebook where celebrities including Jena Malone (have posted on Facebook official page), Laura Dern (on Twitter), and Thomas Roberts (on Twitter), had all participated in through sharing photos and using the trending hashtag.

This use of medium have allowed quick response from the online communities with number of people posting pictures of their barefoot in response to supporting TOMS campaign, and by replying to the celebrity’s tweet. The 31 retweets and 114 likes for example, is what enable others to see posts on their news update feed. Hence, become a chain of reaction as seen by the official twitter post by Jenna’s Dern, an American actress who have won various awards including Golden Globe Award. The fact that celebrities are responding to their marketing campaign started in social media additionally created a sense of credibility and reliability similar to that of a brand endorsement. The majority of the response are usually positive, and are not only from regular customers, but also celebrities. The sharing among users led to the hype among the Facebook and Twitter communities to also raise awareness and post pictures or @mention their friend in response:

(Source: https://twitter.com/numbertax2/status/601099505115598848)

However, there were several mix reaction towards the post following Blake’s appearance on Ellen show base on the conversation among Youtube users under the comment section. Unlike Instagram where the conversations under the same hashtag are generated through many individual posts grouped together in the same category in showing appreciation, experience, and some light-hearted responses (with the use of emoticons), Youtube users are much more conversational among users by replying to each other’s comment. Youtube, is another medium often used by the group of communities that are usually critical, direct and expressive in their opinion. There were no barriers that would impede them from expressing their honest thoughts or opinions, which led to an ongoing discussion.

youtube

Base on the comments above, were an example of negative response on how the Youtube user are complaining about TOMS tackling the wrong issue by emphasising that the kids in Africa already have a lot of shoes. Although this shows an honest opinion, the user still shows lack of knowledge on the brand, especially when TOMS is not only giving out shoes in Africa, but also other countries like Haiti. In correspondence, another Youtube user have responded to the comment, “Fan of Adam Conniver?”, in a mocking tone. His/her comment have refers back to Adam Connover, whom appear to have previously debunked TOMS and their strategy in a negative light, on Conan Talk Show.

Conversation on Conan Talk Show, in contrast to the conversation on Instagram, have twisted TOMS’s ethics initiative in their marketing strategy into an evil act of tricking the customer for profit. The charitable movement of TOMS become just an act of making the customer ‘feel’ good about their purchases rather than making actual benefits to the poor. That is, dumping shoes with a short term cure rather than long-term. Meanwhile, the flood of profit is what comes from the mercy of the customers. While concluding that the marketing is a ploy. Marketing strategy here in using ethics have been working in a reverse effect as the conversation in the online communities continue to expand rather negatively.

The discussion regarding TOMS ethical consideration in their marketing strategy were also found on Reddit, questioning TOMS and the effectiveness of their charity. Most of which are detailed and fact-oriented to support one’s claim in a long paragraph form. This was rather in a very realistic tone in contrast to the marketing tone that usually emphasise only the positive aspect of the campaign to the society.

In correspondence to the on-going conversation, the community raise the effectiveness further into the business context of taking over the local shoe making industry (instead of focusing on the aspect that TOMS is helping the communities by providing them shoes). The tone created were rather serious and grim, as they begin to involve the use of quantitative numbers to support their point, “Because of what honest, good-intentioned people did to help those in need, hundreds of thousands of jobs—543,000 textile workers in Nigeria alone between 1992 and 2006—were lost, as companies shut down due to being undercut by outside aid” (Reddit User: Boon_Retsam). Customer anticipation in this case were taken in the wrong direction from what TOMS have intended, and extended far beyond what they might have imagined. The action that TOMS have taken were rather viewed as a bandaid solution rather a long-term cure, which cause more harm to the workers that are losing jobs due to TOMS good intention. Conversation as seen are, are much more rich in information and constructive in criticisms.

However, the positive conversations in this case, tends to outweigh the negative responses. By the end of the day, TOMS still made a particular benefit to society rather than nothing.

2) Pepsi Commercial (ft. Kendall Jenner) without Ethical Considerations

This is an example that illustrate the business’s unintended ethical issue in relation to their commercial and its similar appropriation of the Black Lives Matter movement that led to controversial issue.

The tweet above was posted by Bernice King, an important individual that advocate peace and a daughter of Martin Luther King, mocking with criticism in response to Pepsi’s commercial. Such commercial have led to direct impact on this particular audience whom’s father was the influential supporter of civil rights. Despite the unintentional marketing of using protests as part of their scenes similar to that of the movement in empowering Pepsi drinks, the ignorance of ethical consideration have led to an on-going conversation regarding the ad, along with a follow up response from Pepsi in the following picture posted on their official Twitter account:

Though pepsi initial intention was to advocate message for peace, it have cause an uproar in social media communities, especially Twitter, where several mockery and sarcastic images can be found. For instance, of Pepsi being used as the tool to solve everything in a sarcastic manner that realistically does not work. Most of which is due to its similarities to Black Lives Matter movements, and making it seems as though the issue can simply be solved with a can of soda, undermining the movement. The on-going conversation in the public communities were often in the form of memes or images of national protests.

(Source: https://twitter.com/Starlaydi/status/896742027240624128)

For instance, the meme of a truck with pepsi label that made a joke out of Pepsi viewing themselves as powerful and hence have the ability to solve all the issues faced by the society. Surprisingly, there were no positive reactions toward the commercial, nor is there any sign of empathy for the mistake Pepsi have made without careful considerations. There were an on-going conversation with people replying to daweiner’s tweet with more memes, and sarcastic joke that the picture is not photoshopped but rather real:

(Source: https://twitter.com/drivenbyboredom/status/849391993566490624)

(Source: https://twitter.com/daweiner/status/849386517722169346)

Despite not using ethics in marketing strategy, ethics can easily come into play without any particular intention intended from Pepsi, but rather by accident. This, on the other hand, emphasises the importance for company to do their research base on the context and the situation of their market of entry to avoid any mistakes. The cost for them to invest more on market research and development for the most effective marketing approach, is less than the cost of the damage it had on them for their silly mistake without considering the ethics of their action.

The two examples given shows the two perspective of one that uses ethical initiatives in their marketing strategy, and another that did not consider ethics in their marketing strategy to later realise its negative impact. The mixed response from the online communities (both positively and negatively) on TOMS ethical action are dominantly positive. In contrast to the conversations about the Pepsi’s commercial that are dominantly negative. Hence, shows the importance to always put ethics into consideration before making it public to the customer. For the customers to detect the unethical aspect of the company’s marketing approach is never a good sign to begin with. The company should be ahead of their game.

The important underlying message presented, is for the company to always be mindful of their ethical approach in their marketing strategy, while also making sure that it aligns well with what the society values.

3) Canada Goose and its Issue in Initiating Ethical Consideration (despite the effort to convince the public’s view)

Despite the community’s effort to push forward positive views on Canada Goose by emphasising the ethical sourcing and the natural surplus of the abundant wildlife, there is still an unavoidable negative response towards Canada Goose unethical practices. Canada goose were bombarded with people @mentioning them on Twitter with direct criticisms, “I'm interested in a garment that isn't soaked in the blood of animal. do you have anything like that?” (Twitter Username: johnwdconnell), while others responded in a domino effect in agreement to the tweet. Unity were created in empowering the tweet with people supporting the same view.

This also includes the conversation on Canada Goose Kills Facebook with plenty of shares, along with angry and sad reacts in response to the memes portraying animal abuse. The Facebook page was clearly created for their particular community that is against Canada Goose and their increasing popularity. Facebook in this case, became the place for conversation among the haters. The overall tone of the conversation were rather aggressive through visual appeal or images of animal abuse and weapons. Red fonts were used in the meme, representing the shed of blood involved in the unethical activities by Canada Goose. Hence, the conversation being discussed were among the same context, where they can simply share pictures of the guns in reference to the cruelty involved, and the picture of guillotine directed toward those that kills animals for pleasure.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), similarly, have also gotten involve in the conversation through the Twitter platform that links back to this Facebook group above through hashtag (#CanadaGooseKills) and content-sensitive image of a goose. The interconnection between two different platform have led the conversation into a bigger context as it reaches wider group of people. Meanwhile the user that led the discussion is also a well established non-profit organisation that people would recognise. Hence, creating more difficulties for Canada Goose to make marketing moves surrounding the use of ethics. Therefore, ethical initiatives in this case is not appropriate for business that uses animal fur for their product.

Key Takeaways: Although ethic initiatives in marketing is not always necessary depending on the industry and the context given, ethical consideration is always an important factor for the business to be aware of before taking any actions.

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