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Marketing & Misleading with Truth

July 24th, 2009 by Andrew Swenson in Marketing

I contend that far too much marketing misleads with the truth.

As we move into an era of commerce that’s supposed to be marked by transparency and authenticity, marketing becomes more than a matter of simply presenting the truth—it becomes matter of presenting the truth ethically.

Take the latest sleazy move by Jim Cramer (of Mad Money fame) for example.

In attempt to sell email newsletter subscriptions, Cramer lent his signature to a series of seedy emails that claim subscribers will earn big bucks by “taking on the market” with Cramer himself. From Henry Blodget (@hblodget) on Business Insider:

In an attempt to get you drooling about how much money you’ll make if you pony up and buy a subscription, the letter [email] describes a few amazing calls Jim has made in recent months.  Goldman Sachs! Nike! GE!  What the letter doesn’t do, of course, is describe all of Jim’s terrible calls.

If you read the email on Business Insider, you’ll find nothing that’s factually inaccurate. But as Blodget points out, you also won’t read anything about Cramer’s picks that have tanked—like 98% loss tanked.

I’m not saying that it’s wrong to highlight successes and tread lightly on failures. However, I do believe that dashing carefully selected truth-nuggets in soupy emotional messaging is unethical.

Sure, consumers have a responsibility to check out marketing claims, but marketers also have the responsibility not to grossly mislead for the sake of profit.

It’s important to remember that there are many opportunities to express marketing ethics: Many times, marketing materials move from panning meetings to the desk of copywriters, designers, editors, and programmers.

At each step of the process, individual people have the chance to step in and say, “You know, maybe this isn’t necessarily the best way to frame this.” The responsibility for ethical marketing runs through the entire enterprise.

And it’s not like we don’t have enough options—there are more communication channels than we know what to do with. I don’t ever think there’s a time when we need cherry-pick facts to make ourselves look better.

-Andrew

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  • I agree with you wholeheartedly. Although maybe if you're Jim Cramer, you do need to cherry-pick facts to make yourself look better. Ha ha. But seriously, with a track record like his, maybe Jim Cramer is in the wrong business. Perhaps he should have been a plumber. (Though I can definitely say I wouldn't hire him to handle any of my plumbing.) Probably safer to have him working as a carnie at the fair. But I digress. Cutting corners, misrepresenting facts and trading any long-term credibility for short-term gains has been the predominant business mantra of the 2000's for sure. And look what we as a nation have reaped with it. Or should I say "raped"? For indeed I believe those who misused their power and influence have truly raped and pillaged not only our once-vibrant economy, but also the good people of this country -- most of whom were unprepared to fend off snake-oil salesmen, who seemed to have enjoyed a boon this past decade (and in that category I would include financial institutions at the top of the list). What happened to all the consumer protections of Nader's heyday? Apparently they were stolen away in the night. Or unscrupulous business people found loopholes they could use to exploit people and their precious resources for their own dubious gain. Anyone who is still against regulating publicly traded businesses with some sensible guidelines and rules apparently hasn't suffered enough yet.
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