Fear Appeal in Advertising

LaTour et al (1996, p 2) say a fear appeal is a “psychoactive” ad that highlights an aspect of our “suboptimal lifestyles.” Their study shows a positive correlation between fear appeal and audience attitude towards an ad, and also that there are no ethical issues (p 6). They use (p 8) “deodorant failure” advertisements as an example of how fear appelas can be helpful communication.

Hawkins, et al (p 416) say that fear appeals use the threat of unpleasant consequences if a behavior is not altered. They single out bad breath. I am going to Platonify and say plaque falls into the same category of unpleasantness. Fear reduction is an effective agent to change attitudes, according to Hawkins, et al (2007, p 386, 408).

Several theories are in play, including the Theory of Reasoned Action (see Hawkins, et al, 2007, p 404). According to TRA, normative social beliefs are a major determinant in an individual about the appropriateness of a behavior. Social beliefs about bad breath, germs and plaque are leveraged in the Listerine ads. According to Gire (2003, p 1), the man who created Listerine, Gerald Lambert also developed the word "halitosis" to provide an advertising basis for discouraging bad breath.

With Listerine a consistent fear attribute is germs. Below is a Listerine ad from 1969. (click on image to enlarge)

And the following from 2009.

In both decades it is in the body copy. The headline further informs us of the manifest consequence of following a suboptimal lifestyle: back then we would have bad breath, today plaque. In both decades, the ads are what LaTour, et al (p 3) would characterize as “mild.”

Another theory is the Elaboration Likelihood Model (see Hawkins, p 409-10). It lines-up two consumer approaches to processing advertisements. One, central route processing is very cognitive and involves extensive information exchange between consumer and marketer. The other, peripheral processing uses more emotional cues and little or no cognitive processing.

In their paper "The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion", Cacioppo and Petty (1986, pp 1-2) clarify that they do not propose two mutually exclusive and exhaustive types but that central and peripheral represent positions on a continuous dimension ranging from high to low elaboration. I believe that along the elaboration continuum, the Listerine ads are on the peripheral side of the mean.

In the 1969 ad and also in the interesting TV commercial below, I think Listerine was trying a change belief tactic (see Hawkins, 2007, p 406) regarding the taste. They change the belief about the pungent taste of the product from bad to good, reasoning it would not be an effective germ fighter otherwise.

Here is an interesting look back to Morgan Freeman’s start in showbiz – he did TV commercials before movies. He is in a Listerine ad, explaining why the bad taste is good: Early Freeman Today, dealing with the taste is apparently not a need, or they don’t want to raise a red flag themselves about it.

Is it all ethical? Hawkins, et al (p 416) cite ethical concerns about "fear appeals based on social anxieties about bad breath...." LaTour, et al (1996, p 7) found no one in their studies considered fear appeals unethical. They even go so far to say such advertising can be helpful communications (p 8), and give as an example - deodorant failure, similar to bad breath. The Listerine ads, to me, fall on the LaTour side of the line and I do not think them unethical.

References
Cacioppo, John and Richard Petty (1986.) The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion. Retrieved on March 28, 2009 from the EBSCOHost database.

Gire, JT (2/10/2003). Attitudes & Attitude Change: Influencing Thoughts and Feelings. Retrieved on March 28, 2009 from http://academics.vmi.edu/psy/jg/chpt7-attitudes.htm

Hawkins, Del, David Mothersbaugh and Roger Best (2007). Consumer Behavior. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

LaTour, M, R Snipes and S Bliss (03/01/1996). Don’t be afraid to use fear appeals: an experimental study. Journal of Advertising Research.

Casting Spells and Illusions is Harder These Days

Marketing is a commercial religion but the commercial ratio behind it has feet of clay and so marketing continually faces problems. It is a religion in that it is a meaning making process, as Drewniany and Jewler (2008, pp 36-45) observe. Marketing creates an identity and negotiates its meaning and therefore its image with the target audience. Marketing breathes life into the image by giving a name and logo as its genesis (p 38). Its adaptive and transferable meaning is from the baptism of the tag line (p 39), color (p 40) and sound (p 42) from its creator.

Redemption for those of us who worship the image is through consumption rather than faith. Consumption builds jobs which leads to more consumption. It’s an easy religion. Sullivan (2008, p 4) notes that there is a paradox in it, though. Advertising that generates sales is a “parade of [idiocy]” and offensive to our humanness. Moreover, marketeers, the hired agents of the brand image, are the least-trusted people in the world today. Well almost, politicians are the absolute worst people in the public’s view. Sullivan (2008, p 6) suggests that following Bernbach’s paradigm can separate an agency from the procession of witless charlatans who come up with “Dude you’ve got a Dell” marketing.

Another general marketing problem may be forming. The Green movement may be a harbinger of a new social order that Jack Lessinger calls the Caring Conservers (see Lessinger, 1991, pp 148-160). This movement is disenchanted by a commercial world whose logic stops at efficient production and consumption. The feet of clay for this commercial world is its efficiency at any cost foundation. It results in an endless race to the bottom, the cheapest, the most exploitative and the most risky practices. Unseemly risk, whether sub-prime derivatives today or some future scandal, will prove its undoing.

Nike’s business aggression is a poster child for our commercial world. Yet even it suffered from its child labor exploitation scandal in Indonesia (see McCall, 1998 and Vogler, 1996). In addition to the inhuman working conditions in its plants, it was noted that Michael Jordan got a bigger annual check from Nike than all its factory workers and factory children combined. Marketing can’t be part of something like that and expect to be held in high regards.

If marketing is a frontman for a problematic process, it is merely a carnival barker for the commercial world and part of the problem too. IMC should use its communication relationships, including those to top management and shareholders to extend the commercial logic to include environmental and human rights thinking.

The final general marketing problem is Accountability. That dread word. Sullivan does not like it and calls it “useless left brain crap” (p 9). However, marketing has acted like a junkie in the boardroom, tin-cupping for more money without demonstrable value. Spiller and Baier (2005, p 13) note that traditional advertising is largely unaccountable. Weber (2007, pp 115-116) notes there is a convergence between what management wants and what marketing can deliver with new technology. If management wants to know ROI on paper towels in the bathrooms, they want to know ROI on marketing. Embracing more measurable media venues will help establish marketing’s value to the firm.


References
Drewniany, B and J Jewler (2008). Creative Strategy in Advertising. Wadsworth.

Lessinger, Jack (1991). Penturbia. SocioEconomics Press.

McCall, William (November 9, 1998). Nike Battles Backlash from Overseas Sweatshops. Image Marketing. Retrieved on January 17, 2009 from EBSCOHOST

New American (11/28/2005). Protecting gun makers from lawsuits. Retrieved on January 17, 2009 from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Protecting+gun+makers+from+lawsuits:+although+the+new+legislation+...-a0139717181

Spiller, Lisa and Martin Baier (2005). Contemporary Direct Marketing. Pearson/Prentice-Hall.

Sullivan, Luke (2008). Hey Whipple, Squeeze This. Adweek Media.

Vogler, I (January 31, 1996). U.S. Multinational Corporations in Indonesia. Retrived on January 18, 2009 from http://www.uwec.edu/Geography/Ivogeler/w111/reebok.htm

Weber, Larry (2007). Marketing to the Social Web. John Wiley.

Cherchez la Femme at the Ritz

Short films and streaming media are increasingly being incorporated into an integrated communications strategy. The promise of the Internet as an effective tool for many uses including business communications, marketing and branding, sales, training, and customer support is now being rapidly fulfilled. Larry Bouthillier and Tim Napoleon have a great article on the technology behind it, streaming media. (see VitalStream)

I looked at how Ritz-Carlton Hotels has integrated short films into its Experience More marketing messages. The Heads or Tails movie can be viewed at Heads_or_Tails. This movie quickly got to the point, two men struggling for the attention of a women, and stayed with it without deviation to the end. I was caught off guard by the tempo. The two men are quickly drawn into Pushkin's doomed duel, and one even says to the other with bravado, "Let's do this thing", the modern venacular for "Let's begin, if you are willing" of Pushkin's Russia.



The plot was simple. A man and a woman meet another man and the competition between the men starts. The Herculean labors of mental one-upsmanship in the middle of the film end with a physical contest and a surprise finish. It is a short film noir. It even uses the lighting and music of classic film noir greats such as the Maltese Falcon, ChinaTown and The Great Gatsby.

I believe the film effectively and subtlety communicates the message of elegant experiences at the Ritz. The Experience More Campaign by Ritz is based on a marketing analysis of their customer public, according to a Hotel Motel Management article. Heather Gunther (see Hotel_Motel_Mgmt ) quotes Jerry Landeck who has developed seven Ritz properties, “Our clients are demanding more experiential elements in the resort.”

They have designed signature restaurants and bars with the able assistance of artisans such as Wolfgang Puck, Gordon Ramsey and Laurent Tourondel. The main action of Heads or Tails takes place in a restaurant bar. The bus boy wears a Baume & Mercier watch. The barkeep is a sommelier. The marketing short film integrates smoothly with the Experience More grand strategy that also guides construction.

Regarding the ethics of short films in marketing communications, Packard (see Hidden_Persuaders) asked the essential question that is still relevant today

"What is the morality of playing upon hidden weaknesses and frailties -- such as our anxieties, aggressive feelings, dread of nonconformity, and infantile hang-overs -- to sell products? Specifically, what are the ethics of businesses that shape campaigns designed to thrive on these weaknesses they have diagnosed?"

Packard quotes a Madison Avenue Industrial Complex insider, Nicholas Samstag with the industry reply:

"It may be said that to take advantage of a man's credulity, to exploit his misapprehensions, to capitalize on his ignorance is morally reprehensible -- and this may well be the case. . . . I do not quite know."

It would be blind denial of plain fact to say that Heads or Tails was not engineered to exploit the apeing frailty of those with airs above their station. Yet the customers are asking for the fantasy, and to some extent that is what a vacation is all about anyway. Unlike, Samstag I am going to say it is not unethical, at least in the case of Ritz Carlton. It is an unspoken intent of the resort vacationers Ritz serves to assume the stale pretense of "acquired taste" and "rich appointments."

Prisoner’s Dilemma in Web Data Mining and Direct Marketing

Morse and Morse have recommended a virtue theory framework to govern the impact Internet data mining and direct marketing have on privacy. They argue that corporate financial interests must be moderated by obligations to the society that gives the corporations their existence.

Their solution is for business to be temperate, a key virtue factor in their proposed framework. Temperate behavior for Internet data mining and direct marketing involves a balance between the two roles inherent in the new business empowering technologies. These technologies act as both social agents and as economic agents (Morse and Morse, 2002, p 93).

In a standard MBA text on ethics, Business Ethics, DeGeorge (2005, pp 498-500) reinforces the Morse and Morse argument for temporance with the observation that the assumption of anonymity is not valid with the Internet yet it is the intuitive expectation of consumers based on their brick and mortar experience.

Additionally, like them DeGeorge advocates informed consent as a primary prerequisite for Internet marketing activity in general, and this of course includes data tracking and data mining in particular. Both DeGeorge, and Morse and Morse conclude that privacy risks on the Internet are serious enough to have precedence over economic benefits.

I believe that the Prisoner’s Dilemma Model can provide a complimentary perspective to clarify aspects of this argument. Data mining and its resultant direct marketing have created a Prisoner’s Dilemma between corporate marketing and individual’s who surf the Web.

Game Theory has been integrated into economics and allows for the expression of social goods in equilibrium analysis. Velasquez (1992, p 321), gives a good definition of one model in Game Theory, the Prisoner’s Dilemma, which is a relationship between at least two parties where each party is faced with two choices.

They can cooperate with the interests of the other party(s) or they can compete with the interests of the other party(s). The payoff is no gain if everyone competes with each other, a stalemate. If all parties cooperate with each other there is a moderate but steady gain. If one party chooses to cooperate but the other party chooses to compete instead, the competitor makes a substantial gain.

This seems to be the state of Internet tracking and data mining today. Consumers are implicitly cooperating with Internet data mining companies. These companies on the other hand are choosing to compete and risking the cooperator’s privacy for the sake of greater, one-sided financial reward.

According to Cooter (see Berkley), repetitive transactions with informed consent are less likely to result in competitive behavior. Instead, they will have the more efficient long-term solution of both parties cooperating. I believe that here is where informed consent will change the nature of the tracking and data mining activities on the Internet.

As this relationship matures, consumers will become more aware of the risks data mining is taking at their expense. Tracking and data mining are repetitive transactions, with a potential benefit and risk. The benefit is an economic good while the risk is a social good. When both sides are aware of what is taking place, the cooperative option of modest but mutual gain is favored in the Prisoner’s Dilemma model. The temperance suggested by Morse and Morse is the favored outcome that grows out of full disclosure.

References

De George, Richard (2005). Business Ethics. Pearson/Prentice-Hall.

Morse, John and Suzanne Morse (2002). Teaching Temperance to the “Cookie Monster”: Ethical Challenges to Data Mining and Direct Marketing. Business and Society Review, Vol. 107, No. 1, pp. 76-97, Spring 2002

Velasquez, Manuel (January 1992). International Business Morality and the Common Good. Business Ethics Quarterly. Retrieved from Taking Sides, 9th Edition. Newton, Lisa and Maureen Ford Editors. McGraw-Hill

What happened to MSN?

The nature of the competition between Google, Yahoo and MSN is search market share. Site Seeker notes “Market share. Google, Yahoo! and MSN are all competing for our attention. More users equate to more revenue via pay per click ads and other advertising opportunities.“

There is a rolling might to Google, which has been completely unaffected by either Microsoft or Yahoo. The explanation is ethics.

McLaughlin (2002, p 117) notes that 60% of adult Internet users are unaware of search engine marketing and that only 1 in 6 Internet users can tell the difference between unbiased search results and paid advertisements. Furthermore, 80% of these users when informed, ask that search sites disclose the practices of paid placement and paid inclusion.

The FTC (see Wouster, 2005, p 3) mandates that “clear and conspicuous disclosure” is necessary for both paid placement and paid inclusion. Truthfulness and disclosure is also part of the commercial world's view of social media ethics prescribed by David Scott (2007, p 205):

• Transparency - Never pretend to be someone you are not.
• Privacy.
• Disclosure - Tell people about any conflict of interest.
• Truthfulness.
• Credit.

From the perspective of the government, and from practioners like Scott there is an admonition for truthfulness, and therefore disclosure.

Is there an impact of ethical advertising on the bottom line that would discourage businesses from applying moral principles? McLaughlin (p 119) notes that “MSN seems to serve the companies [who advertise] corporate needs as much as searcher’s interests.” On the other hand, Google is “the best of the bunch at identifying ads.” What has been the impact on market share? Stepforth has charted MSN market share for the year 2005-6.

What’s it look like over a longer haul? Worse!

Search Market Share

Year/Source ............................Google ......MSN

2004 (see Yahoo) .....................36.5 ........15.5

2005 (see Highbeam) ...............41.4 ........13.7

2006 (see Seroundtable) ..........53.7 .........9

2007 (see ReadWrite Web) .......67 ...........5.25

Conrad (1904, p 212) said, “Anything merely rational fails.” Ethics attempts to deal with the complexity of the real world. Our rational models, in order for us to think with them, are abstracted and focus on only some aspects. What we leave out can drive us to the desperation of trying to buy Yahoo.

References

Conrad, Joseph (1904). Nostromo. Wordsworth Editions Ltd (January 1, 1998)

McLaughlin, Laurianne (2002). The Straight Story on Search Engines. PC World.

Scott, David (2007). The New Rules of Marketing and PR. John Wiley.

Wouster, Jorgen (June 9, 2005).STILL IN SEARCH OF DISCLOSURE. Consumer Reports Web Watch.

Social Media at the U.S. Mint

The U.S. Mint is a revenue-generating agency that has a profit making relationship with its numismatist public. The U.S. Mint for Kids site (Link to Mint for Kids) is good case study for analyzing how the ethics of marketing to children would apply in the new media.

A Detailed Site Description
The U.S. Mint handily describes the site as a “fun, educational tool to generate interest in coins the U.S. Mint and U.S. History.” The site displays animated cartoons appropriate for children. It also has coloring pages related to the topic of the U.S. Mint and coins. For older students, there is an on-line library, and downloadable articles on topics related to coins.



It also has 21 games ranging in difficulty from simple to complex. All of the games involve a trivial pursuit theme, naturally related to coins. All in all, this site has comprehensive information about the products it sells in an age appropriate, attention getting format.



Does the Site Work in Promoting Coins?
According to Director Michelle Bartrum, (See Wiley) the Mint’s revenue generating activities were ideal for the Web. After her introduction of Web marketing, sales at the Mint jumped from $2000 per week to $1.4M per week. She also introduced a series of communities of interest accessible from their Web Site.

David Scott’s ground-breaking book The New Rules of Marketing and PR could have used Bartrum’s strategy with kids as a case study to reinforce his points about “thoughtful and informative” content driving marketing (p 31). David continues to emphacize content on his blog, see Optimizing a Site.

Bartrum’s stated purpose in creating communities of interest was “to develop an ‘online community’ of coin enthusiasts that return to the site over and over.” This not only included kids but a special effort was made to reach out to kids.

Is it Ethical?
In his book, Business Ethics, DeGeorge (2005, pp 343-344) discusses the morality of marketing to children. Marketing intended to be manipulative is generally held to be unethical. Because of their unique vulnerabilities, children are more easily manipulated and so precautions are necessary.

Young children are very impressionable and believe most of what they hear and are unable to clearly separate truth from fantasy. Adolescent children can critically attack fantasies but are still vulnerable because of their social insecurity. The morality test is "does the marketing coerce or manipulate?"

According to this standard, the U.S. Mint for Kids site is right on the line. It is reaching to an interested segment of young children, with a potentially high frequency. It is driving home the allure of coins. It has effectively increased sales. In reviewing the site, though, the intent seems to be information rather than manipulation.

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association, WOMMA prohibits marketing to children under the age of 13 as unethical (See Media Post or WOMMA). According to this standard, the U.S. Mint is unethical since it has clearly defined marketing goals and tactics it is employing to reach pre-teens. I do not consider the U.S. Mint Kids site to be unethical. Integrated Marketing Communication per se is not unethical and the U.S. Mint Kids site does not attempt to exploit the mentioned vulnerabilities of young children or adolescents. The WOMMA Code does not seem realistic in this regard.

The law pertaining to child web marketing is the The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) (see EPIC) and it prescribes limits to the “collection of personal information when a child participates in online games and contests.” Naturally, the U.S. Mint did not violate the statutory restrictions.