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Have you seen the latest Honey Nut Cheerios commercial? The one where they’re having to make hard dietary choices to lower their cholesterol? It’s a sacrifice, but they’ll just have to endure eating their highly processed, overly sweet “healthy breakfast.” Give me a break!
My first thought was, “Who buys this stuff?” Not the cereal … the deception. Unfortunately, far too many fall for it. Why are consumers so gullible when it comes to food choices? Anybody with half a brain should realize that a cereal listing sugar, modified corn starch, honey, brown sugar syrup, and salt as five of the first seven ingredients probably isn’t REALLY all that healthy for you. It’s candy coated oat bran! How can that give you a good start to your day?
Deceptive marketing focuses on the oat bran and hopes you won’t notice that they’re really selling junk food. It’s big business, raking in huge profits, but those profits come at our expense. As another popular commercial says, “Wake up, people!”
Marketing doesn’t have to be a dirty word
I’m not so naive as to think I could take on General Mills or any other mega corporation. True change never comes from the top down to begin with. It starts as a seed within ourselves. Although I can’t change them, I can “be the change I want to see in the world.” Before putting fingers to the keyboard I can do a reality check, and make sure that the message I’m about to share is more than just factual. Is it true? How will it be perceived by its intended audience?
Kimberly Bock of Learning SEO Basics is another supporter of ethical marketing. She’s on the lookout for marketers / bloggers that are actively involved with charitable organizations, environmental causes, and endeavors that are of benefit to the welfare of humanity, including marketers blogs that are focussed upon ethical marketing. If this description fits you, make sure you leave your interests and URL in her comment section.
So, what do you think? Are we all selectively gullible to deceptive marketing messages? What can we do about it?
Related Articles from Other Blogs:
Health roundup: Herb bashing, black box warnings and Honey Nut Cheerios (satire)
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on May 28th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
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on May 29th, 2008 at 8:19 am
It opens up a vast door to things we accept as truths, yet in reality are just the opposite. Damn we are a dumb society! I guess we can be “sold” on anything, even when the information such as the ingredients are printed before us, we don’t read or comprehend them. Instead our eyes stay affixed to the glitz on the front of the box.
Remember when Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz discovered the truth about the Great Wizard…she looked behind the curtain to discover there was no “great” wizard, just a man who knew about manipulation. Maybe as a consumer we should look at the labels and ignore the glitz to discover the truth.
on May 29th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Shari,
This is such a huge topic. I must admit that I’ve boughten into deceptive marketing along the line of “successfully grow your business send us $xxx.xx and we’ll send you our truly amazing guide. . . . . ” That’s why I became so frustrated before when I was trying to start my VA practice and left it for approximately one year.
It was a blessing that I met you and now I can ask you for your advice on what to do as far as my business is concerned.
I think the public buys into these things because they sound so easy and taste so good. It goes back to the fact that eating right or dieting is hard work. There is no magic pill.
The same can be said for starting a home-based business. It takes time and hard work. You have to make tough decisions. Like the saying goes, “If it sounds too good to be true. It probably isn’t.”
on May 29th, 2008 at 9:53 am
@Gerald - “Maybe as a consumer we should look at the labels and ignore the glitz to discover the truth.”
You’re so right about needing to “discover the truth.” It usually doesn’t jump out at us, does it? Thanks for your comment.
@Mary - It’s so good to see you here! Yes, whether we’re talking business, health, sports, or whatever … there is no magic pill or magic report that will fix everything. But with hard work, a solid plan and wise decisions, great things can happen!
on May 29th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
shari, once again, we are thinking along the same lines lately. thanks for dropping my link.
the topic of ethical marketing has been a primary focus for me lately. you are already familiar with some of the reasons for the drastic changes i have been making in my social media and marketing endeavors.
what’s prominent online nowadays is the mindset of ‘make money and make it fast’ ‘give me give me give’ ‘try this underhanded linkbaiting trick and evey comapny will want to hire you’ your backlinks hold trmendous weight in determing pagerank, so be sure to follow all the A-listers approval (no matter what they are doing to generate their following and cash’ etc..
there’s this overwhelming amount of greed and self fulfillment in the marketing world. in social media, it doesnt take long to see this. once you do, its your responsibility to your customers, your readers, your friends and family to remove yourself from their practices.
we cant always be assured of a businesses outstanding reputation simply by the smile, handshake, or marketable ‘im a good guy’ gab that they so easily spout from their lips. but more people than none buy into these behaviors and it spreads like a disease.
take kristens post for example, (socialmediamom http://www.socialmediamom.com/2008/05/is-ethical-marketing-an-oxy-moron.html)
someone mentioned that coca cola has been called ‘killer coke’ due to murders of union members) but they are the same company that warmed our hearts while ‘buying the world a coke’
greed. lack of integrity. addictive behaviors (yes, addiction to cash and fame) has been destroying us, our health, our family lives and more. we need to promote ethical marketing, associate with only ethical marketers when possible , and expose injustices so others can use the SM channels to pass it on as well.
sorry, i wrote a book, sry! can you tell im tired of the greedy little buzzards that think they can get away with this? haha..so be it. we live and we learn. then we follow people like YOU!
thanks for being an ethical marketer shari as well as a true blue friend. any business you are involved with would be one i trust.
on May 30th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Our company is right with you on this and we’re on a mission to show that you can do marketing that actually benefits consumers AND your brand. We call the whole philosophy Marketing with Meaning. That may cause some people to groan until you see some of the programs we’ve created that deliver on this.
As an ad agency, people already look at us with an untrusting eye until we get this information in front of them.
Come and check it out and join the mission: Marketing with Meaning
on May 30th, 2008 at 10:17 am
There’s a fairly broad grey area here. It may be true that Honey Nut Cheerios can help one lower one’s cholesterol, but that claim shouldn’t be taken to mean that it’s a healthy breakfast. I imagine eating fiberglass would probably lower your cholesterol too. That doesn’t make it optimal nutrition.
But the question is whether the Cheerios people are being deceptive if they tell you something good about the product, but leave out something bad. I have similar issues with the way cars are advertised. An SUV with a hybrid engine is not environmentally “friendly.” I think the advertiser could probably get away with calling it “friendlier” than the same model with just a gasoline engine, but the truth is that it’s not friendly at all. It’s harmful, and the best they can honestly say is that it’s somewhat less harmful.
on May 30th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
@Spostaraduro - Thanks, Kimberly. I appreciate your insight, as always!
@Jonathan Richman - I’m so glad you stopped by. Marketing with Meaning - I like that! You have a new subscriber and fan. What effect is your message having on your market?
@Bob Gladstein - I agree with you, but many people DO take it to mean that Honey Nut Cheerios is a healthy breakfast. After all, it’s got whole grain oats! I’m just saying that we can do better than that, both as marketers and consumers. Marketers CAN portray products honestly and consumers need to wake up. Our health and the health of our kids is at stake. And in the case of the hybrid SUV that you mentioned, our planet is at stake. Thanks for stopping by, Bob. I appreciate your comment.
on Jun 2nd, 2008 at 9:39 am
Shari, thanks! Great to have another fan.
Here’s some things recently we’ve worked on. These are pulled from an AdAge article that was just published about us http://adage.com/article?article_id=127314 (you may need to be a subscriber to view it):
The 2 million visits to ConAgra’s Start Making Choices site since it launched in January has substantially exceeded expectations, said Guisseppe D’Alessandro, the company’s VP-strategic marketing. The site conveys nutrition, exercise and other well-being tips from cardiologist James Rippe, founder of the Balance Institute, as it weaves in messages and sponsorship from the company’s Healthy Choice, Eggbeaters, Hunt’s, Orville Redenbacher and Pam brands.
Kroger, too, has been pleasantly surprised by reception to its contest at designagreenbag.com, as 35,000 people have used the online design tool so far (1.2 million votes). Each of them get a free reusable bag and a chance at $500 for the winning design. <Launched late March 2008)
The Diabetes Control for Life program Bridge created several years ago for Abbott Laboratories’ Glucerna brand, meanwhile, goes further, monitoring clinical results on how well it helps control blood glucose levels of participants. A clinical study indicates that program participants lose weight and have better blood-sugar management than nonparticipants, as well as separate research showing compliance with blood-glucose testing by participants increases threefold after they begin (and that Glucerna product consumption increases ninefold).
Just a few of the many programs we’ve worked on with some of our major clients. In each case, you see meaning for the consumer, but also for the brand. A classic win-win.
on Oct 30th, 2008 at 4:36 am
I agree, that we should know truth about what we eat, and but. Some companies think only about their profits, and they dont think about people, they advertise us food and said that it very healthy and tasty, and we buy it, but this food makes harm to our health, and our children health. So I think it is very important for all us to know the truth.