Yo!
As my Facebook feed filled up with people sharing their strong views supporting or opposing Karva Chauth (a fast undertaken by the wife for the welfare of the husband) I wondered how a festival that I had not even heard of ten years ago had become so very pan-Indian and popular. The answer is, well, marketers. The festival involves finery, food, gold, silver – what more could a discount looking for an occasion ask for? Just look at the options suggested in this one. At least a few of those opposed to this festival (on Facebook) because it seems patriarchal are also marketers – will they or the firms ‘abstain’ from this promotion? Unlikely. Marketers cannot have a moral view point – the customer is always right. And if that means nudging the customer down a certain path, there will be a marketer to do it.
Way back in the sands of time, I was confused about whether it was ok to market cigarettes or alcohol. I decided I would not, but now I realize that as a marketer you usually cannot exercise your opinion on products and behaviour that is legal. I’m sure, Pierce Brosnan sleeps easy at night knowing that he’s just doing his perfectly legal job of marketing pan masala. Karan Johar is now facing the heat because in a different environment he decided to make a movie with a Pakistani actor. Even as I say that you can’t have a strong moral POV and impose it as a marketer, I think you need to stay in step with your audience whose views may change faster than yours. In the recent Mocambo Restaurant, Kolkata social media outrage (after a customer posted that her driver was not allowed in) what surprised me was that Mocambo did not actually apologize or say that such things would not happen again. Clearly they would like to stay with their world-view even though large parts of the world has moved on. On the other hand, they also said they are not on social media with the implication that neither are their customers, so possibly all’s well in their business.
A while ago I wrote a piece on how companies can’t really have morals and I’d now extrapolate it to point out that marketers can’t have morals either. So go ahead and rant on Facebook and join the protest marches, but if you really think something is bad, you need to (a) change your customers’ views on it in a way that does not alienate them and/or (b) legislate to get that bad behaviour outlawed.
In the midst of all these festivals – and an office repainting – we’re hosting a tweetchat on 9th Novemeber co-presented by IBM India and a CMO Roundtable on 10th November co-hosted with Microsoft on Omni-channel strategy: the power-booster for your digital marketing. Hope to see you there!
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