Profits & Prophets

Go ahead and keep broadcasting a steady stream of overly sexual and violent imagery. After all, we've got the V-chip!

As a free speech supporter, I'm opposed to censoring the media industry, but that industry's new PauseParentPlay advertising campaign, in which the industry addresses but takes no responsibility for the impact of violent and sexual content on our society, makes it hard to keep fighting the good fight.

The new ad campaign unveiled a couple days ago is designed to educate parents about the tools (e.g., the V-chip in modern TVs) they have at their disposal to regulate what their kids watch, hear and play.  As AdAge [registration required] points out, however:

[The PauseParentPlay advertising campaign's] between-the-lines message is that government regulations are not needed to protect children from overly violent and indecent entertainment content because parents currently have the power to do that.

I agree that as parents we have a responsibility to monitor what our kids consume as entertainment, but it would have been good to see the industry make a commitment to take a look at its own role in the impact of overly violent/sexual content on society.  Industry initiatives such as PauseParentPlay, with their "we don't need to do anything since it is all the parents' responsibility" mentality, aren't really productive since that type of one-sided approach is by its very nature only a partial solution.  Ultimately, the industry needs to realize that if it doesn't take a stronger role in policing itself, it will probably find the government stepping in to do it for them.

As such, I think this ad campaign is misguided and largely a waste of money since it won't achieve its desired goal - which is not really to educate parents, but to avoid governmental regulation.

"Made in the U.S.A." not what it used to be

An new study [free registration required] came out yesterday from Advertising Age's research arm, American Demographics.  An online survey of 1,133 adults (presumably U.S.-based adults) was conducted to determine quality perceptions for a range of consumer goods and manufacturing locales.  A couple of the more interesting statistics:

• Americans believe "Made in the USA" stands for quality and value but the most desirable consumer demographics - young adults entering their prime buying years and richer households who have money - do not seek out products that are "Made in the USA"
• Young adults age 18-24 give domestic cars high grades for quality, but are also the least likely demographic to own domestic cars and most likely to drive Japanese cars
• Adults who have a high school education, live in households with an income less than $25,000 or are from the South tend to rate U.S. automotive quality as the best in the world; they are also the most likely group to seek out "Made in the USA" products
• Americans believe "Made in Korea" and "Made in China" indicate inferior quality [interestingly, the world's two largest flat panel display makers - LG and Samsung - are based in Korea and Korean automotive upstart Hyundai has won high praise from J. D. Powers and Consumer Reports]
• Despite the recent blizzard of negative press, Wal-Mart has retained its reputation for low prices and good corporate citizenship; how high Wal-Mart ranks in corporate citizenship is directly related to how poor, less educated and older consumers are

There weren't any big revelations in the report, but it is always interesting to see concrete examples of how socio-economic level and history influence brand perception.

I love the smell of oxytocin in the morning. It smells like . . . trust.

There's an interesting article out this month in the journal Nature about the effects of the chemical oxytocin on our willingness to trust other people.  According to the article:

oxytocin [is] a chemical that is produced naturally in the brain. Its production is triggered by a range of stimuli, including sex and breastfeeding, and it is known to be important in the formation of social ties, such as mating pairs and parent-offspring bonds. It is perhaps no surprise that the compound has been nicknamed the 'love hormone'.

Experts think that oxytocin exerts its range of effects by boosting some social behaviours: it may encourage animals or people to overcome their natural wariness when faced with a risky situation. The theory argues that people only decide to trust each other - when forming a sexual or business relationship, for example - when the brain's oxytocin production is boosted.

What is interesting about the article is the fact that Swiss researchers tested whether oxytocin's "trust" effects can be produced simply by inhaling it (as opposed to the normal method of producing it in the brain).  In their test, it was proven that simply inhaling the chemical makes you more likely to trust someone.

The article references potential uses for these findings in "everything from business to the treatment of psychological conditions."  Apparently, oxytocin is cheap and easy to manufacture, meaning there is a low cost barrier for its use.  According to the head of the Swiss research team, "it is easy to get [oxytocin] in drug stores, at least in Switzerland."

Though the article discounts oxytocin's potential usefulness in business environments requiring trust (e.g., sales), the reason given for discounting its use ("[advertising] probably works in the same way") is based in an overly simplistic understanding of marketing (and its economics) and sales/business development.

I'm not much for conspiracy theories, but this seems like too good an opportunity for less-than-ethical marketers and salespeople to pass up.  If retail stores will pump specific music through the overhead speakers to encourage you to buy more, why not pump oxytocin through the air vents or have your sales people wear oxytocin-laced cologne/perfume?  If I am trying to land a new client or secure a new business partner, why not pitch him/her in a special oxytocin-enhanced conference room for a little extra edge?  If I am selling you a new car, how about an oxytocin air freshener for that test drive?  All of these examples would be unscrupulous (and I'm sure we could come up with thousands of other examples), but certainly not beyond the limits of what some marketers will do.

It will certainly be interesting to see how this research is developed into practical applications.

Advertainment - Unintended Consequence of IP Piracy?

Geoffrey Fowler of The Wall Street Journal has a very interesting article [subscription required] about the intersection, or as he writes, "virtual merging" of advertising and entertainment in Asia.  In the U.S., though product placement and promotion is tolerated (if frowned upon), in Asia it is seamlessly woven into the artistic medium:

One of the stars in the music video for the South Korean pop song "Anymotion" is bare-bellied teen idol Lee Hyo Lee. The other is a $600 Anycall cellphone sold by Samsung Electronics Co.  In the video for the song, Ms. Lee dances with the phone and declares she can "watch anybody, sing any rhythm, show any people, call any number."

Samsung paid all the costs of making the song and the video -- and even hired the music producer and choreographer.  "We hope the lyrics will remind people of Anycall when they hear the word 'any' several times," says Jong Hyun Kim, a manager at Samsung's ad agency, Cheil Communications. Samsung's Web site features a computer-generated Ms. Lee teaching teens the hip-jostling Anymotion dance.

Other examples listed in the article include Philippine dance hit "Hello Moto," a song commissioned by cellphone-maker Motorola, and "Go Ahead, Win Hearts," a theme song composed by Samsung's ad agency for the Samsung-sponsored historic India-Pakistan cricket match (the video received a lot of airplay on video stations).

The article explains that one of the driving forces behind Asian artists being agreeable to this form of blatant promotion is piracy.  With illegal downloading of music, movies, etc., traditional business models are being thwarted and forcing artists to find new ways to both make it big and make a buck.  Wang Leehom, a recording artist in China who in his "I'm Lovin' It" song sings "You know what I really, really like?  McDonalds!," has this to say:

"There is so much piracy that it is just not happening with the record sales," [Wang Leehom] says.  But success can be ensured if he has a hit song and McDonald's uses it in commercials on nationwide Chinese television. "When I want to give a concert tour, I am selling out stadiums," he explains.

We've all heard about the financial impact of piracy on intellectual property, but this is the first time that I've seen an example of how piracy is impacting the very integrity of that IP.

Of course, the merger of marketing and entertainment is impacting artistic integrity on this side of the Pacific as well.  I recently heard a story on NPR about how the growing competition for advertising dollars is pushing product placement deeper and deeper into the artistic medium in which it is embedded.  We've gone beyond the Coke can conspicuously placed on the table to developing actual scripts that extol the virtues of Coke.  For example, part of the script of a "Life According to Jim" episode was developed to draw attention to the re-release of the movie E.T.  Jim Belushi was apparently furious about the intrusion and refused to be part of that scene.  Not every artist has Belushi's clout, however, and the other actors filled the void and plugged the movie.

Whether it's due to piracy or dwindling advertising dollars, society's inexorable march towards advertainment is accelerating.