Brands and insincere 'purpose' marketing tactics, what a tangled web.

I feel like this article, over at Adage, deserves a lot more attention. "Purpose is not a watered-down reflection of whatever happens to be trending on social media," the author M.T. Fletcher says. Fletcher is on the same page as Adgrunt Kidsleepy, who recently wrote "Shut up and sell the product", about the industry's relentless chasing of the coolest 'cause du jour'.

"Politics and purpose are not the same, rarely mix well, and yet marketers continue to wade into social issues they are unable to navigate. Some seem wholly dismissive of their own brand DNA, which might explain why today’s advertising seems so disposable. We said this more than a year ago, after a major study by the Brunswick Group demonstrated that most CEOs felt their brand needed to take a stand on social issues, while less than a third of consumers wanted to see politics in marketing—roughly the opposite of what every agency was telling its clients at that time. Just because some major brands got away with it, and in a few cases hit all the right notes, does not mean my toothpaste has any credibility in telling me which cause to support or when to feel outraged or guilty. It’s stressful enough being told I have to floss every day."

A lot of the ads pushing political hot buttons are created as award-bait, rather than with the goal to sell more products. Kidsleepy wrote: "I could live my life perfectly well without knowing what my toothpaste brand thinks about capital punishment. And I know I am not the only one. Because at least in America, there is ample evidence that people are fed up with everything becoming a political debate. They're tired of the debate, period. It's not helpful at this point and it's only going to get more people on both sides of the political spectrum angry." Meanwhile, Fletcher reminds us what made iconic campaigns, well, iconic. They sold us by showing product as hero. They sold us on universal truths. They sold to all of us, regardless of where we are on the political spectrum.

The most iconic brands in history survived the test of time by riding cultural waves that carried consumers to both ends of the political spectrum. These brands grew by bringing people together around shared values and passions, not by forcing them to choose a side. Coca-Cola on the mountain, the unabashed celebration of music that launched Apple’s iPod, the athletic drive to reject the “impossible” by Adidas. You can be young or old, right or left, and those sentiments are universally appealing because they are universal truths, not political statements or cultural trends. And most importantly, the platform flows from the product—the heart of the business.

Advertising needs to get back to what it is meant to do, which is selling the product. I'll also note that there's a dig at the young workforce in advertising in Adage's article, as the youngest generation has seemingly been handed the reins to steer the ship, to remix old metaphors. Why is this? Every generation that entered the advertising industry would impatiently want to climb their career ladder fast, but these days the new generation is so eager to level up that they're like baby spiders, swarming to eat their mom. Matriphagy might work in the insect world, but the leaders of our industry have wisdom to share, where spiders don't.

Let’s face it, the seesaw behavior of CEOs on social issues over the past couple of years is not the result of careful business planning but rather a symptom of abject terror at the thought of alienating their youngest employees. The youngest cohorts in the workforce have more demands than Veruca Salt, which isn’t terribly surprising, but the difference this time around is that their managers—who have far more experience, more accountability and infinitely more to lose—aren’t managing them at all. They are running scared.

It's been 38 years since the first .com, and 28 since the "boom" happened. People entering the workforce today have grown up "online". Brands have learned that the Internet can bring local ads to a global audience, and what works in Norway may not appeal to people in Kuwait. Brands have harvested the "viral" phenomenon, and now sometimes suffer the "viral" backlash. The web hasn't just changed how we advertise, with "social media influencers", websites, and silly brand fights on Twitter. Trends on social media can also topple CCOs and CEOs, who are caught shooting African animals on Safari, heading up terrible Bud Light strategies, or are anonymously ousted for committing a sin against the most recent hot topic cause.

This web has brought up a generation of ad industry people who will eat their mother. But, the industry needs to stop staring at its own navel lint because consumers are not like spiders. Our job is to sell the product, not to jump on the latest bandwagon.